Saturday 18 October 2008

The First Annual Office Ikea Gingerbread House Decorating Competition

I am becoming a tiny bit obsessed with my pottery at the moment - and I'm loving it! I'm afraid I still don't have much to show off, as I have several projects in different stages of construction / firing / glazing in the studio, and many of the pieces I have thrown on the wheel seem to have wanted to collapse while drying - or else I've pushed them too far on the wheel and had to duck as thick strips of clay fly off the pot and across the room.

I have completed my first cake stand through, and I love it despite (or because of?) its imperfections. I haven't brought it home yet to photograph because I wanted to show it off in my Tuesday class first.

I do have a small collection of thrown items sitting on my mantlepiece at the moment that have been biscuit fired and that I want to sand down and tidy up before glazing on Tuesday, so here is a picture of those...

As you can see, I'm not yet what you would describe as a 'skilled' potter, (what with wonky bases, wibbly edges and all...) but I'm having the best fun learning.

I haven't done much cross stitch this last week, although I did do a fair bit in the week previous, so she's starting to shape up now. I'll try to do more this week, as I'm keen to have it finished and frames in plenty of time for Christmas.


And in other news - we're having an 'Ikea Gingerbread House Decorating Competition' in the office this Christmas (well, on December 8th to be exact). The only rules are that only one Ikea Gingerbread House may be used (no supplementing it with other packs to build extensions and turrets!), and all decorations must be edible (with the exception of supporting devices such as cocktail sticks).

Not that I'm getting at all carried away with this idea, but I've already bought two kits to practise with, and have already completed a basic build on the first house. I've learnt some important lessons on construction (e.g. using a piping bag to control the icing is much more effective than a teaspoon and fingers), and have glazed each window with a different colour boiled sweet (you melt them for a few minutes in the oven) so I can choose my favourite for the final piece.

I agree that it's a bit dull-looking at the moment, but that's because I haven't begun to stick on the sweeties yet. I have to wait for the icing to fully dry before weighing the roof down with dolly mixtures, otherwise I may be faced with a collapse. I know that the window outline icing is a bit poor - I have no excuse for that, I'll try to do beter next time. I hope to be able to start sticking some decorations on tomorrow afternoon after my ice skating lesson.

Oh yes, haven't I mentioned? I'm starting a 6 week course of ice skating lessons tomorrow. I can't wait! (Jiggling around excitedly in my seat).

Sunday 5 October 2008

Loupe

One of my most recent, most amusing and most useful ebay purchases has been a clip-on jeweller's loupe, consisting of two magnifying glasses on swivelling arms which clip onto my specs.

I love them because they make me look like Icabod whatsit from Sleepy Hollow (Johnny Depp's character in the film), and they've proven really useful for those times when the tiny, dense stitches in my cross stitch have been too much for me to cope with and I've been unable to find the next hole for my needle.



I don't think I'd recommed them for continued, prolonged use though - that would make you a bit squiffy-eyed.