Coalport China
I headed off this week for a research trip to Coalport China Museum. It's a small museum that forms part of the Ironbridge Gorge. We're lucky that this World Heritage Site is only a few minutes drive from where we live. I find the whole area and its history fascinating. The museum as it's name suggests is the home of Coalport china. Many of the factory buildings are still in existence, some house displays and demonstrations while in others there are studios for contemporary ceramicists.
I went to take photos of the teacup and teapot displays for a piece of work I have in mind.
But I couldn't resist a few more shots.
Before heading home we walked a short way through Coalport to the Tar Tunnel. The Tar Tunnel is a bit of a family joke. There are lots of museums in Ironbridge some of which are more appealing than others and we all thought it would be a long time before we ran out of more interesting places to go to and resorted to the Tunnel. It was so close to the China Museum though so when in Rome...
Yep, it's a tunnel and there's tar. Bitumen actually that naturally seeps out of the ground and collects in pools. When in the tunnel you can peep through open sections to see the black lakes of tar either side. All quite spooky. The tunnel was rediscovered in the late 60s by the owner of the village shop who said there was a door in his cellar that led into something. Can you imagine having a tunnel dripping with tar that extends to over 1km running from your cellar? Would you grab a torch and go in? I'm not sure I would!
Back above ground at home I made a start on the teacup work. This is the next page in my art journal. I've gone mad with the gold, but I think it suits the subject. I'll be demonstrating simple gilding with leaf on DMTV soon if you're interested.
Thanks for reading!
Laura
x
I went to take photos of the teacup and teapot displays for a piece of work I have in mind.
But I couldn't resist a few more shots.
Before heading home we walked a short way through Coalport to the Tar Tunnel. The Tar Tunnel is a bit of a family joke. There are lots of museums in Ironbridge some of which are more appealing than others and we all thought it would be a long time before we ran out of more interesting places to go to and resorted to the Tunnel. It was so close to the China Museum though so when in Rome...
Yep, it's a tunnel and there's tar. Bitumen actually that naturally seeps out of the ground and collects in pools. When in the tunnel you can peep through open sections to see the black lakes of tar either side. All quite spooky. The tunnel was rediscovered in the late 60s by the owner of the village shop who said there was a door in his cellar that led into something. Can you imagine having a tunnel dripping with tar that extends to over 1km running from your cellar? Would you grab a torch and go in? I'm not sure I would!
Back above ground at home I made a start on the teacup work. This is the next page in my art journal. I've gone mad with the gold, but I think it suits the subject. I'll be demonstrating simple gilding with leaf on DMTV soon if you're interested.
Thanks for reading!
Laura
x
I love those buildings...and the 'feelings' they evoke. We in NZ have no buildings of that age and when we visited the UK I had to run my hands over them, imagining who had touched them in the past.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your DMTV lesson!
I love the stone floor in the china building. I grew up in Seattle, Wa. There is a whole city under the current one. I too, would be hesitant to dive into a tunnel. I guess I have watched too many B movies from the 1940's. LOL! Now I am going to look and see if I have any Coalport teacups in my collection! You do live in an enchanting area.
ReplyDelete