The Viking Invasion has begun

 We've just been accepted to have a stand at the River Art market in York in the summer, starting in June.  York has a long history - evidence remains of Roman, Anglo Saxon and Viking settlements and people come from all over the world to soak up it's history. Of course last year that didn't happen, and I don't think we'll have many foreign visitors this year - but people will be coming to York from the rest of the UK. I am getting ready to sell our novelty items to those tourists and what better than "Eric Bloodaxe Vikings"? I began to make them today.... first day of making things since Christmas........

  Some of my little Vikings have horns on their helmets - not truly authentic, but popularised by Kirk Douglas's film "The Vikings".

 For authenticity the helmets had noseguards- which I make as well for purists.

I just hope the pandemic is under control by the summer and we can get back to a bit of normality and that the shows and exhibitions can go ahead.

What staying power......

 

  This is a castle that was made by my eldest grandchild, Beth, who is 6. She drew it out on paper first and wanted a Tower type of castle like Rapunzel's.

She pressed out a base to put the castle on, then rolled out some clay into a slab and wrapped it round a tube. She went on to make the turret, doors, windows and balcony which took her ages.

She left it to dry a bit (had dinner) and then went back to it to make the roof. Once again she paid particular attention to getting the patterns on the roof - must have taken her fifteen minutes....

I had to glaze it for her as she went home before the firings.

 

These are the two pig money boxes that my grandchildren made. The one on the left is Beth's  - the one on the right is Catherine's - she is only 2 and needed some help....

Finished....

 After only six days we have moved everything back into the office. In  less than a week we have decorated the whole room, put in new lighting and laid laminate flooring. It is much better. But tomorrow we will really have to get on and make some pots. We have an order for 200 mugs to get out to a company selling fossils in Devon and another small one from a shop in York.

It's a fluffy one!

 

During Lockdown I have been using up all the wool and yarn I have accumulated over the years I have been knitting. I came across this fluffy pink yarn a few days ago and armed with the measurements of my granddaughter made up a pattern for a fluffy jumper. 

She loves pink so I'm sure she'll like this........

                                                                                                                                                                                         

It's still not snowing....

 Today it is cold but there is no snow. Photos on facebook from my daughter in Edinburgh show her family building snowmen - photos from down South show trouble on the roads.

We're still decorating, but while we were wating for the paint to dry, we went down to Jubilee Park.

It was so cold today that the frost hadn't melted. This accentuated the old ridge and furrows system that were created by farmers in the nineteeth century to improve land drainage, They differ from the medieval ridge and furrow in being straight and narrower.

The furrows in Medieval times had a curved shape and were made by the plough turning at the end of an open field, eventually creating an S shaped feature.

By piling up the soil into ridges it would also increase the acreage of land being used.

There you go - a bit of history......

Decorating and marmalade!

 

 

 It is a year ago that we started painting the pottery. There was nothing to do - things are quiet at this time of year in the pottery, and we were oblivious to the fact that a major pandemic was about to hit us. A year on and we've started decorating again - this time the office.

And Gerry has made the first batch of marmalade -12 jars. He is going to make another 12 tomorrow which will keep us going until next January.

Apparantly all the Seville oranges grown in Spain go to the UK to be made into marmalade. This year the price of the oranges has gone up quite a lot because of Brexit. Yet another reason why we shouldn't have left!!!!

and it's back to making socks.....

 The little socks are the ones I made to hang on the tree before Christmas, but my daughter bought me some proper sock wool to make a real pair for myself.

So I finished these last night - even managing to match them both.