Experimenting

Home tonight after a lovely Christmas break at Ruth's.  We had a quiet morning - I packed - and rustled up a turkey curry for lunch before I set off.   I stopped off at the windmill for a cuppa and a slice of Christmas cake with Celia and Iain.  The windmill is pretty much the half way point between Ruth's and mine.   

Back in Tywyn at 8pm I called in at pottery briefly and home briefly where I deposited the turkey carcase into my large jam pan and having added the necessary extras set the pot simmering to make stock.   Then a couple of hours at Jamie's with him and Clara as they're off to her family home for the New Year tomorrow.   After unloading and taking Meg for a walk I was properly home around 11pm!   Jacinta has been staying here for a few days so she could spend time with Jamie and Clara.  She'll take them to Birmingham and stop there with Ruth for the New Year.   It's been good to talk peacefully, something that has not been easy for many years.   For myself at least, the last year has been a healing one for which I am very grateful.

The stop at pottery was to collect ten little pieces that were fired after I went away.  All but one were used to try out the new glazes I bought.  Three of them have flux properties, that is they run, the movement, especially when layered with other glazes, can create some lovely effects.  At this stage it's all experimental, I am using the glazes cautiously as too much running can result in a piece becoming glued to the kiln shelf ... bad news!   None of these ran beyond what I expected, some less than others.  I can use heavier applications in future and will reglaze some of these with extra coats.   The picture tonight is one of the more exciting results combining two glazes that are relatively unremarkable on their own.  However, when layered, much brighter colours appear where the top glaze runs over the bottom glaze ... as here :-)