Something new!

One of the most pleasant things about printing is the repetitiveness of it all. One of the most maddening things about it is just that same repetitiveness. So it's nice every now and again to make things that can't be repeated, like broken plate brooches. Old saucers, usually, accidentally smashed, to which I've added bits of my own ceramic transfers.

(A selection of these have just gone to The Fringe Arts.)

Brooches

New porcelain brooches! Saucers broken by The Book Lounge, transfers added by me. I'll be getting them to the Fringe Arts soon.

Short and Stout

A little teapot I decorated for a friend.

New brooches

New brooches in my shop, made from bits of broken plates and embellished with my transfers.

Birthday Flowers

It's become a habit for me to miss my blog anniversary; it's been going for 3 years this month (and remembering on the last day of the month isn't too bad, actually). So to celebrate, how about a giveaway? How about one of my new ceramic transfer brooches, so new they're not even in my shop yet?

If you'd like this little brooch, leave me a comment with a link to your favourite recipe, knitting pattern, sewing tutorial, gardening advice - you get the idea. Links are what blogging's all about, so spoil me! I'll pick a winner randomly from a hat on the 7th of August.

See how versatile the colour scheme is! You can wear it with anything.

New brooches, new tiles

I finally managed to collect a new batch of ceramic transfer brooches today! They need to be finished off and photographed, but I do hope to have them in my shop soon.


These were such fun to do - adding bits of pattern to existing patterns does seem to take longer than coming up with a whole new design, but it's really fascinating to do. Edges still need to be sanded, and pins attached, and then they need to be photographed. I'm hacking my way through a thicket of deadlines right now, but as soon as I'm done I'll be able to update my shop again.


And I can't wait to play with these: tiny handmade porcelain tiles. They're a lovely creamy colour and texture, and the transfers will look great on them!

Patterns

A few more transfer brooches; inching towards a batch big enough for firing.

Colourways

Knee-deep in transfers today, which is a pretty good place to be!

Brooches

I'm busy listing some new ceramic transfer brooches in my shop, including ones made from bits of broken plates. A whole bunch were sold right off my desk before I'd even finished them, which was amazing, but it does mean I don't have that many left to list in the shop. I'll be making more though - it's addictive!

Printing transfers

The company that prints my transfers, J. T. McMaster & Son, has a new website. Find out all about ceramic and glass transfers, and have a look at how people are using them.

Small things

My plans for gift tags and cards have come to nothing. As another, far wiser, Etsy seller said recently: "This is not the time of year to be coming up with new products." Sigh...

So instead I've put some tiny little ceramic things in my shop. We're past the deadline for speedy international delivery, but I do know of people who have birthdays in January, and they're so often neglected.

New ceramics

One of the lovely things about putting transfers on ceramics is that everything gets sent away for a day or two to be fired. By the time it comes back I've almost forgotten what I've done, and unpacking the boxes feels a bit like unwrapping presents.

More photos of the new batch on my Flickr page.

New mugs

Some new mug designs, fresh from the kiln. The red is so punchy that it makes everything else look out of focus. It's a joy to photograph!

Mugs

I'm sooo excited to announce that I've started listing mugs in my shop! It's been a long road to here. I can't thank Heather Moore of Skinny laMinx enough for all her help with these. And for her brilliant packaging idea:



We're doing everything in our power to ensure that these mugs travel safely.

I'm fetching another batch from the kiln this afternoon, so check back during the week to see new designs. Heather's are almost sold out, so rush over to her shop pronto if you haven't had a look yet.

Mugs

I've restocked Nest with a whole bunch of new stuff, including mugs. (Have a look at my Flickr page for more.)

Don't forget this Wednesday's soup kitchen at Nest, featuring Karen Kotze!

Nest ceramics

There's a lot to learn about photographing ceramics! But for now a crumpled piece of cloth near the window will have to do.

Tessa Blem-Gawith made these beautiful handthrown bowls, which were a treat to decorate.

This one did take a while... but it was fun. I cut the transfers up, threw them in a pile, and pulled colours out at random.


A more generic bowl.


Some shallow bowls, good for dunking bread into.

They really aren't this uneven. Lesson one in photographing ceramics: stand further away and zoom in.

I'm going to have a hard time selling this one.

A giant teacup (the handle's on the other side, but that photo didn't come out so well).


Two giant mugs, because sometimes soup's good in a mug.



And two teacups.


I'm exhausted.... some linocuts and drawings didn't make it onto the blog before they were framed, but I'll take some pics of them tomorrow. I'll start answering emails again tomorrow as well, but right now: tea, bath, bed. Need to look (reasonably) fresh for the opening tomorrow night.

Ready to go!

Getting work ready for the Nest show at Curious, Whetstone and Frankley next week. I love the tangled, Tord Boontje-like mess of the transfers at this point; I'm tempted to dump them onto a plate, just like that. Can anyone tell me if it's okay to overlap transfers?

The Big Reveal!

Rooms On View opens today, and I can finally show and tell!

I made one half of a dinner service, decorating plates and matching side plates with transfers, for the South Africa House exhibit. Heather did the other half of the dinner service, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait till after her holiday to see it (though there's a peek here).








I made a few extra, just in case. The transfers didn't take on the side plate I made for this one, unfortunately.



Tomorrow I'll show some pics of the printing, sewing and knitting I did for the show. It was such fun to work on!