Dragons In The Clay..

 Everyone that knows me, knows that I have a love of Dragons. Hence, why I have Desdemona's Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Dragons. I also have the Dragonology Books and have been messing around with making some Dragon Heads in Sculpey. I finally managed to make one that I am really happy with. So much so, that I used a two part Silicone mould making kit and took a mould of it. I also found that an empty pen from a certain high-street bank, made a wonderful tool for embossing the clay to make the pattern on the Dragon's skin and my fingernails for the fin.

I took the mould to Gwili Pottery with me and Chris very kindly let me have a go at using the mould to make a plaque to hang on the wall.

The following pictures show the process of adding the Dragon Head to the Plaque with the lettering and edging pattern, then adding the coloured slips and the final result once the piece had been fired, glaze added and fired again. Really pleased with how this turned out. The Colours look so vibrant.

Gwili Pottery, have a wonderful showroom filled with beautiful pieces, which is well worth a visit if you are in Carmarthen. They also have a website and facebook page and they also do commission work, so if you have a special occasion coming up you can commission them to make you a special piece.

Gwili Pottery ~ Out Of The Kiln

 Went to the Gwili Pottery again the other day, to see my friend Chris, who had invited me to play with the Clay. See my previous post here. 

The Christmas Tree was up and the Decorations that Chris & Sarah are making, were hanging on the tree. These can be personalised before they go in the kiln. Chris showed me some that were ready for collection, with names on them for human family members and their Pets. You can see them on their facebook page.

Chris has also been showing me, how they paint the various patterns on the Pottery and the tools they use to achieve them. Its fascinating how the different colour slips, make other colours once they are fired in the Kiln. To watch Chris paint freehand on the Pottery is amazing. She has just been working on a new design, called Midnight Iris.

Chris had given me two bowls to paint and when I popped over, they were out of the kiln. I must say I was totally shocked and surprised at the abstract one, as it looked a complete mess to me, before it was fired. I actually said to Chris, "I never painted that". 

The last too pictures are of the Bowls that I painted, after they had been fired and glazed.

Its great having Artist friends, who share their talents with others.  Chris is coming over to mine for a Scrapbook session and have a play with some Polymer Clay and I'm sure her hubby will be saying the same as mine "Oh no not another Hobby"....