meet the family

OH NO! There're no future in-laws being introduced here??! 

Of course not! I wouldn't do that to anybody - lol.

Instead I thought you might like to meet some of my fluffy friends starting with ...

Think you can get to the house? You'll have to get past us first!

My two independent and aloof chowchows. They are alert but only bark briefly when they feel there's a threat to all they protect, they aren't attention seekers, won't grovel for affection and - oh joy - don't stink to high heaven when they get wet.

Kipps loooooves the snow

Meet Kipps: He was an only pup without siblings to ever put him in his place. As a result he is headstrong beyond belief! He's also highly intelligent and that combination makes him a challenge to own. He won't be fooled and is not to be trifled with. 

Did I mention his eagle eyes? Kipps spots all that moves on the ground and in the air ... in daylight and at night 

As it happens I am pretty single-minded myself. Which is probably why I have a soft spot for him and protect him from the wrath of others when he's being naughty.

Meet Polly: She's quite different to Kipps. Smaller in build, she came from a large litter and constantly tries to entice Kipps to play - even though she mostly gets a gruff response. She's a darling with a funny face and transient deafness which sets in whenever she does something she shouldn't.

Polly as a pup. She loved sleeping on this step but kept falling off whenever she woke

Chows are known to select their favourites from amongst the family they live with. Polly's favourite is my daughter Zanna. Kipps' favourite is me ... hurray :)))

Polly loves her bed and sleeping with her head on an obliging teddy

Meet Basti: Basti belongs to Zanna. He came to us from an animal sanctuary when he was 3 months old. He's almost 10 1/2 now. On average domestic rabbits live for 7 years. So Basti is doing extremely well. 

Basti: One smart bunny in his home-crocheted bunny-harness

As a veteran he has very specific culinary requirements: he eats his food soaked, carrots and apples grated, spinach defrosted ... in short: he gets whatever he wants whenever he wants. 

In good weather, he spends the day outside in his 2-storey rabbit house complete with his own little garden. He loves it there. He's also fond of wanders in our large garden. As we're not short of hungry foxes around here, Kipps' and Polly's daily task is to guard their little long-eared friend against unwelcome furries looking for their dinner. 

Being house-trained (it is easy to house-train rabbits!!), Basti comes in at night and can hopple around the house freely. Kipps and Polly love that too because with Basti comes all that yummy food and - to their delight - there are plenty of opportunities to steal it and then wait for second helpings!

Heading for the veggie patch with his keeper in tow

I'm here so Basti's safe from the fox

glaze glorious glaze ... or a recipe for disaster ?

A good glaze can make a mediocre pot look great - a bad glaze can ruin an otherwise perfect pot ... that's what my first tutor told me and his words have been ringing in my ears ever since ... Maybe that's why I get worked up when it's time to glaze my pots. Not one for an easy life though, I keep trying out new formulas from basic ingredients. What fun!!?!

I'm into books - so OBVIOUSLY I've got some on the subject.
They are a bit like a chemistry textbooks cum recipe books all in one. 

This time I opted for a cream glaze and a violet one ... I love blue you see - I think because my mum kept dressing me in blue because of my reddish-blond hair ... 

WEELLLLLL ... the cream turned out distinctly speckled
 and the violet ended up a subtle shade of green. Crazy!

The night I fired the test pieces, I dreamt - as I often do - of many a kiln disaster - including that the glazes had exploded off the pots and got plastered over the kiln walls and lid.
Nightmare springs to mind!

Luckily the kiln still looks as clean as the day I got it and the baked glazes are
beginning to grow on me. But I'm still after that violet blue!!!

fish out of water

That's how I've been feeling trying to get to grips with my new camera. My old compact digital had been driving me to despair because it went through batteries like there's no tomorrow. With my new model I will - fingers crossed - soon be taking rather better pictures of my stuff.

Right now though I am being driven up the wall by the operating manual. If only it was written more for morons like myself ..... I take that last comment back, of course ;)

Luckily it gave me an excuse for some nice Bank Holiday excursions here in Kent including to Dungeness which ... if you like pebbles and blot out the 2 nuclear power-stations ... is actually a great place to be.

And of course there's always someone with a bigger and better camera than yours :) 

naming baby

Some very nice friends have been celebrating the arrival of their first baby. Reason enough for me to experiment with some ceramics with baby's name as the theme. Decorations for the nursery, a little name-plate to put on the door ... that sort of thing.

I wished I could make up my mind which one I like best. I will probably give all three in the hope that I will get some candid feedback because I'm thinking of adding them to my online shop.

Oh no! No more bunting!

Well I really can't face making any more bunting ... at least not right now! 

But I still want to make something a bit like bunting which can be hung up in a baby's room. So I scratched my head .... repeatedly .... until I was thinking boats. And here's where that's got me so far .... clay shaped into little trial sailing boats ... well also a few little hearts and a pram for good measure ... with the letters of the new baby's name stamped into the surface. 

Clay needs to dry out thoroughly so it doesn't do nasty things in the kiln ... like explode. So it will be a little while before I can bisque fire the pieces and then glaze and fire them again. 

I'll be showing you the results ... as long as they're presentable  ;-)