potty about pots

Business as usual at Argyll Pottery :)

2010-10-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

The bird feeders are always a good seller & the birds are always good advertising.....certainly cover the cost of their seeds & peanuts.

Now now no need to argue with each other.....there's plenty to go around.

This is our horses head that Alan made which keeps a watchful eye over the gallery at Argyll Pottery.

Hope you all like the winter scene, the wee houses & church can be bought separately for people to make there own Christmas scene at home. Little tip for you to recreate this.....use hairspray & icing sugar to get the snow effect :) The car crashing into the tree is just a wee extra authenticity.

& last of all I just wanted to show how great the pottery is looking at the moment after getting the outside of the building stripped back & resurfaced, looking good as new :)

chim chiminee :)

2010-10-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks, just thought id pop by with some pics of the latest firing to let everybody know that all is well at Argyll Pottery :) I've been up giving them a hand for a bit just over there busy period. Here's Hugh filling out the log book, he takes note of the temp every 15 minutes.

Got a good reduction going from the front of the kiln.......

& the back.

Sorry I haven't got pics of the results but I headed home before the kiln had cooled but I'm sure it all went well :)

My last post.

2009-12-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

Well folks thanks for viewing my blog & leaving such nice comments but this will be my last post from Argyll Pottery. I'm unknown if it will be for good or you might see me back here next year at some point, we'll see.
I have built a make shift pottery of my own on a spare piece of land at my Dads house in Glasgow & I'm hoping to make shapes & designs of my own for the first time, which is very exciting. The pottery is nearly there but still got the kiln to build so fingers crossed it goes to plan.
The picture I have inserted in this post was stunning view I had from the flat above the pottery.

Merry Christmas to you all & good luck in the New Year.

Many thanks, Nicola Lindsay

Nice new pots.

2009-11-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my pots that came out the last firing. This first pic is our bird feeders which stand on the top of a post, the birds love them.

The second picture looks a bit squint but hey.....these are my wine jugs, which got real good ash.

This is my handled bowl with the tenmoku (think thats spelt right) with the rutile slip painted on top of the glaze.

Here is a small collection of the tulip vases done in the granite glaze with again the rutile slip painted on top of the glaze, which gives the golden colours.

Here is another of my mousey pots, thought I would try it in the granite glaze this time but this pic doesnt show the colours at its best.

The latest firing.

2009-11-04T13:25:00.000-08:00

Hi there, sorry it has been so long since my last post as I've been having some problems with uploading pictures that had been taken with another camera, so I'm back to my camera phone pics.

This is our latest firing, its a bit of a mixed kiln, wee bit of everything in this firing. Here in the pic below, just a few bricks down & we could see straight away that we got good ash & good reduction :)

This is our front stack: I like to compare the difference between the before first pic & the after pic below, all zingy & toasty :)

& this is our back stack.......

I know the past 2 posts have been firings with nothing in between as if there has been nothing going on here at the pottery but that's so far from the truth. I will def be back with the goings on of whats been happening :)

The after pics :)

2009-09-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

Another firing well done, loads of nice new pots for the shop. Couldn't help taking some pics before the bricks were even down, always an exciting but nervous part when you first see the outcome of six weeks work.

Glazes all came out well, got good reduction & great wood ash. There were so many different things we needed for the shop, so we done our best to have a good selection of pots.

Here is the after pic of Hugh's mug's & coffee cups, this is only some of them.........

These are some of my first lamp bases, pleased with how they turned out, just need to rub them down, wire them up & glue the lids on :)

& last but not least my wee mouse pot......this started its life as a lamp base but I've had thoughts of putting different animals on a range of pots, so it ended up with a cheeky little mouse as a stopper. He didn't hang around in the shop for long, he was out the door within 2 days to a loving home.

Hard to believe a year has passed.

2009-09-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

It is one year today since Alan's accident & we thought the best way to remember him was to show the pottery is still going strong. Here are some pics of the last weeks firing.

Pics of pots will follow soon.

Running out of space.

2009-09-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

At the moment we are preparing for our next firing, as you can see from this pic our shelves are stacked with pots. These are Hugh's mug's & coffee cups, he has done so many handles for this firing & these are only some of them, poor Hugh.

These are some of my tulip vases & a batch of Hugh's bird feeders. I have moved to the next size up in the tulips, this will be the 3rd stage in them & hopefully they will work out well.

Here is another new shape I've tried for this firing, these are a batch of lamp bases. Had fun throwing these, the bigger the lump of clay the more fun it is :)

These are the medium size fan vases & our straight vases with plenty of banding to make sure that the granite glaze stays on the pot.

This last pot was a bit of fun :) plus a tribute to Alan & his frogy pots. The firing is planned for Wed the 9th so I will get back to you with the after pics soon.

Woof.......

2009-08-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

The boys & I had to make a run for it today in the neighbouring field as I think wasps have made a home there.

Balain wanted a nosey at something in the grass & when I looked I thought it was deer poo with a lot of flies round it (as Balain is quite partial to deer poo) but when he went over to investigate & I followed to stop him from eating it, we both realised it was loads of wasps round a hole in the ground.

Don't think I've ever seen Balain shift so fast, plus I wasn't that far behind him but running in long grass with wellies on aint that easy.

Meanwhile Murphy missed all the excitement as he was off still looking for a ball I had thrown for him. Don't think we will be walking over that way for a while.

Inspiration all around us.

2009-08-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

This summer in the fields around the pottery where I go walking with the dogs there has been so many nettles but I came across these ones getting munched by loads of caterpillars.

Now a couple of weeks since the last pic we have so many beautiful butterflies, nice swap for a load of stingy nettles :)

Not sure what type is what but if there is any people out there who is, could you maybe leave a note & let me know. Especially this third pic as the colour's were stunning.

There is just so many picture's to be taken, this gorgeous thistle with this busy bumble bee doing its thing.

& last but not least the Fox glove that has shown its bloom so elegantly this year. With all this beauty all around us, it sure isn't difficult to be inspired.

Making clay.

2009-08-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here is Hugh emptying the slop buckets with the left over clay & the pots that didnt quite make it to make our first mix.

Look at all that lovely clay :) just asking to be made into pots.

This is the next batch which is the new mix which is made up of Hyplas 71, Hymod AT (these are both Ball clay's), China clay & Nepheline Syenite. The Nepheline Syenite works well for making the wood ash stick to the pots better.

The next job is pugging, this takes a while. Think the part time work I done in factory's while seeing myself through Uni was good experience for pugging as being able to switch your brain off & becoming a drone help's. lol I dont mind pugging, quite nice to switch off & day dream for a bit

& finally here is our clay all nicely mixed, pugged & stacked in our old freezers which are great for storing clay. We stack our slop mix seperate from our new mix & use the slop mix first & let the new mix sour.

Some pots from the last firing.

2009-07-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

This first pic is of a handled bowl that I done. You might have seen this shape before from Alan's blog as it's a shape that Alan normally done. It is one of a batch of ten that I was pleased with the results. Some were glazed only on the inside & others all over.

This is one of the first flan dishes that i tried, found the shape easy enough but will need to practice my combing.

Here is a combination of myself & Hugh's pots, the four beakers are Hugh's & the jug is mine.

Took advantage of the sunshine today & photographed some of the pots outside as it shows up the glaze & decoration nicely. The cut handled bowl & casserole pot are Hugh's & the salad server at the front is mine.

Here is a collection of myself & Alan's tulip vases done in the granite glaze. This is a shape that is popular in the shop so it was important that we could replenish the little stock we had left of them. Both myself & Hugh are enjoying opening the kiln & seeing the pots we have never tried before, it's a nice feeling when it works & even better when sell fast. :)

Hungover firing.

2009-07-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

I got back to work on Tuesday while Hugh was finishing packing the kiln, nice tight pack. We fired on Wednesday, unpacked on Fri & I'm pleased to say it was a success.

The first pic is the front pack & the second is the back. There's been plenty of new pots for me to try plus a few new shape's for Hugh too, will post some pic's of them soon.

Why ive been such a bad blogger.

2009-07-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well it's the festival season again & I've been off seeing the best band's, dj's & friends while sunbathing in the great Scottish weather & dancing the night's away. The first picture is of myself & my friend Kirsty on the big wheel at T in the Park in Kinross, Perthshire.

There where 85,000 people a day at the festival, this pic gives an idea of the scale of it.

This is a pic of the main stage where I seen so many great acts including me & Alan's band of '08
Elbow.

Some great art work aswell, came across these randomly in the middle of a field & thought they were fab.

Always fancied having a go at some spray painting.

Sunsets :)

2009-06-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

Just cant get enough picture's of sunsets.

These picture's are the view from my flat above the pottery. The temptation to take numerous photograph's is too much, just cant help myself.

We've had such good weather recently, which is unusual for the west coast of Scotland. It's been over 3 weeks now of sunshine with the occasional shower :) fingers crossed it lasts.

Trying new shapes.

2009-06-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hugh & I have been busy trying shape's that are new to us. Alan had always made certain shape's & vice versa so it has been a challenge to both of us to keep the full range stocked up.

Here are some of the cut handled bowls that you may have seen Alan doing on his blog. These are Hugh's bowls which have turned out great, I'm sure Alan would be pleased with them.

Here I am trying out the salad servers as there is only 1 left in the shop & they sell well in the summer, so now is as good a time as any to give them a go.

Was nice to throw with a larger lump of clay for a change, don't know what it is but I find big pots easier to throw. Was pleased with how they turned out, fingers crossed I'll still feel the same after they are fired.

My new pal.

2009-06-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

I was out walking today with the 2 dog's & heard a lamb bleating & bleating as if it was shouting & balling, when I turned round to see what was going on it was standing at the top of the hill looking straight at me.

Next thing it started running through the field towards me, I couldn't tell if it was happy or angry until it reached me & seemed so happy to see me, just like the dog's when i come back to work after the weekend.

It loved getting a good scratch, especially round it's horn's that were just growing in but felt a bit strange clapping a sheep.

Firing done & dusted :)

2009-05-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

This 1st pic is when the kiln was just put into reduction, it gives a nice dark flame.

Where this 2nd pic shows our reduction flame pretty much at end temperature about 1300C.

The 1st dragon nearest you was at the top back, 2nd top front & the 3rd at the bottom front, gives you an idea of the hottest & coolest parts of the kiln.

First bricks of the door down & we were pleased, so far so good & validation of great reduction.

There's was a lot of pot's Hugh & I have tried for the first time this firing so we were anxious to see the results. At the top right of this pic you can see some of the rutile blue tulip vases that i tried & am delighted they turned out nice. These were Alan's design & we were running very low in the shop & needed to see if we could get them to work.

Ready steady go . . . . .

2009-05-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

A wee action shot of Hugh cutting the wood in between heavy showers for the firing.

Dragons all standing to attention waiting patiently to get fired :)

Some of Alan's large cup's in granite with iron oxide decoration.

The pottery is stacked high with pots waiting to get fired as the weather has been bad for the past couple of weeks & we haven't even been able to cut enough wood never mind fire the kiln.

A lot of these pots are shape's Hugh & I have never tried before but we seem to be managing anyway, we'll see when they have fired. Fingers crossed :)

Spring has sprung.

2009-05-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

As you can see from these pictures, spring has definitely sprung here at Argyll Pottery.

We had a couple of weeks of great sunshine :) then came the down poures of heavy showers :( so it's been great weather for the flowers.

Hugh cant keep up with cutting the grass, was cut 2 weeks ago & is already looking wild.

Love this time of year with all the gorgeous colours, makes me think of pretty summer dresses & getting rid of all the wooly jumpers for another year.

Hope you all enjoy looking at our pic's of the pottery garden as much as we enjoy the garden :)

Hugh & I's 2nd firing.

2009-04-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

All guns a blazing :) this is our chimney puffing away about half way through our 16 hour firing.

We wait for two days to let the kiln cool down at a nice pace, then we get to start removing bricks & revealing the results. This is always an exciting time.

The results were good :) sorry about the faded photographs as the it was a very sunny day & caused problems trying to take pics.
These are some of Alan's last pieces as we have been putting a couple in each firing as we don't want to put all the eggs in one basket (just in case).

Here are some of my mice looking happy & fat, celebrating a successful firing :)

Demonstrators at Kindrogan.

2009-04-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

This first picture is Douglas Fitch's work who I met at Kindrogan but has been a friend of Argyll Pottery through Alan's blog. Wish id got a decent picture of the puzzle jug though.

These two pictures are of Fergus Stewart's work who I also met for the first time at Kindrogan. Both demonstrator's were very different in the materials & the methods they used which made the weekend really interesting & had something for everybody's taste & preference.
Although ive been studying & working with clay for about twelve years now this was the first time ive ever been to Kindrogan. I had such a good weekend that i will deffinately be back in the future as I met some great like minded folk & really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere ;)

Paper Kiln @ Kindrogan by Carol Farrow

2009-04-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

These mice show the difference between the wood burning kiln & the paper kiln that was built at the Scottish Potters Association weekend. The brown one was fired in the kiln at Argyll Pottery & the black one from Kindrogan.

The paper kiln was built by many volunteers over the weekend by rolling news paper & weaving it. It was then packed with sawdust & pots then more sawdust & pots until it was filled.

Then the lid was placed on & ready to light. The stray rolls of paper that's coming from the bottom is what you light to bring the flame into the bottom of the kiln & drawn up throughout.

The outside wall of the kiln kept its shape & the flames began to show through the centre. After the initial lighting of the kiln it all went quite fast as there was strong wind.

From lighting to emptying it only took a couple of hours, which was surprising when i got my mouse from the ashes & realised it must have went to at least 7/800 C

The paper kiln was a fun & interesting thing to do & see but the success rate of pots from the kiln wasn't that high. There was a few things that survived & had nice effects but don't think we will start using this method at Argyll :) all good fun though x

My first day back after the winter.

2009-04-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

Was lovely to be back at the pottery as I wasnt sure what the plan was over the winter. These pics were takin on the 9th of March. What a nice welcome back to have such a stunning sunset :)

Feel so lucky to have this as my view from my flat above the pottery.

2009-04-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hi there, Welcome to my first post on my new blog for Argyll Pottery, hope you enjoy this one & others to follow. These picture's were takin in October of last year which was Hugh & myself's first firing without Alan.

As you can imagine the pressure was on to get it right & make Alan proud. When we opened the kiln we were chuft with the results :) as we both thought Alan would be pleased.

Although nothing is ever quite perfect as one of our cones decided to attach itself to a close by posy pot hehe we were both amused by this & have kept it as a momento. If this is the biggest problem we have then im sure we will be very happy.

Since im new to all this, if there is any tips or info anybody can give, please do.

Thanks, Nicola