Christmas Tea-light Holders

On the last day of November we had a lovely frosty morning. So I popped into the garden quick with my camera to try to get some festive photos.

These Christmas tea-light holders with stars are made with speckled stoneware clay. On the handle they feature handmade beads made from porcelain and black clay. And to give them a seasonal touch, some gorgeous red glass beads, which are handmade too by my friend Anna Hayward.

Tea-light holders are not always easy to photograph. It's tricky to get them to look as cosy and magical as they are in real life whilst still trying to keep them in focus. Here's my attempt to show how cosy they can are in the dark too - they cast nice little stars on their surroundings.

Anyway, they're vailable in my Folksy Shop here! Merry Crimbles!

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!

Modern Stoneware Beakers: Monty's Vintage Shop Blog Feature

Back in January in my last blog post I was throwing an order of beakers. Well since then I've been so busy (as usual) I've hardly had time to show off any of the things I've been up to. But today (while I'm waiting for the latest kiln to cool) I thought I'd at least mention what happened to those beakers...

After throwing them, I turned the bases next day and then brushed blue/black slip around the outside. To create a 'dotted line' pattern I then scratched through this slip to reveal the lighter coloured clay underneath: a technique called 'sgraffito' (which always requires a spellcheck.)

After firing them in the bisque kiln, I then glazed them in clear glaze both inside and out. I did have photos of this too - but it was so dark on the day they all looked out of focus. Instead, below is a photo of the order after the final glaze firing.

Since then my beakers have been featured in a lovely post on Monty's Vintage Shop Blog (a screen grab is seen at the top of this post). So I just wanted to say thanks again to Rebecca for doing such a great feature and showing off my beakers (which are now her beakers) to their best!  

I also thought this was a perfect opportunity to try out Etsy's new Shop Update feature. So I posted my first update today featuring my beakers. Here's the photo with the Etsy Tag. I currently have two of these available in my shop - just click on the pic for a link!

New Year, New Beginnings

It's New Year's Day today and I'm starting as I mean to go on! It's been a really busy Christmas season and my stock of pots is very low. But before I can re-stock I have some orders to complete - in fact the first kiln of the year is already booked up! So I've been throwing some beakers today as part of an order of 20.

Today has been the first chance I've had to get on the wheel in quite a while - and it's good to get back to making. The photo above shows how dark it is in the studio at the moment, even in the middle of the day.

Anyway, it's just a quick post today really, to say I'm still here! I left the blog alone for quite a few weeks I notice during all the Christmas rush - there was just no time to keep posting. Things have calmed down a little in the last few days though and so I'm looking forward now to getting back into making some new pots for the New Year.

Happy 2016!