Pots and Paint

Doing Some Homework...

2012-02-08T00:09:00.015Z

One area I’ve been meaning to read more about is the Chemistry side of ceramics. Of course it’s perfectly possible to be a potter all your life using all sorts of different clays and glazes without ever needing to know what they’re actually made up of. But that’s not how I do things! I’m one of those analytical creatives who like to know the nitty gritty details of where the materials come from,

Making Handles

2012-01-23T18:30:00.015Z

I’ve been making small cream or milk jugs recently. These are about the size of a mug, just enough for serving milk with tea for instance and for general purpose around the kitchen. I was inspired by the ‘penguin’ silhouette I’ve been throwing recently (see my last post) which suggested to me it would make a very nice simple jug shape on a smaller scale. So I thought I’d make a test batch: and I

All About The Making

2012-01-06T03:00:00.008Z

I’ve decided that 2012 will be all about the making. It’s so easy to get sidetracked and caught-up in the other aspects of this pottery/painting lark. Admin, marketing, planning shows, queueing at the post office, buying tissue paper and scrounging cardboard boxes from local supermarkets. Sometimes it can seem like all I do is the business side of things. Of course this stuff is a crucial part of

Wayzgoose Christmas Show 2011

2011-12-11T23:21:00.017Z

Above is a photo of my latest painting, which was inspired by my last blog post. After taking lots of photos of my vases full of flowers I decided I wanted to do a still life painting again. I used to do still life paintings all the time - it was my ‘thing’ in fact: flowers in all sorts of vases and different fruit displays. But more and more I’ve been thinking about using

Photo Shoot - Small Vases

2011-06-25T18:47:00.008+01:00

Recently I’ve been making a series of ‘one off’ vases - mostly ‘bud’ or ‘stem’ vases suitable for small table settings and little sprigs of wild flowers about the house. These are hand-thrown on the wheel in stoneware clay and measure about 10cm/12cm high. It’s actually been really enjoyable to throw ‘one off’ individual shapes for a change instead of repeating the same form in one throwing

UK Handmade Tutorial

2011-06-10T14:16:00.006+01:00

Just a quick blog today to mention that I had a tutorial published on UK Handmade site this week! It’s a tutorial for making my ceramic heart decorations which you can see in the picture above. I’ve been making these little decorations for a couple of years now. At first I made them especially for Valentine’s Day, but they proved popular all year round and so I often make

Painting - Landscape (Across River at Low Tide)

2011-05-28T21:19:00.010+01:00

Spent the day painting today. Felt it was the right sort of day. So I re-arranged my workspace by moving some of the pottery kit to one side and set up my easel and paint box. One day I might have enough space so I won’t have to do this. I decided to use some material that I’d put together back in January this year. Most of the reference work is photos that were taken over different days and in

Making Pots and Buying Kit...

2011-05-19T22:30:00.014+01:00

Usually when I write a blog post I pick a theme to talk about or focus on one element of what I’ve been up to recently. But this past week has been such a ‘mish-mash’ of different things I wasn’t sure what to pick! So for today’s post I thought I’d put together some pictures I’ve taken in the past ten days and show you a ‘medley’ of the sorts of things I’ve been doing. Above

Fired Works: Group Ceramic Show

2011-05-08T14:35:00.012+01:00

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since my last post. I’ve been preparing for a group exhibition of ceramics, which opened yesterday in a local gallery. We had our private view on Friday night which was good fun. We had some wine, lots of giggles, a couple of emotional speeches (which sometimes happens after all the hard work!) and between all the chatting and meeting of

Raku 2011

2011-04-23T19:19:00.019+01:00

I’m currently recovering from a very busy three-day raku firing session which happened this week. Once a year (occasionally twice) I take part in a raku firing workshop with a local group of potters and raku enthusiasts. This will be my fifth year of making raku and it’s still exciting to see the results. We started on Monday with a day of glazing, which was relatively

My RedBubble Account

2011-04-17T00:18:00.014+01:00

About two weeks ago I finally got around to opening a RedBubble account. It’s been on the ‘to do’ list for quite some time. One reason for wanting to open one is trying to promote my paintings more (the pots have taken over in the past few years). But another reason is to do something with my ‘back catalogue’ of ‘old and sold’ paintings by making them available for purchase as greeting cards,

Special Delivery

2011-04-10T17:06:00.013+01:00

I’m a bit over-excited at the moment. A huge lorry arrived outside the house on Friday morning and left behind this big parcel. I unwrapped it and look what was inside… A lovely new Shimpo wheel! I’m so pleased with it. It’s a Shimpo Whisper RK3D and I’m so chuffed. Within minutes it was out of the box and set up in the corner of my studio. Then I decided to give my

Three Trees - Small Landscape Painting

2011-04-02T14:34:00.004+01:00

I’ve been a bit pre-occupied lately with sorting out all my photographs. My computer was near bursting point with all of them. So I’ve been weeding through all my files and throwing out the out-of-focus stuff and endless duplicates that were clogging up the hard drive. It’s amazing how long these things take, especially if you’ve been avoiding it for months (possibly years…). At last though I’ve

Mustard Pots Revisited: Turning

2011-03-21T17:03:00.007Z

Opinion seems to be divided between those potters who enjoy turning and those who don’t. I fall into the former. In fact sometimes (I must confess) I enjoy turning more than throwing. I know: scandalous. For those of you reading this who have no idea what I’m talking about, ‘turning’ is the process of finishing a wheel-thrown pot at a later stage – essentially when the pot

Greetings Cards and Happy Birthday Tags

2011-03-14T19:39:00.005Z

Today I listed these new greetings cards in my Folksy shop. They’re part of a series of small paintings I’ve designed that feature a little white bird: this one is called Little White Bird - Red Flower (previous post). This painting was made using acrylics on watercolour paper and finished using pastels to give it a soft feel. The white stem on the flower was made by

Making Mustard Pots

2011-03-03T17:33:00.007Z

Back in January this year I mentioned some little wooden mustard spoons I found in a local ironmongers – something I’d been looking for for ages. Well at last I managed to make some mustard pots to go with them. Above are some photos of a batch of six mustard pots which I made yesterday together with eight matching lids (two spare in case of accidents).

Before the rain

2011-02-12T21:08:00.008Z

I always seem to be saying I never have any time to paint – or I’m in the process of ‘getting back into it’. Part of the problem is I’ve always felt painting is much more dependant on mood – you have to be in the right frame of mind to start or it just won’t work. At least that’s how it is with me. So I was pleased to find I was in the right mood today and coincidentally (at last) I also had a

Greeting Cards from Original Designs

2011-01-30T22:11:00.009Z

A couple of years ago I made a series of small mixed media paintings on watercolour paper using acrylic paint and soft pastels. They were designed to be simple, stylised illustrations suitable for greeting cards that I hoped one day to have printed. Well it’s only been a couple of years (where does all the time go?!) but at last I managed to find time to get a few of these designs printed into

Stocking Up

2011-01-21T16:01:00.002Z

A couple of days ago I had one of those days: where every time you try to start something you discover you can’t because you don’t have the stuff you need. It kept happening all day so I realized I’d better do some stocking-up this week. One of the main missing essentials was canvases. As you can see in the photo I managed to treat myself to a few in the end. These are

Cabin Fever

2011-01-14T18:23:00.006Z

When you’re feeling cooped up the best thing to do is to get out and blow away some cobwebs. So last Sunday I packed a thermos full of tea, some sandwiches and took a spontaneous bike ride to the beach. In my last post I mentioned how I was going to focus more on the creative side of things. (Oh yes, and the painting…) That’s all very well of course, but making yourself

Teapot Revisited: or, What Are We Doing This Year?

2011-01-02T20:37:00.007Z

In the past couple of weeks I’ve had some time to relax away from making pots and painting, and reflect on just how busy 2010 was for me! Pretty much rushed off my feet for most of the year, or so it seemed! And although it’s been really good and I’ve learnt lots of things and had lots of positive feedback from people, in the last few months I’ve been feeling as though

After the show: Wayzgoose

2010-12-13T16:13:00.012Z

Last weekend I finished my last Christmas show and my final show of the year! Wayzgoose is an annual Christmas sale at a local artists' studio complex called Jubilee Stores. The studios are based in Newport on the Isle of Wight in a converted warehouse on the town quayside of the River Medina. There were about 25 artists and craft makers exhibiting at Wayzgoose this year including painters,

After the show: Quarr Abbey

2010-11-28T15:47:00.012Z

(Festive berries in the abbey grounds)It’s been a few days now since the end of our 6-day show at Quarr Abbey. We were very busy for the whole week and had an excellent time. We counted just under 700 visitors in total through the door which we’re pretty chuffed about! And all of us who exhibited had a very successful week. This was also the first time I’ve been able to show my paintings

Forthcoming Show: Christmas Crafts at Quarr

2010-11-15T11:51:00.015Z

It's a bit busy round here! I had a great day at Handm@de Winchester last Saturday: we had 2000 visitors and lots of lovely stalls and craft makers. But no sooner am I back home than I'm re-packing everything for my next show which starts this week. A group of five craft makers (including me) are exhibiting in the new gallery/exhibition space at Quarr Abbey near Ryde on the Isle of Wight. We've

Forthcoming Shows: Handm@de Winchester

2010-11-08T12:12:00.016Z

I will be exhibiting at Handm@de Winchester this Saturday (13th November) and have almost finished making preparations! I'll be trying out a new display and some new work too which includes some lovely Christmas Decorations for this season. So if you're in the area do pop in! They'll be lots of lovely handmade crafts on offer as you can see from the images above (the little white and pink ceramic

Osmosis Launches New Range

2010-11-02T19:04:00.013Z

Today I thought I’d blog about the new range of Mug and Mug Cosy sets launched by Osmosis this week. You may (or may not) already know that Osmosis is a joint venture between me (potter…) and my sister Sue who is a textile designer. We have a shop on Folksy called Osmosis where we list unique homeware designs using both disciplines – and this week we’ve been adding a new

Sugar Bowls

2010-10-22T16:04:00.013+01:00

A while ago I blogged about adding food to my photos to help illustrate how my functional pots might be used in and around the home. During one of these shoots I used olives in my ‘small white bowls’ to give some colour and interest. I decided to try this again, this time using fruit and sugar. The above photo shows some of the new images I’ve taken which I’ve put together

Happy Birthday Blog!

2010-10-03T22:59:00.007+01:00

I realised about twenty minutes ago that it’s been a whole year to the day that I began writing this blog! One whole year! I can’t believe it: the time has gone by so quickly. And although lots of pots have been made during the past year, regrettably only a few paintings have been painted... Hopefully though this new blogging year will redress the balance a bit. Anyway, I

Pottery tools

2010-09-24T16:26:00.011+01:00

I’ve decided to clean the studio this weekend. It’s been a busy summer and at the moment the studio feels like a dumping ground for boxes, bubblewrap and other show-related paraphernalia. I’m actually looking forward to sorting through everything and finding out what’s left in stock. I have two big Christmas shows planned for November (the first of which is only 7 weeks away) so I’m already

Buttons and Bags Revisited

2010-09-15T20:56:00.008+01:00

A few weeks ago I took some photos of this lovely clutch bag made by fellow islander Gill from Gillian Chapman Felts in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. This beautiful bag is one of a series Gill has designed using pure Jacobs fleece. The material has been hand-felted using a wet felting technique and the finished bag features one of my raku buttons in white and mushroom

A Plate and Two Pears

2010-09-05T12:45:00.016+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I found a spare Sunday to paint at last! I decided to spend the day on a simple painting to get back into the swing of things: nothing too complicated or detailed. Still life studies are always useful to get the ideas flowing, especially since they’re easy to set up with anything that happens to be lying around the house. So for a bit of inspiration I

Jugs

2010-08-26T14:47:00.019+01:00

It’s all about jugs lately! Last week I listed these little white jugs in my Folksy shop. I call them ‘tip’ jugs because they don’t have handles: instead they fit snugly in the palm and the contents are simply tipped out. So they’re perfect for a spot of milk or cream in your tea or coffee. They measure just over 5cm x 5cm and come in three colour ranges: gloss white (listed), a wood ash glaze

Garlic Festival Finds...

2010-08-19T15:33:00.013+01:00

Last weekend my sister Sue and I shared a stall in the Arts and Crafts marquee at the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival. It went very well and although it was hard work we enjoyed ourselves. It was so busy by Sunday afternoon people were still queueing to get into the showground! So I’m pleased we made the decision to go again this year. Yet again my photos of the event were

Glazes and Garlic

2010-08-08T10:25:00.007+01:00

Over the past couple of days I’ve been sorting through a selection of small accessories that came out of the last glaze kiln. These included buttons, brooches, pendants, rings and miscellaneous ‘blanks’. All of these little pieces require some finishing touches. First I usually smooth them all using sandpaper to soften the edges and make sure they don’t snag on clothing or

Open Studios: after the event...

2010-07-20T17:02:00.006+01:00

Today I’m recovering from our four-day Open Studio event. I feel as though I’ve been on my feet for weeks! We had a very successful and enjoyable time. In my last blog entry I mentioned we were sharing a venue in Freshwater - which is one of the more remote areas on the island. So we were really pleased to count 592 people through the doors over the weekend! We met lots of new customers and also

Open Studios

2010-07-12T16:39:00.016+01:00

This year my sister and I (as Osmosis) are taking part in the Isle of Wight Artists’ Open Studios 2010. It starts this Friday (16th of July) and ends next Monday (19th of July) so it’s not long to go! We’re exhibiting in Freshwater on the island and will be sharing a venue (Freshwater Parish Hall) with 5 other artists including painters, sculptors, jewellers and other craft makers. This means

Buttons and Bags

2010-07-06T22:00:00.014+01:00

Just wanted to mention this gorgeous bag pictured above. It’s made from pure Jacob and Mohair wool mix in a natural stone grey and hand crocheted in one piece by Deb Scudder of pipistrelle. And (you might recognise this) Deb has finished this beautiful bag with one of my little raku buttons in a mustard and white crackle glaze! I think they work beautifully together and I’m so pleased to see my

Wistfully thinking of paint

2010-06-26T12:01:00.008+01:00

There seem to be two themes running parallel at the moment and instead of pots and paint it's been pots and computers! I've had quite a few orders lately which has been very exciting - so lots of tissue, bubblewrap and trips to the post office. Although of course now I'm a little concerned because my stock is so low! So I've also been trying to make lots of pots to catch up.Summer is upon us and

Rustic Jug

2010-06-14T11:11:00.008+01:00

I've been making these rustic stoneware jugs recently as part of a wholesale order. I usually make a few extra pots when preparing an order to cover accidents like breakages, and this one above is a 'spare' left over from a finished consignment. I decided to list it in my folksy shop today. It's a lovely simple jug; hand-thrown in stoneware and glazed all over in a wood ash glaze. I love this

Napkin Rings and Wooden Printing Blocks

2010-06-01T12:02:00.007+01:00

Today I decided to list these napkin rings in my Folksy shop. I designed them to match and complement my tableware range by using the same glazes and a very simple style. So far I've made this first set in white - and hopefully I shall be making more soon!At first I toyed with the idea of throwing some napkin rings on the wheel: but that seemed much too fiddly. So I've made these by hand building

Birch Trees on the Downs

2010-05-21T21:01:00.004+01:00

I painted this little landscape sketch a couple of weeks ago. It’s only small: just 5 inches by 5 inches on a deep-edge canvas. I’ve done a couple of these very small canvases recently (see here) and I’ve really enjoyed making them. I suppose I’ve enjoyed it because I haven’t had to worry about filling up the canvas – which sometimes feels like a large white and empty desert

Charity Shop Inspirations

2010-05-14T21:36:00.011+01:00

I’ve been rummaging around in charity shops lately looking for possible ideas and inspiration. There’s usually a few bits of old crockery, china and general ceramics in charity shops and although most pieces are no longer fashionable (some are truely hideous let’s face it…!) sometimes there’s a piece worth turning upside-down and inspecting if only to work out how it was made (before re-shelving

Raku Aftermath

2010-05-04T17:56:00.002+01:00

(Raku buttons available here)It’s been a few weeks since raku firing and I’ve been busy with the ‘aftermath’ – if that’s the right word. Debriefing? Raku is never a straightforward process and unlike ‘normal’ firing methods which means a pot is pretty much finished as soon as it’s out of the kiln, raku ware requires extra work at every stage, even the last. First of all I

Raku Firing

2010-04-22T15:00:00.038+01:00

I had an excellent three days last week making raku pots – and despite the gloves, mask and goggles, I did manage to take some photographs in the end! Here are some of them.Above are some of my bisque ware in the process of being glazed. At this stage the glazes are all pastel shades and give very little clues as to how they will come out! Once the pots are glazed they sit on top of the kiln for

Raku Preparations

2010-04-12T14:07:00.002+01:00

Well it’s April, the weather is dry and warm and that can only mean one thing – it’s time for raku! I’ll be glazing on Thursday and then hopefully firing on Friday and Saturday. So far the weather reports suggest it will stay dry and won’t be too windy (wind is much worse than rain when you have fire and sawdust everywhere!) – so with any luck we’ll have perfect conditions.

Small Landscape Painting

2010-04-05T19:47:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I spent the afternoon painting this small 5 x 5 inch box canvas. That’s about 12.5cm squared in new money. I’ve got a few of these mini canvases lying around and thought it was time to use some of them. At first I wondered if I was going to have trouble painting on such a small scale: I’ve done a few this size before and found it difficult making a composition work

Easter Egg Cups and Cosies

2010-03-29T16:06:00.007+01:00

Since Easter is on its way I thought I’d blog about these little egg cups and egg cosies pictured above. They are available to buy in Osmosis, a homeware gift shop on Folksy which I run jointly with my sister Sue Wright. The egg cups are handthrown by me and glazed in a simple white gloss glaze. The glaze is food safe and matches other tableware items I make in the same

Tree Motif: from Paint to Plaque

2010-03-23T16:08:00.005Z

(Tree motif in acrylics and translated into clay plaque.)Mad as a March hare; that’s what it’s been like these past two weeks. March always seems full of birthdays (including my own) which is partly why it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. But in between opening presents or sending them in the post I’ve managed to make quite a few pots. Since making my teapot I’ve made 4 jars with lids, 4 mugs,

Unexpected Teapot

2010-03-07T22:29:00.004Z

An unexpected burst of inspiration occurred a couple of days ago and I decided to make a little teapot. The unusual thing about it (from my point of view) is that it’s hand-built rather than thrown. I don’t usually hand-build unless the items are too tiny or complicated to throw on a wheel. So this little teapot came as a bit of a surprise. I started off with a small lump

Ceramic Art London 2010

2010-02-28T19:57:00.011Z

I took a spontaneous day trip to London on Friday to see this year’s Ceramic Art London show at the Royal College of Art. Last time I went to the show was back in 2008, which was the first year I’d heard of it. I suspect not many more people have heard of it either or since! It seems only the die-hard ceramic fans know about it; either through word-of-mouth or through quarter-page advertisements

Food Photo Shoot - Bowls

2010-02-21T16:15:00.004Z

(buy these bowls here) A photo shoot with food? Brilliant idea. Sometimes taking photos of pots can feel a little repetitive. Line up the shot, clickerty click, upload the pics and then move on to the next one. Big yawn, achy back. But once you add food into the mix the whole experience changes. I certainly enjoyed this photo shoot, especially since I got to eat the olives at

Painting - Small Landscape Study

2010-02-08T20:16:00.006Z

I’ve been painting all day today in my studio. Above is a photo of my day's work. Not really a ‘finished’ piece of course but a sketch or study I suppose - just to get the ideas going. It’s been a while since I painted anything so I’m a bit rusty - although after about ten minutes I was totally absorbed and almost forgot to have lunch. I’ve used acrylics on a small 10 x 10

Is it Valentine's?

2010-02-05T19:40:00.007Z

(buy these little ceramic hearts here)I've been photographing these little ceramic hearts in the past couple of days. Here's one hanging up on the edge of the door in my studio. I started making these back in September but somehow things conspired to get in the way of me listing them in my shop until now. So I've been making a mad dash to get them ready before Valentine's Day next weekend. I'm

Tubes of Paint

2010-01-22T16:36:00.013Z

Ceramics seem to have taken over my life. Prone as I am to small obsessions I realize that most of last year was taken up with making-and-baking pots. And this blog too has mostly featured ‘pots’ so far and very little ‘paint’. So today I thought it high time I blog a bit about painting. Let’s start with the basics - materials. I currently use acrylic paints on canvas. I

Osmosis Launch

2010-01-07T21:00:00.005Z

(buy this mug and mug warmer set here) Snow has stopped play. The temperature in my studio can only be described as perishing. I’ve given up trying to do any work in there. Instead I’ve spent the past couple of days curled up on the sofa with several blankets doing ‘admin’ and drinking lots of hot tea (occasionally alcohol) in an effort to keep warm.Just before the snow

New Year Buttons

2010-01-03T17:19:00.003Z

It’s a New Year and I’m looking forward to working on some new projects. I’ve spent the last couple of days making plans and writing out lists for developing my range of ceramics which hopefully I’ll be blogging about in the future. In the meantime though I’ve started to re-stock some of my basics. Today I’ve been making some buttons here pictured above freshly made and drying. (These buttons are

Second-hand Pot

2009-12-19T17:03:00.008Z

Saw this jug/pitcher in a second-hand shop the other day for just seven quid and decided I must have it. There’s a potter’s stamp on the base with the initials J W but so far I haven’t been able to track down who that might be (based on the style and after a bit of Googling). Whoever made it was clearly influenced by the Leach tradition - but then what potter hasn’t been?! So that doesn’t narrow

Artists' Resources

2009-12-01T15:37:00.011Z

Today I switched my Public Liability cover to a different insurance company. In the days before the Internet this would have been a laborious, painful experience - but luckily all that was required of me was to tap in a few details online and I was covered instantaneously. But it gets better. This particular Public Liability cover comes included in the price of a subscription to an arts magazine

Festive Finishing Touches

2009-11-21T20:43:00.002Z

(Buy this set of stoneware stars here)Making seasonal gift ideas in ceramics is a long term affair. You have to plan ahead otherwise time soon catches up with you. So this year I started making ceramic Christmas decorations back in the Summer. Normally I’m the type of person who really objects to Christmas decorations appearing anywhere and everywhere before December. But this year I feel

Homemade Ash Glaze

2009-11-14T17:47:00.000Z

It’s been over a week already since Bonfire Night. When it isn’t pouring with rain or blowing a gale (like it is today) we usually mark November the fifth with a little bonfire in our back garden. Out come the sparklers, some bowls of hot stew and a bottle of wine. I mention this because I’ve recently thought about making my own homemade ash glaze. So this year I decided to collect the ashes

Victoria and Albert Museum London

2009-10-30T19:53:00.000Z

(A view of the dome inside the new Ceramics Gallery at the V&A. Click on the image and it should enlarge to show the installation of ceramics in porcelain called Signs and Wonders by Edmund de Waal.)Last Wednesday I took a day trip to London to visit the new Ceramics Gallery at the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum). The new gallery opened a few weeks ago as phase one of an ongoing refurbishment

Ceramic Review back catalogue

2009-10-22T18:32:00.001+01:00

This morning a very large box was delivered and inside – beneath all the old plastic bags and little polystyrene sausages – was a treasure trove. A musty treasure trove that smelled of old attics and charity shops: a back catalogue of sixty issues of Ceramic Review. Sixty issues! In fact an almost complete decade of issues from Autumn 1983 to Autumn 1993.Needless to say I’m completely

Mini tea bowls

2009-10-15T16:09:00.001+01:00

(mini tea bowls are available here)What did I say about prefering tea in a mug? Well most of the time it's true, but only if the tea is a generic English Breakfast type of black tea (milk, one sugar) out of a bargain box of dusty tea bags, and not if I'm drinking a proper, loose leaf, carefully prepared, Chinese green tea. There's something philosophically wrong about pouring green tea into a

Glazing Methods - Buttons

2009-10-09T00:49:00.001+01:00

(buy this little button here)8 egg cups4 salt and pepper bowls16 large stars (xmas decorations)18 small stars (xmas decorations)8 medium square buttonsThat's how many things I glazed yesterday. It looks like a recipe for a long and busy day. And so it was (there were moments when I wondered why I was doing all of this). I admit that glazing is my least favourite part of potting. I suspect I'm not

Beginning a Blog

2009-10-03T15:52:00.000+01:00

This is my very first post on my new blog, which means I must be talking to myself. With no one listening I can say whatever I like I suppose. So just this once I will waffle with impunity.What are you doing writing a blog? You're supposed to be painting and/or making pots.I did however make some buttons this morning which are drying in the studio. They're taking a while to dry today. It seems