Opening My Ceramics Studio Under Level 3 Lockdown

Hey, how are you doing? Well this week has been really exciting over here!

One of my happy places over the lockdown has been my vegetable garden. Although hard work to establish, the rewards are now arriving. My gardening buddy Lucy has decided to hunt moles and is a surprisingly enthusiastic digger. I can see our interests clashing!

My first small harvest of more than one type of vegetable and a weird mushroom that popped up in my beetroot patch.

Marcel and I cleaned our spaces from top to bottom. You would be amazed at how much dust can gather over 2 months! Each piece was picked up, admired, then dusted and placed back into its newly cleaned home. The transformation of a lockdown space back into a beautiful display area has been very positive and cathartic. It’s good to feel my space again .

We have had a few visitors over this period. Some new visitors and returning customers and friends. Hearing familiar voices has been a treat.

Over this last week I put together my next video, this time showing the trimming process. Trimming is very satisfying to me. It’s more relaxing than throwing as the effort is over and it’s just a matter of finishing off the piece. On humble items like these it’s the final step before firing. Checking that the weight is pleasing, surface quality is uniform and placing my mark on the underside of the piece. If you look after the little things the big things take care of themselves.

I can feel the coming week will be one of more focus in my studio. I have one or two small orders to start. There are a few projects to finish planning too. Then it’s time to glaze some pieces, while taking video, and of course a glaze firing!