I'm off to the Nadelwelt - in case you are going there, you can find me and Margit at booth F2.3, just like in the last years.
I haven't managed to fire the next batch of spindle whorls before the fair, so they will have another few days to hang out. Possibly that is a good thing, too, because then they will definitely be completely dried out, and that results in less losses due to cracking.
Here they are, all hanging out on the table:
It's a clay that fires up to a light grey colour. Actually it's two clays that fire up to a light colour, as I have used up the last of my previous batch. Some of the whorls are already made from the new clay, which is looking a little bit lighter in the unfired-but-dry stage, so I'm very curious to see how it will look when fired. The bits that are not in a reducing atmosphere, that is...
This time around, I have also played a little with some decorations on some of the whorls. Most of the decorated ones are closely modelled after extant finds from prehistoric times, and a few are modeled after finds from the Celtic era. I did try to match both the form and the size as closely as possible, and found once more that there are forms I find very easy and natural to do, and others that I have not figured out the perfect method yet. So there's more to learn... which will have to wait for the next batch, though.
For now, I'm looking forward to the firing, it's always a fun thing to do, and it's always exciting to see how they all turn out!