A broad range of work was on display at the exhibition which took place at Rufford Craft Centre.  Thanks to Paul of The Creative Greenhouse and Stella for organising the event.

All of the pots that I had on show (see larger image) were made for the exhibition, including 'ten green bottles'. I was fortunate that the staff at Rufford were able to find a couple of long wall shelves for the bottles so that the rest of the phrase, 'hanging on the wall', could be completed! (see larger image)

Near the centre of France is the village of La Borne where I spent a couple of days last week.  It is surrounded by dense woodland which gives it a magical feel and clay is still commercially extracted just a few kilometers away. These two ingredients are pretty much everything a potter needs to produce wood fired work, and that is what La Borne is famous for.

An excellent and well organised event which I plan to participate in again next year.  The number of visitors was high and sales were good.

The show gave me the chance to try out my new stand.  Work with no applied glaze to the outside (see larger image) was separated from pots that were glazed (see larger image).  I was  pleased with the overall effect and feedback from fellow potters and the public was very positive.

Thanks to Geoff and Christine Cox and the rest of the crew for all their hard work.

About 100 pots of varying size were fired last week with mixed results (see larger image). The temperature got very hot at the front & top (cone 10 flat) but was a little cool at the bottom (cone 8 bending). The was probably due to the kiln props holding the first set of shelves being too short preventing sufficient circulation of air & flame.  The result was some underfired work at the bottom of the kiln and some bloated pots at the front & top.

As a first time visitor to the Aberystwyth International Ceramics Festival I looked on in awe at the unveiling of Nina Hole's latest sculpture (see larger image).

I am still recovering from the mental marathon of spending over 2 days moving from one event to the next, trying to take in as much as I could, with barely a break in between.