Pancake Day Special: Set of Two Pouring Bowls

For quite a few years now I've been forgetting to remember Pancake Day. Perhaps it's because the date moves around every year; I never know when it's going to pop up. Also these days IAC is gluten free - so torturing him with the smell of freshly frying pancakes seems ever so slightly cruel...and just think, I'd have to eat them all by myself! So for a couple of years now I only notice it's whizzed past un-celebrated when I stroll into the supermarket and see a haphazard 'after-the-rush' display of flour, eggs and squeezy lemons on special offer.

But this year I decided I wanted to feature my pouring bowls as a set - so Pancake Day seemed the perfect opportunity. I've been making my pouring bowls for about three years now starting off with my smallest size 'drizzle' bowl and then adding a medium sized batter bowl. I also make a larger version which is currently made-to-order only. I had wanted to offer a three-bowl set in time for Pancake Day, but I'm out of stock on the larger bowls. So instead I'm offering a two-bowl option at the moment featuring one medium and one small pouring bowl as a Set of Two.

I hope you'll agree they're very cute bowls! I have a set myself in the kitchen which I'm always using for just about everything. The extra functionality of the pouring lip just means these bowls are often my first choice out of the cupboard - because then if I happen to need to pour anything when cooking, I'm ready and prepared.

The photo above shows the Set of Two pouring bowls on offer which includes one small 'drizzle' bowl and one medium batter bowl. These are currently available in both my Folksy and Etsy shops priced at £28. (This gives a discount of over 10% on buying them individually.)

By the way, just in case you don't know, this year Pancake Day is Tuesday 4th of March!

Tealights, Hearts and Valentine's

Making pots can be a fiddly process, especially when you start cutting holes into clay. You have to make sure the pots are wet enough not to bend or buckle under the pressure of cutting, but also not too dry or you risk cracking the clay. So when I decided to make these new tealight holders with a cut-out heart motif, I knew I'd be spending a long afternoon muttering to myself!

The hearts were made using a normal heart shaped cookie cutter - and the holes with normal hole cutters. Hole cutters are designed to make holes in clay of course, so they're fairly straightforward to use. But cookie cutters are generally expected to be used on a flat surface, cutting into dough or pastry. To use them on an elevated, curved wall - like a pot - requires a bit of care. But as long as you take time and put even pressure on the cutter whilst supporting the clay at the back, they cut quite cleanly. 

In a perfect world, the heart-shaped leftover cuts-outs could be used for making my double heart decorations (below). I've been making these little hearts for quite a few years now. They're popular as little gifts for people all year round; as gift tags, decorations, keepsakes and love tokens. But unfortunately the leftovers from the tealight holders were just too distorted (after all they'd been through) to re-use; so instead they had to go in the recycling!

But I'm pleased with my new tealight design. You may remember I made an earlier version a few years ago which was essentially the same, except instead it featured a series of different sized round holes. I think this new version with the heart motif gives them a different character: and it's always nice to give customers options. From my point of view it's also good to keep developing an existing design by returning to it and re-freshing it. Then you don't feel like you're making the same thing forever!

Luckily all my new heart motif tealight holders came out of the kiln safe and sound - just in time for me to put them in my Folksy and Etsy shops for Valentine's! Hope you enjoy them.