Our Curious Little Robin´s Nest

Our Curious Little Robin´s Nest



A few weeks ago I walked into my greenhouse/potting shed and went to move the pink metal watering can that´s hanging rather precariously from a small hook just inside the doorway - luckily I didn´t just grab it, because I saw that it had twigs poking out of the top.




Upon further scrutiny, I realised it contained a nest ...
and this nest was housing a, considering the circumstances, rather chilled looking robin who was peeking out at me with its beedy little eyes. She/He (we´ll go with "she" for ease) was hunkered down in a beautifully made mossy structure that she had evidently been creating beforehand without me even realising. 

However, in the weeks prior to this, I had noticed a little robin hanging around my greenhouse/potting shed. She would fly in and out while I was busily sowing seeds and potting up plants, and didn´t seem to mind my company. Although I would never have expected her to make a nest in my metal watering can that is suspended rather dangerously from a small hook right next to the door. 



Like most people, we have numerous robins in the garden, and they are renowned for their inquisitiveness. Quite often I´ll be digging or hoeing and will be overcome by the feeling that I´m being watched by something or someone ... I´ll look up and usually find that I´m being spied on by a little robin ... or sometimes two of them. They are, of course, waiting for me to dig up something yummy for them to eat; or they´ll hang around the compost heap to see what delights I might be throwing on it.


So, without further ado, we moved the wildlife camera that we usually have out in the main garden and have positioned it on the staging opposite the opening to the watering can. 
We´ve counted around six little beaks opening when we´ve had a peek inside, but we´re always very careful to keep our distance.

Over the past week we´ve caught various bits of footage, including this snippet here where the robin does a little loop before flying off to get food and then returning with it.

We´ll keep you posted on the progress of the baby robins. We´re just hoping that mummy robin hasn´t made a poor choice in terms of the location - as it gets quite hot in that metal watering can and it can also get buffeted around when it´s windy.  

Successful Firing

Successful Firing 

The recently biscuit-fired pieces have now been subjected to a 1250°C glaze firing, and the results are fairly good.

Pleasing glaze "accident" - crystalline effect from glass beads I dropped
onto the glaze prior to firing

You never quite know how a firing is going to go - it´s always a bit of a nerve-racking experience!

Most of the pieces were originally underglazed in the biscuit firing and then provided with a transparent glaze for this final firing; and a few of the pieces had not been underglazed and were coated with glazes after they had been biscuit fired. 

The process in pictures:

Mixing the glaze

Applying the glaze

Glazed pieces in the kiln

Setting the kiln

Kiln closed & ready

Really pleased with my
"seascape" piece

We´re Back ...

We´re Back ...

... after what seems like an age!

We´ve got a new website now www.blendedmonkey.co.uk, and made some new pieces, with a lot more emphasis on blending our disciplines of wood, clay and silk. Take a look at the site and see what you think. There´s more to be added, but we´re getting there. Feel free to follow us too @blended_monkey or facebook.com/blendedmonkey.


Here are a few of our latest creations:

Lost at Sea

A Cut Above

Natural Edged Vase

Heart Votive Vase

Pair of Bud Vases

Jagged

Silk Art

Seascape Silk Scarf

Natural Edged Vase

Natural Edged Vase

Blickling Bluebells & Farm Park in Norfolk

Blickling Bluebells & Farm Park in Norfolk


We chose the perfect time to visit Blickling Hall and see those famous bluebell woods in their full glory. 

After taking a 30-minute-or-so walk up to the main woodland area, we were met with a stunning wash of blue, with carpets of bluebells spreading far and wide amongst the gnarly trees.

We were fairly lucky with the weather; it was windy but we managed to dodge the rain, & even had the odd stint of sunshine.

After a good trek around the woods and massive intake of fresh air, we headed back to the café in the grounds and had a bite of lunch.



Our daughter had mentioned that she´d like to feed some lambs, and, as it´s the ideal time of year to do so, we headed over to the farm park in Snettisham where she did indeed feed some orphan lambs (so sweet!) and had a stroke of a calf. A good day was had by all!

Cute little orphan lamb

Happy Bank Holiday Weekend!

Happy Bank Holiday Weekend!

Hopefully Simon & I will get the opportunity to grab a few hours in our respective studios this weekend as we´ve been given an extra day.

Simon´s working on some pieces that we can put on our new Etsy shop. We don´t really want to open it with just a few items, and we´d rather not take pieces out of our own online shop, so we´re both going to be fairly busy this weekend creating some more stuff 😊.

However, in order to get some more inspiration, we´ll be out and about too, depending on the weather, so I can take some photos (which I love doing) as reference for more pieces. The weather´s been pretty good to us today, although I haven´t had much of a chance to enjoy it, so here´s hoping it stays nice for the weekend too.

Simon & I have been working on designs for a new series of multimedia wall hangings which will include all three materials - clay, wood and silk. We´ll keep you posted ...

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Successful Biscuit Firing!

Successful Biscuit Firing!

Yes, thankfully the biscuit firing turned out well. No cracks or glaze seepage 😅.

It can be the case that you spend hours on end making and then glazing a piece, only to lose it instantly with a dodgy firing. This was a slow, low biscuit firing at around 950°C, and I´m really pleased with the underglaze colours (some of which I was trying for the first time).

The piece that has taken me an absolute age to carve and glaze using various methods, including scraffito, has come out really well considering the bowl itself is reasonably thick. It´s part of our "Seascape" range and will be going up on the www.blendedmonkey.co.uk site as soon as it´s had its final firing where it will be provided with a transparent glaze and then fired at 1200°C. That will really bring out the colours! 

Seascape bowl after biscuit firing

Seascape bowl before biscuit firing

Everything was pretty much bone dry before I loaded the kiln, so that´s helped matters too. If you put something in the kiln that has too much moisture in it, you´ll basically end up with it cracking or, even worse, exploding in the kiln and taking out anything else that´s sitting alongside it on the kiln shelf - not a fun experience. Had a few of those in the past 😒. So now I´m super wary and I always make sure that everything is totally dry before I submit it to the firing stage.

I´ve been playing with some really nice underglaze colours too, including these purple / lavender bowls which I´m rather fond of - can´t wait to put the final transparent glaze on them. 

Biscuit-fired purple underglaze

Got a fairly busy weekend ahead, but hopefully I´ll have some more time in the studio so I can get the transparent glaze on the biscuit-fired pieces and also start working on a new multi-media piece of wall art that Simon and I are collaborating on. It´ll be nice to do some handbuilding again 😊.

If you haven´t already checked out our Twitter, please take a look @blended_monkey 

Graded blue underglaze

What a Lovely Spring Day!

It´s Been Such a Lovely Spring Day! 

We visited Ely farmers´ market and bought some lovely cheese from the Cheese & Pie Man along with our usual bag full of naughty breads and pastries from the "bread guy" (can´t remember the actual name of the stall, but we simply refer to the stall as the "bread guy"). 

We returned home and I managed to do a bit of gardening - potted on the tomato plants and planted out a few clematis plants I´d bought the other day ... 
Harry & Nutmeg (our German Shepherds) were interested in the whole process; too interested to be honest! 
If I´m not careful, and I don´t keep them both distracted by throwing toys for them to fetch, the second I turn my back Nutmeg will be "helping" me by pulling out the plants that I´ve so painstakingly planted - thanks Nutmeg! Not!

Simon spent a few hours in his workshop making a start on a new hollow form. He was roughing out a piece of yew when I poked my head round his workshop door. Looking forward to seeing the end result. 

I was able to grab half an hour or so in my studio too, and added some more underglazes to a piece I´m currently working on for the seascape range (doesn´t really look anything like it will look after firing - but this gives you an idea of the process). 
It´s going to take a while to finish this stage, as the design is quite intricate and I want to add a number of layers of glaze in various shades. 


The kiln is pretty much full, but I need to finish the underglazing on this bowl so I can add it to the top shelf where a space is patiently waiting for it ... and then I can finally bisque fire! Phew!