Jane Wheeler's Blog 2008 May

mud and flowers

Posted jane -->on 25th May 2008

walking at Morston continues to be a joy; low tides and low rainfall leave the mudholes and sticky black paths dried out and passable in sandals. the patterns of the cracked mud are dramatic.

as soon as we walk onto the marsh pairs of redshank mob us with their harsh calls.

they fly low and land close by, but the dogs ignore them.

towards the end of this week the air has been hazy with a strong east wind; the marsh shines silvery as the grasses all bend away from the wind.

I have discovered the pretty white star flower I found is not chickweed but greater stitchwort. I pulled some out of the hedgerow and checked it in my book. (by the way, Flora Brittanica is useles as a reference book, I am very disappointed with it. I have been using an elderly readers digest “Britain’s Wildlife” complete spotter’s guide)

Stellaria Holostea. and very starry it is.

in my garden all sorts of things are flowering. this is guelder rose, a common hedge shrub, with large red berries. it is poisonous.

I have a wild flower garden and I planted a lot of native shrubs seven years ago. the dog roses have become enormous with their looping habit of growth.

and the meadow itself; it is not at full blast yet, it needs some rain and a few more weeks growth, then there will be red poppies and yellow rattle as well as the big daisies. maybe some other things as well – yarrow, wild carrot, cornflower, ragged robin ……

today in the rain, rounding the edge of the wood, I found a roe deer doe outside the wood, munching on the small hawthorn trees. Tilda let out a squeal of frustration, and the doe looked round, as if in curiosity, she didn’t seem frightened. another doe, clearly visible in the wood, cracked a stick underfoot and slipped off into the trees. I was just fumbling with holding onto both dogs and trying to get my camera out when Tilda barked, and the spell was broken.

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dewy soft green

Posted jane -->on 22nd May 2008

a dew-spangled morning; at last the chilly north wind has gone round and the air feels soft.

green banks misted with dew in the damp air early this morning, barley whiskers smoothed down all across the field.

we took a route through the edge of the wood which was probably a much used path once; now only the deer wander through, criss-crossing it with their trails, and their hoofprints where the ground is damp.

blueish purple bugle spikes are everywhere, but the nettle-leaved bell flowers will over grow them later. many windows to the world of light and fields outside the wood give pale views of wheat on each side.

along the wood-shore red campion jostles with nettles, mares tail, docks, jack-by-the-hedge, cow parsley, willowherb and maybe enchanter’s nightshade.

and in the hedgerow of Clip Street a pretty white star petalled flower, which turns out, as far as I can make out, to be chickweed.

amongst the herbs and grasses of this enclosure date wide verge, it looks like some flower of ancient meadows.

there is also red clover

and buttercups, ablaze and fearless where they will never be sprayed with weedkiller.

and I am putting this green glaze in here, because tonight I packed this pot away to go to the Bircham Gallery in Holt, and I wanted to keep a record of the way the glaze came out on that particular pot in that particular firing. It was in April; the jade green has broken up into chestnut brown and crystalline markings, and it was quite a high temperature firing, cone 11 and higher, but I think not as much as reduction as the last two this month.

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the firing

Posted jane -->on 19th May 2008

yesterday we went to Morston again, to give Sal and Tilda a good leg stretch after the firing day. here’s T ambushing Sal

and rushing about, with a large lump of mud flicked up by her foot.

and here’s something to think on for texture and pattern. its just barnacles on an upturned plastic boat. In fact I think its going to be an inspiration for the knit collection, I can just see an embroidery, or an encrustation of sequins from this photo.

I am pleased with the firing. I had some re-tests of the new glaze, plus the new black clay, and I used the terracotta crank for the small cone settings to see how it reacted to the high temperature (80 degrees C higher than recommended)

here it is, opened up this morning. it’s good to keep a record of where things were in the kiln. the big pot on the left has reacted in the same way as the big bottle I had in that spot with the same glaze combination, fired in December.

the terracotta crank which I used for these cone sets has done about what you would expect a red clay to do – rather purplish and metallic. it might bloat as well, but I will put the pots I make using it in a cool part of the kiln.

the link for the pots is here

here is the black clay with white porcelain spread on it with a knife, then scored through, and glazed with the crawling shino. I think I shall get some more of the black clay, its very dramatic.

with the new versions of my dolomite/copper glaze, it has a lot of depth under the porcelain overlay.

this is the crawling shino glaze again, on the basic crank. it was very near the flue, which is a very hot place, and a lot of the glaze has just thrown itself to the kiln floor. I am going to have to chisel it off. it leaves this gorgeous reddish veined colour on the bare clay.

and the biggest pot came out very well, I think, another in the series of large bottles with the white clay layered over the crank. there is a mystery black metallic spot on its shoulder, which I like very much.

there must have been a bit of the used fireclay grog around when I rolled the clay out.

out again this afternoon, I can’t resist posting three photos, one of red campion in the hedgerow in Cake’s Lane.

and the Lane itself, full of twists and turns, it is very ancient. I would like to think it is prehistoric.

this gateway leads into another big permanent meadow, full of cowparsley. sometimes there are sheep in it, but it is allowed to grow long at this time of year. I don’t think it gets sprayed.

I would like to bet that a roe deer has fawns in here. they prefer long grass, and are as territorial about their fawning grounds as the bucks.

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under the beech tree

Posted jane -->on 16th May 2008

this morning, rather early due to a mixup reading my watch, we went into the wood edge under the big beech tree. its very shaded now all the leaves are out, but you can see the roe deer have been lying under it in the dry leaf-mould, and there are two fraying posts on the circumference of its shade circle.

it’s like being in a cave, a green cave; a little light filters down from the canopy, but not much.

out from under the beech tree there are flowers; blue spikes of bugle further in, and dark pink red campion flowers under the hazels at the edge, where the undergrowth is lush – nettles, mares tail, ground ivy, and lots of other green things I ought to look up.

the beet field had at least eight hares on it this morning – one came bounding past as we ducked out of the wood. it was rather too exciting for the dogs. even more frustrating for them, a fox ran away from us through the wheat and into the scrub as we came round the corner.

Tilda paid me back on Cake’s Lane – something caught her eye and she was round the corner and blasting through the hedge into a field of barley …… back five minutes later very disheveled and panting like a steam train. it might have been a deer. I will have to keep her on the lead all the way up the lane at this rate, the roe deer are in the middle of their fawning month.

the kiln is packed for a glaze firing, so I expect to be out there a couple of times tonight.

(2 comments)

mud

Posted jane -->on 15th May 2008

we went to Morston this morning for a change. after the dry spell and with the small tides this week, it was a good time to walk there. the black estuarine muds are all cracked just like the pattern my glazes make.

the tide was out, a lark was singing higher and higher above the marsh and the sun was on my back.

although the sea lavender, and the grasses and reeds look pretty dried up, thrift (sea pink) and sea campion are everywhere.

Tilda and Sal really enjoyed the freedom of these wide open marsh and mud sand spaces and we paddled across the Stiffkey twice.

there were three swans further up the channel, and they took off, disturbed by the cockle diggers, necks stretched, their wings making that amazing sound as they rowed the air.

the wind was coming off the sea, so no temptation of hare and rabbit scents, and Tilda was very good. she was too busy splashing and paddling and running in circles and ambushing Sal.

also blowing away from us was the pollen from this horrible crop. there is so much of it this year. it affects people who don’t even get hay fever, plus far more chemicals are needed to grow it than any other crop. it does make dramatic photographs though.

back home, I mixed three small lots of glaze, the black and one of the blues from the batch of glaze tests, in larger quantities for glazing, and another version of the dolomite/copper glaze, with no tin, and no feldspar. I should be able to run a glaze firing tomorrow night into Saturday.

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hawthorn

Posted jane -->on 14th May 2008

now the hawthorn is in flower, wherever it is untrimmed or allowed to grow into a tree. all round the paddock at the back of the house there are big hawthorns covered in blossom.

the profusion of foamy white flowers in May covers tree and hedge-bank like a heavy snowfall.

four pots made today, all more or less the same shape.

but all slightly different. same clay again, straight crank with the reclaim, and the porcelain buttered on with a knife.

I tried something new with the scoring on this one. I have been looking at a book of Korean ceramics; their Punch’ong ware, which has white slip brushed on over a dark clay body, is partly the inspiration for this porcelain overlay. the Korean pots have stamped, incised and sgraffito designs under and through the slip, so I have been thinking about adding to my repertoire of scored marks and lines.

looking for images of Punch’ong;

this looks like unglazed slip, I love the thick dry surface.

and contemporary work by Korean potter Lee Kang Hyo.

a nice link between snowy flowers and white slip.

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barley brushes

Posted jane -->on 13th May 2008

back to Holt Lowes for a late walk yesterday. I have avoided it for about six weeks because adders in their mating season make it an unsafe place to take dogs. the evening sunshine lit up all the new leaves, and we enjoyed a wonderful walk, encountering a roebuck in the pine tree plantation. I have seen a buck in there before, standing on the barrow, one of those which has given the Lowes its name.

bracken fronds are just beginning to uncurl, and male ferns are in full foliage. the gorse has mostly finished flowering, but broom still has all its flowers on.

the ground is still quite bare. it needs a good rain and warm temperatures to grow some cover. in the middle of the heath, a single apple tree, probably a crab, in flower.

back home, the kiln was cooling off after a biscuit firing. two pots made from the mix of the plain crank and the reclaim bucket I wedged up the other day. it has some extra grog in it, and a tendency to split and crumble, which the crank on its own won’t do. better for my needs.

a bumble bee on the red campion in my garden at 7.30 pm.

this morning there was a hare at the edge of the wood. it eyed me suspiciously for a while as we approached, but stayed long enough for this shot. it was hidden enough by the grass that the dogs, behind me as dogs under control should be, didn’t see it.

along Clip Street the seven figs trees hanging over the garden walls are full of little figs, with the leaves about halfway out.

and now all the winter sown barley is beginning to sprout soft heads like upright brushes, bright green against the blue of the stalk-shafts.

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dew-drenched

Posted jane -->on 11th May 2008

earlier than usual this morning, the dew soaked my feet, my trousers, and the dogs. it was very pretty though.

cool airs and mistiness

there were a few hares about, but the deer kept hidden, and I kept T on the lead mostly after the last two days bad behaviour. she is very easy on the lead, typical laid-back lurcher.

apparently I have missed the best of the bluebells. it will have to wait until next year. but the cow parsley makes up for it.

I tried another new clay today, Earthstone’s terracotta crank. I suspect it won’t work at my firing temperatures, but its really nice to make pots with, not nearly as coarse as the black crank. I am going to mix it with the stoneware crank and reclaim stuff, hopefully that will work out temperature-wise. but if it doesn’t bloat at high temperatures I should get an interesting purple colour. three pots I made with it today.

potted out three little cherry tomato plants and eleven broad bean plants into big plastic pots today. I do all my vegetable gardening in pots.

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black clay

Posted jane -->on 10th May 2008

I bought some black firing crank from Valentine’s this week, I am curious to see it fired. it is an intense red, drying to purple or dried blood colour, and is difficult to keep from staining the whole workshop and my clothes. it is also the sharpest toothed crunchy crank I have ever used, difficult to cut with a knife, and when it dries a bit it feels like handling concrete.

I made these yesterday.

today I made a porcelain overlay, spreading David Leach porcelain on with a knife like butter. very difficult to keep red fingerprints off the porcelain. but scored through it should be very dramatic. also perhaps the porcelain will be more translucent over the black clay.

I used all the remaining clay to make these little brush-holder pots.

its was rather too warm in the workshop, but outdoors everything in the garden is very beautiful.

I can dry the pots out in the sunshine. what an idyllic potter’s life.

these old sheds are due to be knocked down and replaced by wood and tiled roof versions this year. although they look very romantic, they are dark and leaky.

saw this butterfly this morning, while waiting for naughty Tilda who went off on some escapade …

its a speckled wood, is territorial, likes oakwoods, and sips the honeydew secreted by aphids rather than feeding on flowers. this is a female, they have more pointed wings.

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plates

Posted jane -->on 9th May 2008

I had an unexpected glimpse of a roe deer lying in the wood, through a gap in the hedge as we walked along the edge of the wheat this morning. I just saw her head in the tail of my eye, turned my head to look, and kept on going as she was very near. she was in a patch of dappled sun, ears and head up. they are ruminants, so need to lie up to chew the cud for a proportion of the day.

a succession of glorious mornings continues, providing so many pretty summer pictures its hard to know when to stop.

cow parsley, red campion.

now I am looking more carefully at the roadside trees I have identified another – field maple, our only native maple tree, and a small one. the leaves are glossy, with delicate green flowers.

the oak trees are in flower too, tassels of male catkins and long female flowers.

this is the usual quercus robur, “pedunculus” of the hedgerow, complete with oak apple – a mutation of a leaf caused by chemicals injected by the larvae of certain kinds of wasp. the other native, sessile, oak have stalks to their leaves, which robur doesn’t, and no stalks to their acorns, and are usually found in cooler upland areas. there is in fact a small turkey oak in the hedgerow.

back home in the workshop, here are some plates I was asked to make by a friend. they are a larger version of my glaze test tiles; I used the S&T material white grogged stoneware instead of porcelain, not having enough porcelain at present, but I will try out Valentine’s grogged porcelain for this project.

the kiln is almost full for the next biscuit firing.

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mud and flowers

dewy soft green

the firing

under the beech tree

mud

hawthorn

barley brushes

dew-drenched

black clay

plates

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