Slab building

I have just come into the garden and after a few moments noticed a woodpecker in the tree above me!  When I called out the family for a look it turned out Mr Woodpecker was there too - with a lovely red cap on his head.  Sadly my camera doesn't have the ability to take good photos at that distance so I didnt bother but it was lovely to see them.....

Middle spotted woodpecker.  I don't know if this is the right species but Mr Woodpecker looked like this!

Yesterday I did a 6 hour class on slab building.  I have done this sort of thing before but have been admiring the work of the teacher, Elaine Pinkernell, and for a while been thinking I need to move off the wheel (not to mention with my ever increasing belly size I wont be able to reach the wheel soon!) as I keep making useless bowls and crap mugs.  I like the freestyle, randomness of Pink's work and I had a ball yesterday with stamps!  Whilst, like most things it takes practice, it was a relatively easy process as there was such freedom in coming up the designs on the pieces we built.  And Pink very kindly supplied us with a range of templates that helped the process a lot!  Obviously mistakes were made, but slab building is much more forgiving than wheel work, and as I was making patch work mugs anyway any problem areas could soon be patched.  Whilst the 2 mugs I built were rather large and may be more suitable for beer than coffee, at the end of the day I wasn't cringing at my work, which is a definite plus.  Usually, I sneak my work away from the pottery and more recent attempts could be bettered by a high schooler I am sure.....

Elaine Pinkernell's wall plaque.
I love the amazing contrasting colours.

A couple of Elaine's mugs.
I'll post my versions when they get fired and glazed!