I cannot believe how fast this year is going! You may remember I told you a while ago I was embarking on a Tea pot Challenge with a fellow potter penni.q.pottery from Australia.
Our main objective was to improve our making skills, tackling a different theme each month. I feel like I explored a lot of different ideas and pushed myself to try new techniques.
For the 6 Teapot Challenges, I got really excited and enthusiastic at the beginning of the month, but as I was only making 1 Teapot each time I usually ran into problems. This confirmed to me how important it is to let ideas develop naturally, over time, and to make more than 1! A 4 week time constraint is definitely not ideal in ceramics, with the drying and firing processes.
Themes included Sculpture, Free Reign, Wooden Handle, Pattern and Shape. You can read more about each one in detail on Instagram. The idea in my head usually turned out not how I wanted it to, sometimes better, but mainly worse – especially Teapot 5, my sculptural effort! I’m still so embarrassed I made something so horrendously ugly!
Even if I wasn’t always happy with the results I loved the freedom of making something completely different from my normal pottery range. I did really enjoy this project and it has definitely given me lots of ideas for future designs, but I am so glad it’s over now!
My next challenge is surviving the Christmas making madness! My hand is feeling a lot better now as I have been taking it a bit easier, although by doing so I am now trying not to stress about how little work I have made! I promise there will be a website update with more stock at some point, but I’m not entirely sure when.
I’m finishing off a shop order for Honest Thistle in Pitlochry, which will be heading their way next week, and then Indie Zeb are last on my list. That’s it. I can hopefully meet any other pottery needs online or at my festive markets. Speaking of which, I’ll be at Urban Market in Glasgow this weekend, 12 – 5 on Saturday and Sunday. I’m really excited to see the new venue, The Dockyard Social in Finnestion. Woohoo! Maybe I will see you there and you can tell me which Teapot is your favourite!
Cheerio.