Our opening, which is part of the International Ceramics Fair, was at a gallery near our studio. It was opened by the Mayor of Jingdezhen. There were Chinese and Taiwanese artists as well as our Australian and Brazillian group. There were Police with a "police line" blockade, as well as a huge blow up arch. There was a stage and seats for the dignitaries. There were pretty girls in evening dresses, (even though the opening was at 2.30pm). Tried tea wine, a bit like sherry.

Guess who was asked to perform at the event - my husband Mark. He was set up inside the art gallery, so when the formalities on stage were over and people went inside, there he was playing his guitar. There were several camera crews for the TV stations. We probably made the evening news.

Wow, went to the international ceramic fair opening, what an amazing exhibition. There were tens of thousands of people waiting to get in after the official opening. The event was opened by the Mayor, with fireworks and all. As artists and westerners we got to go in with the other VIPs ahead of the crowd. They take their ceramics very seriously here, with security and metal detectors, just to get in to the event with the other VIPs. Hundreds of exhibitors were there. Amazing! Never seen so much ceramics in one place.

Visited the antique markets in Jingdezen this morinng. There were hundreds of stalls (which really are just blankets on the ground) selling thousands of shards of ceramic. All were claiming they were original antiques, not fakes. Unfortunately some even looked like things from the $2 store but with dirt on them. Some were covered in so much dirt, you could barely see the piece. They were also selling little magnifying glasses there, with a standard LED light as well as an ultra violet light. It was shown to me, if you can see large bubbles in the ceramic piece, it is real and if there are none, it is fake. My husband loved the little magnifying glass, so I bought it for him, it was his birthday today. We tried the light later on our dinner wear at the restaurant and we could see fine bubbles on them. So I don't think I will be trying to buy any genuine pieces. I think we bought a "fake" light.

The studio we are working in was previously a buddhist temple. There is still a shrine behind the kiln. I have been told the writing on the front of our kiln says "buddha". Our group wanted to do a bisque fire, which is very unusual for Jingdezen potters, as they usually once fire only. Every kiln, has a kiln master, who looks after the firing. Everyone specialises in one area, eg: someone only throws, another turns, and another may only glaze. Very different than Oz where we do it all. The kilns are so big here, they even have a tracks to roll the work in. Some kilns even open two sides, so that you can be loading the next shelves reading to go in. Some could nearly take a small car inside.

Our group went to Yaoli and visited a Ming dynasty village, it was like stepping back in time. On the way we stopped at a 64m long dragon kiln. Going inside the kiln at about half way and looking up and down was amazing. It's so big and takes an enormous amount of work to fill. We were told they fire 4 times a year and were going to pack the kiln tomorrow. All the timber was reading beside the holes at the side. It takes only about 3 days to fire.

Well I am totally hooked. We had a carving demonstration today and after having a go, I was totally addicted to it. I just could not stop. They carve in to bone dry porcelain here in Jingdezen. The porcelain here is stronger when it is dry, rather than leather hard. That takes a bit of getting used to.

I think it would take me about 20 years to master Qin Hua painting (pronounced Chinwah). We had a demonstration in our studio and the control he had with the brush on unbisqued clay was amazing. The secret to the mix is to use red or green tea instead of water.

Caught the local bus in to town (cost about 10c for a 40minute trip) to buy some tools, all so cheap, I had a field day! My husband also found a reasonably priced guitar so we have been having live music while we work in the studio.

Over 10 million porcelain bottles are produced each year from one factory I visited today. That is a lot of bottles. The kiln just to set the decals on the porcelain bottles is over 50m long. Bottles, bottles everywhere you look.

Saw a great invention today- glazing the inside of a bowl in about 3 seconds,using a basket ball! The ball is not quite fully inflated,with a tube attached at the top. The bowl is placed over the ball, which is full of glaze and is sitting inside a large bucket. You just squeeze the ball and the glaze shoots out covering the entire inside of the bowl, with the excess glaze going back in to the bucket. Quick and efficient!