Fresh out of the kiln.

You might remember I loaded this kiln last weekend

Here is the grand opening... 

The stand out items from this firing would have to be

Renae's jugs.

I love the dark clay.

She says it was awful to throw

and has vowed to never attempt it again.

I looks like pressed sand to me, great colour...but

I can imagine there is little plasticity, much like Raku clay.

I got a variety of colour on my handless mugs.

There is a pearl like blue tinge to this rim.

The more I make of these mugs, the better they are at stacking up.

I am going to take these over to Wentworth, "Ruby's cargo"

A shop that celebrates hand made.

Renae has been busy being very creative with these tall pots.

I wonder how she will glaze them?

I have negotiated with the service station at the end of our street to

sell my flowers.

Only one bunch sold in the first week.

I think they look fine there in the door way.

Lets hope the idea takes off.

I have to keep trying to raise a wage.

Fingers crossed!

Studio is a work in progress

Looking at this photo of the loaded kiln

Those jugs look a bit close together.

 I might have to check...

I had to squeeze in that last mug of mine,

it only just made it.

I have tried a few new combinations of glaze 

so it will be interesting.

Still a lot of work to do in the studio.

A bit harder now there is all the equipment in there.

The slab roller is finally fixed...and has stayed that way

for more than month. I think we have it sorted.

The sliding door lets in the daylight. It has not been a heat issue

as on a hot day the cooler is on straight away anyway.

It has started to cool down now it is Autumn,

 but we did have a random 40 degrees the other day.

Followed by 25! 

I have found a garden worker to help me.

A pottery student happy for some extra cash.

Oh my goodness, she has saved my garden.

4 hours weeding together we get a lot done.

I can finally see that these are garden circles!

It has certainly taken the pressure off as I was not keeping up on my own.

This probably still looks like a lot of weeds to you, but

I can see the rows. 

I have to get ready to plant my spring bulbs out here.

I am considering sinking some large pots with good rich soil

along the rows to keep the bulbs contained. The soil here

is heavy clay and needs a lot of organic matter.

Some things do really well though, like this blue Salvia.

Argentine skies.

It has tall stems of sky blue flowers and I am noticing that

the cut stem doubles up with two pickable blooms for next time.

The stand has thickened and I can see that some gardeners would worry

that it is invasive. With an abundance of beautiful blooms I am encouraging it.

This was my Asiatic Lilly section.
The feral rabbits ruined it all by eating all the stems.

I tried everything to keep them out.

I have even rabbit proofed the sides.

I think I planted about 50 bulbs several years ago.

This year I had about 5 pickable stems.

I have planted (Mother in law) Patsy's  Ixias bulbs here. 

The frame will help the tall stems.

Fingers crossed

The Ixias will go off!.

Driveway clean up

I have spent a bit of time cleaning up the driveway

as this is the first impression a student or a parent of a student

will get as they approach the pottery studio.

I still have some building projects to complete before the studio

 is 100% finished.

It is a work in progress 

I get a laugh out of MS's number plate.

He waited and waited, researched and some before finally

buying a new second hand 4WD to get him 

to the mine and back each week.

A good car does make it easy for him to travel the unsealed roads

that take him to work each week.

This is the market trailer that gets loaded with plants each market.

I have been carting the tins of plants, 4 tins at a time

from their regular resting spot.

It was all up hill (only slightly) and around 2 corners.

This new space will make it so much easier to load the trailer.

I just hope it is not too hot in the driveway for the plants.

The straw helps to soak up any excess water.

The frame was our monkey bars from childhood.

It works a treat.

Thanks Mum. Very handy gift.

I still need to disguise the bus a bit more somehow.

This is what the students and their parents will see 

when they come through the gate.

I think I will put the Frangipani trees that Dawn gave me,

 in large pots against the house, near that water tank.

I was initially worried that Luca would wander 

if I left the gate open for the students. However, 

he loves them all so much he sits in the studio 

looking out the door waiting for them to come.

Thankfully they all love him too.