Eight years ago

Fond memory of a cat doodle I did eight years ago. This was on my Facebook memories today. There are other drawings but I won’t put them on here. I might use them later but I think this is the cutest one. The little bottle oven and tea set are the connection with where I live, the Potteries, Stoke-on-Trent.

I have lots of sketchbooks around the house with doodles in. I should find them all and look through them. What will happen to them when I’ve gone I wonder?

Tea?

One of my old digital drawings I did a few years ago on a website called sketchfu that has sadly closed. Each week we were set a challenge to draw from a photo. I got quite good at it even though there were only a few tools on the site. I’d like to know what pottery the set was made at. I think it looks quite neat.

Tea set

Bone China tea set my friend is getting rid of. I’m going to try and find someone who wants it. I think another friend will have it.

Bone China was manufactured by potters who wanted to find a substitute for porcelain that came from China. It took several years to find a formula that produced thin, strong, translucent pots. It contained clay from the China clay quarries in Cornwall, calcined bone and flint (heated and ground to break them down into a fine powder). The bone gives off phosphorus which adds to the strength of the bone china. You end up with a material half way between pottery and glass. This fine white china was then beautifully decorated with hand painted flowers, fruit and landscapes.

I’m sure there is far more to say on this subject. But that’s enough for now.