New creations

It's been a little while since I last blogged as I'm been a bit blurgh, so to speak. It's not easy to write and be upbeat when feeling that you're not quite yourself so I've saved it all up for now! 

I've been busy recently with sorting out new stock and getting everything photographed. The light isn't always so good now the days are drawing in but yesterday I got out into the garden with the camera in hand. 

This isn't intended to be a hard sell, if you are interested then all my links are at the bottom of each post, but more I'd like to share my work with you because I draw so much happiness from creating them. Each piece is almost like a child to me and I often end up keeping pieces that I simply can't part with. I know that's not good business sense but hand crafted items are about so much more than simply sales. I craft because I'm passionate about what I do and I have a shop also so that I can share my passion with you. Enough said, lets upload some new photos so you can see what I've been up to lately. 

I start off with a few of my new ring dishes, or anything dishes really. I use mine to keep my rings safe when I get the clay out. I also have one in the kitchen as a spoon rest. 

Star trinket dish.

 This star ring dish is the first one I've done as a star and I think it worked really well. The points of the star curve upwards nicely. I love to paint these dishes, it makes me feel like an artist. I'd also like to point out the lovely ribbon that the gift box has, it was made for me by a friend who owns Cookie & Mo on Facebook. She was so amazingly helpful that I highly recommend her. You can find her at: www.facebook.com/cookieandmo.uk

Heart shaped ring dish with peacock blue detail.

 I had a bit of a play about with a new glaze with the dish above. The glaze is a dark green that looks like peacock blue to me. It can look either green or blue depending on the light, just like a peacock feather. I used it to bring out the embossed detailing and was thrilled with the outcome.

Monet's Garden ring dish

Now this dish features a glaze called Monet's Garden. I really wish I could capture the colours in a photo but sadly I couldn't get a good enough one. If this is held up to the sunlight it shimmers and so many colours shine through that it's breath taking. I'll definitely be using this glaze again. It reminds me of a lily pond and there was one in Monet's Garden so I guess that's where the name comes from.

Ceramic leaf bowl, Sycamore.

The technique for this bowl is really simple. I was foraging in the woods with my daughter for her school project and was looking at fresh new leaves everywhere. It reminded of being taught to craft a bowl from a cabbage leaf so I picked a few sycamore leaves to do it again. The great thing about sycamore is that the veins on the back are really deep and they leave a fantastic impression in the clay. I also prefer these leaves to cabbage leaves! So in short the leaves were pushed into clay and the shape was hand cut. The clay was then gently moulded into a bowl shape and left to dry. The glazes used were quite strong colours to bring out the veins and then I did something bold, I ran them under the tap! I'd never tried it before so I have no idea if I would ruin it in the kiln afterwards. So most the colour was washed away but it left the gorgeous veins behind. I let them dry for a couple of days before adding the clear glaze and firing them as I didn't want it to explode in the kiln. Altogether I did three of these and one was snapped up straight away. I'll have to do some more of these next spring. It would probably work quite well with salt dough as well if you fancied having a go. The recipes for salt dough are easily found on the web. A great one for the kids too.

'Time to drink Champagne and dance on the table'

Finally, I've been doing lots of plaque work and these Champagne hearts have been very popular. I'm now turning my attention to Christmas tree hangings. By the time Christmas gets here I'm usually sick of it!! However, these things can't be made over night so I have to prepared. 

So thank you for sharing with me my excitement for my work. It means a lot to me that you follow me and share in my adventure. So I'll say to you now, it's 'Time to drink Champagne and dance on the tables!' Have fun. 

Cath xx 
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