Summer Holidays

Having yet to invest in my own kiln, I rely upon the kiln at Bracknell college for the firing of all my work.
In past years this has led to a lack of finished ceramics work during the months of the summer holidays.
This year I decided to buy some of my own clay plus oxides/glazes and to have my work fired at Bluematchbox.
This has enabled me to complete more work ready for my sale at the Thrive Open Day on Saturday 15th September.
My house leek planters have proved very popular at previous Thrive events, so I have made a few more, here they are planted ready for the big day.

Koru planter with sea glass (diameter ~ 13cm)

Koru planter (diameter ~ 14cm)

Wavy edge planter (diameter ~ 13cm)

 

I have also made several new bowls...

 Koru bowl with sea glass (~11cm diameter)

 Stepped edge bowl with sea glass (~10cm diameter)

 

 Offset bowls with sea glass (~10-13.5cm diameter)

Beachcomber

Whenever I spend any time on a beach, I always have my head down, seeing what treasures I can find. During our summer two week holiday in Pembrokeshire on one of our long walks along the fantastic coastline, we paused for lunch at Mill Bay on St. Anne's Head. Mill Bay is best known for the landing of Henry Tudor on 7th August 1485, having sailed from France with an army of 2,000 men. From Mill Bay they marched through Wales to defeat Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. More recently the Bay became the resting place for the wreck of HMS Barking. However it is not a beach known for a large collection of driftwood, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a potentialy interesting piece. Our dog was also interested in the wood, she could not understand why I was carrying the wood for the remaining few miles of the walk and not giving it to her to chew!
After coming home when the wood had dried out, I was able to set to work with my penknife and sandpaper, with this result....