Catherine Daniel Ceramics

Hello and welcome to my blog where I share some of the thought processes and textile/quilting inspirations behind my ceramic art, and occasionally other random topics!
For more details and pictures of my ceramic creations, please see my website -

catherinedanielceramics.com



Thursday 5 July 2012

Wonderful Commissions

I have been getting some fabulous commissions lately from people who see my work on the website and ask to have something special made for them, or in most instances as a gift for a friend.  I think I've said before how much I love making these.  It's the challenge of designing and bringing to fruition something with a specific brief, rather than just going my own way.


The picture above shows this piece having been fired once and now awaiting glazing. The components of each little 'picture section' are cut out of clay separately and applied to the piece using 'slip' (a mushy clay and water mixture).  The aim is to make it resemble a piece of Applique textile work.
The glazing is the tricky bit because I need to aim for a nice spread of colours, without them clashing or making the whole thing look too 'busy'.

shows it glazed but not yet fired a second time.  So at this stage I am never quite sure whether it will look right until I take it out of the kiln again and it looks like this ....


I suspect you can see what my 'instructions' were for this one!  This lady likes flowers, and new clothes, (me too!), so we had a section depicting those things ...


and she has been known to go to London to do the odd spot of shopping .....
but she is also a family person, with two grown-up sons and a daughter.  This section, below, was the most difficult to capture, but I chose to represent it like the kind of picture a child would do of their family.



and last, but not least, she is a book lover, so we gave her this little stack of books to read ....



I think I pulled it off OK, and she did drop me an email to say how much she liked it, which was very kind.
I am sure, one day soon, someone is going to ask me to create something really crazy which I will have to decline, but it's not happened yet!



xCathy

20 comments:

  1. That is a fabulous piece of work - and really special because it is so personal to the recipient. Well done for all your thoughtful planning which made the finished item so precious.

    blessings x

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  2. I also love commissions, they are a challenge at times, but I quite like that. I bet she was thrilled with her beautiful gift! x

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  3. That is beautiful - It must be so nice doing commissions and making so special and personal to someone.
    Claire

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  4. those are gems- family treasure for many years and memories for many.
    Brilliant!

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  5. That's fabulous Cathy!
    Victoria xx

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  6. Haha, you lot! I have seen this in the 'flesh'! And it is very lovely indeed. I loved it so much Cathy is making me some items as gifts for my family ad I pick them up next week! Hurrah!

    I don't know whether I could bear the suspense of waiting to see whether the work I'd so painstakingly put in would come out of the kiln as I'd wanted them to...potting is a real work of faith!

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  7. What an amazing piece of work and such a special gift.

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  8. What a wonderful gift - a real family treasure. x Jo

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  9. It's much more interesting to follow a brief created by someone else, rather than your own whim, isn't it!

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  10. Gorgeous Gift - I bet Anne was very pleased ... :0)

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  11. Wow, you do such a nice job with the minute details! I bet she is quite delighted with the piece.

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  12. I love all of your ceramic pieces, your work is really great!! I was just surfing around and came across your blog and have enjoyed the last 30 minutes very much.

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  13. Just BEAUTIFUL-what a wonderful wonderful gift,I am sure she will treasure it...you are obviously doing what you were born to do,as your enjoyment of it shines through!
    Callie x

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  14. My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!


    Leather Note Jotter

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  15. I actually enjoyed reading through this posting.Many thanks.
    Leather Note Jotter

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  16. My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!Leather Note Jotter

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