And the winner is ....

So ... into youngest son's hat you all went, and the two names he pulled out were . . .

Joan Hunter Dunn, and, The Mad House. Congratulations!

Please email me at cathy.daniel@virgin.net with your address
and I'll get your snowflake off to you tomorrow.

Looking out of the window, we are now getting our second load of snow, as promised. The older two are home from University this weekend so ...

time for pottery to finish and Christmas to start (once their washing's been done!).
In case you're wondering, those little stockings in that picture are for big cheques.

And, yes, that is the weird snowflake youngest son made
- much rarer than any of mine!

So, its feet up by the blazing woodburner in the candle-lit lounge for me ....

and a very Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all of you!
See you soon.

The Great Snowflake Giveaway

My snowflakes, which started out as just a bit of fun,
have gone down a storm (so to speak!).

So, if you prefer the kind of snowflakes above, to those pictured below ....

... I have two left over from a massive batch I was asked to make, and ....

.... if you leave me a comment before next Thursday 16th December ....

.... I will get youngest son to pick a name out of a hat and send to you just in time for
CHRISTMAS.

(and I promise not to send the one youngest son made which is not only asymmetrical
but now glazed in yellow and green in support of Norwich City Football Club!)

More Christmas parcels .....

This time, the lovely package I received in the post came all the way from Poland. Three exquisitely beautiful little textile hanging decorations, (my photo doesn't do them justice) which I won on Bozena's blog which you can look at here : www.textilecuisine.blogspot.com.

You may know that many of my ceramic creations are influenced by my love of textiles and I really love the textiles that she creates. Be sure to go from her blog to the pages showing her work. I especially love the Medieval pieces she has done - lovely pictures crammed with colour, texture and detail - which is exactly what I try to bring to my own work.

And I got my first Christmas card (if you don't count the one we got from our Milkman!) which wishes me a Happy Christmas in polish, and features one of her lovely designs on the front.
And it all came in this envelope with enough stamps to sink a battleship!

Thank you so much Bozena! They will have pride of place on our tree.

This is my second giveaway win in the eight months I have been blogging .... so I reckon its about time I did one of my own. Watch this space.

How to make an Impression

If you've looked closely at my ceramics, you will have noticed that I make a lot of impressions into the soft clay to give it texture, interest, pattern. I make these markings using a variety of tools, most of which were not invented for use with clay. They are all just bits and pieces you might find around the house, some of which are are pictured above.


Of course, I do make my own stamps (out of clay) to press into the clay, my most used one being the little six petal flower there.

And I quite like to use stamps from India (below) which were meant for printing onto textiles (as seen last night on Kirsty's Home Made Home).


So, I was so pleased and surprised to receive last weekend this package from eldest child away at University in the frozen north, with a note to say that each little parcel on the home-made advent calendar contained something she had collected, or bought from a charity shop, or whatever, which would be useful as a tool for making indentations into my pots. She is an art student and so has a good eye for such things.

Have to confess, it brought a tear to my old eye, thinking of the thought and effort behind such a gift. And it has made the horribly busy run-up to Christmas all the more do-able now that I have a little parcel to open each day.


Speaking of pre-Christmas busy-ness, I am taking part in a Christmas Art Exhibition next week - setting it up tomorrow. Details below. If you are in the vicinity at all, do give it a look. I do hope this big freeze doesn't put too many people off!