Wheelie good fun!

As some of you know I bought a pottery wheel the end of last year and I now have to somehow teach myself to learn how to throw pots. I've found some really good videos on you tube to get me started and the wonderful Mr Ty Siriol bought me the Simon Leach book and dvds for Christmas. 

Even though it has been a tad cold for working in the garage over the winter months I have managed a few attempts with the aid of a fan heater. I really need to get that garage door bricked up! 

Anyway, I have a set of 3 tapas bowls that I made for Mr Ty Siriol as he does love his Mediterranean food. Here is what they looked like after the first firing and once the glazes had been painted on. This is before the final firing. 

A set of tapas bowls ready to be glaze fired.

 The brown glaze is meant to turn out green after the firing. 

Here are the final bowls. 

Tapas bowls after the glaze firing

Tapas bowls for Mr Ty Siriol

I am really pleased with how they turned out. I think the dark blue one is my favourite as I really love that you can see the circular marks where it was thrown on the wheel. 

As this was the first thing from my wheel that was worth firing I had to sign and date the bottom of the very first one. This little guy will now be my bench mark to see if I improve! In the meantime they are being well used. :-)

The underside of my first tapas bowl with my signature and the date. 

I'm looking forward to the weather warming up enough that I can throw on the wheel with the garage door open so I can see the woods opposite at the same time. 

That's all for now folks. Thanks for joining me. 

Cath xx


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Festive robins!

It's that time of year again when we dust off the festive ornaments and bring them back out to shine. A few years ago I made a robin and he comes back out every Christmas, in fact he never really goes away but is relocated to somewhere less prime. I like to rotate my pieces for display and I have enough of them now! Here's my faithful robin. 

This lil guy is a few years old now and one of my very first pieces. I still love him. 

This year I made a series of robins for the Christmas tree. All but one have been sent as gifts but this one is my daughter's robin and he hangs on our tree. 

This year's new addition to the robins.

I had fun making these but did learn a valuable lesson about glaze interactions. The breast was meant to be red but it reacted with the brown to give a golden colour. I actually quite like it even if it was an accident. The main thing is that my daughter loves him.

I hope you are all getting in the festive spirit and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas with lots of robins. :-) 

Cathy xx

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Introducing Ty Siriol Crafts

I've wondered for some time now about having crafts other than ceramics in a shop called 'Ty Siriol Ceramics'. Finally this year, my mum, Chris has taken over the crafts side of Ty Siriol Ceramics & Crafts and we have opened a second shop, 'Ty Siriol Crafts'. 

Not only does this segregate our stock nicely but it also gives my mum an opportunity to learn to use a computer and run a shop. I have to say that I'm really proud of how well she is doing. I've set her up with a laptop and the basic software to start with and she's hit the ground running. She does the photography and watermarking herself as well as uploading the stock onto the shop. She even has a facebook page now! 

My next task is to teach her to use the teams on Etsy and introduce her to the lovely Golden Threads team. I'm sure she would fit in really well. In fact it could become hard to tear her away. :) 

To give you an idea of what Chris has in her Etsy shop here are a couple of photos. Firstly, Chris is an artist and does some fantastic paintings.

One of Chris' silhouette paintings

This is an original oil painting that Chris has done. I have several of her works in my house.

 Chris also turns her hand to paper crafts and combines them with crochet. I call it mixed media crochet art! 

A mixed media greetings card incorporating crochet art.

Chris is also very experienced at knitting and crochet. Sadly I don't have any of her work in my files but these, which are mine, are also in her shop to give you an idea. 

My rhubarb and custard scarf

A scarlet red scarf with tasseled ends

These lovely wrist warmers are also in stock

Chris is also talented with ceramics and a few pieces in my shop were made by her. Here is an example.

A holly and berry bowl by Chris

I would like to congratulate my mum on her hard work and talents. Mum, this blog is all about you and how proud of you I am. :-)

If you would like to have a nose at Chris' new shop then you can find it here.
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TySiriolCrafts 

Pop by and please tell your friends. You never know, you might spot a unique gift for someone who has everything! 

Thanks for reading and take care,
Cathy xx


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Inspiration is all around us

I'm always on the look out for inspiration and never know what can make the creative juices start to flow. Even on holiday I find myself looking carefully at the ceramics in the shops and the styles that different cultures adhere to. Recently while visiting Spain I was inspired by the vibrant colours and bold designs that they use. In fact, it seemed to be a theme in other places that we visited on this cruise, including Corsica and Pisa, Italy. 

I know it's not the most polite thing to do but I did have to photograph some things that I saw in the shops. At least I tried to do it discretely, I didn't want to be shouted at in a language I couldn't argue my point in!

Take a look and you'll see why I was drawn to them. 

Barcelona. Handmade pottery.

Handmade ceramic tiles in Barcelona

Handmade pottery in Barcelona

Mass produced (I think) ceramics in Corsica. They have great vibrant handpainted designs.

Hand painted ceramics in Corsica

Corsica

La Coruna, Spain. Quite a different style here compared with Catalonya but still very bold. 

I'll keep this blog handy for when I need a bit of motivation and inspiration. Strangely enough, during my water colour painting class on ship I was told by the tutor that I have a very bold style. I never would have thought that but when I looked at other class members work I had to agree with him. Maybe I'm working my way up to being as bold as the Spanish (and others) with my ceramics. 

Thank you for reading,
Cathy xx 

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Roman pottery

While I was on honeymoon I was, of course, drawn to anything pottery related that I saw. Just ask Mr Ty Siriol and he'll roll his eyes and smile. :-) While we were in Cartagena, Spain we went to visit the site of a Roman Theatre that had only recently been discovered and excavated. It had been buried a long time ago rather than demolished (as it was cheaper and easier) and the site had been built on. Over the years it was forgotten. 

The inhabitants of Cartagena were shocked when they discovered Roman remains (buildings and pottery) during a routine mini-excavation, which is required before building planning is granted. Archaeologists were called in and a full scale excavation took place. No one has any idea how a Roman theatre so big could have remained hidden for so many years. Houses and buildings were demolished so that they could uncover it and work is still going on today. 

Birdseye view showing just how big the site is.

The Roman Theatre at Cartagena, Spain

In the museum they had displayed some of the pottery that they found and it seems that this site was in use for hundreds of years. When it was no longer used as a theatre parts of it were converted into shops, like a marketplace. Much of the pottery was here and came from countries all over the Mediterranean as shown on this map.

Map showing the origins of some of the pottery found at Cartagena Roman Theatre.

I tried my best to photograph some examples to show you but the light was poor. Here's some of what I got. 

The platter on the right appeared to have been made by being pressed into shape. The two jars look to have been made on a wheel. There was no obvious decoration on these pieces and they were more functional. 

These amphorae are oriental (if my translation is right) and look to have been decorated with a layer of clay slip, some of which is still present.  

This pitcher looks like is was made from coils of clay and dipped in clay slip so that it could be more asthetically pleasing.

Here we can see 2 plates that have been beautifully decoration in the Catalan style using oxide stains. The lower right jar is much older and shows decoration made from finger indentations. 

These are from the Paterna-Manises region and show a more decorative finish. 

I love these pieces. They show the scrafitto (scratched) decoration beautifully. They were made to be asthetically pleasing as well as functional. 

I have looked through all the photos from no less that 3 cameras and it seems that there isn't a photo of me in Cartagena. I'm usually the one with a camera in my hand meaning of course that I'm rarely in the shot. I need to do more selfies! Anyway, this is a photo of me on the ship not long after we set sail again from Cartagena. 

Me on the ship leaving Cartagena

I hope you enjoyed, or at least indulged me by reading through my blog on the pottery found in Cartagena Roman theatre. 

All the best,
Cathy xx

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