Learning the Craft

When Ottoman Sultans attended ritual prayer at an Imperial Mosque, they performed their namaz from a raised, gilded loge, an ornately screened religious equivalent of a theatrical Royal Box. These loges (Hünkar mahfili) led back into a secret first floor … Continued

When I was studying literature at university we came across the mythological story of Tantalus. It’s a pretty horrific tale containing many twists and turns (he steals the secrets of the gods and boils his own son for starters…). But … Continued

So the panel that defined so much of my last year came out of the kiln and I hated it, remember? I’ve been trying to work out why I had such a strong reaction so I can move forward more … Continued

You will remember that when I finally saw the fired, finished panel that had taken me months to complete… I hated it! But why such a negative reaction? Last post I talked about time as a reason for my reaction. But … Continued

So you may recall that penç (“pench”) forms are a view of the flower looking down from the top (literally a bird’s eye view), or a horizontal cross section of the flower. Hatayi forms are similarly a cross section but taken vertically … Continued

It’s a slow journey to perfecting the art of cini. .. to break up all the practice I decided to paint a pomegranate (here shown nearly finished and pre-firing). Not my best work ever but a fun mini – project … Continued

(Here’s some I prepared earlier… funnily enough the tablecloth also has a giant ‘penç’ on it too!)   I was thrilled when Poppy looked at my leaves and decided I could graduate to the next step… Step 1: Leaves Step … Continued