Out of the kiln

and yet to be properly photographed and posted to portfolio blog.

Glazed jugs

Glazing always takes me twice as long as I anticipate and these jugs are no exception. After three days working in an ice-cold room with frozen hands, I have now placed them in the kiln ready to fire and on Saturday, their magic (I hope) will be revealed. Next time I glaze in the winter months, I must co-ordinate with someone using a kiln which would up the temps considerably.

Peter turns 60

Our good friend Peter (an arborist) has turned 60. After a wonderful lunch and walk at the Orokanui sanctuary on Sunday; back home for tea and cake, Peter demonstrated his latest climbing technique in front of us all. Mary says his youthfulness is genetic! but climbing trees for a living certainly keeps you fit.

Burning bush

Although I have waxed lyrical about this year's autumn colours, this sight greeted me on Sunday morning when I opened the curtains, the early sun catching the sycamore tree opposite, slightly smudged as viewed through condensation, and I just had to photograph it.

New tall jugs

I made a series of tall jugs similar to this earlier this year which I intended to be able to have vitirified. Unfortunately, I used a combination of incompatible clays (the potter never stops learning) and only glazed two (jugs with pearl earings) -  http://liz-fea-ceramics.blogspot.co.nz/ which, while to my mind are attractive, alas are not vitirified so are destined only to be sculptural. This series are taller and built with the right clays this time, should prove more useful!

A display case

I have coveted for a long time a display case to hold a selection of my pots, not just to show them off! but as a reference point for future work. Now I have one - a retro style flatpack which J has put together and on sale at the Warehouse which stocks some nice things believe it or not.

Autumn in North East Valley

In Dunedin, we are having the best autumn colour display I can recall in 8 years. (Have we been here that long?) The few apples left are for the birds. But last night the first snow came and Mt Cargill wears a light mantle of white. J and I walked to the summit from Bethune's Gully two Sundays ago - a 5 hour return trip which was hard but beautiful, moving as you go up through pine forest to lush native bush and finally to a fragrant heather-like sub-alpine vegetation.

Glenorchy

We recently drove north west to Queenstown for two nights and spent a day exploring the Glenorchy area. A highlight was a 50 min walk through a magnificent beech forest to Lake Sylvan, near the start of the Routeburn Track. Unfortunately I left my camera in the car but the autumn colours elsewhere were stunning.