yes, already: Christmas sales begin

the Christmas exhibition at Sintra starts on Saturday already, so i've submitted some things for it as well. as you can see, i've gotten really quite commercial and have made christmas-tree decorations! what next...?

thanks to my very generous friend...

... i have been able to make some progress with the frit-ware tests! Isabelle, at the Owl & Lion gallery in Edinburgh, gave me a little test-kiln and a whole load of other useful stuff this summer when we were visiting Scotland!!! it works really well, and has been brilliant for testing different recipes. it was harder before, since no-one else in my studio fires to the same temperatures, and i didn't want to fire a whole big kiln with only 5 little tests in it.
so a million thank you's again to her.
now i just have to get a good glaze that doesn't chip etc, and then i'll get back to making turquoise birds and bowls again :-).

result

i was a little bit disappointed when i opened up the kiln a few days ago. i had been in a bit of a rush when i was glazing and packing, so the glaze on some of the bowls was way too thick and (of course) stuck to the shelf. i can save the small ones thanks to J's dremmel machine, but the big one will the hares will probly have to go to the place where all the other unsuccessful pots go: we have a special bin and hammer in our studio, where (with some satisfaction) we crush and break and destroy things that haven't turned out so well. so next time i'll try not to be in a hurry...

but a few of the other things turned out alright. i'll take some proper pictures of them before putting them out for sale.
soon it's time for Christmas sales, both at Sintra and our studio, so i have some ideas for that...

waiting, waiting, waiting...

i've got a kiln-load firing this very minute...
i can't wait till it's ready and i can open it up!
i'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

hot air

last week i went and bought myself a hot-air-gun. the best thing i've done in a while, i think!
it means i can speed some things up (e.g. lifting a shallow bowl off the wheel-head) and also: i can put on slip with a brush instead of pouring! i.e. no drips, it uses much less slip, it's alot quicker, and generally neater and bettter.
so that's pretty good.
Johan Svanbom, who works in the same studio as me, gave me some coloured earthenware slips earlier this year -dark blue, yellow, green & pink- which i rehydrated and am now trying out. tack, Johan! can't wait to see how they turn out when they're fired...

and it's ready!

my website is now ready:

www.estersvensson.com

thank you to Andy and Marcus (round of applause: )!

soon...(ish)

yesterday i registered a domain for my website, that i'm working on (thanks to Andy and Marcus for your help)! it'll have pretty much the same things that you've already seen here, but in an easier format.

i'll let you know when it's finished.

i'll keep this blog going as well, but it'll turn more into a news-inspiration-work&thoughts-in-progress thing than it is now.