Suffering in the name of Art

You need to know how I suffer for my craft! So prepare to be whinged at ...

Once these letters were out of the kiln, it was like some kind of demented scrabble game ... it took me ages to sort the jumbled up heap into the words I had intended, as I couldn't remember what I had intended when I first made them!

I got there in the end, but my brain ached.


Then I had to fit the letters to individual pieces of driftwood, which had to be cleaned up and dried thoroughly. During the drying process (on my aga) driftwood smells! And not in a good way!


Then each piece had to be sanded down to get rid of any rough bits that the sea had not already dealt with. I choked on a lot of fine sawdusty stuff, before remembering to wear one of those thingys you put over your mouth and nose!


And on top of that I ended up with several jagged fingernails, a few splinters, and several grazes on my hands.

But, in the end, I managed to make some nice sea-sidey signs like those above, and some more general ones like these two below.


And for those spending Christmas in their place by the sea

Jingle All The Way !

But, Oh How I Suffered!

Would I do it all again?
You betya!
(It was great fun, really!)

Cathy x

Sea Fever

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.


I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the seagulls crying.

I must to down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way
where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

(John Masefield)

You can keep your Season of Mists and Mellow la-di-da ......

I'm still in sea-side mood !!

Do I have any 'laughing fellow-rovers' out there??

Don't you agree that the sea is for all seasons,
not just Summer?

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

Beachcombing on Lindisfarne

We escaped for a long weekend in Northumberland, just Mr Potterjotter and me, and whilst we were there we did a bit of beachcombing. But this wasn't what we were looking for!

Nor this! I've already got several spare tyres!

Anyone need a beaten up old traffic cone?
You never know when that might come in handy!

Did anyone lose a baseball cap? No?
Maybe a washing-up glove then?

Am sure by now you're getting my drift (sorry, couldn't resist!)

Searching along the tide-line was a real wake-up call! What is all this stuff doing in the sea?? And this seems to be typical of so many of our beaches these days. I don't remember it being this bad when I was a kid, but maybe I just didn't notice it then.


Anyway, sorry if I've depressed you, but on a brighter note ..... we did find what we were looking for and this is how I got my treasure off the beach and into the car-boot.


No, that's not Father Christmas come early, nor is it the Lindisfarne Dustbin Man.
It's Mr PJ carrying a sack full of wonderful DRIFTWOOD. And here is just some of it drying out on our patio before it gets a final drying on the Aga.

This one below is my favourite piece cos it's all curlywurly!

And this is what I've done so far with two of the pieces I brought back.


They will be going to my galleries on the coast soon, where similar ones have sold out over this summer.


and obviously, they're available from me via my website too.

I just wish I could say 'made from Norfolk driftwood' on them, but for some reason there just isn't much driftwood on the beaches round here.
Nevermind - just have to keep having long weekends away to collect more!

Bye for now,

Cathy x

Having a Ball

A while ago I was approached to donate a piece of art work in order to help INTO-Giving, based at the University of East Anglia, to raise funds for the building of an Orphans and Vulnerable Childrens Centre in Lusaka, Zambia.

Many artists from all over this region and beyond have agreed to donate their work as part of a grand auction to raise money. You can see more on this website: www.artballnorwich.co.uk


At a very swish Ball being held at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich on 9th September 200 guests will enjoy a Champagne reception, four course dinner, auction, raffle and dancing.

All the donated art can be seen now in the online catalogue on INTO-Giving's website, (above), and will also be on display at the Forum in Norwich from 1st to 3rd September. Bids can be taken at anytime before 9th September via the website.

They say that seven is a lucky number and below is a picture of Lot Number 7 in the auction - so I hope it IS lucky and that someone bids a ridiculous amount of money for it, for a good cause!

I have called it 'Patchwork and Paisley'.

Little and Large

So, I'm in a desperate hurry as usual and the above picture is TERRIBLE, I know. The bunting came out beautifully, but you cannot really see it in that picture!!

These close-ups are better. Obviously I have yet to string it all together with some pretty ribbon, which I have still to get.

But it all fitted into the kiln really well around the larger pieces like this one below.

Its a Quilt Block design which I make quite a lot of, called 'Whirling Pinwheel', only this time I have tried to limit the number of colours I use - but there still seem to be a lot in there when I now look at it!

I have just taken on a new gallery in Norwich called The Grapevine - some of you may know it. They now have several of my larger pieces on display, so I expect I shall have to crack on and make a lot more of these now.

Good job I love what I do and that it all has a home to go to in the end!

Bye for now - Cathy.

Beach Huts, Bunting and Buttons

Well? In the words of Rolf Harris, 'can you tell what it is yet'?

It is the first wet clay stage of my ceramic bunting which seems to be going mad this year. I dropped some off at a gallery last week and it was gone the next day.

Because I don't make large batches of anything, I tend to vary (and hopefully improve) the design each time I make something. I would find making batches of fifty or so cups/jugs, all the same, excruciatingly boring, so this way of working suits me fine.

These strings of bunting will have little hearts and flowers on the flags, as well as the usual stripes and dots. These have just been bisque fired today and are now awaiting a glorious glazing session.

Speaking of Bunting, earlier this year I made a larger one of these beach hut bowls below. In this smaller version, as usual I varied the design, and added a string of bunting connecting each hut. I created this design myself - it's not a traditional patchwork block like many others I do - so I am really pleased at the way it has turned out. This one is still warm - fresh out of the kiln today.


The colours positively sing of summer - really bright and gay (in the original sense of that word!).

And last but not least, my little flower buttons which I have to make masses of, as they are the ones I 'sew' onto my mixed media quilt bowls. The ones at the top are Christmas (there! I've said it!) buttons, which I will be taking to a few craft fairs towards the end of the year.

Now ..... I have to get back to my newly acquired garden swing seat. If I spend more than half an hour lying on it I find that when I'm in bed at night, I get the sensation that I am still swaying! Weird.