My dining table currently looks like this
.
It’s the result of pouring porcelain every twelve hour day for a fortnight. If I do that, I get this, which is a lot of work no matter which end you look at it from.
I don’t know which is worse, or, depending how you look at it, more impressive.
Whilst it is a lot of work, the work has only just begun. Because now every single piece of porcelain has to be rubbed down. There are a lot in every tray, and some are very small. Looked at individually it’s daunting.
And, awfully, I’ve just received the email from Miniatura that reminds me there’s only seven weeks to the show.
Usually when I pour for a week it takes two weeks to rub it all down, so there might be four weeks work here, just to get it in the kiln for the first firing.
If everything goes OK.
And there might not be much time to write.
However do watch out for an announcement, which you will already know about if you are sent emails from the Miniatura website, which has a new feature, showing all the good new stuff for the next show. You will already know about it if you were at the last show and I gave you a leaflet.
I will not be the only artisan who doesn’t take much notice of the weather. It could be wet, it could be ideal for frying eggs on the pavement, it could be filling up reservoirs.
And there’s some sort of games going on in Paris, isn’t there?
Not here. Here the future is rubbing down.
Rubbing to make the seam lines vanish. Rubbing to make the knees articulate. Rubbing to make the loops go in the holes. Rubbing to make the faces smooth and beautiful.
I hope not rubbing to an RSI. I think I may be glad of learning to be ambidextrous when I broke my second arm, and will definitely rub with alternate hands as gently as possible.
I’ll let you know when I get on to firing. Firing will be when every single piece of porcelain has been rubbed to beauty and perfection.
Until then, you know what I’ll be doing.
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Tickets for the 100th Miniatura are selling fast and there is a cap on the numbers of visitors allowed in the hall for safety. If you’d like to see the wonders, you might like to head to www.miniatura.co.uk
Click on next show, show specials. More about mine next time and further updates on what the other artists are getting up to for this very special show, as they tell Andy and he adds the information. Keep checking back.
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