Thursday 29 December 2011

Field of Light


 Bruce Munro’s Field of Light at the Holburne



Bournville Carols on the Green



Saturday 24 December 2011

Happy Christmas






Jug of the Month - December


A Royal Doulton jug from Shepton Mallet Flea Market for £3.


I can't find it on the interweb anywhere but found the same shape in a pattern called Lynn. Dates from the 1930s.


And found a near match with this pattern called Radiance, but it's not quite the same....



Monday 5 December 2011

Big in Bury St Edmunds


More jugs sold to Smiths Row in Bury St Edmunds. Blues. greens and oranges. Look who's on their list of makers...

Ceramics
Sue Binns, Nicky Blaize, Helen Brown, Sue Candy, Jo Corbett, Lisa Ellul, Mary Goldberg, Pru Green, Kirsti Hannah Brown, Ros Ingram, Terri Holman, Sarah Malone, Paddy Peters, Janine Roper, Craig Underhill, Clementina van der Walt, Alice Walton, Kevin Warren.







Made In Bristol


Jane, Jo and Martha from Space One will be selling at the Made in Bristol Craft Fair at the Colston Hall on Saturday 17th December.

Green Park Station Market


Sold a few jugs at the Green Park Station Christmas Market. Bit chilly but a lovely buzzy busy atmosphere. Spot the thing that's not a jug!


RWA Autumn Exhibition 2011 - Kaleidoscope Talk


I gave a short talk about Kaleidoscope to the Exmouth Art Group at the weekend. They were on a day trip to see the Autumn Exhibition and the chair of the RWA Friends invited me to chat about my work. Here's the website of their group.....http://exmouthartgroup.org.uk/




Thursday 24 November 2011

Jug of the Month - November


An Arwyn Jones jug. He made me promise to use it when I bought it. Beautiful green glaze with pools of blue. Here's his website....


Thursday 3 November 2011

RWA Autumn Exhibition 2011 - Award Winner!

Got home to a letter from the RWA to say that I have won the Award for Excellence in Sculpture for my Kaleidoscope at this year's Autumn Exhibition. The prize has been awarded to two artists this year. Thankyou RWA!




Monday 31 October 2011

Commission for Smiths Row


20 jugs, assorted sizes and colours, in the post to Smiths Row in Bury St Edmunds. Check out their website here...  http://www.smithsrow.org/


Jug of the Month - October

 

This is a Burleigh jug in Black Calico, and I've chosen it to be jug of the month because of HRH Prince of Wales. Our paths keep crossing. We were in Stoke together last week - I was in the now defunct Spode factory looking at the BCB exhibition, while he was across town visiting the Burleigh factory. He was launching "The Prince's Regeneration Trust's conservation and regeneration of the last working Victorian pottery in the UK."
Then on Saturday I found our names together on the same page of the RWA Autumn exhibition catalogue....

I visited the Burleigh factory a couple of years ago when I was researching my dissertation, and bought my jug then. The Burleigh website says of Blue Calico...


"Burleigh's famous deep cobalt blue pattern has been made continuously in our factory for over 40 years. Its popularity continues as ever! Although unique, this pattern was derived from early Victorian patterns which had their roots in Chinese porcelain, representing the spring with fallen prunus blossom onto cracked ice."

They produce a red calico, and the black has been discontinued.

The factory tour is amazing. Here's how the ware is made...

"Underglaze transfer printing is our speciality at Burleigh. This labour intensive decorating method has been in use for over 200 years. We are now the last English pottery company that still continues this traditional and highly skilled hand decorating process.

After the clay piece has first been fired to “biscuit”, the decorating process is then as follows:

1) The tissue paper is printed from a hand-engraved copper roller. The tissue rolls off the printing machine and is then carefully cut out by a transferrer.

2) The tissue is applied to the biscuit ware, and is rubbed on with a brush and soft soap.

3) The tissue paper is then finally washed off leaving the pattern transferred onto the biscuit piece.

4) The piece is fired again to harden on the pattern. It is then dipped in glaze and fired for a third time, leaving the pattern under the glaze, thus ensuring that the pattern will never fade or wear off.









Saturday 29 October 2011

RWA Autumn Exhibition 2011 - Private View


Very excited to see my kaleidoscope at the RWA private view today. The new RWA website says...

508 for 159
508 works have made it onto the walls of the RWA galleries, for the 159th Autumn Exhibition.
The show is looking spectacular – will it be the best year yet?
All works are for sale, so you’re bound to find something to suit your taste and pocket. The exhibition opens on Sunday 30 October at midday.


Lots of people looking...


One lady nearly in it...


I'm a bit giggly about the catalogue. Here I am on the same page as HRH The Prince of Wales. Giggle.  Kept an eye out for him but no sightings. Perhaps he was at the party last night. Leaning on my kaleidoscope nibbling on a vol au vent. I like to think so.