Raku!

Yesterday I tagged along with my friend's pottery group to a Raku day.
Raku is kind of like magic - it involves chemical reactions, intense heat and puffs of smoke. It's unpredictable - you never know what colour your glazes will come out as it all depends on the amount of oxygen and other scientific things which I don't quite understand...
It's the best fun- and so exciting when you wipe the soot off your pots and see what you've got!

I only took three things to fire -

I drew on some lines and spots with melted wax and them painted on the glaze - the small one with spots was supposed to come out a bright copper colour and the other two were a white crackle glaze -

With a raku kiln you can look through the top and see your pots glowing red - mind your eyebrows though, it's about 1000 degrees in there...

Then you carefully lift the roof off the kiln... 

And quickly drop the pots into bins full of combustible material such as newspaper or sawdust...

After they've been in the smoke for a while - you can vary the time depending on the finish you're after - you lift them out with tongs and wipe away the soot.

Ta-dah!

Here are my three - the polka dot one came out an iridescent bluey colour which I'm not sure I like... it might grow on me though!

I made this terracotta pot about 8 years ago - I didn't realise how similar it was to the others until I put them next to each other -

Felting Frenzy

I have a new passion for felting - in fact I love it so much I'm going to have to open an Etsy shop to sell some of my creations off - if I can bear to part with them!

Watch this space!

Some photos of nice stuff...

A Kiwi inspired illustration...

A dog made by one of my pottery students...

And a funky pot with legs!

A stormy sunset...

Found object assemblage!

Making

I've been pretty creative the last couple of weeks - last Sunday I went to a workshop about printing on clay at the Fremantle Arts Centre - we learnt how to mono-print and screenprint onto clay which was really interesting and has given me lots of ideas of new pottery projects for myself and for work.

These are my tiles which are waiting to be fired - I'll share them when they come out of the kiln!

Speaking of pottery, here's a little video I made of my pottery guys at work doing their stuff -

you can find other films by Ability Arts here.

           

Also for work I designed the poster and flyers for our drama group's latest production, The Journey.
At the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre on the 29th and 30th April - tickets are free!

I had a day off yesterday and headed straight to the op-shops - I bought a pile of old plates and a scruffy Ikea lamp base -

I've just grouted it and now I need a plain white shade - I'll show you when it's finished!

Driftwood

Whipped up a birthday present for Mark- this way to the beach!

(Tom salvaged the wood from the beach last winter- I knew it would come in useful for something)

Around here..

I feel like I've been really busy... but in reality I've been doing a lot of this...

My mother-in-law came to stay and taught me how to make a dress. 

Ok, she made me a dress...

The boys have been doing a bit of this...

And a bit of that...

And I did manage to make myself a new website - here if you fancy a look :)

Australian Advent Calendar Day 14

                      

Just made my annual Christmas wreath- it's a bit wonky and dangly but it'll do.

Itchy all over now from all the tiny creatures that crawled out of the greenery...

Collage frenzy...

I seem to have my creative mojo back! I hadn't really done any illustration work since we moved to Australia but in the last couple of weeks I've started work on a new range of cards and prints which I hope to have available for sale soon.

This one is just about the joy of living by the sea -

This one is inspired by walking around our eclectic neighbourhood and includes a few of my favourite houses! (Ours is the white rectangular one in the top left)

And this one was inspired by my kitchen shelves!

Postcards or greeting cards - any preferences out there?

Playing with Fire

We went camping near Augusta for a few days - the best thing about camping in the winter is that you're allowed to have a camp fire.

The words any Moody Boy (or Man) loves to hear - 'Go stand over there and wave this burning stick in the air really fast' *

Well, that's just showing off...

When they (eventually) got bored I invented something I like to call 'Moon Drawing' 
Stick your camera on long exposure, aim it at the moon and wiggle it around...
I call this one 'Ball of String'.

*Waving burning sticks should not be attempted by unsupervised children (or men) and should never be attempted in the summer...

Prevaricating...

Mark and I seemed to wake up with the same idea today. To put off the important but boring jobs by appearing to be busy all day doing something else...

It worked well.

Instead of flattening the garden and covering over our new septic tank lids (exciting..), Mark tidied his shed.

It took all day and he's now out there in the dark fitting a new light. (He's jealous of our next door neighbour's Man Cave.)

Instead of cleaning the carpet and hanging out yet more washing, I....decorated the toilet window.

Yes, it really needed doing.

Here is the Before - perspex with handy ventilation holes to let the mozzies in to bite you whilst sat on the loo in the middle of the night.

One roll of white contact paper later...

Here is the After:

Yes - it look so long to do it was dark outside when I finished.

The outside view is even better than the inside! Pity no-one will see it apart from our resident frogs.

Job done. My sense of satisfaction is marred slightly by the pile of washing still in the machine....