Pottery painting part 2: The Glaze

I got my bowl back today, and I loooooove it! I really can’t believe how different the colours look compared to the pale pastels I used in the studio.

The only part that doesn’t look too different is my peeking moggy.

Isn’t she cute!

And this is the castle that my friend painted

I’m super impressed, she put in so many little details and it looks amazing.

So that’s the end of the pottery story, for now. I will definitely be going back for more at some point!

Hannah

xXx

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Pottery painting

Yep, it’s new hobby time again. Although this one will probably be much more sporadic than the others.

Last week my friend at work asked if I would like to go with her to try pottery painting, and I (being unable to resist anything crafty) said heck yes! So on Friday we went along to The Craft Pottery in the city centre.

First things first we had to select an item to paint, which sounds easy enough, but actually took us 10-15 minutes. They have so. much. choice. There are bowls and plates, mugs, egg cups, square tiles, faeries, bunnies, cookie jars, sugar skulls, camper vans, the list goes on! My friend was planning to paint a plain mug with a star wars character, but ended up choosing a novelty mug in the shape of a castle. I kept it simple and went with a little noodle bowl, although I will definitely have to go back soon to paint the ‘cup and saucer’ soup bowl I spent ages dithering over.

After noodling around on Google images earlier in the day I decided I wanted a pattern made up of little dots, and a cat peeking over an edge, but that was as specific as it got until I sat down with the blank bowl in front of me. Which made choosing colours another difficult decision.

The Craft have these clever plates on every table to show you how the colours will look.

There are so many beautiful colours I couldn’t choose just one so I went for a rainbow. You can’t go wrong with a rainbow.

And I must have been in a particularly loving mood because I decided to do a heart. Pencil marks burn off in the kiln so I sketched in the shape as a guide for my dots and got started.

I wanted pretty strong colours so each dot needed 3 coats.

At the start I was worried about the colours running or me smudging them, but the paint dries really quickly so neither was a problem.

We painted and chatted away, with occasional help and feedback for each other, and the time just flew by.

By the time I finished the inside of my bowl 2 hours had whizzed past! The £3 painters fee gets you unlimited time though, so I decided to also paint the outside of my bowl. This time keeping it simple with some rainbow stripes.

By then my friend was finishing up (I wish I’d taken a photo of her castle, it was amazing) so I just had time for a quick cheeky cat on the base of my bowl.

Then we were finished, just over 3 hours later! We left our goodies where they were, paid for our pieces, and headed out for a coffee. The staff will glaze and fire them and we’ll go back later this week to collect our finished items. I’m so excited to see what the colours look like.

So if you’re ever in Glasgow I highly recommend checking out The Craft Pottery. It’s super fun and really quite relaxing, plus you get to take home your very own work of art at the end of it.

Hannah

xXx

Finally Friday

I was so excited about making it to Friday (this has been the longest week ever) and leaving work early that I forgot to post!

But it’s okay, I’ve still got time.

I didn’t get a photo of the green octopom I made, so sadly I can’t show that off. Sadface. But I can show the two little kitties I made in record time, using this here pattern from Little Bear Crochets:

This one is about the length of my hand from wrist to fingertips

And this one is tiny. I used up the very last bit of my tabby cat sock yarn from Mothy and the Squid, and a 2.5mm hook.

The face is just sewn with a scrap of black I had in my stash

I am super proud of these moggies because I can really see how much my amigurumi has improved this year.

Turns out practice really does make progress!

I’m not showing any of my other makes yet, as they’re presents that won’t be opened until Christmas day and I don’t want to spoil the surprise!

Only 2 days to go, who’s excited?? Got any FOs you’re allowed to share? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

WIP and post Wednesday 13.12.17

To all my American friends: just see it as me making Christmas last even longer for you!

Yes, I have only just posted all my Christmas goodies today.

I’m optimistic that Royal Mail can sort out the UK ones in time, but I know I missed the boat with those going across the pond. (My phone just corrected that to pindpond so now I can’t stop laughing!)

Ahem, anyway. This week I’ve been working on some fingerless gloves to go into a raffle at my work.

This is what winning yarn chicken looks like. They are actually attached, I started one at each end of the skein so I could keep an eye on the amount of yarn left. It worked!

I’ve also made a start on another octopom and a tiny cat, both for Christmas presents.

That’s the octopom, not the cat. I wonder if anyone would want a green cat?

So that’s my week. How’s everyone else doing? Got some WIPs to share? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx