Up Close

Thought you might like this from the weekend.

Dig

Took a little drive out to the site of the Roman town of Silchester no more than half hour drive from Reading. For more than 14 or so years, a team led by the University of Reading have been re-excavating the site which was first unearthed by the Victorians. A number of interesting and quite rare finds from Roman and pre-Roman eras have come from the site, many of which are now held at the Museum of Reading. Oh and weather-wise, today was an absolutely fabulous day.

Friendly Games

Loving the Commonwealth Games from Glasgow, which started on Wednesday.

Australia, Canada, England and Scotland currently lead the medal table, but not in that order.

How To Start

Possibly the best way to begin the work day...

Naming

Overpaid Marketing Executive no 1: "So what are we going to call our client's new business park?"
Overpaid Marketing Executive no 2: "Hmmm... a business park next to an old windmill, on a hill... that's a tall order."
Overpaid Marketing Executive no 1: "Let's form a focus group and think outside of the box."

Windmill Hill Business Park, Swindon.















Not a bad place to work mind you.

Carved Copper Red

Final pot for this week: This is a simple thrown form in Stoneware clay, with a spiral carved at leather hard stage. Once bisque fired, the piece was dipped in a Copper Red glaze. Unfortunately when using an electric kiln there isn't much of an oxygen reduction, so the Copper Red doesn't really come out. You get the idea looking at the edge of the glaze and also in good daylight a pink tint can be seen.

Leaning

Yes that's right, it is meant to look like that. A few years back I saw a demonstration of how to throw a tilted or leaning pot. It's harder than you imagine but involves using a wooden bat mounted on the wheel at an angle. This makes for a base that rises and falls as the wheel rotates that you are meant to throw the pot on; enough to make you feel quite giddy! Stoneware glazes used were Bright Orange Red and Shiny White Tin.

More Pots

Time to share some more ceramic work, from college last night. I'll spread these over the next few days, so it looks like I've been far more productive.

First up is a small Stoneware piece which I carved on the wheel while it was leather hard, prior to the initial bisque firing. To decorate I simply dipped the pot into a Blue Grey glaze.