Work in progress...

I don't normally show work in progress when it's a special order, but these are soooo cute that I couldn't resist. A very special lady has ordered a flock of eleven birds for in her wall, and four of them will be slightly different from the rest. They will have her childrens' names embossed into the surface, and will have a slightly different glaze in the texture. They go in size order according to their ages. I just love the concept. I wish my family had had a flock with our names on when we were kids! Of course they look a little rough around the edges at the moment, but they'll be smoothed off in due course. There are two more obviously, but I can't show them all or there would be no surprises left when she opens the box :-)

Today I am famous!!!

Because it is the first time anything I have done through Princedesignuk has been published in print! Yay :)
So here it is... If you squint and look really, really closely you can see my starry eyed lovebird bowl there! It is featured in this month's Simply Knitting magazine, thanks to Hunkydory Home which is an online shop featuring some of my work. Fantastic!

My flying duck obsession continues...

Some call it OCD; I prefer to call it art. Well design anyway. I thought they'd make a cool image for dinnerware too, so here are my first flying duck dessert plates...
The ducks were stamped into the surface of the clay, and then filled with coloured glaze. I added a glossy clear glaze over the top surface to make them nice to use for food. As I'm vegetarian they are the only ducks you'll find on my plate :) I love the seven inch plate size; it is the size of plate I use the most as I am a real snack addict. It's a nice size for a sandwich or a crumpet or two...
I thought I'd try them out in blue and green, but I'm temped to try other colours too... Red or black maybe. Opinions are welcome as always!

What a week!

After the busiest week ever in my princedesignuk shop, I gave a ceramics workshop on Saturday with lots of little people... Exhausting stuff! Although I really really didn't want to get out of bed on Saturday morning, it was well worth the effort once I got there. Check out the pics; they made me smile! We had great fun, and as always, the children surprised me with the fab stuff they made.

We had our very own fairy princess with her little star...


These two were a scream! Very funny guys :) ...


A social butterfly...And possibly some of the cutest children ever....


They made some really lovely stuff, snakes, hearts, stars, flowers, handprints, cut out, built up, modelled, stamped, and drawn... It's amazing what kids will come up with if you give them a lump of clay, and it's nice to let them have a go with a medium they don't get the chance to try very often. I'll post some pics of the fired pieces they made when they're done :)

Today I am...

the featured seller on etsy! Yay! I am very flattered and excited. A big thanks to all the lovely people who have sent me nice messages about this, and to etsy for selecting me when there is such a huge amount of talent elsewhere in the site. If you fancy reading my interview, check it out here. Wish me luck :)

Flock

I've always had a love hate relationship with those seventies sets of three ducks. Well with seventies design in general I suppose. On the one hand, I absolutely love it, and on the other, it often seems incredibly naff. Anyone whose visited my shop or seen much of this blog will know about my love affair with birds, but the thing with the sets of three ducks was always that whilst I loved the concept, I hated the end product. And so I decided to take matters into my own hands... Check it out - a sneak preview of my flock!

The middle pic shows the ones I stamped into with organic circles and crosses. I might call them squadron... The lower picture type will be called flock, as they are imprinted with seventies style flock wallpaper. I am so excited about these, and since I took the picture they have been glazed and are now cooking in the kiln... Fingers crossed that they come out well! They'll have two fixings on the back, so that they can be angled to suit. I might do these as a made to order too, as I was thinking that it would be nice for people to be able to choose from the sizes, and have the number they want in the colour/s they want too. Hmmm... food for thought. As always, your comments are welcome!

There's something very sweet...

about mother hens and their broods. I can't wait to see little chicks following mum round the pond... It won't be long now!