It is Good to Care. Happy New Year!

One bowl out of a recent firing was a treasure. Same glaze as others in the kiln, but this one was beautifully spotted.

Here is the inside of the same bowl.

Yesterday I went for a walk before I started work, it was something that I needed to do.  My head was crowded with worrying thoughts and negativities that would have sat on my shoulders and made my time in the studio a very difficult one.  Walking is good, the focus shifts from inside the head and guts, to a world outside.  A new rhythm is established by the 1-2, 1-2 of feet on footpath and road edge.  After 10 minutes or so it is possible to see again over boundaries and walls, to hills and places far away.

I like to do 3 kilometres on my morning walk.  It is not very far, but I find it sufficient to make a difference, and I can do it in about half an hour if I walk reasonably quickly, or a little longer if I look around me more.

About half way around my walk, I saw a tiny grey bump on the road, about the size of a stone.  As I neared it, I saw that the bump was in fact a small bird.  The bird was sitting in a puddle of stuff that it had excreted, and it sat at an odd angle.  I suspected that the poor thing had been killed by a car and was dead... However, it moved its head as I came near.  Knowing that it was only a matter of time before it was in fact hit by a car, I bent down and carefully surrounded it with my hands.  It was a juvenile sparrow, and very, very small as I lifted it to inspect it. The sparrow gripped my finger with one of its tiny skeletal feet, and I felt its warmth.  And life.

I examined it.  Both wings seemed OK, and there was some strength in its legs, but it was extremely messy around its vent and the bird had a disturbing tendency to lull sideways.  I looked around for a suitable place to put it so that its parents would find it, but as I looked I realised that the bird was simply not strong enough to be able to sit in a bush without falling out.  There was something definitely wrong with it.

What to do?  Well, there were three options:
(1) put it in the long grass at the side of the road and "let nature take its course",
(2) kill it cleanly and quickly (somehow!), or
(3)..

... I carried it home in my hand and rather suspected that it would quietly die as I walked.  The bird seemed content with this odd form of transport, and snuggled into the warmth of my palm like it was in a centrally heated nest.

This moment of caring for a little warm bundle of feathers.  The grip of its tiny feet.  My large hands making a gentle nest for this life.

I kept the bird at home for a few hours.  After giving it peace and quiet I tried feeding it, on several occasions, but it showed no interest at all in taking food.  Carefully observing the little fellow over time, I could see that there was something badly wrong.  In the early afternoon I took the bird to the local vet to have its life ended humanely.

I think that it is good to care about something or someone.  It is also good to care about what we make with our hands. It makes life richer.  

I am really behind again with this blog.  I have been very busy since I wrote last.  We took Christmas Day as a holiday, but I was working again the next day, Boxing Day, making mugs and cups.  I have a lot of stock to make as, on January 26 and 27 I will be demonstrating potting at the Lawrence Summer Arts Festival.  I will be working at my potter's wheel, and Laura will be looking after sales.  Laura will have some of her paintings there.

A few days after Christmas, we received a parcel from Belle-Île-en-Mer, which is an island off the coast of Brittany, France.

Nigella Stopit loves parcels!

For quite some time I have been enjoying reading the blog of Armelle.  Armelle lives on the Beautiful-Island-in-the-Sea, and makes lovely pottery and also paints.  Armelle very kindly sent us two of her lovely iron red tea bowls and little chun blue tiles to rest chopsticks on.  The glazes are special to us as we have corresponded about iron reds and chun blues.  To have something that Armelle has made on her little island on the other side of the world, is a real treasure.

All the way from France, pottery by Armelle.  

How lucky we are to be able to make friends with people from all parts of the world through the blog, and how lovely it is to actually hold in our hands something that they have made!

At the same time as making new work and completing a couple of commissions, I have been doing a lot of glaze testing, and refining of glazes.  I must say that I do like cone 10 glazes.  Many potters have abandoned this high temperature of around 1280 Centigrade or 2336 Fahrenheit, in favour of cone 6 glazes that mature at a significantly cooler temperature that causes less wear and tear on kilns and lower power bills.  Very Sensible of them.... But..... there is something about cone 10!  I have made particular progress with firing iron reds at this temperature, and I have some interesting blue and green glazes coming on, and an elusive pink!

Yarn organizer with a new blue glaze.

As I make progress I will continue to add things to my High Fire Glaze page  that you will find a tab for just under the header of this blog.

Well, I must go and pull some more pots out of the kiln.  Still lots and lots to talk about... but work is calling!!

And here is a peep into the kiln that I am about to unload!

First pot from the kiln!

Best Wishes for the New Year,

Peter & Laura