So much to do and so little time!!!!

What a week..... So many things are happening. We are selling our house and we are moving interstate from Perth Western Australia To Adelaide South Australia and I am heading home to Brisbane for two weeks and then to Adelaide for a week to look at schools and areas to live and call home. All of this on top of trying to get organised for my first official entrance in a A Tea Party themed exhibit at the Old Bakery Gallery in Maylands in early August. So when I look at my calendar and break down my weeks I have 2 weeks before I head a way for 3 weeks and then Back for one and then that same week I have to deliver my Tea Party exhibit.... OH MY GOODNESS!! I am beginning to S~TRESS just a we little bit!! And considering I was relying on the 3weeks that I am now going to be away to complete my pieces all I can say is EEEEEKKKKK... But hey what would life be like without a little bit of pressure every now and again... : )

So here is what I've been up to this week....


Tea cups, sugar bowls, milk jugs, coffee mugs, Saucers and little plates all
freshly thrown and warming in front of the heater. It's been raining here nearly
 all week and the temperature isn't allowing for drying so this helps. Oh
plus it keeps me warm too...

Checking the fit of my Tea cup with saucer and
dessert plate. I'm thinking it works...



It's so cold out in my space that I've bought everything into the house.
It's time for Handles and carving and decorating the dessert plates.

And today along with handles this morning I made the
components for three tea pots, 2 cake stands to the left
upside down and 1 large plate on the right...

Aerial shot of the tea cups with saucer and carved
dessert plates...

After looking at what I have done I can see the light. It's cold and it has been wet but I can

say I am achieving my goal and I am happy with the results thus far... Now tomorrow will see me trimming the tea pots and putting them together and then carving there finished design....

Then the cake stands will also have to be completed. The drying process will be crucial and this weather isn't making it any easier. I will have to leave things to dry until the last minute I have possible and then bisque fire with fingers crossed to then be able to move onto the final glazing process... Wish me luck!

And now onto the house for open house inspections and to start research on schools and where we will live in our new city!! Oh this next 2 months are going to be very interesting!!

Thanks for stopping by! Take care ....

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Incising and carving....

I had some ideas I have been wanting to try out and this week I had a chance to put them to work... So I started by throwing four different shape vases all with 2 . 5 kg of porcelain...

And here trimmed and feet placed on
 two of the vases...
The third from the left I decided
 to alter slightly by flattening
 the sides...

Here are the four vases, ready to be trimmed...

 Next step is scoring a design on the surface of the vase, the clay is still quite plyable and is not at leather hard. I have found incising is much easier when the clay is still soft not wet but soft definately not leather hard, only because at leather hard it has more of a tendancy to crack or break with pressure so from trial and error it is much easier when it is still soft, it is certainly more forgiving.... I forgot to take photos of the this step on the first vase I did so this is the steps on the fourth vase and in the background are the other three already carved and incised...

A leaf design with veins
highlighted as smaller leaves
 and carved swirls...

Starting the incising process with a sharp scalpel knife,
making sure to keep the blade moving
 ( no stops and starts in the middle of a line)
from start to finish of the line to be cut. It
just keeps the line fresh, crisp and fluid...

After all of the incising is complete the carving is
started and this highlights or defines the leaves and veins and
gives a dimensional feel to the piece...

At this point I just start a gentle clean up of the cut edges on the outside and then the inside with a paint brush and sponge. I also use either a bamboo kebab stick or my pin tool just to check each point of the leaves top and bottom to make sure they are neat and compressed to help them in the drying process so that they are a little more compact and hopefully less likely to crack. As I'm thinking that it would be at these points that the stress would be higher and the most likely place to get hair line cracks if it was going to happen...

So from here the drying process will be slow and then onto bisque firing....  

The first three.... 1. Butterflies and flowers.
2. Leaves and swirls.
3. Roses and leaves

The smallest and fourth now finished and in it's line up with the first three...

This was the very first one I made with a candle inside
to check how it looks...

The inside of the one above...

Butterflies and flowers aglow...

All four lit up... Now I know they look the part the slow drying
process starts and then in for a bisque... Then a natural look
glaze and I can't wait for that...

Thank you for having a look at what I have been up to... Don't forget to pop over to Mudcolony

and see what everyone has been doing this week...

http://mudcolony.blogspot.com.au/

Have a great week!!

Facebook link : http://www.facebook.com/anniejeanspottery?ref=tn_tnmn

It's been a busy week for my little kiln....

 Bisque firing, sorting and relabeling my glazes, throwing new tea cups, carving, glazing and glaze firing, testing glazes... It's been a very busy week...

Bisque load loaded and fired, glazes sorted and relabeled
Threw a few tea cups...

Salad bowl double dipped and a new glaze test complete...

My Dad's and brothers glazed results and my Mum's replacement
Bowl...

Before and afters of the top shelf... Spy hole all a glow...

Glaze results on my carved pieces...



My new teacups with new design handles and carving...
I'm liking these...


Thanks for stopping by...
Have a great weekend everyone, stay safe and don't forget to pop over and checkout MUD COLONY and see what everyone
else has been up to...
http://mudcolony.blogspot.com.au/

Facebook link : http://www.facebook.com/anniejeanspottery