Posh pots

The latest kiln firing reached temperature (1250C) in record time (14 hrs!) after Mark replaced a couple of the elements.  Glaze firings are always more of a nail biter than first firings of either stoneware or earthenware as the glazes can be a bit temperamental.  If a glaze is prone to run it can dribble onto the kiln shelf and then it is permanently stuck to the shelf - so both the pot and the shelf may end up in the bin.   His latest trick is to put a slither of firebrick under the pot so that any dribbles land on these, then the firebrick can be flicked off, or ground off with an angle grinder and no harm done!  The kiln is a bit of monster in terms of capacity and consumption of electricity, so every pot counts!

Anyway since we've been in France getting a blue glaze right has been a trial.  Dribbling, crawling, inconsistent ... etc.  So when these ones emerged it was a big hurrah!  (The white glaze with the iridescent areas is called Irise, the blue is Bleu Royale and also has iridescent particles in it.)

Why Posh pots - because The Posh play in blue of course!   

Art for All!

For the past fortnight Mark has been giving art classes to two girls from Paris who were here on holiday with their "papa".  They had great fun doing both pottery and painting and on their last day they put on a mini exhibition!

 
 "Papa" didn't go home empty handed either as he bought this painting!

Porcelain pots - now with picture attached!

A while ago we met a man called Lionel.  He is a member of the Mayor's team, a local fireman and also works for an organisation called Imerys.  His actual workplace is at Tournon St Martin and he is involved in excavating Ball Clay whch is used in the production of tableware, sanitaryware and tiles.  Basically this is porcelain which has different things added to it according to the final result that is required. When we first moved here and had the pool put in we found a seam of red earthenware clay which Mark got really excited about and before he bought his kiln he found a local potter who did a test firing for him.  The result was OK, if not tremendous as clay has to be refined before it is really usable.  Anyway, one day, completely out of the blue Lionel turned up in his van and produced a huge bag of Tournon St Martin porcelain for him to try.  How kind, and Mark was over the moon especially as porcelain is usually the most expensive clay to buy and our nearest supplier of ceramics materials is in Limoges, a 120km round trip!  So in the photo you can see two dishes which Mark has made with the porcelain and on the paler of the two you might be able to pick out a brown area - this is where Mark has impressed our own Chenevaux clay into the porcelain body at the first firing stage to 1260C which is a higher temperature than normal for earthenware so it over-fires and this makes it gel to the porcelain resulting in a pleasing textural and tonal effect.  The tall vase is stoneware and was thrown in three sections before being joined and fired twice - its nothing to do with the porcelain but I thought the height of it looked good with the dishes.  I guess its about 60 cm high.
For those of you who are interested in finding out about Imerys and clay from Tournon St Martin here is a link to a pdf file on their web site,  you need page 8 of the document.  Find out more about clay

Artist at work

 Working to Van Morrisson "Hymns to the Silence" in his studio - Mark is preparing for an exhibition at Angles sur l'Anglin, which is going to be on from 20th - 26th August.  He is going to be showing paintings and ceramics and possibly doing some pottery demonstrations.  The gallery space is called the Salle d'Arceau and its just behind the tourist office in a little cobbled street near to all of the cafes.