Teapot Workshop Part 2

Wow, what a weekend. Stupidly I forgot my camera today so was unable to document Day 2. It was a full on day with all demonstrators trying to complete the teapots they started yesterday. Stephen Bowers even managed to decorate, fire, glaze and refire a teapot in two days. And the whos who of the ceramics world even managed to make it in - Prue Venables, Patsy Hely, Liz Williams, Kirsten Coelho - I felt like such a ceramics groupie.

In between all the loveliness of watching great ceramists at work I was also working myself. All the associates were in charge of keeping everyone happy and fed so we were kept busy putting food out, making teas and coffees, cleaning up afterwards and starting all over again. I have been up at 6am for the past two days baking muffins for morning tea and was given the scary responsibility of cooking the BBQ lunch. Then there was the clean up afterwards - wiping down clay covered surfaces and throwing wheels and mopping floors. Needless to say I'm pretty spent but I don't care as it was an absolutely fabulous weekend.

Teapot Workshop Part 1

I've had an absolutely fantastic day today. We have four ceramicists in demonstrating teapot construction and decoration. I was lucky to be assigned to assist Ann Linnemann, a Danish Ceramic Designer who was making thrown teapots. In between having to set up lunch and afternoon tea I was able to sit and be mesmerised by her amazing skill. She threw 22cm spouts for goodness sake. In porcelain!! That is very hard to do.

Here are some pics of the work in progress. Tomorrow she assembles it all.

Deadlines

We have just found out the studio head is off to Sydney in two weeks and wants to take samples of our porcelain work to show a potential stockist. All very exciting but it means I need to produce a good version of my jug and bowl sets in all sizes (sml, med & lge) and colours. You need to make about five of each thing to ensure you get a perfect one and there are six pieces in the range - thats 30 things I need to make, dry slowly, bisque, glaze and fire by next Friday. I'm not complaining as its all good practice but eek!

Trimmed + handle

Better

New Shape

Monday is Studio Day where the Associates work for the studio helping to make the production range Terra Australis. It is also a day of cleaning, reconstituting clay, vacuuming kilns any job that needs doing really. Lucky for us we finished up mid-afternoon which allowed me to start working on some of my own work.

I really like the shape of this teacup from my parents' old Noritake dinner service (before it was relegated to the back of the cupboard and the ubiquitous Corelle took over). This is my first try at replicating it. The foot needs to be trimmed so it will be a bit narrower at the base but I think there is more work yet to be done. I will spend the next two days trying again and again and again until I'm happy with it. Then I need to get the handle right.

End of Week One

Well its been a big week. Most mornings consisted of welcome lectures, OH & S talks, show and tell by the studio directors etc... The afternoons were devoted to "studio time" which in the ceramics studio involved reorganising entire areas, lifting heavy equipment, painting walls and lots of cleaning. All very well except for the 40+ degree heat and inadequate air conditioning. Needless to say lots of showers and changes of clothes were had. And I slept well. I even managed to make the beginnings of ten jugs (trimming and handle making will complete them next week). Today I'm exhausted but looking forward to that cool change tomorrow.

Sorry no pics for a few days. I'll take some next week.

So what is a JamFactory Associate?

Just to give you a bit of back story, the Associate program at JamFactory is a two year professional development program for emerging craftspeople and designer/makers. JamFactory needs to make money (it is only partially government funded) so the idea is for Associates to spend 50% of their time helping their studio produce work for sale, run workshops, anything that will bring in an income. The rest of the time is for Associates to spend developing their own work. By the end of the second year, it is hoped each Associate will have built up a profitable working practice.

There are four studios at JamFactory: Ceramics, Glass, Metal (which includes Jewellery) and Furniture. Its a fantastic place to have this opportunity - JamFactory has two retail outlets, a wholesale department which markets Australia wide, gallery spaces to show exhibition work plus PR and Admin departments to back this all up.

Read more about the Associate Program here.

Putting myself out there

I put my hand up yesterday to be included in an exhibition at JamFactory. It's set for 1st April, which in ceramic terms ain't that far off. So I now need to produce some work for it - eek! I figure this pressure will do me good and not allow me to rest on my laurels.

In other news, I found out all my jugs and bowls in the Australian Porcelain show have sold. There are still a few blue & white soba cups left but I hadn't invested as much time in those pieces so am not concerned. We have a post exhibition chat next week to discuss where we go from here. My studio head Robin Best has also got us a gig in Sydney mid-year. I expect I'll be making a whole lot more jugs and bowls for that.

First Day

This is how I felt going in this morning, like it was my first day at school all over again. It also seems to show my preference for unneccesarily large holdalls from early on. I still carry the kitchen sink with me.



When I arrived I saw this outside the studio door which gave me an immediate sense of belonging.

So it all starts now...wish me luck.