Incense burners and mindfulness meditation

For the last couple of years I've been learning and practicing mindfulness meditation. It's all about being present in the moment. Don't worry about the past, as you cannot change it, and don't worry about the future as you don't know what will happen. Instead it's all about living in the present moment and taking the time to slow down or stop and see the world around you in all it's wonderful glory. 

It took a little practice at first to really slow down and I often find my mind wandering even now. But that's ok. I just observe that my mind has wandered and guide it back to where I want it to be. I don't scold myself but rather the key is to observe in the third person. I do this for other situations as well as I can work out what happened without any emotional involvement. 

I've even taught my daughter how to do it and she tells me that she often does it on the school bus looking out the window at the sky after a difficult day. By the time she comes in the door she has grounded herself again and is happy. We like to meditate in the garden when we can, just the two of us. 

While learning meditation I've been thinking about what others use to help them focus. I love to be outdoors and smell the grass and flowers, even the rain. Others like to burn their favourite scents, such as lavender or sandalwood. I'm highly sensitive to artificial smells so I don't burn scented candles or incense. Even so, I have started making incense burners for others and I'm selling a batch on Etsy. The first batch are all keeping in touch with nature and are leaves in various finishes. If they prove to be popular then I will look into other more organic styles. 

Incense burners shaped as leaves by Ty Siriol Ceramics

A selection of leaf incense burners by Ty Siriol Ceramics

I've sent another red one off just this morning so they do seem to be in demand. The red is also my favourite of them. Do you have a favourite colour? If so please post it in the comments. I do love to hear what you think. 

If you would like to see which ones are left in stock my Etsy link is below. 

Thanks for reading,
Cathy x

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Cardiff Food Festival

I recently went to the Cardiff Food Festival with Mr Ty Siriol. Even though as a coeliac sufferer I can't eat anything there, Mr TS love, love, loves his food and the more exotic the better! 

So off we went in the drizzly rain, me in my really unattractive bright purple rain coat and Mr TS looking normal and blending in well. At least he could find me easily if I wandered off! 

See! I told you it was bright!

Thankfully, it's not only food at the festival. There were also an array of art and craft stalls with their owners wrapped up warm and sheltering as best they could from the endless rain. 

There were a few ceramics stalls. I really loved the stoneware and their glazes. Sadly, my kiln doesn't fire to those temperatures... but Mr TS did say that maybe next year we could save for a new kiln. :D He's so wonderful. Love him to bits. (Sorry about the soppy bit. ;-) ) 

There was one stall where children were being shown how to throw their own pots on the wheel. It was lovely to watch the children getting involved, despite being in the rain. I did take a sneaky photo on my phone. Aren't they wonderful?

We went for a walk down around the bay area and found even more food stalls. The smells were wonderful. It's a good thing I'd eaten or my will power might have failed me. 

It was a good day out even in the rain so it would be great in the sun shine. I would recommend it. They also have various bands playing with the beer tents around the stage if food isn't your thing. ;-) 

I'll leave you now with a photo of some boats that were moored up in the Bay and a mummy swan with her cygnets. 

Take care.
Cathy xx

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It's been a while

I've been neglecting my poor, poor blog for a while. Life seemed to keep getting in the way. So what have I been up to? Well, I am rather pleased with how my yarn bowls have come out recently. So far I have made 4 and a 5th is waiting for the kiln. One had an accident as well but we won't dwell on these things. So here are some pics showing the new yarn bowls. Enjoy! 

My signature on the bottom, CAW.

Again, with signature.

Thanks for reading,
Cath xx
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A little treat for me

I've been making a few little things for me recently. These all wall pockets! I'd never heard of them until someone asked me if I made them. A quick google search and I now know what they are. Isn't Google wonderful! So I got busy and me and my daughter had a go at making our own versions of wall pockets. 

This one has a sprig of a flower from my garden impressed into it and painted. I forget what the flower is called now though but I think it starts with a G! :) 

Now this flower I do know! Lavender! Also taken from my garden. 

This time I played with dots from my piping bag full of slip. I was thinking all the lines of a fern. What do you think?

I also have some photos of the stages of production. 

Here I have several wall pockets that I made with my daughter. She also impressed leaves into hers. I do love her butterfly on the far left that she created completely! 

A close up of L'il Miss' wall pockets. These were made for Nanny. They were finished in white with a pale green glaze painted on and wiped off the leaves to bring out the veins on the leaves. I'm afraid I don't have photos of them finished. 

The top wall pocket sadly met it's doom in the kiln but the bottom one is shown above finished. 

This is the brown wall pocket in it's greenware stage. 

So now that I have these wall pockets on my garden fence I need to think of a good hardy plant to put in them. I'm really not green fingered so I'll need one that can withstand my neglect! I'm thinking of ivy at the moment. Do you have any ideas for me? Answer in the comments and remember that the plant needs to be tough to survive me! 

Lovely to have you, as always. If you'd like to see more from Ty Siriol them you can follow us on various social media. See below. 

Thanks for reading,
Cath xx 

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Twitter: @tysiriolceramic

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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