The Personal Touch

Yes, I know ..... you're thinking ' They're not very colourful, not her usual style'. That's because they are only at the first stage of making - the wet clay is dried hard and now ready to go into the kiln for the first firing. Then I shall glaze them in wonderful colours and fire them again.

These two are recent commissions and I so love to do commissions, because they are so special and its so much more gratifying to make things for people who have particularly asked for them, and if you actually know the individuals personally, so much the better.

The one above is for a friend who is Irish. She asked me to make something for her, but was happy for me to choose the design. So I was able to choose something specific to her and the quilt-block pattern marked out on her bowl is called 'Dublin Steps'.


This one is for Michael and Alison, who have a very busy life with twin five year olds. They were specific in their colour choice - this has to be eventually glazed in blues and greens. The design is for me to choose, and so I went for a quilt-block pattern called 'Crazy House'. I know them well and they will appreciate the gentle humour in that choice.


This, of course, is not a bowl and was not a commission, as such. It was for the Hubby for a Big Birthday. He dreams of owning his own bookshop, and now he does, thanks to me. It was great fun to make and he loved that so much time, effort and creativity had been put into his present - something you just don't get with a shop-bought product.

We are off to Bruges this weekend to celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary, but being so busy with orders for other people, the only thing I have made for him this time is his card! But it is good one, if I say so myself.

Am looking forward to getting back next week though, just in time to see an article I wrote for the autumn issue of UK Handmade published, I think, on Wednesday 1st September. Crikey ... can you believe its September already? Have a look at it next week and let me know what you think.

The Love of my Life

Well, OK, there are a few people I love even more than creating my ceramics, but it does come pretty high up the list ! Am sure all you creatives out there feel exactly the same way about what you do. What I do is all here - well most of it. Have bypassed the messy bit where I am up to the elbows in clay but once made, the pieces are left to dry, placed in the kiln and then (above) taken out 24 hours later when they are 'bisque' fired. That gives me lots of blank pieces to then decorate

So I get to work with my glazes on the bare pieces. I put different colour tiles up against each other to see what they'll look like, though I pretty much know by now what works and what doesn't.

Glazing the bisqued piece can be tricky as the unfired glaze colour bares no resemblance to what it will finally look like.


And then comes the exciting bit. Once the glazed pieces have been fired a second time and the kiln has cooled down, I can open it and hope and pray that it all looks as I'd imagined ... or even better.


There are three shelves which normally would be FULL of work, but here I needed to produce some pieces in a hurry and didn't have time to make a proper kiln load (which I hate cos its such a waste!).

And then I attach my bits and bobs to the piece - buttons, embroidery thread, wire to hang the little hearts up with, etc. And there you have it - simple! And I just love it. Just wish I had more hours in a day to do it, though! Sometimes 'normal' life has a habit of interfering.

New Work, New Gallery

We had a very rushed trip down to the Suffolk coast last week to the Gallery at Snape Maltings - they had rung me the previous Saturday to ask if I could show them some of my work with a view to exhibiting in their gallery. Fortunately they liked what they saw and asked me there and then to leave it all with them.



Some of the pieces were the Quilt inspired bowls, but others were new work which came out of the kiln last week, but still very 'textiley' in nature. Will post on this new stuff soon.



Whilst we were there they had a huge textiles exhibition going on in one of the many buildings on the site, but as I say, we were in a mad rush that day, and couldn't stop. We did manage tea and cake in their cafe though - we weren't THAT short of time.

Its a fabulous place - a lovely complex situated in a glorious part of the Suffolk coast near Aldeburgh, with shops, antiques, galleries, exhibitions, cafe, etc. You could easily spend a long morning or afternoon wandering around there. I love that my galleries are in such nice places, so that delivering stock turns into a pleasant, relaxed day out - usually. Next time we go, will take some pics of the place!

A Quilt by any other Name

When I discovered Quilt Block patterns and decided to use them as inspiration for my patchwork bowls, I never imagined that there was such a wealth of history behind the designs, and especially their names. I am an absolute newcomer to the world of Quilting, and am sure there are those out there who know far more about all this than me. I know that there are biblical names, such as 'Job's Trouble', or 'Joseph's Coat', and names taken from Trades, such as 'Monkey Wrench' and 'Saw-Tooth'.

I can see why the above pattern is called 'Party Hats' because, well, it looks like party hats.



But what fascinates me most are those with people's names - like this one above which is called 'Oh Susannah'. I keep wondering who Susannah was - is she the same Susannah as in the song we used to sing at school?



And this one - called 'Aunt Dinah' - she sounds like a lovely old lady to me, but guess we'll never know.
Is it like having a Rose named after you ... and to whom do I apply to get my own quilt block design called 'Cathy's Delight' or whatever? Do I have to invent my own pattern and register it with some very solemn authority somewhere? Not serious but ... just wondering.

Waste Not .... Want Not

This is the large bowl I made for which I originally made the tiny acorns (see previous post). I often embellish my work by attaching buttons, or other bits and bobs. This was an autumn piece with oak leaves and so ... the acorns.

I often have scraps of clay left over from a making session. Many potters just throw left-overs into a bin for recycling at a later date. I don't have the space for that, so I use up every last tiny itsy bitsy morcel of clay before I finish up. Its not that I'm mean, or anything. Just can't stand waste. (I'm the type that saves bits of ribbon off chocolate boxes just because).

I wonder if all the textile crafters, quilters and such have mountains of tiny fabric scraps which they can't bring themselves to discard.

So ... what to do with all the remnants of clay? Make beads? Buttons? Acorns (again)? Or - maybe - I thought one day - earrings! Well - I had fun making these, but I couldn't really get into jewellery making and so they are still sitting there looking at me. I think I may just attach them to the rim of a large bowl - or something. Not sure yet.

But, I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking when I made these little toadstools - must have just been in the mood for fiddling about. They range from two centimetres high all the way to three centimeters high. They sit in a little white bowl on my desk here and make me smile. They are ridiculously silly and cute.

From little acorns .....

..... wonderful textile pieces grow! These are not just ordinary acorns, these are are my own handmade ceramic acorns, some of which my friend Bev took home from my Open Studios a few weeks ago. They inspired her to make this gorgeous textile work of art below. She says she is going through a 'working with organza and metallic colours' phase at the moment.



You may wonder, like I often do, about what people do with your work when they've bought it and got it home ... is it a gift for someone? is it for them and if so where in their home are they going to put it? is it on a dresser in their kitchen or a coffee table in their living room? do their friends and family notice it, comment on it ... whatever.



So its so good to have someone actually post me a picture of what they did with the pieces the took away. I originally made a few of these to hang from the inside of one of my large patchwork pieces, but got carried away (as usual) and made loads! I'll dig out the photo of the large acorn bowl I made and post it next time. This post belongs to Bev though, I think! Clever lady.

Tied up with String

No, not brown paper packages, but these little bundles of stem vases, which were among the batch of things I took out to the Alby Gallery late yesterday afternoon. I love dropping things off there - they are soooo nice and friendly and the whole place is a haven for crafty people. Click on their sign in the sidebar for more info.

It was a gloriously warm and sunny afternoon so Potter'sHubby and Potter'sSon were prevailed upon to drive on up the road to find the sea .... and it was beautiful. The wet sand beyond the rocks was all shimmery and silvery.

And the gulls were loving it too, though most of them seemed to think the water was still not warm enough, despite the hot sun shining down on it all day.

Yep - you're right - that is a rubbish photo and I do need a new camera but I have been the last one in this house to get my own laptop and I expect I'll be the last one to get a half-way decent camera too. One day... maybe .... please Father Christmas?

The evening was rounded off with fish and chips for tea, but no photos of them as they were not around long enough.