By popular request....

here is the first of my new bird brooches. It was made by rolling antique embroidery into porcelain and then was cut out by hand, fired and glazed with cobalt blue. I was aiming for a piece that was feminine, but would be easy to wear and look good with jeans. I love porcelain! It picks up even the most delicate textures. The embroidery I used came from a piece stitched by my great aunt who died before I was born.... I hope she'd have liked this little bird.

Picking a kiln...

is a tricky business. By chance I ran into someone today who has the same type of kiln that I was looking at yesterday, and she was enthusiastic about its performance. Having narrowed it down to a type, I just need to figure out exactly which of my 3 shortlisted candidates will come home to be christened Kenny, King of Kilns!!

I can't wait to get it all sorted out, as I'm itching to make a ton of stuff. However, it is probably for the best that I take a break from making for a week at least, as I now have quite a few pieces to upload to my shop... I have started to clear this backlog, and here's one of the new pieces uploaded today...

It's a Mountain lagoon bowl, so called because it has a pool of recycled glass in the bottom of it. Comments/critique welcome!

Another bird or two

flew out of the kiln this week, and here's the first one to be uploaded to my shop... introducing the starry eyed blackbird!


I think there's a little bit of rock star attitude about this one. It's a bit of a rebel. Reminds me of Amy Winehouse for some reason. Just needs a cig in it's beak, a bouffant hairdo, a bit of a tat and we'd be there... Or is that just my overactive imagination?

This curvy little number...

was inspired by some sunbaked mud I found on the beach in Brazil...


some of which had curled and formed organic shapes. Some had curled even more than these, and I wanted to recreate some of the shapes. I added deep orange red to the inside to create emphasize the warmth of the originals and their environment.

I have made...

some more poppy bowls. Is there a name for this urge? Compulsive poppy bowl making syndrome? Some call it OCD, I call it passion...
Anyway, my digression aside, here they are-

I've experimented with a different surface texture inside these ones and think it's quite effective. Also, they're larger than the last ones, so they feel a little more substantial, and are better for holding a floating candle or wrapped shiny sweets. That is if you can bear to cover up the inside! They're pretty just as sculpture too...
As always, don't be shy now guys - what do you think?

Stamps...

are ace! I love my little stamps so much! I make them out of clay. I've used the one I used for this bowl quite a lot now, so I was very sorry when I chipped it yesterday... Perhaps it's a good thing. I've made a four matching bowls now, and a couple of shallower bowls/side plates using this imprint, so I can now honestly say that they are part of a limited number produced...

One little bird was never going to be enough...

So here are a couple more. Testing out different glazes has been great fun on these - the colour is really emphasized in a less is more kind of way. I love bright colours, but I often find that a little is enough. I am easily overwhelmed by it, and find that it works best often when it is shown off by a white or neutral contrast. That's not always the case, but often I find that's how it works for me. When I used to work as an interior designer, I found that one or two bright accessories in a room were often enough for a splash of colour, and I think that has influenced the way I approach it now. Maybe it's an English thing too. I really noticed when I was traveling that in tropical places, people wear more bright colours and even houses are painted in bright colours. Our environment influences the colours we pick, but then I think the shades around us influence us too. So I have injected a little more vibrancy to my recent work - summer's here, lets be cheery!