For a while I’ve been thinking about slate, as an alternative canvas. Wondering what it would be like to paint or draw on it. It’s not the sort of stuff you find lying around, or can find on the beach.

I Googled ‘buy slate Dublin’ and the first thing on the list was Mac’s Warehouse, an architectural salvage company near Inchicore. So I went there yesterday. It’s an extraordinary place. There is tat, of course, but if you want big granite balls …

… or barrels, toilets, railway sleepers or old wheels …

… it’s the place to go.

I found my slates. I bought 4, different shades and thicknesses, for €5, brought them home and cleaned them. Here’s three of them.

Cutting them is a challenge. I don’t have the right type of saw. Nor do I have the right type of chisel. So I improvised a bit, with a crowbar and a hammer. Here’s the result, with a mandala segment …

Promising. I’ll try something colourful next.

Yesterday, I played with new type of clay I bought in Evans recently. I used cookie cutters to create a bunch of shapes and, with a clay tool dealie, I scratched out a few crude pictures. The clay is quite smelly. A sort of chemical/creosote type of smell, not that pleasant. Unless it fades quickly, I can’t see it being very useful for creating aroma diffusers. The Sostrene Grene stuff was virtually odourless, as was the terracotta clay I used last week. This stuff is also quite crumbly. Anyway, I did these …

Also yesterday, I carved out a celtic circle motif on a piece of lino. I wanted to make a stamp to make an impression on clay disks. The lines were too thick and it didn’t really work. So I did a thinner one today and here’s what I did with it. I’ll use it on clay during the week.

I like making boxes and envelopes, as I said in the last post, and here’s how to make the petal box …

Before breakfast, I did a few messy mandalas, just to get in the mood for the day.

I did a few other little bits and pieces but I think that’s enough.