Friday 18 December 2009

Greetings from Bideford

The trouble with blogging is that when there's loads going on and lots to write about, there's not enough time to do it. So just to let you know I'm still alive and kicking, here are a few pics of what's going on.





This week I've been in Bideford with Blogger Matt, packing the bottle kiln in the park. The kiln contains a lot of tiles made by local school children. You can read all about the project.......here



This is a big wood fuelled updraught kiln which is built next to the Burton Art Gallery.



The Burton Art Gallery is home to a wonderful collection of old North Devon slipware, such as this huge harvest jug - all the stuff that excites us earthenware types.



Matt could barely hide his excitement.

Philip Leach packing



And I did a bit too.



Matt had a go on Mr Cardew's kickwheel



And I did a bit too.


Tomorrow we fire the kiln. Philip is starting it off in the early morning, Matt and I will go up and take over from Clive Bowen who is on second shift. We should finish in the early evening after a visit from the Mayor of Bideford. He's recently been in North Carolina, visiting an archeological site in search of links between Bideford and the United States. You can read all about it....... here

We open the kiln at 12 noon on Sunday.

I'll be back with more later, bye for now



8 comments:

Ron said...

Wow, who brought all the extra shelves for those tiles!!! I forgot to thank you for sending the link about the NC/ Bideford connection a while back. Totally cool. Have fun. I should plan on coming over next year for this. I'd love to get some bottle kiln action. You and Matt are doing an excellent job on photos and reporting!!! Happy stoking.

Hollis Engley said...

Sounds like an adventure, Doug. Good luck with the firing.

Trish said...

Thanks for the interesting post and photos. Looking forward to seeing the results of the firing.
cheers, T.

ang design said...

ooh look matt can reach the pedal!!! s'alright for you stretch folks!!! hehehehh....happy bottle kiln firing, and that's some stack fellas...

Tracey Broome said...

You guys look a bit cold! The article link was great, I have spent a lot of time down around Roanoke Island, very beautiful place. How exciting to see the connection across the waters with the Devon slipware! Happy firing :)

FuturePrimitive Soap Co. said...

good to see you're having fun.
take care of my boyfriend for me !

Anonymous said...

that cracks me up... when there's lots going on there's no time to blog and when there's time to blog, there's nothing to blog about reminds me of one of my favorite sayings from the arkansas traveler who asks... why don't you fix that leaky roof and the reply is, when it's rainin' it's too wet to fix it and when it's dry it's just as good as any man's roof. love that bottle kiln, wish there were one in our park.

Anonymous said...

Hope last nights snow didn't make things difficult, I bet the french cafe has had some custom, with you lot there.
Good luck with the firing, was there a theme with the kid's tiles ?

Tim