Hand Built Ceramic Fruit Bowl

I'm coming at you with something a bit different this week, some pottery!

I posted a while ago about how I have been attending some hand building ceramic drop in classes over the last year with David Sampson. Due to family life and some personal things I sadly haven't been able to attend much the last 6 months or so. Its such a shame as I really enjoy the classes. Whilst sewing is so satisfying, its really nice to get your hands dirty and actually form something using just these and a few basic tools.

This is a bowl I was working on before I stopped attending. The idea was for it to be a replacement fruit bowl as ours is rather dull. Rather than using the coil technique like I did for the kitty pot This was made by rolling out a really big slab of clay and laying it over a bowl form to create the shape.

As you can see its not really a perfect bowl, its rather wonky and has wobbly edges but this was thankfully intentional. I think the idea was for it to look a bit more organic the finely produced.

One of the reasons I love going to these clay workshops is that I really do have no idea what I am doing, so everything that I make is a complete experiment. I don't really like the thought of going in knowing exactly what I want, its nice to sort of see it sort of shape in front of you, and see how the different techniques can cause such different effects.

The kitty pot I made was very smooth and sleek, and was very simply decorated with a bit of coloured slip, some oxide painted on and some clear glaze. With this bowl I wanted to go a step further.

On the bottom I rolled thin snakes of clay and adhered them on in a sort of spiral pattern. I then used a knife and cut away small sections to make the patterns you can see here. I really like pattern and ceramics, I don't really know why I just sort of like the rhythm of it. I really like the bottom of this bowl, I think I probably prefer it to the top so its a shame you don't really get to see this bit!

For the main part of the bowl I used a technique called sgraffito to create the pattern. First I painted the surface of the bowl with some coloured slip, starting with the brown. I actually had hoped this would come out more black than it did, but again I don't mind its all part of learning what different things do when fired. I then painted a strip of blue and a strip of white to add some more interest.

Using a small tool I then carved these circular patterns around the bowl working my way to the edge. I worked in rings using slightly different thicknesses and pattern each time to create a more interesting effect.

I really love the way the sgraffito turned out, and the dark colour really compliments it well. I think the bit on the blue section looks a bit too much like a sundial for my liking but not so much it bothers me.

Sadly I've not read great things about the chemicals in glazes and pregnancy so I wont be able to attend again for a while now, but I really hope once the family have settled down after the next arrival I will be able to go back as I really enjoy David's workshops. I did manage to get one more pot ready for a final firing, so hopefully I can pick that up in the next month or so as well, it will be exciting to see how that one turns out.

Hand built ceramic rose Jug

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will know that I have been attending some drop in ceramic classes lately (I say lately, I've been going since Xmas so its been a good 6 months!). The classes are run by David Sampson at the Art rooms in Long Eaton and you can find a link to the workshops here. What I really love about these classes is that they are drop in so you aren't tied to a class every week, this is perfect for people with unpredictable little monkeys like me!

This was a little pot that I started between other projects one evening when I had a bit of time at the end of a session and was just playing around. I think its turned out really nicely.

This is the first piece of work that I've been able to bring home since I started but this is because of  the time it takes for the work to dry out, the number of firings each piece of work has to have and obviously the availability of the kiln. As most of my other pieces need a final glaze fire they have been taking a little longer as they need extra firings.

This jug shaped pot was built using the coil method of hand building. I then added some cute little rolled roses onto the side and did a bit of sgraffito for the stems. The main pot has been coloured with oxides, the leaves have been painted on with a coloured slip (I think) and the roses have been done in a red glaze. 

 

To say this little pot was a bit of a by product I think its really cute. Sadly when it was fired it got a little crack in the bottom which means its kind of failing in its main function as a jug so I think it will just have to be some kinds of pen holder/trinket keeper instead. It is still lovely to look at though. I did make this pot with my mum in mind around mothers day (she sort of collects jugs) so I will definitely be gifting it to her this week, I hope that she likes it and can find a suitable use for it.

Davids workshops are hand building only (no throwing) and I have been really enjoying them. Its really nice to just play around with different techniques just to 'see what happens' and its nice to be able to learn some things along the way (even if they are through making mistakes). Ceramics is one of those things I have always wanted to have more of a go at as an adult but due to finds and availability hadn't managed to get round to it. I was very lucky in that Mr Fox organised paying for a few sessions for me as an anniversary present last year and spoke to David to get me to go on the class. I'm really glad he did, and its lovely to have a few hours on a Monday when I can just forget everything else and get lost in the clay.

So if your local and have been thinking about giving ceramics a go you could come and give the sessions a go, the first one is free and I have put the flyer below:

Fused Glass Decorations

How beautiful are these? I have my very talented friend Stevie Davies to thank for letting me and my mum loose In her workshop and showing us how to create these. Stevie is a very talented fused glass artist in Derby and you can find out more about her work on her website here (and her work is much prettier than these samples made by myself and my mum). She also teaches workshops around the East Midlands and I would definitely recommend, she's a brilliant teacher.

My mum has always been drawn to fused glass Christmas decorations so for a long time I have been meaning to sort a time for us to go and do this as a surprise for her. I think she was pleased and I think her decorations are amazing. I'm not going to get technical and pretend I know what I'm talking about, I will leave that to the experts, but here is a brief description of what we made. The first image is a fused glass tree my mum made which is mounted onto a clear glass candle holder. The tree is made of two layers of clear glass with some thin green coloured glass in between the layers and the snow effect added To the top to give a 3D effect. Her second piece, the star, is made of 5 triangle pieces which have been overlapped when fired to create the shape. These are only one layer of glass and my mum has added tiny pieces of coloured glass to the top which has melted and fused together and created this lovely mottled star decoration. I think she has a natural flair for this don't you! 

I made three pieces, the first tree has had some small chunks of glass added in between layers to make the tree bauble effect and a small wire star on the top which has fused into the glass to make the hanging which I really like. The second tree was made using very thin rods of glass cut and layered into the tree shape on top of another piece of clear glass. I love the bumpy feeling of this one and the colours! Not very festive, but I absolutely love this colour combo. 

Finally I managed to make my own star which has small thin pieces of coloured glass on top to create the colours and graduates from purple through blue to white snowy tips. 

I really enjoyed doing this, it was really interesting to learn how the glass works with each other in order to create the different finishes and this is something completely different to what I make normally. If you have never tried doing fused glass I really recommend finding a workshop near you (or booking one with Stevie) as its loads of fun and really easy to make something truly beautiful. You don't have to just make decorations for Christmas but for all year round, they would look lovely hanging in a window where the light can really show them off. 

Do you have a favourite type of hand made decoration, or make any of your own? I'm always looking for new ideas to try and inspiration so let me know. 

Adventures in Lino Printing - A Christmas Lino Print Workshop

As you may or may not be aware we are now at 38 weeks so this little man is going to make his mark any day now, scary or what! The problem is that I am, to be honest, completely knackared. This means that I am mostly sitting on the sofa under a blanket and a cat and not getting up. Nice for me yes, bad for getting all the things that are in my head done! But despite my lack of ability to move I actually have a few festive type blog posts to write up which is exciting, so expect a little bit of a flurry from me in the next couple of weeks, followed by what will likely be a complete silence for a while as we adjust to our new lives.

So following on from the lino printed baby grow... which wasn't a complete success, I went on a lino cutting Christmas workshop with a friend. Neither of us really needed to do this workshop, its something we have both done before, but it was a nice excuse to get out the house and do something a bit out of the ordinary. I also wanted to have a go at using the new type lino printing blocks, and some proper ink before I dived in and bought myself any more supplies.

The workshop was great and was run by Leanne Narewski who does some lovely prints. We all sat down for two hours, drew up a design, cut out the print and then made either some cards or some print pictures. It was incredible how well everyone's turned out, even for people with little or no experience. Each one was completely unique but just worked so perfectly, I wish I could find a link to show you pictures of more peoples work (you can see my friends on her facebook artist page). Ellen (who you should know by now as my boss) came along with another colleague from work as well and their prints were also gorgeous. I am secretly hoping she is reading this and will post you a picture in the comments!!

So I have now purchased a few more lino cutting supplies so I can make proper Christmas cards with my print block once they all arrive. I have also been making up some gift tags so will show these off to you in a couple of days.

In the grand scheme of things this is actually quiet a cheap hobby to take up, the supplies are really not that expensive to set up. The real issue I had was the cost of the ink, as you want more than one colour, but the bottles are actually huge, and you only need a really small amount so at the end of the day it doesn't end up costing the earth, as long as you are sensible about your colour choices.

 

I hope you like my little festive bears, I think he is adorable and I love how he can have either a hat or a crown depending on his mood! The hat is a separate mini block so this can be printed in any colour and added after the original print is dry.  

Below is one of Ellen's prints, see how different it is to mine, but still looks amazing! 

Fabric Flower Workshop

Check it out... I managed to teach some lovely people how to make lovely pretty things!

We had our work team away day this week and our boss decided it would be quiet nice for us to do something fun for the last part of the day. She shares my slight obsession with craft so we decided it might be nice to all be able to make something on the day. We decided that some sort of fabric flower would be an excellent choice because not only are they pretty, but they are also simple enough to be able to teach in a short time without needing any specialist equipment. So I was tasked with researching different types of flowers which I could teach to a small group. I am really pleased with how well everyone's flowers came out, they all did an amazing job.

In the end I picked three different techniques to teach. Firstly, I of course went for the same felt flower which I used to make my wedding bouquets. I love making these flowers, they are so simple to do and yet so effective. We had a great discussion about how lovely it would be to make a bunch of these on floristry wire to give as a gift on Mothers day.

Next up we did some lace and button flowers. I got the idea for this one from a brooch which I bought at a craft fair years ago. I love that brooch, but on looking at its construction it is really very simple. The idea is to get a length of lace trim (about 50cm maybe) and just do a simple running stitch across the bottom edge of the trim. You then pull and gather the trim until it is tight and join  the two ends with the remaining thread. You will have a little gap in the middle but this is covered up by sewing or glueing on a cute button or bead to make the centre of the flower.

The last flower we did was a lovely pom pom fabric flower. I have bought so many of these as accessories in my life I can't believe I haven't tried this sooner. Rather than me explain there is an excellent tutorial right here

Aren't they all excellent. I am really pleased with how it all well and I would love to do this kind of thing again, I am thinking maybe a clasp purse workshop? I really want to do a knicker making workshop but that would require patterns and sewing machines and a lot of materials so this one is probably a little way off yet. If anyone wants a better description of any of these flowers let me know. There are however a million (slight exaggeration) tutorials out there already for these types of flowers (where do you think I found them) so I didn't see the point in duplicating them here.