New large coil pot

Boy… think I need a holiday after making this coil pot! Actually I am not tired from making this pot, rather working too hard in my ‘day job’.

My ‘day job’ as eLearning manager has officially sent me super-duper crazzzzy! For the first time ever working in ‘corporate world’ (which has been for more than 20 years) I stormed out of a meeting, slammed the door and then burst into tears!!!!  Can you believe that?  Over the years I have seen other people do that occasionally and I always said to myself while watching these charades that they obviously don’t have much EQ (emotional intelligence). So I have officially now moved over to the dark side and am officially in the low EQ quadrant….basically I am a ‘basket-case’ (I was probably always in this quadrant, but have been in denial I suppose). What made things worse was that after having a big sobbing cry in the toilet for about 10 minutes I then tried to sneak out but then I bumped into the very manager who tipped me over the edge (senior IT Mgr). Our eyes connected, but then I pretended that they didn’t and started walking the other direction. He then followed me and then pulled me into an office ‘to have a chat’. Well….being so emotionally intelligent I then proceeded to sob like a baby for another 10 minutes. Mum, you would be so proud. Good thing I am working on building my pottery skills…who knows the corporate world may officially spit me out for good! Definately no tears thinking about that……dry as a bone…

Anyway, onto something much more important. My latest pot drying out.

Large coil pot drying out

Buttons made from clay

I love my new clay buttons from Incomparable Buttons.

Buttons made from clay

My latest slab coil pot

I finished my latest slab coil pot.

I built this pot using wide slab coils. This is done by rolling slabs of clay > cut clay into long wide strips > join together. This is a quicker way of handbuilding pots. This one is quite big so I hope the kids don’t knock it over while drying!

Large slab coil pot drying out

Thrown jug by Louise Purcell from historic Carcoar

On the way to Young for an Easter family reunion I decided to stop at the small historic town of Carcoar (much to the horror of my three boys)! If you like pottery and shopping at vintage shops etc then you should stop by and take a look…if you can ignore the weeping and gnashing of teeth by your kids!

In the old Court House you will find a wonderful pottery shop by Louise Purcell, Carcoar Pottery. We had a lovely chat about her amazing scope of work. Below is a thrown jug by Louise that I brought home.

Thrown jug by Louise Purcell from Carcoar Pottery

Ceramics from Bali

Below are a few small ceramic pieces that I brought home from Bali. I like the glaze, shapes and practicality of these pieces. Good inspiration!

Ceramic soap dish

Work, a bouncing ball?

The night before going to Bali I managed to squeeze in a visit to my chiropractor/physio to help relieve some back pain and headaches. While paying for my visit I picked up the following quote by Brian Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola). Do you agree with this? Either way I think it is thought provoking.

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – 1.Work, 2.Family, 3.Health, 4.Friends and 5.Spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the Air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four Balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.”

A kiss from heaven!

Just before I was about to walk out from my job I received a kiss from heaven! We recieved a free holiday in Bali. It all happened so fast… before I knew it we were in Bali. This was my first time to Bali so I was fascinated with many different things.

Everyone drives scooters rather than cars. I didn’t realise that these scooters can carry so many people. They move whole families, furniture etc. There doesn’t seem to be any road rules at all! I promised my husband that I will never complain about his driving ever again! The local people are a very friendly and gentle people. Even when they ‘beep’ at each other on the roads they are short and gentle ’beep beeps’. Not like in Sydney or New York etc where the ‘beeps’ are extremely aggressive ‘beeeeeeep beeeeeeps I want to kill you’.

We went white water rafting, four wheel driving, had dinner in the jungle, shopping etc. It’s also pretty cool that this holiday coincided with my husband’s 40th birthday! I tried to find a place/family/community who make pots, but we ran out of time.

Just a few photo’s…

typical form of transport in Bali

or they travel by truck…

Going to work in Bali

Our beautiful hotel…

Our hotel

View from our room

View down to the beach and pool

Rice farming

Rice farmers

Square slab pot

Finally got around to using this lovely wooden stamp on a pot. This hand-carved wooden stamp was used for making prints on material. I found it at an antiques store in Chatswood. It leaves a great impression on the clay.

Slab pot with impression from wooden stamp

Square slab pot

Melon red coil pot and slab pot

My latest crazy coil pot and slab pot….

weird coil pot

Coil pot

slab pot with different impressions

slab pot with material impression

Slab pot to hang on the wall

Another slab pot, however with this one I am going to hang on the wall with some flowers in it (or whatever takes my fancy).

Slab pot with leaf impression

Can hang this slab pot on the wall

material impression left on the clay

Leaf impression in the clay

 

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.