Raku , Joy & Happiness.

Results from my first Raku firing

Joy / Happiness

Raku is a type of pottery originating from Japan meaning Joy happiness and is traditionally used in the Japanese tea ceremony, most often in the form of tea bowls, they are fairly porous vessels, the results can be amazing depending on what type of glaze etc. so I think I shall be experimenting !!! oh yes.

 

Results from my first Raku firing


 

 

October has been very busy and living in a very rural area sourcing materials can be difficult, so I jumped at the offer from my potter friend Rob Farrar saying he would be going to our pottery supplier in Valencia and do I want him to get a ready made Raku glaze for me ! And as I didn't really want to make my own Raku glaze (at this point) this was ideal.

 

 

 

 

Overall I am pleased with the results although I have a lot to learn about putting the glaze on at the correct thickness etc and  I probably fired the pots for a little too long.

 

 

 

Pots glazed ready for firing

My small bisque / raku kiln during firing.
 

So I shall take this firing and hopefully improve, but I must say I have so enjoyed the process and find it fascinating.

 

Maggie beavering away with what she calls a scrap quilt
 

 

 

 I suggested it was a chaos quilt only to be told wait until its finished my dear !!! ha

 

 

I am looking forward to the end result and If I can produce ceramic pots as well as her scrap quilt I will be a happy chap.

 

Till the next time !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Glorious September / October

Glorious September / October

 

Its been a while since my last blog, so much has happened !!! life changing events the birth of our 6th grandson George, born 3 weeks ago, such a proud family we are. The building of a small bugalow for my father in my sisters rear garden ! which will make his later life so much more comfortable and also Sis as his carer,  we are improving the front of our home here in Spain, all with the aim of giving our dog 'Bonnie' more freedom or maybe it's to stop her going on walkabouts and stealing our neighbour's dogs food  ha ha

 

                            So what's going on with the Pottery  'Well'   I have had a second bisque firing which was successful and I am now planning my first Raku firing, hopefully I shall post the results, also I have been working alongside Catherine helping her to make her own kiln brick and firing them to use in her new kiln, (to be built. !!! ) she has been very busy making the bricks from 50% Kaolin and 50% sawdust ,  I have posted 2 new video's you can watch on my You Tube channel MasBlancPottery firing bricks and results.

Firing of Catherine's kiln bricks in a 40 gallon raku kiln

 

 

My fathers new pad ha ha coming on nicely

 

 

The weather in September /  October has been so lush , we are still enjoying a swim ! , 22c in the pool this evening.

 A rare pic of me taking a dip. Oh dear ! 

Maggie is beavering away  producing wonder quilts more pics to follow !

 

 

Till the next time !

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

    

Kiln opening 1st time 14th Sept 2013

Here is a short video of my kiln opening which if I must say was very successful. 

The next stage is to decide how to glaze them !!!

Enjoy .

 

 

Fantastic Friday 13th

Fantastic Friday 13th

 

                 We have had the most wonderful day, it started off with a terrific daybreak, the Sky's around us are so bright and vast and the first light of day was breaking on our mountain Peñagolosa which stands a full 1813mts or 5948 ft (in real money) above sea level.

 

So up and about saw me preparing for a morning in my studio, beaverly getting ready to fire my new kiln, loaded with 25 various pots/bowls of green ware and trying for the first time to magically change them into bisque.

 

Anyhow back to that lot later !!!

 

       As I returned to the casa for my elevenses I was aware that Maggie was working on our quilt which last saw the light of day back in 2010/11 and not the boys that she had started earlier that morning, It turned out that she did not have the correct foot for her sewing machine so it looks like ours might be finished for the cold season. yippee,  Anyhow here are a few pics of  her sample quilt that I may be underneath SOOOON .

 

 

 

 

I marval at the intricancy of each piece and the patience that Magsamillion has and what goes into making just one square let alone putting the whole quilt together.

 

 

1st fire of my kiln, here is a short video, sorry about the shake of hand as it was taken on my iphone.

 

 

As soon as I get the results I shall share !

 



Firing / How excited can one get

 

OK, So Raku / Bisque kiln built ! Itching to fire, 25 pots-bowls etc made, my first trial bisque firing tomorrow !!! fingers crossed.Hope they are all dry enough as don't want any explosions, Ouch.

 

 

     I am going to attempt to video the firing tomorrow if successful I shall try and upload a short one for this blog.

 

 

Small plate made for my grandson Henry and a casserole !! my tutor Catherine says its pretty good ! for a 1.5 person one ! em ! so I take it a slightly bigger one is needed

 

 

 

my attempt at plates and bowls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain in Spain !

7th Sept 2013 our 6th Grandson was due today (there is still time Jo Jo)

 

   Today the temperature is a few degrees lower then the past few weeks , we have been fortunate to have had good weather for our local fiestas.

 

Party time was good this year with plenty going on from the Caravan /  prego as our 10yr old neighbour Claudia calls the carnival procession .At the start of the week there was paella competitions, local art displays,local theatre plays, traditional dancing etc. Bull running plays a big part of the traditional fiestas with family's having their own patch/viewing platform to watch and enjoy (no bulls are hurt) 

 



 

 

Following on from the fiestas we had our daughter Heather and Chris arrive for a weeks holiday so no pots that week either ha, so we took them to the river gorge at Montenejos were we all had a lovely day and river swim.

 

 

Ok now onto today !

 



The plan was to spend the day in my studio practising ha ha instead I made a repeat tool ! I think that's what its called, anyhow it will help me to produce bowls to the same diameter / height etc

 

 

 

 Maggie was the one producing today she is making 3 single quilts for my son Richard's three boys, our grandsons will each have different colours, all will have the same design (no arguments)

 

 





Well done Maggie  

 

 

 



 My 1st Blog !

 

 

 

       Well here goes, I'm not sure how this all works !! but I feel that I want to blog and share with friends and anyone who may be interested etc .  

 

MasBlancPottery

 

 

 

MasBlancPottery relates to the area (you could call it a small hamlet / aldea ) where we live.

 

       Budding potter that I am ! (under the watchful eye of our tutor and friend Catherine) and my wife Maggie who is a budding patchwork quilter.

 

Our Grandson Henry's first quilt that Maggie has put together

 

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       On a recent trip to the Uk I bought a Leach / Woodley treadle wheel from ebay,  I restored it to its former glory and I'm now using it daily and just love the simplicity of its movement. 

 

 

 

 

Having set up my small pottery studio next to our garage (small and cosy) my plan is to have weekly lessons and practice regually.

 

I have scrolled through and watched many of the pottery video's on YouTube , there are some very fine potters out there, thanks for sharing .

 

1st small stoneware bowl thanks to Catherine adding it in her gas kiln. ha !

 

 







2nd bowl from the same firing (that's the one on the right, Ha)

 

 

I plan to turn this drum into a Raku/bisqe kiln. now that should be interesting!!!.

 

 

 

One of todays bowl 1.5kg. ( well the one I kept )