Billy

I had set the form below aside and almost forgotten about it in its plastic tent. It was made with slabs of 6mm porcelain, tomorrow I’ll paint and hack at the surface with fresh terrasig colours and scrafitto.

The image I had in my mind when making this was of a white sliced bread man named Billy Green.

Things I knew about him as a 14 yr old: He visited my father in his office on Saturday mornings, he paced outside for a long time before entering. He appeared to be always in thought. He was aged 44yrs and had false teeth which he didn't wear on the weekends. He would nod in my direction as a greeting. He lived with his mother who was lively, I saw her once. He choked on a chop bone and died.

eye eye

It’s a not a pretty teapot. It looks heavy but it’s light. The lid form came from a moulded dummy. The box is slab built and the spout n handle are rolled and pulled. The surface is layered and scratched at with red and yellow terrasigillata. The eyes are underglaze with glaze on top.

I knew it was ugly when I was making it but I still gave birth to it.

I hope it’s happy out there in the world.

a Friday

Today I had another day at home in isolation. I’ve set up my work on every vacant space and still there doesn't seem enough room. I’ve got terrasig brewing on the miserly small kitchen bench, pinch pots on the end of a squat table and plates on the computer desk. Its not very comfortable. Sigh.

Brighter news, I have a couple of new body stains, Lime and Water. They sound awesome but they lack oomph, good for layer work though. Still no photos, i’m feeling picture lazy.

sunday bloody sunday

Today I had a busy morning in the studio working on a plate illustrating some characteristics of a friend, MOK. It gets too hot in there around midday, sometimes 34 degrees and more with the kilns going. So I came home and started making a medium size pinch pot for my cactus’s offspring. I like it so much and I can foresee a direction of development so now I’m feeling quite serious about this humble pot. I’ll take a picture of all this sometime so you can see. The pinching method is such a satisfying tactile way of making and I’m feeling that familiar excitement for clay. There’s just nothing like it.