I’ve been gone way too long. Way, way too long. I’ve often thought of starting again – it feels bad to simply let something I poured so much effort into over the years fall by the wayside.
There were several things standing in the way I think. Firstly, although I still love eating food, the actual preparation of it doesn’t quite fill me with the same excitement. Additionally, my main interest in life has shifted quite fundamentally.
From food… to clay.
A little while after moving to Sweden I found myself craving a creative outlet and I discovered pottery thanks to the immensely talented Linda. Several years later, thanks in no small part to probably the world’s most awesome father-in-law who’s the builder and brains behind the project, I now have this:
My own pottery studio
This used to be a tired old looking shed. Completely renovated, inside and out.
If you know anything at all about the hobby of pottery you’ll know that the price of entry to undertaking it yourself can be a little on the high side. Fortunately I was able to get a wheel and a kiln second-hand.
This was taken right after everything was completed – it’s decidedly messier now with various clay pots and creations adorning the shelves.
It’s my happy place!
Eventually, once this damn pandemic is over (or at least mitigated somewhat) I hope I’ll be able to have pottery evenings with friends – it’s a hobby which is great to lose yourself in and it feels so good to really get stuck in to the clay.
There’s also a huge amount of raw materials that can be accumulated. Not just clay (of which there are hundreds of different types) but various chemicals which can be used to make glazes, colour slips and glazes and use for various tactile effects on glazes and in the pottery itself.
I ordered 8 different types of clay – 4 are shown here – 1 earthenware, 6 stoneware, and 1 porcelain. All in all around 700kg. That was fun to carry in!
Here’s the kiln in action – 579 Celsius at the time. It will go up to about 1250 Celsius when glaze-firing stoneware. It takes the best part of half a day to ramp up to the firing temperature, and then about as long, or longer, to cool back down again.
Here’s a few fired things the day after. The next step is glazing – this can either be done with home-made or purchased glazes. Currently I’m using glazes bought in powder form which are simply mixed with water.
I guess this post transformed from a “yay, I’m back” to more of an instructional half-way along, but I aim to post more soon. As time goes by I plan to experiment with different glazes and different firing methods so stay tuned! I might even post food recipes again as well some time.
Comments