back at it 🛞🎡

It's the new year 🎊 and it's been an absolute mess already geopolitically, hasn't it?

Aside from that I just wanted to pop by and show that I got back on the pottery wheel yesterday! Questionable pots but I'm happy to have gotten to it and had better luck with centering this time. My centering is still not great and to be honest I'm sure my work wasn't fully centered most of the time, but it's better than it was. 

I'm hoping to do more this year but we'll see if sickness at home allows! Last November and December were dicey. 

quick art, knit and pot update

Edited to add: I think I accidentally published this really late after having written this!

I've done some drawings!

... I can't find all the photos on my phone but here are some...

... And my knitting, I've almost finished an autumnal jumper - just in time for it to no longer be autumn! I'm working on the bottom hem ribbing and then just have the neckline and weaving in ends to do.

Lastly, a quick pottery update. My little guy survived two trips to the kiln!

Secondly, I managed to sculpt on another bust and made a face I was happy with:

And promptly knocked the bust over and smashed in the nose and mouth! So I'll have to go back and redo the face 😭

That's my speedy update. For folks who celebrate during December and new year, have a lovely time (same to those who don't).

actual goals for 2026? 🤔

I had dreams of writing this blog post about my 2026 goals while O fell asleep but eczema itching has scuppered that plan. Perhaps a reminder to not place too much expectation around goals!

A little while later:

Ok, I do still want to make a sort of loose goal system for 2026 which centres around me figuring out what I want from life and my job...

My primary goal:

Improve in drawing/painting

A simple goal, probably a little broad, but to elaborate, I want to get more comfortable with drawing and painting again; I plan to do so through continuing with a regular art practice (somewhat of a fail lately because of illness in the family and big deadlines at work). I want to draw more from reference, the usual thing. No pressure to define any conceptual (like own IPs/universes/stories) or stylistic things, just focus on getting back into the swing of things and importantly having fun. 

Secondary goal:

General learning in game development

This is even less pressure. Just maybe do some designing of little games to exercise that muscle again, maybe even try to make some tiny tiny projects in game engines (very simple ones). Maybe watch some more game dev documentaries (no clip documentaries), read a game dev book, keep up with industry news. Just rounding out my skills if I can.

Casual goals:

No pressure at all to do these, but they're fun ones so I think they'll be easy to find momentum for. 

Play more games

This helps to inform my game dev and general industry knowledge. We refer to a lot of different games in our research when making our own stuff at work so having good background knowledge certainly helps. I'm also including board games/physical games/TTRPGs here!

Make more pots

- and hopefully get better just from continuing. Not much to say here, I just want to keep going and make gradual improvements without any sort of time pressure. 

Stuff that I want to keep ticking away but without any pressure or expectation

1. Japanese lessons

2. Using up my yarn and fibre stash in textile projects

littler update

Just stopping by again for a quick update, since I'm trapped under a sick toddler and don't know what else to do. 

November has been a brutal month with the little one getting hand foot and mouth (different from foot and mouth that livestock get!) along with other ailments. Last week we thought we'd turned the corner but she's now picked up a viral infection and given it to me, her dad and both my parents! On top of this, I have a big deadline at work coming up which I have been stressing about since the end of October too... Having to take time off for my or little one's sickness is squeezing it even more. 

But anyway, this is also an art and craft blog so here's some pictures. This is a recent sketch I started of Ariana Grande. I don't listen to her music at all but I like the character designs in Wicked (which I have also not seen haha) so I figured might as well sketch from that. Doesn't necessarily look like her but I like the result and enjoyed working on it. Done a bit more on it since but nothing notable to show. May do more on it later. 

Here's a couple photos of the 'kintsugi' project which we did in a workshop at the local clay studio. It's in quotation marks as it was discussed in class that we were using epoxy glue and mica whereas traditionally many layers of lacquer would be used. 

Anyway, that's my little update. I'll see if I can nap too with little one now.

little update

Hello friends 👋 

Sorry I've been a bit MIA lately, work has been busier than usual and I have been continuing pots but a bit less frequently - as we have also been hit with illness at home for the past couple of weeks.

I'm doing ok with my end of year goals, I finished the baby hats and my friend's mittens, plus finished off my shawl. I have started another pair of mittens, this time toddler sized, for little one this winter. Hopefully she will wear my knitted items this time!

Here's the first iteration, I started over though with bigger needles to make it a bit fatter width wise so there's more finger space.

Pots wise, I'm still finding centering the hardest aspect of pottery. The left one is very wonky haha but I'm happy with the right hand bowl that I made. 

I have a few more pots getting fired soon hopefully, looking forward to testing out more glazing. I have made enough pots for close family to get some festive gifts and am trying to get a few more sorted out. 

autumn check in and goals for the end of 2025 🎀

 Hello, hope all is well 🍂

It's time for my semi regular check in where I make goals to finish projects and try to avoid over-buying!

Thoughts on spending from now 'til the new year

• I suppose it's nothing revolutionary, but I have enough yarn to work on several projects; therefore I don't want to buy any more!
• I even have some sock yarn (some handspun, some bought) which I can use for gifts if I feel I need to make some for the coming festive period
• I'm not going to get more art supplies; to be fair I haven't gotten new art supplies in a while; my art practice at the moment is just sketching here and there at night; I do want to change this though, more about that later!
• I have a few household expenses that I will allow myself:
• A small amount of paint (ideally reclaimed/recycled) for the bedroom, 1 wall
• A duvet cover, 2nd hand or new if I can't find something suitable ✅

Goals for the rest of 2025

• Finish some pots for gifts
• This is well underway, I need to stop myself from giving away pots before festivities though!
• Finish my linus shawl
• I did it last week while visiting family, woohoo
• Finish Emily's hat (gift)
• I have almost finished the hat, I need to make a bobble and attach it though. I'm putting it off because it's been ages since I've done one and I'm not sure how good it'll be
• Mittens for Steph
• All I've done so far is roll up a ball of yarn. Patterns scoped out but haven't started.
• Start Japanese classes again
• I fell off the wagon and I don't want to lose my Japanese!

Stretch Goals

• Work on Charlie's jumper project (about 30% done at the moment)
• It's big, but it is worsted weight yarn so maybe it won't be too bad?
• Start a poncho for myself
• This is definitely a stretch goal, as I have other stuff to work on that's higher priority 😌
• Sell a few bits on eBay before postal service gets hectic
• Just decluttering a bit; I had a wedding I went to and I wore a dress I'd bought for a previous wedding to be a bridesmaid. It's a wrap dress and it's beautiful but I hate wearing it! So I will pass it on to someone else, hopefully 😌 and then maybe someday I can invest in something that I feel much more comfortable in, or make something, or simply abstain from getting anything...

dropping by to share some glazed pots 🍯

Just popping by to share some of the glazed pots, I still have four waiting to be fired as well!

These are some from the throwing class I posted about previously. I've been experimenting with different glazes and underglaze and cobalt carbonate (the blue on white).

Some learnings are:

• Black underglaze works well not only with the transparent glaze but also the translucent green and amber glazes. I reckon it'll work well unser the green in the bottom right too.
• The studio's shiny white combined with translucent green makes a minty colour that I quite like.
• I need patience and clean dry hands for glazing. It's really easy to leave accidental marks on things.
• Beware of wet tongs - if water transfers onto the pot surface it can disrupt the application of glaze.
• For non potters, we use the tongs to hold pots while dipping them in glaze - we can also hold pots using our hands but have to be careful about unintended finger marks etc. There are also brush on glazes that you can apply with a paintbrush but the ones available to me in the studio are all dipping glazes!
• Specific to the studio's glazes - I feel like the green glazes could use a longer dip.
• I also suspect the clear glaze could too since it's so thin, but I am wary that it might start to make the underglaze look cloudy. Need to test this; not enough time!