Just Pottering

A lot of this summer was spent pottering about the house and garden.

'Pottering' means occupying oneself in a desultory, but pleasant, way. My time spent tending the pots at our front door was certainly pleasant. But desultory or purposeless? Certainly not!

When this concrete Ikea plant pot failed to survive the winter frosts, I salvaged the pieces, glued them back together and created a mosaic over its cracked surface.

Covering the pot with tile squares was gently therapeutic, whilst messing about with grout is equally rewarding once the job is complete.

Using outdoor adhesive and grout meant my pot could sit decoratively at the front door all season. This year, however, I shall bring it inside before winter so the frost can't wreak any more damage.

An old green wheelbarrow was mouldering away in an unseen corner of our garden. It had worked hard during building work to our house over a decade ago and no longer functioned, its suspension shot. I decided to make it into a garden planter.

Amazingly, the Hammerite paint I bought could be applied directly to rust so my husband, Geoff, removed the worst of it with a wire brush, then I got to work with my paint pot.

Transformed from rusty green to glossy blue, my wheelbarrow makeover was ready to plant. I got Geoff to bash some drainage holes into the rusty unpainted base, lined it with garden membrane then added drainage stones and compost.

The tiny geranium plug plants I bought mail order from Marshalls last April, and nurtured indoors, were sturdy and ready to plant out by mid July when my paint project was complete.

I crammed all 40 plants into the barrow to create a real show.

Here's the wheelbarrow planter in late July and again in September - and it's still blooming as I write in early November!

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In June, my daughter Maddy and I engaged in a little more pottering at a nearby paint-your-own pottery studio. Impressed with the sample pieces featuring crystal glaze at The Bee Crafty Studio, Maddy opted to use it to create this pretty pink jug whilst I crystal glazed a spoon rest to match my cooker splash-back.

We pottered off to The Bee Crafty Studio again in August to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday.

While she and my niece made gorgeous, and highly individual, plant pots, I chose to paint a fragrance diffuser for use with scented oils and wax melts. The magical crystal glaze (which you can see on the right) contains small pieces of glass frit which burst into colour during the firing process.

So much fun to see what the finished piece looks like when it comes out of the kiln.

It was only whilst pottering around at home during the summer holidays that I opened up the Sculpd Pottery Kit my daughter, Eilidh, had thoughtfully given me for my birthday.

The kit contained air-dry clay, tools, paints and simple-to-follow instructions - everything needed to make several plant pots or pinch pots. As I'd got my hands messy with clay, I didn't take any photos 'til I'd fashioned this wonky wee pot for one of my many plant babies.

Some things are best shared - there was lots of clay in the kit so my husband, Geoff, and my daughter, Maddy, also had a go. Though we made our pots when Maddy was home in June, we didn't paint them 'til she was home again for a visit last week.

I opted for turquoise paint again and fortuitously found the tester pot for the kitchen wall to decorate the outside. Inside is white displaying the paint supplied in the Sculpd Kit. We had a tube of blue acrylic paint in the house so Geoff and Maddy chose to use that along with the Sculptd white.