Friday 30 September 2016

Sunny September

After a lovely week walking in the South Downs 
in glorious sunny September weather, 
I came back to find that the Christmas puds 
were on the shelves in the supermarkets, 
which kind of shocked me into thinking about 
designs for Christmas decorations!

sketches for Santas and Angels
Trying to be original 
when designing Santas and Angels
is a bit like trying to re-invent the wheel,
but I did a few sketches and eventually
came up with some ideas, 
which I then transferred into clay.

Detailed patterning on Christmas Decs
As ever, they will be incredibly detailed
and super-faffy to glaze, but hopefully
that will make them a bit special when finished.

Sneek peek at finished samples
A couple of samples
have made it out of the kiln so far,
which I will learn from when making the full batch.

Hexie patchwork patterns 
Other pieces in the making 
are these tiny hexagon dishes, 
to replace those sold out of my Etsy shop,
and some messing around with Autumn themed pieces
- all bare trees and leaves.

Autumn leaves, bare trees - wet clay slab
And speaking of my Etsy shop,
I have now introduced overseas shipping,
which is improving my pathetic knowledge of Geography no end.
Every time I post a parcel, I look it up on a map.
I now know where Durham is - it's in North Carolina!
And I also know where Bradford is - it's in Rhode Island!
Which is where this little lot headed off to today.

Safe journey across the pond, little pots!

So that's me for this month.
Apologies for not getting round to visiting your blogs
- which I am looking forward to catching up on this weekend!

x Cathy

Thursday 1 September 2016

August - hot or what?


August was true summery weather
and much of it was spent outdoors,
rather than slaving over a hot kiln!

That said, the Summer Gift Fair went reasonably well, 
considering that we had an outside pitch 
and had to battle against torrential downpours 
and a poor turnout of people!

Here are the action highlights from August ....

star bowls, hexie bowls and nine-patch plates in the making...
Some things are continually in demand 
and I'm trying to never run out of stock for my Etsy shop.

more hen ornaments, plus lots of tiny decorative tiles
My new favourite thing
to make with left over scraps of clay
is tiny ceramic tiles.

fired once and glazed - ready to be fired a second time
Dreaming up the design
and how it's all going to fit together is quite satisfying.

finished tiled pot-stands or trivets.
Once completed, I fixed them to cork mats
and made some lovely pot-stands.
Some have sold, a few are still available
in my Etsy shop - link in side bar.

Seeing stars!


Some more star dishes came through, 
in all sorts of colour combos.  
Again, some have sold already, 
but there are a few in the shop.

lots of driftwood and ceramic signs for summer-living!

Really pleased with this one - now in my shop

Oh, and a lovely commission to make
 a wall-hanging starfish, 
which was great fun to do!


'Making a difference'

And now I'm off for another little holiday 
while the summer lasts!  
Have a happy September everyone!

x Cathy