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Productive weekend

24/2/2013

printer's tray with mudlarking finds displaying mudlarking finds

This weekend, as it was -10 degrees, arctic type weather, and the tides were pretty bad timing wise (ie, low tide at horrendous o'clock in the morning), it was a weekend for doing stuff at home, and time to finally display all our Thames mudlarking finds in the printers tray which I've been stepping over on the lounge floor for the last month! hooray! And so, here it is in all its glory. All theses bits and pieces displayed, including some beautiful coins (the nicest one is a 1799 halfpenny), are treasures which we have found over the last year, washed up along the Thames near Greenwich. Amongst the finds are bullets, live rounds, a voltameter, pocket watch, victorian police whistle, fragments of bellamine, bottles, lead soldiers, glass bottles stoppers..... the list goes on. It is now proudly displayed in the hallway - just like a little museum. Very proud! Thanks David for putting it up - all whilst he was cooking roast beef. Who says men can't multi-task! And whilst David was cooking and polishing pennies to within an inch their lives, I messed around making a few more fish creations - which are pictured here below:

ceramic fish made from old pottery from the Thames

glass fish mounted on half a porthole found at morden wharf

Stripey ceramic angel fish

So a very productive weekend, and then, to finish it off, sorting through papers before going to bed, I came across a quote which my late Dad wrote down, by John J Sullivan, which I like, so thought I'd share it:

Life
"All except the shallowest living involves tearing up one rough draft after another"

Here's to not being shallow!!

Bonne Nuit
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best clay pipe bowl yet & carved faces in the piers

17/2/2013

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clay pipe bowl with talons

What beautiful weather it was this weekend! We just had to make the most of it, and go down by the river Thames, and it was beautiful down there. Plus, the tides were just right for a bit of squelching around in the mud looking for washed up bits and pieces. It never fails to amaze me what treasures are washed up each week. I found my best clay pipe bowl - with talons clutching it - I'm not sure if they are dragon or eagle, but they are very serious talons all the same! As we were almost running out of shoreline, we ended up searching around under one of the old piers, and noticed these old carvings which we have never noticed before. It looks like they've been there for some time.

old carving under greenwich pier

day's finds, including some military spurs, and a charming yellow duck!

After feeding the seagulls, and feeling very thirsty due to slight over indulgence the evening before, we made our way to the Cutty Sark pub, where we indulged in a good couple of pints of beer and some sandwiches, whilst admiring our day's finds. Oh, and we like the Cutty Sark pub, because they let dogs in, and Mischa likes them too, as she got to hoover up the floor of chips and other bits of food dropped under the tables. Great weekend had. We even caught sight of our seal again briefly. Back to work tomorrow. bon courage all:)

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job search in a bottle

10/2/2013

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Darren's message in a bottle. bester.darren@yahoo.co.uk

Went for our usual forage by the river today, and stumbled across a lambrusco bottle with a rolled up note in it:) Well, you have to admit that this is a very original way to search for a job, and why not indeed! So, if anyone knows of a job for Darren, then see his note above with contact details bester.darren@yahoo.co.uk. Good luck with the search Darren... I hope you enjoyed the lambrusco too :) . We took some old bread down to the river, and the seagulls enjoyed it. No sign of our friend the seal though. However, for those who are interested, it turns out that she (so we thought we'd call her "Sealia", or Celia - get it(?) is a rehabilitated seal from Eastwinch animal sanctuary in Kings Lynn. We are looking forward to finding out more about her in due course. The marine mammal survey people at ZSL are busy looking into her history. So after a busy and cold weekend, now relaxing with a glass of wine (rioja, not lambrusco...). Bliss.... A bientot!

spot the piece of bread

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frolicking seal and skeletal remains

4/2/2013

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Enderby Wharf skeletal remains

This weekend was packed with thrilling experiences and discoveries. As the tide was nice and low at a civilised time of day, and the weather very pleasant we decided to head off down to Greenwich to wander along the foreshore and see what interesting items we could find. After finding an impressive large bullet (Can't remember exactly what calibre, but larger than the average 303, an old hand held volt metre, and a gold plated RAF button, as well as several lovely engraved clay pipes (pictures to come later), we were about to head off for a well deserved pint or 2 at the Cutty Sark pub, when David came across a macabre find. We are used to finding cow jaws and other animal bones on our escapades, but this time David was convinced the remains were of the human variety. There was a spine, a pelvis, a femur and a few ribs - and even though I cynically suspected that it was probably a cow - I was proved wrong ! Not wanting to upstage the discovery of Richard III's skeleton or anything, but this morning, the police confirmed that the remains were indeed human ones. Even very old remains have to be reported to the police. Tests will be carried out to see just how old they are, but judging by the look of them, I'd say they are very old - well over 100 years. Just who could it be? Is it the remains of a pirate hung from a gibbet across the river, an unfortunate soul who fell off a boat, or ...... well we will probably never know. What secrets and history the river Thames holds.....
And now back to the land of the living and the present day - we saw our Thames Seal again this weekend, and it played with our dog. Quite an amazing experience. Here is the video. Enjoy :-http://youtu.be/HKsroXIv34M
Bye for now. :) Nicola

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My name is Nicola White.
I have been making art from glass, pottery and driftwood for the past twenty years. I am as passionate about mudlarking as I am about my art. I'm very lucky to be able to combine the two.

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Productive weekend

best clay pipe bowl yet & carved faces in the piers

job search in a bottle

frolicking seal and skeletal remains

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