Busy Week

Hi there!

Sculpture - it all starts
with a block of clay 

It´s been a busy week for us. 

I´ve been concentrating on various projects in the studio (mainly hand-building work) and these include a sculpture that I´m working on which has been inspired by the cliff caves in  Cornwall. I used to spend a lot of my art school days on the Cornish beaches, and they provided me with a great deal of inspiration.
This is very much a work in progress, and I´m currently waiting for it to dry out completely so that I can then sand it and prep it for the biscuit firing. 

Sculpture - still more
work to do, but
it´s getting there

One of my other projects will be part of our latest collection called "Meadowscape". The plate I´m working on has been provided with several coats of slip and then the Meadowscape design scratched (scraffito) into it. There are many more processes to go through and lots of coats of underglaze to apply, but I´ll keep you posted on the progress. 

Meadowscape - scraffito
design

Simon hasn´t been able to do much in his workshop over the last week or so, as he has recently had eye surgery and therefore has to stay out of dusty environments. However, the piece he started working on before his operation is a replica of one of my ceramic bowls (see here on the left) which 
he´ll turn in wood. 

It will then be used together with a ceramic base which I have already prepared. Should be an interesting, sculptural piece when it´s finished.



The garden has been thriving! 


The knot garden did need a prune though, and it´s a rather painstaking job. Still, it always looks great afterwards, and the wisteria which acts as a canopy for the bench at the back of the knot garden is doing really well this year too, especially as we had to give it a hard prune last autumn. 

Our first iris of the year

Wisteria growing as a canopy over the bench

Our first iris popped up at the start of the week (here on the right), in all its beautiful glory! It was then followed by a whole host of them. They´re looking stunning this year. Hope you enjoy the shots of them ...