We picked up our completed pots on Thursday evening! Hurrah!

I didn’t post about our glazing session, but there isn’t a huge amount to it. Basically you dip your pot into a bucket of glaze, take it out and let it dry. Then add a second and optional third coat. You can also brush on your glaze or do more advanced things – Don used a spray gun for some of his. We each had the two pots we’d made and were all given a third for extra practice.

It was quite amusing to find that even though we were working quite independently and there were many different glazes available, Don and I ended up with two sets of very similar pots.

On with the pix …

Post-glazing, pre-firing. Don’s three on the left, mine right.

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Finished pots!

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First set of unintentionally matching (brown) pots in front. Don’s perfect bowl on left, my slightly less perfect on right.

Sometimes glaze can be unpredictable. The brown bowls were intended to be blue!

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Second unintentional matching! Even the drips are similar.

These were the pots we didn’t throw or trim – Don’s left, mine right. We definitely don’t feel the same level of attachment to them.

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Matchy, matchy! We each have one pot in each of these sets.

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Foot-ring love! Carving out foot-rings are definitely my favourite part of making pottery.

I love this colour and this wobbly pot, but we were clearly not mind-melding at this point.

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It was the first class we’ve done together and we really enjoyed ourselves. I’m on the look-out for other crafty couple activities.

I’m definitely putting pottery to rest for now, but I would definitely recommend giving it a crack!

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Eventually those side-effects came for me – I’m slightly oogy and required an afternoon nap. It’s not too terrible, so I should be recovered by a Monday. Arm is hurting like a thing that hurts.

I kept it pretty sedate today and confined myself to gentle indoor activities – knitting, stitching, blocking cowls, folding book pages. There are definitely worse ways to spend a day.

I need to sort myself a flu vaccination in the next fortnight, so I expect I will not exactly be full of boundless energy for the next little bit! But much preferable to catching either COVID or the flu.

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I had my 5th dose of covid vaccine today. I’ve almost had one of everything at this point:

1. AstraZeneca
2. AstraZeneca
3. Pfizer
4. Pfizer
5. Moderna (bivalent)

My arm is a little sore, but otherwise I’m holding up okay. Hopefully this will stand me in excellent stead for jumping on a plane at the end of next month!

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We love a star chart in ThePalace(OfLove).

This one is to encourage me to do my rehab exercises, which I’ll often find reasons not to do. It’s certainly more effective than not rewarding myself with a shiny sticker. I’ve persuaded Don to track his on the same chart – for additional encouragement (and maybe a small amount of competitiveness).

In all serious, it’s proving an excellent and light-hearted method to build habits.

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I’m fairly confident I’ve not taken a knitting project on vacation before, so as a small experiment I brought my in progress Be Kind wrap/shawl/scarf to Hobart with me.

I can now really understand why people use dedicated project bags**. The tote I used, while serving the purpose, had some limitations – a zipper would have been handy for example, rather than having the contents at risk of falling out in transit.

I knit while waiting for the plane and in our room before and after dinner. I probably knit for far too long in each sitting and my shoulder blade was a little painful by day two. I’d assumed I’d knit on the plane but wasn’t vibing it.

I’ve made good progress and finally understand where the pattern is going. I’m at 331 stitches and will end up with over 550! It’s a very soothing knit. Definitely good for airports and other mildly stressful occasions. I should probably cart it to SML.

I’m off to Europe for a short trip in late May. I’m considering taking a small knitting project along with me, or a small something crafty. Definitely not cross stitch as I’d need to bring a giant magnifying lamp.

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** I’ve been watching a ton of crafting YouTube videos and Project Bags are absolutely a thing and a massive cottage industry. Remind me to post about this and CraftTubers generally.

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It was a Public Holiday today, so after kicking about in ThePalace(OfLove) for the morning, Don and I took a spontaneous walk to a nearby park unfamiliar to us.

The last time I was in Sydney Park was more than 30 years ago. It is the site of a former brickworks and rubbish tip and back then remediation was pretty basic – it contained a couple of large hills, vast expanses of patchy grass and some heritage listed chimneys. All very bleak and windswept.

Imagine our astonishment to find it now contains an absolutely beautiful large wetland. It was a gorgeous day, really perfect for wandering in nature.

All this less than 4km away and we had no idea it was there. I wonder what other local wonders we have no idea about?

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James Turrell: Unseen Seen
(inside the big white orb on the left)

Clever Don snagged us (in high demand) advance tickets to experience this work while we were at MONA on Saturday.

It was quite a trip. The colours! The patterns!

Would do absolutely do again.

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kelp gull*

And just like that, our whirlwind break is over. It was a very pleasant getaway and I feel extremely content and well-rested.

Hopefully I can extend this vibe into the daily routines.

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* may perhaps be Pacific gull as they seem very similar in appearance. Kelp or Pacific – they’re majestic AF and quite giant compared with the wee seagulls we have here.

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One of the utterly magical spider Webs of At-tent(s)ion from
Thomas Saraceno: Oceans of Air at MONA.

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Hello from Hobart!

We’re here to quietly celebrate that big financial milestone with food, rest and art.

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