Good Evening!

Exciting News…. Cobweb had FIVE kittens during the night last night!  This was the cat who couldn’t conceive, then surprised us before Christmas with the vet saying she was expecting two kittens and last night surprised everyone again by having five kittens!  Mummy and kittens all doing well and Cobweb seems to be a very happy and content mum.

Liz has very kindly sent me some photos today – I think Cobweb looks really smug and happy… bless her!  Hoping to go and visit on Saturday – can’t wait!  So far Liz thinks there is one girl and four boys, but can’t be 100% yet.  There does seem to be a Red and a Brown…. looking forward to the next few weeks to seeing what they grow up to be.

Here are photos, courtesy of Liz @ Tarjjika-Tonkinese…

Hello

Hope you’re having a nice weekend… I’ve visited Jim’s mum this weekend – very nice…  There is a gorgeous aroma of Roast Pork for Sunday Lunch – very yummy indeed!  We’ve also helped Margaret get started in the world of Twitter – so I’m expecting to hear tweets from @millmags very soon

Thursday was my second night on my Creative Clay Course 2010… Still making Coasters… but the idea this year is to try out various different types of clay style, colours, slips, etc.  This week I made four coasters out of white clay, using one style of leaf but varying in sizes and have used a light blue slip and a red slip.  I was very dubious about the red slip, but the colour burns out in the Kiln and should just leave a creamy colour.  The red slip was used over the blue slip – so I’m very intrigued to see the end result.

Unfortunately I’m not able to go next week – so I’ll have a little wait before I can finish the coasters.  My second project if you like is to mix coloured clays.  I’m hoping to achive some interesting merged patterns of multi-coloured clay.

Oh… other EXCITING news is that Cobweb’s due very soon to have her little kittens… she’s started mothering other kittens which is a sign she’s due.  Can’t wait!

Anyhow, that’s all for now.  I best set the table

C xx

Tonight was the first class back doing my Creative Clay in 2010.

I have set up a new Flickr Set called “Creative Clay 2010” – which I will add photos to every week.

This time I’m studying at the “Jars of Clay” Studio in Newbury rather than going to College.

I’m hoping to experiment more with colours, slips and glazes and hope to have a go on the wheel at some point.

In tonights class, I started some coasters using leaves from the garden and two different coloured slips.  I’m going to attempt this again next week with white clay.

Hello!

I have at long last finished my new website/blog…  I have been waiting to launch it before writing any blog updates.

I’ve given up on  Google Blogger and my old static website and decided to combine them using Wordpress.   I have also moved away from using Google Picasa for online photo storage to Flikr.  So far I’m finding Flikr interesting.  It allows you to tag photos, make them private or public, receive comments, etc – the list goes on.   It also seamlessly works with my new blog using Wordpress – so I’m overall quite impressed.

Anyway – it’s time for the little catch up I promised…

Christmas & New Years.
We had a lovely Christmas break back at our homes with our families… I got some lovely presents and it was just really lovely to spend time relaxing with the family.  New Years was fun visiting friends – seeing the New Year in with a “few” drinks,  some Wii gaming and general banter until the early hours.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to relax completely over the Christmas/New Year period as in the back of my mind was the…

…IDM Diploma…
I finally finished assignment 1 of 2… all handed in on 7th January after what can only be described as hours and hours of  effort.  I made it to the Post Office a day earlier in the heavy snow to make sure that it got submitted on time.  I hope I’ve done ok! I find out in a couple of weeks.  My first week (for those of you who don’t know) was in November and I had from then until 8th January to create a 5000 word assignment, budget and marketing plan for a holiday activity centre.

I go back for my second week at the start of February,  so a week away – so there will be another assignment to follow which I believe is due in mid/end of March.  I’m starting straight away this time and should hopefully be a lot better prepared after having the first assignment as stage one.

Cobwebs News!
For those of you who don’t already know, Jim and I are taking on a little Tonkinese girl called Cobweb… we were hoping to get her this month (January)… but I found out just before Christmas that she’s expecting Kittens (any time in the next week)… so we have to wait until the end of March before we can take her now – she needs at least 8 weeks to care for her little babies… It seems ages away – but it is even more exciting for us as we get to keep a kitten as well as Cobweb!   So expect more posts and photos once the home is filled with kitten/cat play!

Creative Clay
I completed the ten week course before Christmas and gave a couple of the items I’d made away to family for Christmas Presents.  I’m not an expert with making and glazing items (definite room for improvement with glazing!) – but I was pleased with the items I’d made, so much so that I wanted to continue.  This year, I’ve found a private studio in Newbury called the “Jars of Clay” studio and I will be going every week for another evening of creating things.

Think thats enough for now – hope you like the new website/blog.

Claire

Hello and Happy New Year!

I’ve been itching to get onto my blog and write a post or two for weeks, but have been so busy I haven’t had chance…

So here is a little promise of posts to come…

* Christmas & New Years
* Cobwebs News!
* IDM Diploma
* Website Update & Blog Move – news coming soon!
* Catch up on Clay
* Etsy.com

Will write some more soon.

C x