A dish of hope…

​I’ll not be drowning today. I love this poem by Chris. Clinging on, getting through with just enough hope to see you through. There is a quote isn’t there by Francis of Assisi – all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of one single candle. Or words to that effect. It is one of the things I have loved doing recently, taking Chris’s poetry and letting it take shape and come to life on the clay. Here is a bowl I made as part of the collection. Here it is first made…

​I used a ceramic mould and so the clingfilm is to prevent the bowl I am making form sticking and then losing its shape when I remove it. Once the clay is in its mould and all smoothed out and the edges trimmed and smoothed, I can begin to put the words in. This is just a part of this poem… water in the eyes – the river grey again – as another squall rolls in from the sea – an incongruous splash of partial rainbow… I’ll not be drowning today. The bluey grey splodges are called slip – watered down clay with oxides added. I made the lines, splodges and spots with a ‘slip trailer’ like a balloon you fill with slip and squeeze… great fun!

​This is the bowl once it has had its first (biscuit) firing. No going back…

​And this is the finished bowl – black oxide help the letters to stand out and gives the pale blue a greyish tint especially around the edges which I love. Underneath is a rich, dark green. I am having fun exploring different shapes and lines. I am hoping with this bowl that your eye is drawn in to the swirl into the centre of the bowl…