I’ve been extremely busy at work recently, running an equipment trial that’s been the culmination of a two-year research project. It’s taken a huge amount of time to prepare and rehearse, and I’ve been working lots of overtime, with very little time or energy to do anything else for the past few weeks. It all came to a head this week with a two-day “capability demonstration” to my customers, which went very well.
After all that effort, it was really good to spend some time at Eastnor Pottery this weekend to de-stress and relax. I threw a load of pots last time I was there several months ago, but couldn’t remember what I’d decided to keep to finish off this time. So it was a pleasant surprise to find five bowls waiting for me to turn and decorate, ranging in size from a cereal bowl to a serving bowl. They were a bit too firm and dry, and covered in mould after spending months wrapped in plastic. The former I could easily fix by dunking the pots briefly in a bucket of water, partially rehydrating the clay to make it easier to handle. The mould looked off-putting, but isn’t a serious problem as it will burn off in the kiln.
I’m not very artistic, so I’ve decorated the bowls very simply, with a blue outside and a white disc in the bottom of the inside, on a background of terracotta. The pots now need to be dried out thoroughly for several weeks until there is no moisture left in them at all (otherwise they will explode in the kiln). Then they will be given a first firing, then dipped in glaze and fired again. I’ll be able to collect them from the pottery in a month or so.
