Exuberance - nearing the end of show one

Happy Christmas!

There are two more days left of our show Exuberance taking place in Wokingham. If you want to see some photos of the current show click here.

The second show starts on 4th January 2010 and runs until 16th January.

Exuberance – Caversham artists step out of the workshop

13 artists from Caversham will step out of their workshops to take part in Exuberance at 43 Peach Street Wokingham over the Christmas and New Year as part of the Empty Shops Initiative.

There will be two shows taking place, the first from 17th to 30th December and the second from 4th to 16th January 2010 with meet the artists evenings on 17^th December and 7^th January 2010 from 5pm – 9pm.

The first show will open on Thursday 17th December at 12.30pm. There will be late opening and the opportunity to meet the artists over a glass of wine between 5pm and 9pm.

See cavershamartstrail.co.uk for more information.

Last chance to visit Reveal 13th December

It's the last Reveal on 13th December. Please pop over if you are in the area, we've got a great range of handmade gifts by local talented makers. Reveal is open 10-5pm Sunday 13th at the Old Fire Station Gallery, Henley on Thames.

Reveal - this is what you missed...and what you can see next...

Last Thursday we held the opening of the third Reveal at the Old Fire Station Gallery Henley on Thames. It all went really smoothly and looked fab. It was lovely to meet so many other local makers and to be surrounded by such lovely pieces of work. There were 21 makers who had their work in the show and the feedback from visitors was wonderful. Thanks to those of you who were able to attend, don't panic if you weren't able to make it as there is another show starting on Thursday 10th December from 5pm -8pm and then fri 11th, Sat 12th and Sunday 13th 10-5pm.

This is what you missed.....









See who is at the next show on www.revealshowcase.com and see more photos of what you've just missed here. Also a big thanks to Thomas for taking the photos, they are fab.

Reveal - 3-6 December - Buy Handmade

Thursday 3rd December is the opening evening of Reveal.

Please come and join us for a glass of wine and nibbles from 5pm - 8pm. If you can't make it we will be open from 10am - 5pm Fri 4th, Sat 5th and Sunday 6th, and if that isn't enough there will be a second show from 10th - 13th December so we expect to see you there!


There will be a selection of ceramics, jewellery, glass, photography and more. See the Reveal website for details of who is taking part and a sneak preview of the lovely handmade goodies that will be for sale.
I've been planning this show since March this year so I'm really looking forward to seeing it all come together. All the work will be handmade by local makers and is guaranteed to be high quality craft.

Come and make a pot, eat mince pies and buy some handmade christmas gifts

Just a quick reminder that All I want for Christmas is taking place this weekend (28 &29 November) at the New Directions Centre, North Reading Centre (Caversham Centre) by Waitrose Car park in Caversham.

Saturday 10am – 5 pm & Sunday 11am – 5pm , 28 & 29 November 2009.

Not only will there be a range of work for sale from local makers, there will also be drop in pottery workshops from 11-3 every day. These will run on a first come first served basis so get there early to avoid disappointment. And if that isn't enough to tempt you there will be homemade mince pies and lots of lovely people to meet!

There will be Ceramics, painting, furniture, wood, jewellery, weaving and lots more locally produced handmade art and crafts for sale. On both Saturday and Sunday tutors from New Directions courses will also be showing and selling their work.

Contact us at info@cavershamartiststrail.co.uk or visit our website http://www.cavershamartiststrail.co.uk/

The last day

It's the second and last day of the South Hill Park Craft fair today. One quick post before i head off.

Yesterday was a really good day, met loads of lovely people and had many returning customers too. It's the fifth year I've done this craft fair and i have to say it's one of my favourites. The quality of work is very high and the whole place has a lovely relaxed feel to it.

If you're in Bracknell today then pop over. I've only got two cup cake pin cushions left , a few cupcake tea light holders and one set of coasters left. I do have other work too but they seem to be the most popular.

Thanks to everyone who came yesterday, it was good to see familiar faces and new ones too.

This is a quick pic of my stall before we left for the evening yesterday.

South Hill Park Christmas Craft Fair - Bracknell

I'd love to blog about my holiday to San Francisco that I've just returned from but that post will have to wait. One of the highlights has to be a fab button shop where i spent $250 on buttons!

If anyone is wanting to attend a good quality craft fair this weekend come to South Hill Park in Bracknell.

14 & 15 November 2009. The craft fair is open Saturday 11-6 and Sunday 10-5.


There will be a great range of craft on show as well as free demonstrations as well as workshops for adults and children.

A joint venture

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will probably remember the cupcake case tea light holders i’ve been making. I’ve got a joint venture with a very talented friend (Jan) who has transformed the ceramic cases into pin cushions, isn’t she clever. This is the first batch, some are listed in my folksy and NOTHS shops.

More coming soon.

A ring vase

I'm so excited, I've finally got some finished versions of this ring vase. This one is now available in my folksy shop.

Don't the pink flowers just make you think of summer...or Hawaii?!?

Preparing for the Christmas rush

Here are the cupcake holders i got out of the kiln earlier this week. I've been testing out muffin cases too but prefer the cupcake ones.

This time of year i often find i'm having one mad rush after another. Usually after nearly selling out of xmas decorations at every show i spend every night of the next week making more, this year i'm trying to prepare for the Christmas rush. This is this years design, more contemporary than last years trees.

I've also got a top tip of how to dry them flat, place them in between dry plaster, it will absorb the moisture and dry them out quickly too, great when you've got limited time.

I also experimented making some buttons, these are them. I've not put any in my shops yet as i'm still deciding what to do with them. I might sew some on my pots, not sure yet.

My new shop

My new shop has been launched. I've finally joined Not on The High Street .com. Check out my shop here . I've still got my other shops and will be adding more items over the next few weeks.

Here is a quick preview of what is in my NOTHS shop. It's a great site with loads of products to choose from, just remember they're not all handmade so look carefully if you want something that is.

Things that begin with C

I've been busy glazing cup cakes this week. I will be getting the next batch out of the kiln later so watch this space.

I stayed with a friend a few weekends ago and we visited some venues as part of London Open House. There were so many to choose from and after seeing a mile queue outside the Bank of England we chose to seek out venues less unknown that didn't have huge queues.

Our first stop was at some artist studios in Shoreditch, Village Underground, they are ex London Underground tube train carriages recycled to form creative studios on an abandoned viaduct. Check out their website, they've also got an amazing warehouse space.

(Photo from the Village Underground website)

We also had a tour of Hackney Town Hall that has some amazing original Art Deco features and a few really bad modernisations, i wish I'd got a photo! The weather was great so we stopped off at the London Fields lido for a wonderful open air swim then a nice cup of tea. On the way home we spotted this..... a spiral stair case for a cat! I noticed the cat flap first then the ladder, what a great invention.

So there are a few things beginning with C, Cup cakes, creative carriages and a cat ladder! I'd recommend London Open House for next year, so much to choose from and some fab venues to see, a weekend just isn't long enough.

Preview

A few things I've been making lately. Thanks for all the feedback on Folksy, I've been busy making more and hope to have them stocked in my shops in the next few weeks. Watch this space.

Cupcake candle holders

Pen pot with bubble detail
Green bubble texture coasters

Green and white flock textured coasters.

More coming soon.

Midweek Making

It's been a busy day today. I made this! It's a ring shaped vase, some will have more holes and others will have just one. It's a miracle it came out of the mould but I'm glad I persevered with it. I'm quite excited about finishing it.
The vase above came out of the mould below that I made about a year ago and hadn't had much success with getting a whole piece out of it. By the laws of mould making it shouldn't really work as the clay shrinks around the centre of the mould and sticks to it often resulting in cracking. When I've tried it before it's always broken, i think it was because i was too hasty trying to get it out, this time i left it to dry for 3 days and it worked. Hope i can get a few more out over the next week and fire and glaze them to add to my shops.

I also found some time to make some raspberry vodka. I've been meaning to make some for ages and have only just got around to it. Just the look of all that sugar makes me want to clean my teeth. I've got to let it mature for 3 months, might try and make it longer as we still have 4 litres of sloe vodka from a few years ago that we should drink first.

When i was searching for a recipe i came across a really informative blog called The Cottage Smallholder, it's written by a lady called Fiona Nevile and is about her journey towards being partially self sufficiency. Check it out for some great recipes and food ideas, it's a really interesting read.

Recycling

How cool are these? Not sure what i am going to do with them yet but i love them. I acquired them from family, well really i intercepted them, they were on their way to the charity shop but i couldn't let them go. ( i think they are buckles!) I've spent the last hour or so freecycling some bits and bobs as well as ebaying some larger items for my parents. It's been a real weekend of recycling and getting things for free! My dad harvested his first pumpkin last week so i collected a quarter to make into soup. It was huge, i had to use 3 saucepans!

It started like this....

And ended like this. I've got nearly a drawer full of soup in the freezer now. Tastes great, i wish i could share it via my blog.

Please note my cooker isn't usually that messy, making soup is a messy business, all the clearing up takes soooo long.

Another weekend...

What a weekend! We headed down to Reading Festival as it's only about half an hour from our house which means we don't have to camp, yeah!

This is what we got up to, ate, drank, got dusty and watched some bands. Check out the giant yorkshire pudding, it's the size of a plate. Radiohead topped off the weekend nicely, especially after Kings of Leon had a strop on stage on Friday, they are so last year now!

Now I am all rested up and back to making pots. Firing some porcelain slip this week....will post pics when they're out. Also updated my other blog and www.revealshowcase.com with photos of confirmed exhibitors.

Hampshire Open Studios

Last week I went over to visit Alice, Caroline and Penny at their venue as part of Hampshire Open Stuidos. This Saturday (22nd August) is their last day and I highly recommend visiting them. Their venue is very welcoming with a really friendly atmosphere and lots of space to browse. You can see Alice doing a wet felting demo between 1pm and 4pm, it's well worth it. I want to go again this weekend but will be shut away in my own workshop creating new products.

I bought a few pieces of Penny's ceramics which are fab, i want to share a photo but they're for a friend for xmas so i can't risk spoiling the surprise.

You can see more of Penny Spooner's ceramics in her folksy shop, i love this Speckled Pink Pouring Bowl.

See more from Alice (Raspberry) in her folksy and etsy shops. This Natural Linen Tote Bag, with tangerine lollipop flowers looks even better in real life. Caroline Green makes a beautiful delicate porcelain range of jugs, bowls, napkin rings and more. This porcelain petite jug is so cute. See more of Caroline's work in her folksy shop.

Enjoy.

The weekend....

It's been a busy weekend. I managed to spend some time making pots, visiting an open studios event, make some homemade soup and buy a new car!

These are the pots I'm currently working on. They are the same mould as the button pots i make but they've got a row of texture on instead of buttons. I made some prototypes earlier in the year and they had a good response so I'm building up some stock for Christmas.

I've also made a new vase, I'm phasing the popular large one out as I've made enough now, hopefully this will take it's place. Only made half the mould....it's a long process. This is the first half, when it's finished I'm going to show the complete process so you can see all the steps involved.

More messy stuff but in the kitchen this time, something i made earlier....from this....

to this.... Yummy potato soup (you're lucky you didn't have to clean it all up!). We have veg overload at the moment as family members are harvesting their allotments. I'm trying to find more recipes as to try to use it all up. I also made courgette and mint soup but it wasn't so nice but will be eaten sometime, probably when we have no other food in the house!

Off to pay for a new car, will blog about the open studio event and my purchase from Penny Spooner later this week.

Folksy finds to share

I have been looking at newly listed items on folksy this morning and couldn't resist sharing them with you.

I first saw The Cotton Potter on notmassproduced.com earlier this week so it was a nice surprise to see the same lovely items on folksy.

These jar/tin wraps are made from unbleached calico and cotton fastened with a removable hat pin. They look so delicate, almost like they are slip cast, i guess that's why i love the look of them.

This Silver wedding bouquet from jamball is so detailed, it's amazing. It incorporates buttons, felt, silver leaves and sequins, such a lovely idea and can be kept forever.

This cute little terrier brooch is from Cherish Me. Check out Libby's other items in her shop and while you're there take note of her new banner and her well thought out packaging.

Check out folksy for loads of other great handmade items.

Get Eurofied!

I've blogged about it before but this time I've taken part, how exciting! The Indian summer samplers are on sale now. You can purchase them from Etsy and see more about what might be in them on the website.

There are 10 lovely handmade from around the world in this sampler box, I'm very tempted to get one myself. Each sampler is approx £10 including postage to the UK .


If you buy one let me know if you get one of my items in it!

Nordic Blue Hares

Look what I bought from Dee Beale on Etsy. I saw a tweet from Dee to say that it had been re listed. It's already framed and on the wall of frames. It's such a lovely colour blue.

Visit Dee's shop for more prints and another version of this one.