Check these pots out. There is no colouring on these like body stains or oxides. The only difference between these pots is how I finished them before putting them in the smoke fire. One of them absorbed smoke in a way which coloured it brown, and the other went blue. I have been looking for blues, but even this pot surprised me. I bet I can't replicate it.... As you can see, the experiments continue. We are on moon jar 67 (since June). I guess I have learned a lot but I have a long way to go too. I am beginning to understand how colours can be controlled, and the surface texture too. I am starting to fantasise about scaling one of these up. I think a large moon jar in blue could be lovely. Its a bit of a gamble at this stage as the knowledge is still only emerging and i should really plug on. I have had a go this week at making moon jars with mixed clays. For one of these I have thrown a pot using two clays but without mixing them together first. One of these clays is my usual clay and the other is a clay I have used before that resists smoke. In throwing them, they will form separate spirals up the side of the pot. I can already see these as I have been burnishing it today. I am hoping that if I saggar fire this, then the clay which resists the smoke will stand out with a different finish forming a separate swirl around the vessel. That's the theory anyway.

Elsewhere life continues. We are trying to buy a house in scotland this week which will be our new base from next year. Obviously, this is big news, but the fact that its closed bids, so we have no idea if we will get it, means we are ignoring the issue. That means our hearts won't be broken if someone else buys it. Fingers crossed.