Paintings, Fabric, Quilts and Pots

This one could get complicated so bear with me ....  it's worth it!   A lady called Em made a fantastic quilt for her old school friend Liz.  Liz looked for some special way to thank Em and, on seeing my Quilt Bowls out there somewhere, she had the brilliant idea that a quilt bowl based on the exact quilt Em had made for her would be uniquely appropriate!

She contacted me and of course I jumped at the chance - what a brilliant project to work on!  I asked for photos of the quilt and these came back ....

The quilt is a tribute to time spent in New York, with the individual blocks representing city blocks and the leafy central panel representing Central Park - you quilters are sooooo clever!!!

I know all you fabricaholics out there will instantly recognise this wonderful fabric based on the paintings of Gustav Klimt.

It made the project even more enjoyable for me as Klimt is one of my all time favourite painters - which is no surprise really - it's obvious from my own work that I love colour, pattern and ornament, and you get this in spades with Klimt.

So, I got to work.

is the bisque-fired piece.  The design is impressed into the clay in most areas, but the darker sections showing the swirls and flowers are painted on with wax, so that once I brush glaze over them, the wax will resist the glaze and remain the pale cream colour.

The above shows the central block all glazed and once the border is done it will be fired a second time ...

and will come out of the kiln the next day looking like this!  Obviously it's not an exact copy of the quilt, but is my own representation of some of the key elements in it.

I have to say, I was really pleased with the finished piece and would gladly have kept it for myself, but Liz was delighted with it and had me dispatch it straight to her friend, who instantly recognised it from the quilt and thought it was stunning.

It find it uniquely satisfying that someone did a painting, which someone years later used to design fabric, which someone later used to make a quilt, which someone later used to make a ceramic bowl

Am not sure what Klimt would have made of it all - it was the 150th anniversary of his birth last Saturday!  It's only fair to include something of his here too, so here is a section of his portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, in which you can see the same patterns and colours of the quilt and bowl.

Have a lovely rainy weekend!

x Cathy

Iced Fingers

No, not Iced Fingers as in those sickly finger-shaped buns with tons of icing on top! I wish!

I'm on about iced fingers dangling from my frozen hands when I'd finished packing this lot above and more into my kiln in the garage where the temperature inside was minus seven, yesterday!

Today, when I went to take it all out of the kiln, I had to pick my way through this white stuff that had landed overnight.
The kiln is behind that door, across that snow.

It's precision stuff, packing a kiln with glazed pots. For the uninitiated amongst you - if two pieces touch each other, they will bond together and be pretty much ruined. It takes time and dexterity - a dexterity which is nigh impossible with numb, aching, freezing fingers. And it can't possibly be done with gloves on.


But, I was lucky, and though I squished everything onto these shelves as tightly as possible, nothing fused together.
I'll show you some of this stuff in more detail at a future date, but for now .....

I am so pleased with these two large bowls. They're part of the new direction work I was talking of at the beginning of the year where I am concentrating more on complex borders, than the inner design.


This border pattern was not toooooo bad to glaze - a tad time-consuming but worth it.


But I have to say that five minutes into hand-painting the glaze onto this one below, I began to wonder why I had done this to myself!


But I'd started, so I finished ..... sometime later!


And what happened to the icey fingers? Well, great fun was had, placing them on the warm flesh of various family members, before I eventually placed then on top of the aga to thaw out.

Well, you have to have a laugh, don't you? Reminds me of someone who used to stir his hot tea with a teaspoon and then touch the back of your hand with it - just his little joke!

Are you a practical joker or do you hate them?

Bye for now.

x Cathy

New Year, New Direction

Happy New Year everyone if it's not too late to say that!
It seems like you have all done half a dozen blog posts whilst I have been having a laptop-free break!


The new direction I am taking this year pottery-wise is to concentrate more on the border around the design, than the central pattern itself. In other words, the borders will be more intricate and the central design will be quite simple. This block above is called 'Windmill', but the border is all mine own.


As this series of bowls has developed, I have focussed more and more on the borders, as they play such a pivotal part in 'setting off' the piece as a whole.
The block above is called 'Nelson's Victory', which should go down well in these parts, as old Horatio was a Norfolk boy!


I made these two just before Christmas. I have just done two more with really complex patterns around the border. They're waiting to be fired at the moment, but am pleased with the way each piece moves the whole process on a bit further.

So - did anyone make any New Year's Resolutions?
I did, but it's not going too well so far!

I resolved to be MORE SELFISH! In a good way!

In other words, I plan to do more things for myself and less things for other people who, when I last looked, had not lost the use of their limbs. They know who they are!
As I say, I haven't made a good start, but am persevering and becoming a tad unpopular in certain quarters!

Now I'm off to catch up with all your news. Looking forward to sharing 2012 with you all!

Cathy x

How to make a Pinwheel

Well, you CAN make a pinwheel easily from a square of paper, with a few snips and folds and a pin in the middle, voila!

Or you can do it with clay, like this. The Pinwheel pattern is my favourite Quilt Block and I make more of these than any other design. The one above is glazed and waiting to be fired.


And this is the finished product. It's such a clear, simple pattern, but effective.


I'm pleased with the red dotty border because I like the way the soft, irregularity of the outer edges ....


contrasts with the straight inner border made up of a double row of winding leaves,


and also with the rigidity of the central pattern.


Sorry - I've gone all 'arty' on you, but all in all, this one is a definite success in terms of colour, form, pattern, the lot.

I shall make more!

Bye for now

Cathy X

Pieces finished, in progress and just ideas ..

..... IN PROGRESS

So, the above picture shows work in progress ... armies of Christmas angels waiting to go into the kiln this weekend, after which their true colours will shine out. They will then get their ribbon legs and little slippered feet attached and can fly off to their new homes. Will let you see the finished results next week.

.... JUST AN IDEA

Below is what I bought at the Norfolk Quilters' 30th Anniversary Exhibition held at the Assembly House in Norwich this week. It is officially a 'table runner' but as there is never a table clear enough for long enough to put it on in this house, I have just draped it over the back of our old oak settle for now. I loved the colours - very Christmassy - and had the idea that I might make a quilt bowl to match it. I should of course have asked what the quilt pattern is called - but I forgot. Just as I forgot to take my camera with me, as the quilts on show were quite staggeringly beautiful, and I would have liked to show some more.


Anyway, I also bought a book of raffle tickets to win a full size quilt, so maybe I'll show you that one when I win - ha ha!

.... AND PIECES FINISHED.

The piece below is the finished commission I blogged about earlier for a couple with five year old twins. The pattern is called "Crazy House" and whilst they absolutely love it, they are almost too frightened to put it out for fear of two sets of little hands getting hold of it.

Have a good weekend everyone.