Osmosis Launches New Range

Today I thought I’d blog about the new range of Mug and Mug Cosy sets launched by Osmosis this week. You may (or may not) already know that Osmosis is a joint venture between me (potter…) and my sister Sue who is a textile designer. We have a shop on Folksy called Osmosis where we list unique homeware designs using both disciplines – and this week we’ve been adding a new range of mugs and mug cosy sets.

Our new range is designed to be even more exclusive than the last because everything about them is handmade. My new mugs are hand-thrown as usual but this time I wanted to use my white gloss glaze inside and out to create a very simple but versatile design. The aim was to allow Sue to choose any colour she wanted for making the mug cosies (since all colours go with white) rather than have to complement the colour scheme with the glazing. It also means the mugs are very striking and show off the new colours beautifully.

Sue has used pure natural wools in her mug cosies so they feel even softer. Each one is hand knitted in moss stitch and features Sue’s own design label. Finally, we decided we wanted to make this range even more ‘handmade’ so each mug cosy also features one of my handmade stoneware buttons in matching simple glazes.

We’re really pleased with the results and hope people like them as much as we do! We’ve already added three of the colours onto our Osmosis shop on Folksy and will be adding more soon: so please do have a look if you get the chance! In the meantime though, here's a final composite shot of our mug sets being made showing the mugs coming out of the kiln (in black and white) and some colour matching ideas using wool and buttons during one of our creative 'brain storming' sessions!

Buttons and Bags Revisited

A few weeks ago I took some photos of this lovely clutch bag made by fellow islander Gill from Gillian Chapman Felts in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. This beautiful bag is one of a series Gill has designed using pure Jacobs fleece. The material has been hand-felted using a wet felting technique and the finished bag features one of my raku buttons in white and mushroom crackle glazes. I think the subtle tones of the wool and the subtle glazes on the button complement each other beautifully – and it’s always so nice to see my buttons being used in other people’s work. You can visit Gill’s Folksy shop here.

I have to say taking these photos proved a bit of a challenge for me! These days I’m fairly used to taking photos of my ceramics and have some inkling about what light will work for which glaze or what angle looks best for a certain shape. But until this shoot I didn’t realize how tricky it was to photograph textiles! The lighting needed for textiles to remain true to life in terms of colour is totally different from ceramics: or at least so it seemed on the day! So trying to get both the fabric and the button in proper focus and in true-colour-likeness proved for a long and tricky afternoon. In the end these three photos were the best shots of the day. But you can also see this bag and two others in this same style on Gill’s flickr page here (probably should have taken it to the beach to photograph too!)

Buttons and Bags

Just wanted to mention this gorgeous bag pictured above. It’s made from pure Jacob and Mohair wool mix in a natural stone grey and hand crocheted in one piece by Deb Scudder of pipistrelle. And (you might recognise this) Deb has finished this beautiful bag with one of my little raku buttons in a mustard and white crackle glaze! I think they work beautifully together and I’m so pleased to see my little button doing what it was intended for! This truly is a unique piece: and you can read a more detailed explanation of the making process in the listing for this bag in her folksy shop and also her blog.

And here's a close-up of the button before it found its true purpose in life!

Thanks again Deb!