Your Place

Today we had the chance to get all the brilliant sculptures that were made by the visitors to our exhibition at The Grid Studios, into the photography room!



By making a creation at the exhibition, you all became part of Our Place, and turned it into Your Place!




We had a lot of fun looking at all your creations again as we were laying them out to photograph!










Some of these I will be attempting to fire. Some I couldn't fire due to thickness, fragility, or suspected air in the model.
Those that survive firing will be placed around the studio, my home and Garden, and will hopefully bring delight to those who spot them!

Thank you to everyone who was involved!

Back in the studio

It's great to get back to the studio but I left it in a bit of a state after finishing the last Christmas commissions so the first job has been a big tidy up!

Before...


After...


I love the spontaneous artworks that appear around the studio.





I call those last ones clay sprites and I feel a bit sad wiping them away. 😅

The next job was sorting out some clay!
What a lot of people don't realise is all the work that goes into reclaiming and preparing clay before you can make something.

When clay dries out in the bag you need to soften it up again. I use the method of sealing it in airtight bags with a cup of water and then submerging the bags in a tub of water. The water outside doesn't get in but pushes the cup of water you put inside all around the clay. So you should get an evenly soft block of clay after a week or few depending on how hard the clay was to start with.



Any trimmed clay or slops from throwing get thrown into a slops bucket with some water. These are then spread onto plaster slabs, we call it making mud pies. The plaster absorbs excess water.



Then when the clay is the right consistency to get out any air trapped in the clay and make it a smooth consistency throughout it needs to be wedged. Wedging is like kneading but with the opposite aim, to remove air.



It's quite a workout if there's lots to do!

Sometimes curious faces appear in the wedged clay.



After all that hard labour out the way, next time I'm in the studio I'll actually be able to start creating again!

New Items Available Now!

There are new pieces for sale now in my Etsy store, please take a look.

I've been working hard exploring new techniques as I try to find my style.

I've always enjoyed working in the theme of wildlife but lately my local hedgehogs have really inspired me and it's become a theme!

Not all of the new items on offer are hedgehogs, I also have some raku pieces available.

If none of these takes your fancy we also have a lot of items at The Nest, Rugby and The Crafty Shack, Crick (next to the garden center) with lots of nice ceramic decorations available.

Be Part of the Art -Final Day

The last day of exhibition at The Grid Studios was very busy with lots of enthusiastic creators eager to get stuck in and be part of our collaborative artwork!

Look at the amazing final additions that were created!

A dragon named Chuff!


A shark named Trevor, and a fantastical wizards hat!


Albert the turtle


A different perspective on tile making


A lovely little plant holder


A zombie and an alien!


A brilliant bat!


And even Morph dropped by!


And a dashing horse


Thanks to everyone who took part, today and during the whole of the exhibition. We've had so much fun seeing your fabulous creations, and getting to chat with you!

All the sculptures will be photographed together in the near future!

I'll post pictures here and on fb.

Thanks for being a part of Our Place!

Part of the Art -Day 7 and 8

I didn't make it to the studio for day 7 but luckily my mum did and so did my aunt and uncle, they made these nice clay prints.



Sadly no one else wanted to join in that day. But today we had some lovely creations and a very young visitor had a go too!



This flower is beautiful!


And this bowl show that even something as simple as a thumbnail can be an effective tool for adding texture.


And check out this cute Lil mouse!


Tomorrow is your last chance to come and make something to be Part of the Art!

http://www.gridstudios.co.uk

Part of the Art - Day 6

It was a quiet day today, but we did get a fantastic lizard, and a ferocious dinosaur added to our collection!



Rawr~


http://www.gridstudios.co.uk

Part of the Art - Day 5

I wasn't able to make it to the studio yesterday, but today we had lots of creative people contributing to our growing collection of artworks!



A very comfy snoozy dog


A pair of curious characters


A musical instrument!


And a whole collection of fun creatures along with a very striking coil pot


There's still time to be part of the art at http://www.gridstudios.co.uk