Unpacking the Kiln...

Another very succesful kiln firing this week with great results. 
It's always so much fun unpacking a kiln after firing, I love the anticipation of wondering how that bowl looks, or did the spoons come out OK? Did the glaze work? etc... or knowing that you will have so many bisqued items to go on with and decorate to get to the next stage - good fun!
We were both so pleased with the results and we have several pieces which have 'made the cut' into the Trading Place exhibition in Port Augusta.

Mixed Messages...

The above photos show some of the great results - although some of the photos don't really do justice to the pieces (as I only took them with the phone) but they really are great! I especially love Cass' coconut bowls, they turned out fabulous.
Lots of my spoons turned out pretty good too, but I have mixed feelings about my miniature landscapes - some I love, some I'm not so rapt with, some I just can't decide.... does anyone else have this problem? 

Sunday Ceramics...

Not sure if there's a Sunday Ceramics this week, there was talk of it going bi-weekly - but check it out anyway... always worth it!

One of the Crowd...

Check out my friend Kim's pozible campaign - some great rewards offered. I think it has inspired me to try it - who wants one of our artworks in exchange for helping us out? Stay Tuned for details...

... and until next time keep creating...

I have nothing to say... 
I am struggling finding anything to say today...
...not because our week was uneventful, it wasn't - I am just exhausted and don't really feel like writing, however, ....
...at the start of the year I decided to make the commitment of trying to write something here every week, so I will stick with it and write something ... but it might not be much :)

Mapping Our Region
Our work continues with the collecting country project and we have been busy mapping the region to identify key places, concentrating on significant places both in the natural, the man-made/monumental categories and places of importance to the Bundjalung People (showing the proper cultural respects, of course). We plan to use this formula in the other areas that we visit on our 'Trading Place' tour as well. This is a really interesting exersize and one worth doing for anyone really, especially the artists amongst us! Once we have made a map of these key places we intend to visit all of them (a lot of which we have already done, see previous posts) and take a sample imprint of anything that we find interesting to then make an artwork from. There are the obvious 'big ticket' places like Mt. Warning, Byron Bay Lighthouse, The Big Prawn and the like, but it's the secondary places that interest me the most, places like Tooloom Falls or Woolool Woolooni or Black Rocks... - maybe it's just the explorer in me! 
And on that note, if anyone from the Nth NSW region wants to share an important place with us please let us know.

Sunday Ceramics
I received my swap spoon in the mail from Kim Foale of Sunday Ceramics - Thanks Kim! Now I just need to glaze and refire to send her my swap in return. It's fun to swap and this concept of exchanging ware directly feeds into our Trading Place project, so I am really excited to have started some trades already!
 
Until next week... (maybe I will be re-energised by then)
...Keep the creativity flowing

Kiln Packed 
This week we packed the kiln with our first round of offerings, which is always an exciting process - it's just the bisque but still makes you feel good! I love the anticipation of waiting for the firing process to end and then opening the kiln again to see what treasures await. The bisque firing offers all the promise of what will happen and then deciding how the pieces will be glazed or finished - love it!

Dish it out 
We have now graduated from spoons to little dishes (although continue to make spoons as well)

Pictured above are some of the first lot of these dishes. They are fun to make and look great with the imprints. They just look like squares of clay but they are shaped to form small dishes or plates.

Little Landscapes
I have also been experimenting with creating some miniature landscapes (one of these is pictured right). These were also a load of fun and we will most definitely make some more of these. This one I'm calling Up Mallanganee Hill. It's a very steep hill and anyone who's towed anything up it will relate! Our previous vehicle really used to struggle and it was almost impossible to tow a caravan up there, luckily our current vehicle climbs the hill with ease!

Impressing Country
One thing about this process of responding to place is that we have a great excuse to go out exploring the region. This week we decided to go bushwalking in Bundjalung National Park and went on the Wedding Tree walk by the banks of the Evans River at the Evan's Head end of the park. This is of great significance to the Bundjalung People as it is the site of the first camp made by the 3 brothers who first arrived at the beach by canoe. The Wedding Tree is a kurrajong tree and was a wedding gift from the Wahlubal tribe from Tabulam.

It's such a peaceful place and full of wildlife too - we really enjoyed our time there, although the little one was complaining about having sore legs! "Bushwalking is really, really hard" he says, and wanted to be carried back.
I look forward to our next exciting adventure, all in the name of Art!

And if you're interested don't forget to check out the other ceramic studios posted on Sunday Ceramics.


Until next time.... keep creating!