Carly's April Blogness!

Did anyone miss me? Notice that March went by in a flash and my bloggage didn't appear? No? Ah well, I'm back now with a bang!!

To say we have all been incredibly busy would be the understatement of the century! Mother's Day blended into our mural project, which then blended into the Easter holidays and the start of workshops for commemorative pieces for the upcoming Kings Coronation. It's been non-stop! Mother's Day this year clashed with one of our Potter's Wheel Have A Go weekends, so it was pretty full on! The potter's wheel is always so popular, with bookings being taken right up to September now. Saz is even talking about training me up so that I can also run the classes - I feel there will be a lot of clay flying about in the current weeks, as I get myself up to speed.

Easter was busy as usual - we had lots of days over the school break where we were fully booked, with Dudley HAF families coming to visit us, and also Dudley Young Carers. We do like working with community groups - it's great to have them visit us in the studio, and also a great experience when we visit groups at their meeting places. Saz has been out to 2 Brownie groups, who have completed Coronation mug workshops, and the results have been amazing! Talking of the Coronation, we are taking bookings in the studio for people to create keepsakes for the occasion - why not have a go at making a clay crown (as modelled by myself in the accompanying photo!)?

And so to the Wordsley Together Community Mural......it's an amazing, and sometimes humbling experience. Over the last few weeks we have visited 4 Primary schools, a secondary school, 3 nurseries, 3 care homes, 2 Guiding/Scout groups and a community handprint at Wordsley library. The very young have been delightful, schoolchildren well mannered and a joy to work with, and the elderly so engaged. Our youngest participant so far has been 9 months old, with the eldest at 100 - we have truly got a wide spread of the Wordsley community! We continue to work on this project, finishing off the smaller details, and aiming to have it completed in June/July.

We are already forward planning to the Summer - slip casting of our popular garden shapes going ahead, and Saz has already decided what clay play and pottery painting workshops we will be holding during half term week and the 6 weeks holiday. We're always on the go, and that's just how we like it!