When Things get Personal

When I start feeling a bit like a one-woman factory making these above, (that Block is 'Dove at the Window'), then I'm grateful for an opportunity to mix it up a bit by doing special commissions for people.

Recently I was asked to make a 40th Birthday wall-piece for someone's hubby, and could I please incorporate ....  a Chicken, a Tortoise, a Heart, a Boat, and something in green and yellow denoting Norwich City Football Club.

No sooner said than done (well, ok, three weeks later!) and this is what it turned out like.  They were rather pleased with my efforts, and a few weeks later, when it was 40th Birthday Boy's Granny's 100th Birthday (!!), they asked if I would make something for Gran, incorporating a few of her favourite things ..... A Racehorse and Jockey, Playing Cards, an Apple Pie, Hearts, a Church and a Golden Retriever!

Er ...  OK then.

I don't often talk about the cost of my work in this blog, but I don't mind telling you that I charged £45.00 for each of these, which I think is quite reasonable.  I have looked around at commemorative plates being sold by other potters, and they are way more expensive ...  we're talking over £100 easily!

If I were to make one of these for myself, (which would be rather silly and, let's face it, not much of a surprise!), I suppose my favourite things to be included would be ....  Pottery, Ballroom Dancing (I'm learning!), Hills and Dales, Hearts and Flowers, and a panel depicting a Mummy, Daddy, Girl and two Boys.

What five or six things would be on your commemorative wall plaque?  What are a few of your favourite things ....  Raindrops on Roses, Whiskers on Kittens, Bright Copper Kettles?

Golden Retrievers?

Have a great gloriously sunny long weekend!  I know, I know ...

Cathy

(p.s.   Giveaway coming next week).

Hearts and Hens

Am up to my eyes in hens and hearts of all varieties.

Flowery ones

Patchwork ones

Weird 'twiggy' ones

but little bits like these are a useful way to test out different colour combinations.  I have also been making just as many larger bowls, etc, but as I am running out of shelf space, they immediately get packed away in boxes ready to be shipped off to their customers.

And all kinds of hearts are finding their way into the mix too.

These above are made with Indian textile printing stamps.

and, of course, it will be the big excitement of my second Blog Birthday in a few weeks' time and I am sure one or two of these bits and pieces will need re-homing, so don't stray too far - I feel a Birthday Giveaway looming up!

Next week I will show you some weird and wonderful commissions I've been asked to do.

But for now, have a gloriously warm, sunny, bright, dry weekend everyone! 
Well, OK, but maybe if we all close our eyes really tight and cross our fingers and toes at the same time and wish really hard, it might happen?

Best wishes

Cathy x

American Barn Quilts

I decided to attempt the 'Laced Star' quilt block on one of my large bowls.  I googled images of the pattern to get a feel for it and see it in different colour combinations, and stumbled across 'BARN QUILTS'.

You all probably know about these already, but they're new to me and I have been fascinated by this recent trend which is taking off in rural parts of the U.S.

As you can see, the barn owner chooses a quilt-block they like, or one which has some meaning in their family history, and has it painted onto a huge board and mounted onto the side of their barn.  

There are 'Barn Quilt Trails' you can go on, where you get a little map and off you go to find them all.  They can now be spotted brightening up the landscape of many US states.  A lady called Suzi Parron even wrote a book about them, telling the wonderful stories behind the individual choices of quilt block.   Have a look at her blog if you want more :  http://americanquilttrail.blogspot.co.uk.

So this is the 'Laced Star', above on a barn and below on a pot!   Once I'd got my head round it, I didn't find it too difficult to map out onto clay.

Years ago when I first started making these, I found the more complex patterns a bit challenging, but now I really enjoy them as I have kind of 'got the hang of it' with practice! Geometry was the only thing I ever understood in Maths at school, and that was probably more to do with an ability to see patterns, than anything numerical!

Because it's called Laced Star I decided to impress a strip of flowery lace into the clay to make the border.  That's the green band you see here.  Though, I expect by 'laced', they really mean 'interlaced', but anyway!

Now I'm off to put a huge painted quilt-block on the side of my barn ....  except we don't have a barn.  We do have a double garage which can be seen from the side of the road - maybe that would do? 

Up until five years ago, I had never even heard of a 'Quilt Block', so it's no surprise that I didn't know about Barn Quilts.  Did you know about them?  I think I have a few American readers, so obviously you all knew!

You live and learn!

                         x Cathy

Little and Large

These are the little ones - five inches square little plates, each depicting a very simple, unadorned, quilt-block pattern.  Top left, going clockwise, we have 'Bow Ties', 'Washington's Puzzle', 'Windmill', 'Party Hats', 'Nelson's Victory' and 'Waterwheel'.  They're bright and fun and together like this they make their own little ceramic sampler quilt!

They are some of the smaller pieces going to the National Trust shops, along with the larger pieces like this one below, fresh out of the kiln today, if I can bear to part with it.

The meeting last week with the other local suppliers was good fun. There was a jams-and-chutneys lady, a locally-produced-chocolate chap, an infused-oils lady, and so on.  Lots of food tasting going on, and to be honest I really wasn't sure about the chocolate at first.  It took several mouthfuls morsels, before I decided that it was, in fact, quite delicious.

The Trust people were lovely hosts, and gave us all lunch and a guided tour of parts of Oxborough Hall with magnificent sunny-day views from the top over the surrounding countryside.  

And what about this glorious sunny weather though!  I'm now suffering the same motion-sickness I had last year from lying on the garden swing seat too long - I obviously need more practice til I get used to it!

But it's odd that I should be so attached to this particular piece really, when you realise that its block-pattern is called .....  'Contrary Wife' ! 

Who me?  Never!   Well, I suppose you'd have to ask Mr PotterJotter about that one.  Second thoughts, no, don't!  

Contrary - a lovely word for "inclined to oppose stubbornly", according to the dictionary.   Maybe there's a 'Contrary Hubby' pattern waiting to be designed by someone out there!  Hmmm!

Cathy

In a Blue Mood

So I know you've been wanting to see how the blue, brown and cream piece in my last post turned out.  I think I really like these colours together, especially the way the brown glaze varies in tone.

It should come as no surprise really as blue and cream has been pretty much a classic combo thoughout the history of ceramics!

Can you guess how I made the all those impressions of holes round the border?  All highly technical - I used a Lego building base from when my kids were little. 
(Yes - we still have thousands of pounds worth of Lego stashed in the attic, along with Thomas the Tank Engines, and Lord knows what else!).

It's also not my usual traditional patchwork;  it's all gone a bit contemporary.  But it was nice to do something a bit different for a change.

Then back to the traditional quilt-blocks but staying with the blues. This one's called 'Right Hand of Friendship', though it's probably got several different names - they all seem to!

Anyway - I'm not feeling at all blue really cos the National Trust rang yesterday to confirm that my pieces had got the go-ahead.  I am now invited to meet other local suppliers at Oxborough Hall next week - I can think of worse places to go for a meeting!

Bye for Now

x Cathy

Life and Love

Life and Love - what's it all about?  Don't ask me.
I'm not about to go all philosophical on you!  
I don't really think that I think Life's a Beach though.

And as for Love - well that's always a work in progress
as far as I can gather.

So whilst I'm mulling it all over I'll stick with the words
of Dorothy Parker - who always had something apt to 
say about most things :

Oh, Life is a glorious cycle of song

A medley of extemporania

And Love is a thing that can never go wrong

And I am Marie of Romania.

Now, just off to look up 'extemporania' in the dictionary

and .... who was Marie of Romania, anyway?

You see, I'm none the wiser really! 

x Cathy

The National Trust

Bit late with this post, as have been running around in a flap as a result of some good news I got last week. A nice gentleman from the National Trust rang me up out of the blue to ask if they could stock my work in their shops in the East of England - all 12 of them!!


So when I finally stopped skipping around the house in a whirl of excitement, I met with National Trust chap at Blickling Hall to discuss it and left samples of my work with him to show his NT colleagues in London at a meeting in March. He thinks they will agree with him that my ceramics would fit well in their gift shops.

If it gets the go ahead, I shall be VERY busy, but VERY, VERY happy! He took some of these above and also the blue 'Winter Tree' piece that you all liked from last time - the one below is the green version.

And of course, he took one of my signature quilt-block bowls .....


and these stacking starfish which came out of the kiln a few weeks ago.


So I have turned what I laughingly used to refer to as my studio into a very SERIOUS studio. It now has lots of space, lots of shelving, lots of light and some new equipment. I even have my eye on a larger kiln, (second-hand of course), and frankly I can't wait to 'get stuck in'.

Even if they say no, I am so flattered that they sought me out and asked me in the first place!
But keep your fingers crossed for me! I'll let you know what happens ....

Best wishes

Cathy x