Ryedale Vineyards

The weather has been lovely today and couldn't have been better as this afternoon was the wine launch at Ryedale Vineyards. RV are one of my  newer clients and having designed their logo they asked me to design labels for their first wine pressings. I know I wasn't going to talk about work on the blog but this was more pleasure today. The wine is all bottled with the new labels in place and they had the launch at the farm this afternoon. I'm no wine buff but I have to say that both rose and white were delicious and they put on a lovely spread to nibble with it.

The Wolds View which is the white is of a very limited quantity due to the wet summer last year and only 100 bottles have been pressed, the rose is of a slightly larger quantity with about 350 bottles which will be on sale later in the year.

I hope they have a good harvest this year as they have worked so hard to get this new venture up and running, They have a wonderful B&B at the farm also.

Fabric & Fimo cupcakes

I bought a couple of nice fat quarters from Ebay with cupcakes & chocolates, I think the fabric might work well with some of my pink flowery brooches.

A small project required me to get out my Fimo polymer clay and seeing the lovely pink & chocolate colours I couldn't resist having a go at some cupcakes. After glazing I will be attaching pins and turning into brooches.

HIghland cows in Millington

It was a warm bank holiday weekend and the roads around here to the coast were pretty unpleasant and busy with bikers & sunday drivers so the best idea was to stay in and be safe. 

Had one brief evening trip to Millington Woods and then the lovely drive through Millington Pastures and spotted these Highland cows. Where I have drawn the arrow you can just see one cow and eventually a procession of cows and a huge grunting bull came around the corner. It was great to see them and reminded me of Scotland.

Ceramics May 21st

I am now convinced my Hornsea style pot has been broken as it hasn't come out of either of the kilns and the most annoying part is not knowing what happened to it. So, when I return next week I am putting a 'wanted' style poster in the room asking if any of the day students have seen it or know what happened to it. I'm taking no prisoners with this one as I put a lot of effort into it!

The Ben Arnup style vase I did has come out of first firing ok and I have returned it to the kiln with a clear glaze on part of it. This picture is prior to the glaze.

Have also done some wall plaques inspired by using the leaves again.

Tartan flower brooches

At the weekend I have been making some new style brooches to list on Ebay.

These flowers are created with the tartan remnants which I got earlier this year from Lochcarron Weaving Mill.

Ceramics in progress

Last Thursday my Hornsea Heirloom style pot did not materialise from the kiln as expected, it has either been broken and the remains thrown away or some of the groups pieces have been taken to an exhibition. The annoying thing about that is no one has asked us they have just been taken direct from the kiln and put into a college exhibition. Until I see the exhibition I am still wondering what has happened to it!

Some of my tiles from the previous week have come out rubbish, all that carving designs onto them and the glaze has come out too dark to see the design so no photo. The tiles on the pic here are the bisque fired versions and I have just glazed those so will see if I get a better result on this batch.

One of our group did a talk and demonstration on local potter, Ben Arnup's work, and the tall vase is done in that sort of style. Ben uses different coloured clays in a random way to create patterns (much more to it than that but will keep this short). I have used a crank clay base, with some clay coloured with a black oxide pigment and porcelain highlights.

Clay figures

I had some clay lying around which was still soft so I have made a couple of figures to take with me for firing tonight. I quite like having a go at figures, I'm not very good at it and find them quite difficult, they tend to look like Morph.

It's difficult to get proportions right, I usually leave faces featureless as they generally turn out rubbish and getting them to stand up is tricky too. I had a go with a face on one of these, I thought I better push myself to have a go as time is running out at class.

Small ceramic bottle

I collected this from pottery last week, it is a small pinch pot done in the style of a perfume bottle.

The presentation I did on Hornsea Pottery went well and rather than bore the group to death they actually found it quite interesting and nostalgic with a few of them reminiscing their own Hornsea memories.

The pot I had done in the style of Heirloom wasn't out of the kiln so unfortunately I have to wait til tomorrow for the result.

Ceramic tiles

I think there are about 5 sessions left at pottery before we finish. I am trying to rattle out as many things as possible so have been cutting out tiles and decorating them at home.
They are quick to do and one day I will be able to use them in a kitchen or perhaps frame a few up as a wall piece.

They are quite addictive when you get going. The face one is done by carving the design into the tile, then spreading white slip over to fill into the grooves, allow it get leather hard and then with a kidney tool scrape the surface off to reveal the design.

I've also been slip trailing on them, pressing bits of lace in and then painting slip over and doing similar with leaves. I searched for leaves with a good vein structure and was quite impressed at how well they have taken in the clay.

Tonight I am doing my final project which in my case at the end of the third year can be a presentation or some pieces of work. I have chosen to do a presentation and will be giving a talk on....... Hornsea Pottery, now there's a surprise!!

Clothkits bag

I think it was last year when I discovered the Clothkits brand had been re-born. How fantastic, I used to love Clothkits and for anyone who doesn't recall they produced clothing in the 70's & 80's. You could either buy their garments ready made, or in a kit form and have the fun of making it up yourself.

The kits were brilliant, all the cut lines for the different sizes were marked on the fabric and they supplied thread, zips, buttons to make it up. The fabrics were very groovy and colourful.
This week I finally got round to ordering a Clothkit and went for a cute bag & purse kit. The service was brilliant as it came the next day and it was just as exciting opening the package all beautifully wrapped and waiting to get sewing.
The bag is done, just got the purse to do.

Smell the difference

This picture does not do justice to the wonderfully fragrant garlic and tomatoes I bought today.

Whilst in Scarborough this morning there was a small continental food market and one particular stall was so nicely set up and with the smell of tomatoes and strawberries wafting from it, I couldn't resist a purchase.
The stall itself was too crowded and busy to take a picture but the fruit and veg looked fab. They had many different and exotic looking tomatoes, asparagus in 2 colours, different garlics, the list could go on.

I am going to try roasting one of the large garlic bulbs with some smoked paprika.