I spent a very rainy Thursday this week carrying out a stocktake of my ceramics at The Witham in Barnard Castle and restocking with lots of new work. There are now three shelves brimming with gifts for early Christmas shopping!

I'm always happy to take commissions and this photograph shows detail from a decorative bottle I made recently. I was asked to include lapwings displaying in spring; it was quite a challenge to get the look of them twirling around each other in the sky.

I continue to make this new style of work and am enjoying refining my technique when it comes to decorating with slip. I'm using Ashraf Hanna clay for the vessel itself and applying coloured slips at the leather hard stage using handcut stencils and masking tape. Its tricky, but rewarding. The bills on these curlews took a delicate touch! The final firing using a clear glaze brings the colours alive.

It was a big rush at the last minute to get work ready for my stall at the Romaldkirk Summer Fair! It was a pity the weather kept people away - high winds and showers plagued the afternoon.

I’ve been trying my hand at making ceramic jewellery as I’ve seen it selling well at ceramic events recently. Fresh from the kiln are the brooches, earrings and pendants all ready for mounting. I’ve had to buy various pins, hooks, jump rings etc plus some jewellers pliers! I’ve a lot to learn! Note the addition of a new hawthorn leaf stamp I made recently. I also carved hazel and wych elm stamps, but these are not on display here.

I put together some of my recent work for display in the village church’s Coronation Art Exhibition.

These beautiful mugs (just the colour of the snakehead fritillaries in the garden at the moment) are inspired by the odd angles of trees blown down during Storms Arwen and Malik in 2021. The trees on the edge of many plantations in the area looked just like this - uprooted and broken by the strong winds.

Given a new tangerine glaze by a kind friend, I experimented by producing these ‘retro’ inspired vessels. I think the orange and magma glaze combination on the vase has a lava lamp feel to it! Very 1970s!

We went to buy some new garden pots at Errington Reay Pottery at Bardon Mill. What a marvellous place it is! It was fascinating to be shown their workshops and the enormous brick kiln which was being loaded when we visited. We bought two of the rustic pots, but they specialise in making amazing salt glazed pots. The pottery is well worth a visit - quite fascinating to see large artisan pots being produced on a production scale .

I’ve finally finished glazing my last bisque run and the kiln is loaded and firing as I write. I’m excited to see the results from the Stoneware Special Fleck clay I have trialled in this batch - a departure from my normal Lavafleck clay, as it became unobtainable for a while as a result of the pandemic. Other items are made from an established favourite - David Wright Handbuilidng clay. So this is very much an experimental run!

I’ve been grappling with mug design - trialling both throwing and hand building, different slab thicknesses (4, 6 and 8mm) and various sizes and handle formats. I found a really useful template maker online and tried out various sizes of truncated cones, transferred onto waxed paper. I think I’m almost there now (hopefully)! I’ve been trimming the base of the hand built mugs on the wheel, which has worked really well.

Christmas turned out to be a big disappointment due to Omicron, so I consoled myself for the absence of family by getting out into the pottery. Funny how a lump of clay and Radio 3 can transform a day! I was very pleased with this large hemispherical bowl. I used a beach ball to perfect the shape (coil built) and it worked really well.

I’ve been beavering away designing and printing linocut Christmas cards on the theme of Christmas carols. Having been given a beautiful old Victorian book press by a kind friend recently, I haven’t had to grapple with adapting my etching press to produce good linocuts this year and it has made the whole process SO MUCH easier. The cards will be on sale locally in just a few days.

I knew it wouldn’t last! The clean and spacious look has already been affected by the determination of my two dogs to join me in the pottery. They’ve decided it is now too chilly to be out ‘helping’ my husband in the garden (every keen gardener needs to throw two tennis balls every few minutes!) and I’ve had to import two dog beds to keep them settled and comfortable. But I do love them … !

Don’t worry - this level of tidiness, cleanliness and organisation won’t last! I am lucky to have a new creative space to celebrate, though - how wonderful is that? I have my new kiln to commission too, but I’m feeling guilty about not using the old one as it has been such a reliable workhorse. This new Rohde kiln will give me more firing capacity and is also very efficient, satisfying my desire to work in a ‘green’ way.