Christmas Stock: New Ceramic Bells and Star Tea-light holders.

New Star Cut Out Tea-light Holders

Christmas is officially back on track! In my last post I mentioned I was having kiln issues. Thankfully these were resolved after fitting a brand new isolation switch. The new one is more robust than the last one - which burnt itself out. Hopefully the new one should do a much better job and last longer too.

I was very lucky that nothing else seemed to be wrong with the kiln. I ran a small test firing to check the controller and thermocouple were behaving themselves by programming in a simple ramp of 30 minutes to about 30 degrees. All seemed well. So I spent a week glazing all my pots ready to fire two separate glaze firings.

Un-packing Glaze Fire 

After packing one of these kilns, all I could do was cross my fingers, turn on the switch and hope it all worked! Luckily it did. In fact I had two perfect glaze firings - one of which you can see in the composite above. Some of these pots have already gone out to galleries or for orders. But the rest are available in my Folksy and Etsy shops.

Ceramic Christmas Bells

So now I have a new batch of ceramic hand bells in stock. They come in two glaze options: plain white, and blue and white. And I also have a new version of my tea-light holders with a star shaped cut out. I think they work really well - and I wonder now why I didn't think of making them years ago!

Christmassy Star Tea-light Holders

Events News:

I'm going to be exhibiting at Quarr Abbey again this year for six days beginning next Thursday. So if you're on the island please do pop in. Here's a listing with all the details.

Thanks for reading!

New Home, New Studio - and Christmas Crafts at Quarr again...

Handmade Stoneware Cottages

In case anyone was wondering where I've been for the past six months, I've moved house! In my books, that's a really good excuse for not posting on my blog since April. They say, (whoever 'they' are) that moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do. And I agree. But I'd have to say that moving house AND moving pottery studio adds a little cherry on top of the proceedings...

But we're here now. And all is well. In fact all is very well indeed. We're absolutely thrilled, tickled pink and chuffed to be in our new home - and we're settling in nicely.

As for pots. Well, I've got a brand new studio space. But it's in such a mess at the moment I can't possibly show any photos. It's full of unpacked boxes, bubblewrap, tubs of glaze and general studio equipment all piled on top of each other. And the kiln is packed away and unplugged and currently out of use until further notice. So there's plenty to do and it's very exciting times.

In the meantime, I thought I'd say hello and touch base as they say. Mostly to say yes, I am still here! But also to say it's that time again...

I'm exhibiting at Quarr Abbey for our annual Christmas Crafts show. So if you're on the Isle of Wight pop along if you can - click on the photo below for exhibition details.

Bye for now!

Christmas Crafts at Quarr Abbey - 2015

A medley of work available at the show

The kiln is working overtime at the moment making orders and getting ready for Christmas shows. I have two more glaze firings left and then I'll be ready for my next event which is a joint show at Quarr Abbey.

I'm exhibiting with four other local artists and craft makers from the Isle of Wight. On display will be a range of different disciplines including woodturning, textiles, acrylic painting as well as lots pots of course. So if you're in the area, hope to see you there!

Thursday 19th November - Tuesday 24th November 2015

Open Daily 10.30am - 4.40pm

Quarr Abbey Gallery, Ryde, Isle of Wight, PO33 4ES

Free Admission

Exhibitors:

Jude Allman is a potter who makes hand thrown stoneware vases, bowls, jugs and homeware accessories decorated using simple glaze combinations in a modern rustic style.

Peter Wright of Wright Turned makes natural lathe turned wooden platters, bowls, cups and garden dibbers using wood from native Ash, Oak and Beech trees.

LisToft is a maker of intricately decorated porcelain vessels and jewellery with bronze and turquoise flowing glazes.

SueWright Handknits is a hand knitter, weaver and spinner who designs unique clothing and homeware accessories including scarves, socks, bags, rugs and runners in soft practical yarns.

Tim England is inspired by fragmented shadow and light, and combines abstract and figurative aspects in both his paintings and ceramics.

Christmas Crafts at Quarr Abbey 2014

Next week I will be exhibiting in a group show called Christmas Crafts at Quarr Abbey with four other art and craft makers from the Isle of Wight. This will be our fifth Christmas show at the Abbey - our first was back in 2010 (which you can read about here) - so it's become something of an annual event for us!

This year we're joined by Peter Wright of Wright Turned who makes beautiful handmade wooden pieces on a lathe - some of which you can see in the image at the top of this post. It's always good to have a range of different craft disciplines to give people choice and variety in a show. This year I think we have a lovely mix of materials that complement each other well and have a wide appeal - ceramics, textiles and wood. So we're looking forward to it.

Here's the details of our show if you happen to be passing...!

Christmas Crafts at Quarr Abbey 2014

Thursday 20^th November – Tuesday 25^th November 2014

Open Daily 10.30am – 4.30pm

Quarr Abbey Gallery, Ryde, Isle of Wight, PO33 4ES

Free Admission

Exhibitors:

Jude Allman is a potter who makes hand thrown stoneware vases, bowls, jugs and homeware accessories decorated using simple glaze combinations in a modern rustic style.

Peter Wright of Wright Turned makes natural lathe turned wooden platters, bowls, cups and garden dibbers using wood from native Ash, Oak and Beech trees.

Lis Toft is a maker of intricately decorated porcelain vessels and jewellery with bronze and turquoise flowing glazes.

Sue Wright Handknits is a hand knitter, weaver and spinner who designs unique clothing and homeware accessories including scarves, socks, bags, rugs and runners in soft practical yarns.

Tim England is inspired by fragmented shadow and light, and combines abstract and figurative aspects in both his paintings and ceramics.

Open Studios 2014

Some of my pots on display

I had a great time at my Open Studio show last weekend. This year I was exhibiting jointly with two other artist/craft makers from the Isle of Wight: Anna Hayward and her daughter Ellen Hayward. They were very kind enough to let me share their studio space - three separate wooden workshops in a lovely garden setting. We were open for four days - Friday to Monday - and had a steady stream of visitors throughout. It was a really successful show with lots of sales and positive responses to our work - and it's so nice to have people come out especially to see you too!

The middle workshop - where I was!

Anna Hayward makes beautiful handmade glass beads and jewellery from her little studio: hence the name of her business Little House Jewellery. Throughout the weekend Anna demonstrated glass bead making using coloured glass rods which are melted in a flame and then slowly cooled in a kiln. Visitors could also assemble their own jewellery pieces using a selection of handmade beads.

Anna's studio

Ellen Hayward is a professional Textile Designer currently specialising in interiors. Throughout the weekend she demonstrated her expert hand weaving skills on her gorgeous AVL loom - as you can see below. Facebook

Ellen's Loom

Ellen's weaving

So a big thank you to everyone who popped in to see us. And an even bigger THANK YOU to Anna and Ellen for letting me share their workspace (and for all the lovely teas and cake!)



The second week of the Isle of Wight Open Studios starts tomorrow for Eastern Wight.

Wayzgoose Christmas Show 2011

I’ve just finished my last show of the year! Wayzgoose is an annual Christmas show held in a local art complex called Jubilee Stores based in Newport on the Isle of Wight. Every Christmas the artists-in-residence open their studios for a special two-day event. They invite about 20 artists to exhibit with them, which means there’s a wide range of different art and craft disciplines on show for people to choose from and enjoy.

This is the second year I’ve exhibited in the show (you can read last year’s post here). At first I was worried I might not have enough stock to put on my table. This is a common complaint among artist/makers in general it seems! However, luckily the kiln had been fired and was ready to open on the day of setting-up: so I had some lovely new vases to put out on my stand. In fact, they were so brand new they were still toasty and warm…

Unlike last year (when I forgot my camera) this year I remembered to take some photos. Here are just a few of them. I wanted to show off my new vases properly with a flower display, and had the idea of using a bunch of red tulips. I didn’t think I’d get tulips at this time of year, let alone red ones! But luckily my local florist had them in stock. They were perfect really because they had a red-and-green Christmas theme, but at the same time felt very fresh and cheerful. I think it must have worked because my vases did very well at the show! So overall it was an excellent weekend and a really positive way to end the year.

Christmas Open Studios

This weekend I’ve been out and about visiting a couple of Open Studio events on the island. I thought it would do me good (between my own shows) to visit other people’s. So last night I went to see my friend Sue Paraskeva’s studio in Ryde. Sue is a potter who specialises in hand-thrown porcelain tableware and one-off altered pieces. She uses a stick-driven momentum wheel for throwing, and ‘reduction’ fires all her work using a gas kiln. Last night her studio was overflowing with beautiful pots on display all around the walls and shelves.

Her work is mostly monochromatic: pure whites, lightly toned greys with the occasional pale green celadon or splash of dark oxide. This calming, harmonious colour scheme means her pots complement each other, mix and match perfectly, and look stunning together as a display. For a festive atmosphere Sue provided visitors with plenty of wine and mince pies (which I ate from one of her lovely side plates) and arranged a trail of pretty candles to guide guests along the path to the front door of her studio – a welcome glow on an otherwise cold wintery evening!

Earlier today I went on my second Open Studio visit to see my friend Anna Hayward who lives just outside of Cowes. I met Anna a few years ago on a raku workshop, but besides making ceramics, Anna specialises in making handmade glass beads and jewellery. I’m rather envious of her studio which is a lovely wooden summer house/shed in her garden. Knowing nothing about the process myself, it was fascinating to watch Anna demonstrate lampworking – which is the method she uses to make her beads – and to learn about her tools and equipment. It was very interesting too to talk about the crossover between glass bead making and ceramics – glazes being essentially made of glass of course and both disciplines using fire, minerals and kilns in their processes.

There’s also a crossover between Anna’s styles of work. Her interest in circles and spirals feeds into her designs and methods of working in both her ceramics (which are mostly hand-built coiled pots) and her beads, which feature colourful dots, snake-like lines and swirling patterns. In fact she also uses her pots to display her work, setting off her jewellery beautifully. So I had a very enjoyable afternoon admiring her skill - and choosing a couple of pieces to take home with me too!

Anyway, thanks Sue and Anna for their lovely shows!

Mid-show Inspiration

As you might know from my last post, I'm currently in the middle of a week-long Christmas show that runs until next Tuesday. Usually I blog before a show to let people know where they can find me, and sometimes afterwards too, just to give an update on how it all went. But this time I thought I'd blog mid-show instead! Because the thing about doing exhibitions and shows, is that between all the packing-of-boxes and setting up and travelling and so on, somehow there's still moments to get inspired and have new ideas.

Above is a composite of some photos I've been taking around the Quarr Abbey grounds - the venue for my current show. It's such a nice venue because whenever I need a break from standing and talking I can get a breath of fresh air for a couple of minutes by taking a quick walk in their lovely gardens. These photos show a few inspiring textures and colours to be found around the grounds including some lovely clean white birch bark pointed out to me by fellow exhibitor Gill. Already these have given me some ideas for making marks in clay - which I'm keen to have a go at. It's frustrating though because I'm going to have to wait a while before I'm free again to start making! Hopefully these photos will remind me of these ideas for when the shows are over.

In the meantime though, here's a photo of my stand for this year's show.

Christmas Crafts – Forthcoming Show

Yes, it’s that time again! Just thought I’d do a quick plug for my forthcoming Christmas show at Quarr Abbey. This will be the third show I’ve had at Quarr: the first was last November and I also had my Open Studio event there this summer too. So it’s become quite a familiar venue! It’s a lovely day out for visitors with plenty to see, and since last November they’ve opened a bigger café with a farm shop that sells local produce: so plenty of coffee, cakes and food to enjoy! As usual they’ll be five of us exhibiting together in the Exhibition Room showing a selection of different crafts, including pottery, felting, hand-knitting, hand-weaving and this time a local photographer will also be joining our group. So if you’re in the area, please do pop in!

Christmas Crafts at Quarr Abbey

24^th – 29^th November 2011

10.30am – 4.30pm

Free Entry

Open Studios: after the show...

I’ve just had a very successful Open Studios held in the Art Gallery at Quarr Abbey near Binstead on the Isle of Wight. It was a really good week: luckily the weather wasn’t too extreme in either direction, which meant the Abbey attracted lots of people. Over the six days we counted 1001 people through the door! We were so pleased with the response: and luckily some of them were happy to spend their money too!

I shared the venue with four other artist/craft makers including my sister Sue. Last year my sister and I shared a stand at Freshwater Parish Hall as Osmosis (blogged here). But this year we wanted to showcase our work separately: so I had my ceramics and paintings on display, and my sister had her knitting, weaving and spinning wheel on show for demonstrating.

The Abbey is a lovely place to visit - which I think I mentioned before when I blogged about our November show last year (here). What I really like about the Abbey as a venue is how the simple, rustic style of the buildings and grounds seem to suit my own style of ceramics. I think having a venue that sets the right tone really helps people appreciate the work better. But I was also pleased with how my display stand went this year too.

This year (unlike last year's Open Studios) I was able to show my paintings too. In fact this was possibly my first show where all the elements of my stand could be displayed as planned! I’ve been to many shows where (on the day) the stand isn’t quite what I thought it was going to be (sometimes nothing like!) and I’ve had to improvise a display or sacrifice pieces of work. This is always frustrating – but amazingly it all fitted this time! I had a big wall space to hang my paintings from and below these I had three tables in a line to show my ceramics. I even had space to show some mixed media originals from my portfolio, which is something I’ve wanted to do for ages…

In the end we all had a very good Open Studios – and most of us will be back at Quarr Abbey again in November for a Christmas Crafts show. In the meantime though I still haven’t unpacked everything, so there are boxes everywhere!

Open Studios: 2011

I thought I’d just do a quick blog today to mention that I’ll be taking part in the Isle of Wight Open Studio event coming up this weekend. This time my Open Studio is being held at Quarr Abbey and will be running for six whole days: so I’m preparing for a busy week! There are five of us sharing the venue at Quarr in the gallery/exhibition space, so there should be plenty to see including ceramics, paintings, felting, knitting, jewellery and more. There are lots of other artists exhibiting over the whole weekend across the north, central and east of the island – so if you’re thinking of popping over for a visit there’s plenty of other venues to see too. You can download a brochure for the Open Studio weekend here and you can see the details of my Open Studio event here. Hope to see you there!

Fired Works: Group Ceramic Show

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since my last post. I’ve been preparing for a group exhibition of ceramics, which opened yesterday in a local gallery. We had our private view on Friday night which was good fun. We had some wine, lots of giggles, a couple of emotional speeches (which sometimes happens after all the hard work!) and between all the chatting and meeting of friends and family I took a few snapshots of the gallery. Hopefully the photos will be teasers to encourage people to come and see the show if they’re in the area!

The show is called Fired Works and it’s a group ceramic show of 13 potters and ceramicists all based here on the Isle of Wight. The work is a wide selection of wheel-thrown functional ware, hand-building, slab work, sculpture and coiled pots – and although all of the makers involved have very distinctive styles, they all complement each other very well. So hopefully there’s something in this show for everyone. Below is a composite picture including my mustard pots, preserve jars, mugs and jugs on a display cabinet.

The exhibition is being held in the Rope Store Gallery which is a part of the Quay Arts Centre in Newport. The space itself has a lovely atmosphere, full of light and reflections from the nearby River Medina – so it’s a treat to be showing our work there. The Quay Arts Centre itself is a converted warehouse and a great place for visitors. As well as the Rope Store Gallery, there’s another exhibition space called The Michael West Gallery upstairs, a theatre of events, a café bar serving lunches and coffees and also a gift shop full of local artists’ work (I also sell my pots in the shop by the way!). We’re very lucky to have such a place on the island!

The show runs from Sat 7^th May to Sat 11^th June 2011 and entry is free. Please click on our flier image below for more information.

After the show: Wayzgoose

Last weekend I finished my last Christmas show and my final show of the year! Wayzgoose is an annual Christmas sale at a local artists' studio complex called Jubilee Stores. The studios are based in Newport on the Isle of Wight in a converted warehouse on the town quayside of the River Medina. There were about 25 artists and craft makers exhibiting at Wayzgoose this year including painters, jewellers, ceramic makers, textile makers, basket makers, printers and much more. We all had a really good time and lots of customers came through the door: I counted about 230 people over the event (though I was often distracted so it could have been more!) But I'm really pleased with my sales too - which makes all the hard work worth while!

Of course I forgot to take my camera so all I have of the event itself is this shot below of one of the rooms taken using my very old camera phone. I confess to tweaking with it a bit 'post-production' but hopefully it gives you an idea of the festive atmosphere.

Anyway, just a short blog update today: I can't believe we're already half way into December! I have lots of post-show admin to do (that means putting boxes of pots away...) and still lots of queueing at the post office sending off Christmas orders. But hopefully I might get some time to blog again before Christmas!

After the show: Quarr Abbey

(Festive berries in the abbey grounds)

It’s been a few days now since the end of our 6-day show at Quarr Abbey. We were very busy for the whole week and had an excellent time. We counted just under 700 visitors in total through the door which we’re pretty chuffed about! And all of us who exhibited had a very successful week. This was also the first time I’ve been able to show my paintings alongside my pots instead of just one or the other – so it was really good to hear what people thought. And luckily the responses to both were very positive! So all in all it was a successful event.

In fact we were so busy most days that we didn’t get much time to enjoy the abbey grounds for ourselves! The abbey is a lovely place to visit. As well as the new gallery/exhibition space (which has a changing show every week) there’s a tea room, gardens, a bookshop and also some country walks on the land owned by the monks which include the ruins of the old monastery. I did manage to get away from the gallery to take a few pictures though and above is a composite of some of them. The top row shows an exterior and interior of the main church while the image below is an interior shot of the Pilgrims Chapel (which was lovely and peaceful inside). And finally of course I had to include a picture of the gorgeous piggies that live on the abbey grounds!

The composite image above shows an exterior of the building which houses both the bookshop (on the right of the arch) and the new gallery/exhibition space (on the left) which was where our show was held. The image on the top right is a view of my ‘stand’ including pots and paintings (you might recognise the pear picture!) The image directly below this is taken looking back into the room towards the main entrance across some of the other stands in our show. The little red Christmas star decoration is mine by the way: these were one of my best sellers and I have only a couple of these left now!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures. Here are some links to the abbey website and also to my fellow exhibitors. Thanks guys for a lovely week and to everyone who came to see us!

Quarr Abbey

Gill Chapman

Henny Penny Designs

Lis Toft

Sue Wright Handknits

Forthcoming Show: Christmas Crafts at Quarr

It's a bit busy round here! I had a great day at Handm@de Winchester last Saturday: we had 2000 visitors and lots of lovely stalls and craft makers. But no sooner am I back home than I'm re-packing everything for my next show which starts this week.

A group of five craft makers (including me) are exhibiting in the new gallery/exhibition space at Quarr Abbey near Ryde on the Isle of Wight. We've called the event Christmas Crafts at Quarr and it starts on Thursday 18th of November and runs until Tuesday 23rd of November. We'll be open every day from 10.30am until 4.30pm - so it's going to be a busy week! I'll be exhibiting both my ceramics and my paintings at this show because the new gallery has plenty of hanging space along the walls. I'm looking forward to showing my paintings for a change since normally at table top shows I don't get the chance. I think I've got a lot of work to do setting up though as I've got to hang all the paintings first and then arrange a display of ceramics!

Anyway, if you have a chance to come to the island and visit then do pop in to see us. There will be a selection of different crafts including ceramics, textiles and paintings. Click on the image above for more details. In the meantime I'm also waiting on a delivery of Folksy Samplers which I'm hoping will arrive either today or tomorrow! We're keen to hand them out at our show this week and also another show I have later on in December. I already received my Folksy post bag in the post a couple of days ago: just need the newspapers!

That's all today: got to get back to packing and stock lists.

Forthcoming Shows: Handm@de Winchester

I will be exhibiting at Handm@de Winchester this Saturday (13th November) and have almost finished making preparations! I'll be trying out a new display and some new work too which includes some lovely Christmas Decorations for this season. So if you're in the area do pop in! They'll be lots of lovely handmade crafts on offer as you can see from the images above (the little white and pink ceramic hearts on the multi-pic are mine by the way!) The show will be held in Winchester Guildhall and opens at 11am until 5pm. Click on the pics to link with the Handm@de blog.

Garlic Festival Finds...

Last weekend my sister Sue and I shared a stall in the Arts and Crafts marquee at the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival. It went very well and although it was hard work we enjoyed ourselves. It was so busy by Sunday afternoon people were still queueing to get into the showground! So I’m pleased we made the decision to go again this year. Yet again my photos of the event were pretty rubbish and out of focus: too preoccupied with manning our stall. So instead I thought I’d blog about my new purchases…

At the festival I found a fabulous stall selling lots of gorgeous vintage tools and garden equipment. I picked up a lovely enamel bowl for my studio, and since I don’t have a sink in there it's perfect for all manner of uses. I’ve already been using it to do a bit of mid-summer cleaning: washing all my work aprons and tea towels which were long overdue. I also bought a pair of tongs from the same stall. These were a bit rusty and dirty to start with, but after a few minutes soaking in WD40 have cleaned up a treat. I haven’t used these yet but I’m sure when it comes to raku firing again they’ll be useful for finding tiny buttons or pendants in all the sawdust. But at just £2 for the bowl and a quid for the tongs I could hardly resist!

Finally I bought this lovely old metal bin with lid and handles for just £8. Not sure what it was originally – maybe it was an old steam cooker or a copper. But I saw it and instantly thought I could make it into a small raku kiln. So I’m really quite excited about it! I’ll have to do some research and draw up some plans on how it might work – but in theory all it needs is some ceramic fibre on the inside and a hole in the back for the burner. But even if it turns out not to be suitable, it’ll still be perfect as a reduction chamber in raku firing (ie; the bin full of sawdust into which the raku pots go when they come straight out of the kiln).

So all in all it was a successful weekend!

(My sister Sue was also tempted to buy some lovely bowls and pots from the same stall for her natural dyeing process. You can see her blog here.)

Glazes and Garlic

Over the past couple of days I’ve been sorting through a selection of small accessories that came out of the last glaze kiln. These included buttons, brooches, pendants, rings and miscellaneous ‘blanks’. All of these little pieces require some finishing touches. First I usually smooth them all using sandpaper to soften the edges and make sure they don’t snag on clothing or feel rough against the skin. After sanding I add the fittings like brooch backs and ring findings (I use Araldite as a ceramic fixative and the fittings come from my local bead shop). I also thread the pendants onto lovely new suede thongs and individually attach each button onto card in singles or matching pairs to keep them together. All in all it takes a day or two to go through all the pieces - choosing which items go best with which fitting (and also trying not to glue my fingers together). But it’s all worth it in the end I think – especially now I have a new selection of jewellery and buttons (with brand new glazes!) for my next show.

Talking of which…our next show is coming up very soon. My sister Sue and I will be sharing a stall together again (as Osmosis) at this year's Isle of Wight Garlic Festival next weekend (14^th and 15^th of August). It’s our second year at the festival. Last year was very good for us and we had lots of interest in our work, so we hope it will be successful again this year. We’ll be exhibiting in the Arts and Crafts marquee on site with lots of other local artists and craft makers - and there’ll be plenty of other attractions over the two day event including live music and lovely food stalls with garlic to eat of course! So if you’re in the area, please do drop by: here’s a link to their official site.

And I just wanted to thank Helen again for featuring my bowl on her lovely blog last week: here’s a screenshot, and here’s a link to her blog too. Thanks!