cake stands

finished off my plates with holes for cakestands. went out to talk to the local smithy about making the bits that will hold it all in place. it seemed a bit odd him contemplating small bits of metal for my plates with large beams and farming equipment lying about. not to mention the flying bits of molten metal from the other two blacksmiths.

chooks and a rabbit

my beautiful chooks and one of our rabbits. i love looking out the back window at them all frolicking about. my chooks have supplied lots of inspiration for my pottery. they are always turning up one way or another. just  look at one of the images on my comfort mugs and what is sitting on one of my tumblers to see what i am talking about.

comfort mugs

My brother was the first visitor to the Orkney Isles from a member of my family. It was a short visit. We talked some. He and his beautiful wife spent hours walking around in the unusually sunny and dry weather. He helped a lot with getting the business up and selflessly spent hours working away at images for signs and bags and balloons and… When they left it hit me stronger than I expected. I went down to my wheel and began “comfort throwing”. Thinking how great it was that I had something to soothe me when I was feeling low I decided to throw for the sheer pleasure and comfort of it a shape that met me where I was. I threw a shape for a “comfort mug”. Wide and rounded to welcome my hands to embrace the maximum warmth. No handle to get in the way or discourage me from the full tactile experience of the soothing warmth of a cup of tea.

Pebble pots

Inspired by a walk through Stromness up to Ness Point on a cool overcast day in March. I collected the very pieces of glass, discarded pottery and coal that my pottery lays amongst. I attempted to echo the random shapes and mottled colours that seem smoothed, weathered and revealed by the extreme tides

Gypsy bowls

Older Orcadians remember when the travellers would bring spongeware bowl seconds up to Orkney. These bowls could be found in most Orcadian homes. They were of similar shape but each with a unique design. Each family member knew their unique bowl, would take it down from the shelf at mealtime and return the clean bowl back to the shelf after use in anticipation for the next meal. No overfull cupboard of dishes just unique one bowl per person. It is said that wherever you dig in Orkney you will find shards of these bowls.

Peedie bowl

My peedie bowl fits nicely into the centre of a dinner plate filled with soft cheese or sweet chilli or soured cream surrounded by a generous cascade of crackers or crisps or veggies. It fits nicely onto a tray with mugs of tea and milk and sugar and cakes. Ready to receive the host of teabags. Rarely a day goes by without pulling my peedie bowl out for one reason or another.

Tumbler

Good – keeps my white wine cool.
Bad – hides the subtle colour of my expensive wine.
Good – hides the disappointing colour of my cheap wine.
Bad – no long stem to hold delicately, elevated with my fingertips to impress my friends with my style.
Good – no long stem to break off when I am clumsy.

Unique by nature

You might find perfectly matching pieces but it is the forms that compliment that are more important to me than those that are the same. Any factory can produce perfectly matching pottery lining the shelves like little soldiers ready for action. The embodiment of efficiency in creation and use. I desire the natural. The seaside with stones and glass smoothed by wind, water and time. Complementary in form. Each individual piece echoing the whole. Creation and life connected in one fluid movement. We live in a world of straight lines and identical forms. An expectation is placed on us to fall in line and conform. I rebel against soulless conformity. I celebrate my uniqueness and yours and the passionate embrace of life.

shattering teacups

In order to help process the beginning of my pottery I thought I would start to blog it. You see it isnt all sunshine and roses. I guess in my case it isnt all mud and throwing. It is all too often crumpling masses of clay, blurry designs or as in today, exploding teacups.

Perseverance is big and as a good apprentice I will quote my philosophy spouting pottery teacher and say, once again, “The only way to not make mistakes is to never try anything new”.