32. A POTTERS MARKET

Each year on a Sunday in June is held a potters market in the nearby town called Argenton-sur-Creuse. Here are a few photos of the event this year.







I have found that all potters were master craftsmen and women. All ceramics on the exhibition were beautiful and well made and reasonably priced. I didn't buy anything but I did fall for an onion pot with small holes and a lid priced at €48 that I would have loved to acquire!

31. Try the potter's wheel

Many people are made to believe that throwing a pot on the potter's wheel is teeerribly difficult. It isn't. It isn't that hard. I may have the knack to pass my bit of knowledge on the subject but all my beginner students so far have been able to make a pot on the wheel after 4 or 5 days in my studio... I have photos to prove this!

This summer, at long last, I will be able to offer accommodation together with my pottery course. As from 14 July next, a loft in an old house will be available to my students. Basic but comfortable. With a big shower in a nice bathroom and a fully equipped kitchen corner. Just bring your own linen or sleeping bag. You will be able to buy food at a small supermarket in a nearby village.

The package for 6 hr pottery in the studio, together with accommodation in the loft, is €100.-(euros)per day per person, payable when you start. No booking fees.

To book or ask for more information, send an e-mail to berryhobby@gmail.com

30. FINGER MARKS

In March I took a badly needed two week break and drove to Scotland to visit potters. I didn't visit potters really but I wrote a travel blog anyway.

Back in my studio in rural France with renewed inspiration and energy I'm now making a set of new pots that I expect to sell. I am getting inspired by a book called Country Pottery 'Traditional Earthenware of Britain' by Andrew McGarva, that I bought at the Museum in Stoke-on-Trent in England.

I'm also getting inspiration from other potters who put photos of their work on the net on a flick account in the Ceramics Group. This salad bowl in red clay has marks of my dirty fingers... I put my wet hands on some gritty sand and then placed them on the wet-from-the-wheel new pot. It stuck! Once it was a bit dryer I brushed some white slip on it . The next thing is bisque firing. After that, I don't know!

This is a view of a home made earthenware vase with home made flowers that I planted in my garden a couple of years ago. They are now in bloom and fit real nicely in my vase.