Christmas tree ornaments and decorations 2015

We are running low on all our Christmas ornaments - just cannot make them fast enough this year! Our new pineapples are a cheeky nod to antique Victorian decorative pineapples - they're large and feel generous on a Christmas tree. Hope you like our birds and pineapples! We also have stars, tree houses and hearts in stock here. All have the texture of vintage lace crochet for a classic feel that can be easily mixed and matched.

New items in Spring colours!

Spring colors for those of you in the US ;) I still now struggle with that concept. I know where you are dear readers, and I know that you mainly live in the US. And I also know that on some level you will think I have spelled words like colour and humour and enquiry incorrectly.... I hope you'll forgive what you might see as my poor spelling, and understand that we just spell some words differently to you!
Anyway... I digress.... I got all excited this week, because I saw my first snowdrop. I have one little snowdrop that clings on to life year after year when all the other ones I planted at the same time never made it past season one. And finally, this year, it has a little sibling - yes, two snowdrops! Sibling snowdrop is still in bud, but number one is in as full a flower as a dainty little snowdrop can manage, and this can mean only one thing - Spring is nearly here!!
Which brings me to my new glaze colour... I previewed it last week here, but there are finally a couple of items in my shop in this colour, and here's one of them - Birds of a feather wall art ceramics in springy lime glaze.

I thought things would be quiet after Christmas...

How wrong I was! Of course I am not complaining about this fact, but it has been a craaaaaazzzy busy few weeks. My poor kiln has been on almost constantly, with a few breaks whilst I unload and then load him up again.
I have been working on wholesale orders for some new stockists, including Mercer & Wells, who have two fabulous London stores, and a window display for Stephanie Rose, a specialist florist in Hertfordshire. I can't wait to see how that looks when it's installed!
Aside from that, I have introduced some new colours in a few products, including zesty lime green for my Flock sets of flying ducks...
And also coming soon for Spring is my new key lime glaze for my lace imprinted items. Here's a preview of that, pictured here alongside my Wedgewood and Seafoam bird bowls...
Opinions on the new colours are very welcome of course! Most of my special orders will be out of the kiln in the next couple of days too, and there are one or two pieces that I am really looking forward to seeing.

I am absolutely thrilled...

to have this little porcelain bird bowl... featured in this post on decor8 blog this week!!! Yay! I cannot say what a huge compliment this is to me - for any of you that haven't seen it, it is a blog well worth following, and always has gorgeous interiors, products and photos. I know it sounds cheesy/sycophantic to say this, but it really is one of my favourite blogs!! The author of the blog, Holly Becker, and columnist Leslie Shewring, write posts that are really inspiring, and the blog as a whole just oozes creativity. So a big thank you to them for placing my bird bowl in a place that has inspired me so much - I'm seriously touched!

Whooop, yay - I'm in the Guardian online Valentine's gift guide!!!

Wow! A little before Christmas, my Christmas decorations were featured in their Christmas decoration guide, but I wasn't credited or named, and they didn't know who the maker was, because they picked my product from an online retailer who stocks my work.
So what a huge thing for a mini business like me to have my work picked again, this time directly and credited to my online shops! Yay!
Here's the link if you want to check out the full guide - there are some really nice things in there, all handmade by various makers. A big thank you to Perri Lewis from the Guardian online for choosing my bowl and saying such lovely things about it :)

I can't believe how busy it has been!

The Christmas rush is slowing a little now, as most of my customers are in the US. I had a little help today from a Japanese work experience student Kozue, and finally feel like I am getting up to date... She was great, really lovely, extremely helpful, and an extra pair of hands was appreciated! She helped out with some gift wrapping and sorted out some of my stationary so that I now feel free to actually make something- I haven't touched any clay in weeks!! It has been non stop admin and parcel wrapping round here, and it has been great, but there is some creative frustration bubbling away under the surface... watch out for some new pieces early in the new year...
I have a happy story today! - someone showed me a photo at theknot.com which is of two of my bird bowls which were used as ring bowls at a wedding - here it is...

It is such a huge compliment when someone uses my work for such an important function, and is a rare treat to see them in use. Thanks also to the lovely Ai Ling Liaw of Ling Photography, St. Paul, MN who was their wedding photographer. I was really touched. I have had a bit of a run of this lately - here is an image of a ring bowl I made for a very lovely lady's wedding recently. So recently in fact, that it is on a plane on its way to Australia as I write...


I used a silhouette that they provided of themselves, and recessed it into the clay. A slight toasting can sometimes occur in the kiln around the glaze, and on this one I think it gives a fitting, warm glow around the bride and groom. I felt that it added to the piece, and I hope they will agree. Ring bowls are definitely something I am considering doing more of in the new year! It was lovely to work with them and create a piece that they had some input into.

So with things calming down here a little, I am hoping that I might just get a little Christmas shopping done by the end of the week :)

More lacy birds...

This time with a different texture. I thought I would try something different, and so I opted for a deeper, more graphic looking texture. I think the glaze works nicely, and the pattern is certainly more striking.
I have tried a few wall birds like the ones above, and bowls too...


It has been a great couple of weks in my etsy shop, with the Christmas shoppers starting, a couple of mentions in etsy's storque and gift guides, and a few times on the front page too :)
Fingers crossed that the lucky streak continues...

Christmas decorations

Here are a few images of my new Christmas decorations. This year I thought butterfly snowflakes might be nice, as well as some simple, classic lacy hearts...





So far the butterflies have completely sold out, and are now available and made to order with a slightly longer dispatch time. I like the simplicity of the unglazed creamy clay. It shows the texture of the lace off in greater detail, and can be emphasized with a classic red or gold thread for contrast. Both of these could even be used at weddings, and the thread changed to compliment the individual colour theme. I like to tie them to gifts instead of a bow too!

Raspberries are...

one of my favourite fruits. I love their flavour, and I love their beautiful colour. That is probably why I love this glaze so much! However, I had never tried it on any of my lacy bowls until this one.
I was pleasantly surprised at how it came out, and it really has a lovely fruity red feel to it. It's definitely a much bolder look for the lacy birds than the soft blues that I often use! It's surprising just how different their effect is in this colour.

Lacy blue birds

Hurry up spring! We're nearly there...
To speed things up I made these springy lacy blue bird dishes which are now on sale in my PrinceDesign shop.


The texture is made by imprinting vintage lace doilies into the surface of soft clay. The soft blue glaze was rubbed into the surface to emphasize the detail, and I love the colour contrast with the creamy clay.
As ever, feel free to comment!

Textiles

Here are some images of work I have made that has been influenced by textiles. This bowl was a bit of a labour of love, and was far more difficult to make than I originally anticipated... After several broken attempts, finally I got the technique right, and it was worth the effort!
Other ways in which I have combined textiles and pottery have been to roll fabric and lace into the surface of clay to create pattern and texture. Sometimes I have used the resulting slabs to create vases (like in the detail image below) and plant pots. At other times, I have cut the slabs into little shapes, and used these to make jewellery and buttons.

I first began working with lace for quite sentimental reasons. The lace imprint you see above was actually made by my grandmother. After her death, I felt quite sad that I had not learned how to make it with her, so I decided to get as much mileage as possible out of her work! After that, I found that for jewellery even finer detail was possible to use, and began rolling delicate embroidery into the surface of porcelain to get fine detail with a vintage feel. I particularly enjoy mixing the vintage texture with a contemporary shape such as the bird brooch below...

As always, comments welcome!

Some more jewellery...

I made this range for a number of reasons. It was inspired by a vintage lace doily made by my great grandmother. The patterns and designs in the lace itself are exquisite. I was thinking about crafts, and how we are losing many of the skills that were commonplace in our history. For example, I own several pieces of lace that were made by my great grandmothers and their sisters, which would suggest that it was a common pass time at that time, but I don't know how to do it myself. Within a couple of generations, skills are lost. So I imprinted the antique lace into the surface of some porcelain to capture and preserve the delicate patterns and added some gloss black glaze for contrast and emphasis.
I wanted the range to also be contemporary, stylish and elegant, to bring the lace into 2008 and preserve it! I have tried to create something that could be worn (as modelled) with a dressed up dress, but also , in the case of the pendant, tied a little higher around the neck for the office or even with jeans and a little black shirt or vest top.
I added black satin ribbon to tie in a bow at the back of the neck to carry on with the vintage feel, but keep a simple, sexy elegance.
I hope it works.... As always, feel free to comment!