After the Christmas and New Year lay off I have got back into making the plates again. I made one last week which is another demonstration plate, showing a range of decorative ideas to help the pupils with their commemorative plates. I have had a lot of fun in libraries and museums following up research ideas and I have learnt a lot about pottery.

I was in London Friday and after the course finished I made it over to the British Museum for their late night opening. I was particularly after seeing a BRB, a bevelled rimmed bowl from Mesopotamia. I saw these on a BBC programme about the dawn of civilisation. They are apparently so plentiful around Tell Brak that the archeologists have to rebury the things. I made a little drawing of this really very humble object which is symbolic of a great deal.

It is thought to be a ration bowl because of the standardisation of the the size, pressed into a standard mould as they are. This implies that one group of people were being rationed by another group of people, that there were workers and overseers already. Social organisation inferred from a pot. Very interesting. I also found tin ware plates and a huge Thomas Toft platter and spent a couple of hours sketching.