Ceramic plant pots

I've got another craft class to tell you about today.  I've been so busy with life that I've done very little crafting outside of my classes, so you'll get a few craft class posts for the next few weeks I'm afraid!  I'm missing sewing and crocheting and embroidering so much that I need to carve out some time for it.

Back in January I took a class with Nat of Upsydaisy Craft at The Malt Cross, Nottingham which is a lovely old music-hall turned pub which runs cultural events and craft classes in their basement.

The class was to make a couple of plant pots from scratch.  Form them from clay, embellish and decorate and glaze.  Nat was a great teacher, she showed us the basics and then let us run wild.  You didn't hear any "you can't do that" from her, which I love in a teacher.  Above is a first attempt that I wedged and started again.  I formed it round a cardboard tube covered in brown paper, but didn't like the frilly edge I made.

I liked this attempt better.  A simple rolled pot with some cut out bunnies on it.  They were made with punches, they're not hand cut!

I made two and both featured a  deliberate join.  Some of Nat's examples had this feature and I really liked it.

I used letter punches and cut out the letters to make a cheesy pun on this one.  My parents always thought Aloe Vera was funny and pronounced it "'Ello Vera", so I thought I'd run with it!  I intend to get an Aloe Vera plant (which is turning out to be a lot harder than I imagined) and put this in my bathroom.

For some reason I've included a random photo of a piece of clay rolled out and cut to shape!

This shows the back join on the bunny pot.  I love that thick edge.  When I took this photo I was cleaning up the pot using a paint brush and a small amount of water.

Then we glazed.  There were loads of gorgeous colours, but I stuck to bluey-greens to match my bathroom.

I left the words blank.  I didn't really have time to do the detailed work that painting them would have required, but I'm not keen on the finished look so I may end up filling them in with ceramic paints (I think I have some blue) or with a sharpie... not sure if that'll work.

Seems like I went mad taking photos!

And here are my finished, fired pots!  The 'Ello Vera one is very patchy.  Despite it being a full-day class, there was so much to do that I didn't get a chance to do a second coat of glaze on it.

My painting skills are definitely very lacking!

The inside of this one was painted with a confetti glaze.  A clear glaze with little pieces of glass in it, just like the frit I used in the lampwork class!

I have no idea what colour I painted this one!  It looks like white but I really don't remember doing that.  The clay dries white, but unglazed it is porous, so I'm sure I glazed it (I thought in blue!), maybe not!

Stay tuned for more craft class reports!

speed craft part 2

So it appears I haven't posted in nearly 2 weeks!  Do you want to know why?  I completely forgot!  Oh dear, I hope this isn't a slippery slide into old age....

In my last post I told you about the first half of the day at Speed Craft, you can read it here if you are so inclined.  I went with the lovely Jane from Loopy's Place.

Our fourth activity of the day was with Katie Almond, an incredibly talented ceramics designer who I've taken several workshops with.  I had a bit of a wobble when she asked if I'd left mum at home as mum usually accompanied me...  But I powered on and got on with the job at hand, the hanging plaque above.  This is the piece in wet clay and painted with the glazes.  I'll show you the finished item when it comes back from its firing.  I felt like doing a house in a heart to represent my renewed love for my lovely old Victorian house.

The last activity of the day for us was lino cutting and printing.  I've done lino cutting a couple of times now, having taken a class or two a while ago.  I decided to represent my current lifestyle and cut out a bottle (of vodka, I don't like wine!) and a cocktail glass.  I drew both freehand so they're a little rough around the edges.

We used the finished stamps with ink brayered onto tiles rather than ink pads as I've done in the past.  I printed on some book pages and we used the results to make a little collage.  Sums me up rather well!

Speed craft

Back in October, wonderful mum and I went to Speedcraft at Debbie Bryan.  You may remember me posting about these events before.  5 tables, 40 attendees (1 man this time which was great to see), 5 x 50 minutes to do a craft, cake, coffee, cake, coffee, lunch, cake, coffee etc.etc.  Mum loved speedcraft and had booked us on to the one in April.  I will go, but I will miss her.

I'm not going to write 5 posts, I'm going to tell you about it all in one post.  I thought I'd made some notes about the tutor's names and websites, but I can't find them.

One of the tables was papercraft and we made 3d hanging decorations using sugar paper, metallic paper and vintage papers including old lace patterns.  Debbie is a bit fan of stitching so there is always thread on all the tables, we used it to add some accents.

I really like some of the papers used here.

Next we did wirework.  We started by scribing the copper circles using various tools, then made a hanger from a piece of wire.  I added tiny paper "bunting" and tassels to mine. I really like this!

It's about necklace size, maybe a bit longer (width-wise), but it's too delicate to wear, so I've hung it up in my craft room.

I did a different pattern on each side of the circle, just to try something new.

One table was weaving which I've never tried before.  OK, maybe as a kid, but I don't remember.  This was great fun, using all kinds of different materials from ribbons and lace to lengths of fabric and yarn.  

I just need to sew the ends under to tidy it up.  I could really fancy doing this again... the only problem is, what do you do with it?

As usual, Katie Almond was there to do ceramics with us.  Me and mum really had the knack of this by then, and we made our pieces in about 10 minutes, leaving lots of time for the delicate painting!  We were both improving too.  Above is the pre-baked piece.

And this is it when I got it back.  I didn't have a Christmas tree this year, so I propped it on my mantelpiece!  it will be the star of the tree next year.  

There was a fifth craft.  It was printing using acrylic inks brayered onto tiles and impressing stamps and tools into the paint before placing paper on top and making an impression.  Unfortunately, we hung them up to dry and forgot to collect them!  You're not missing much, printing is not one of my greatest skills!

Hanging hearts

I have some bunny news to start with.  A few weeks ago we lost Kate, our newest bunny.  She had been paired with Harry, who is now on his own again.  She wasn't ill so I can only think that she had a heart attack, she was a very nervous girl.  It's a shame that I only got to spend a few months with her, but at least she had found her forever home and was, I hope, happy with Harry.  Harry has had an eye infection this week, I took him to the vet on Tuesday and discovered that he has cataracts and is most probably blind!  It does explain why I'd been finding it so easy to catch him, apparently I'd been sneaking up on him, poor fella.

Totally unrelated to bunnies, today I wanted to show you the results of a workshop at Debbie Bryan with the very talented Katie Almond.  It was to make a hanging plaque, or a series of hanging plaques.  I went in with an idea of what I was going to make.... and made something completely different!

The photo above shows the pieces just as I was starting to paint them, prior to firing.  We used Katie's usual techniques of cutting shapes, adding texture with lace or stamps or rollers, adding cut out pieces and then painting to highlight.  This is my best job yet with the paint, I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it!

I'd used a textured roller and I highlighted the flowers only.  Painting does take a long time and so I didn't get time to do as much painting as I wanted on the largest heart. 

But I'm really happy with the results!  The picture above and those below are of the fired items.  Katie uses porcelain clay which has such a different finish to the earthenwear clay we've been using on workshops with Katherine Fortnum.  

I punched holes top and bottom (except on one) using a heart punch and a flower punch, just for something a bit different.

I strung them together using Fireline which is a jewellery making material which is very similar to fishing line.  If you're thinking it's very invisible, it's because I didn't string them until I'd taken these pictures!

I didn't know where I was going to hang these, I've got a large collection of hanging hearts, some made by me, some by other individuals and some mass produced.  I decided to hang it in the kitchen.  I've been avoiding hanging anything in the kitchen as I STILL haven't finished painting (3 years after the kitchen was fitted...), but now it's time.

See that silicone on the wall??  That's why I've been avoiding finishing the decorating.  Anyone know how to get it off?  Mr CA said to just keep painting over it but that's not working!

Speed Craft #1 - Ceramic brooch

Last month I was telling you about the Speed Craft day that me and my mum went to at Debbie Bryan.  5 tables, 5 different crafts, 45 minutes per craft.  You can read about table 5 here, table 4 here, and table 2 here.  I've had to do them out of sync as 2 of the crafts had to dry / be fired and collected later.

Today I'll tell you about table one which was ceramic buttons with Katie Almond.  We've taken classes with Katie before, making a 2-tier cake stand, a set of plant pokes and brooches and at the last Speed Craft we may little ring bowls.  This time we were to make a set of buttons, or a large brooch.

I chose the brooch.  It's about 2" diameter and is made of porcelain.  The above photo shows the brooch pre-firing.  I used a papercut to roll the pattern into the clay, then added punched out flowers and a heart.  This time I found it a lot easier to use the glazes and I'm really pleased with my painting.

What I'm not so pleased with is my photos of the finished object.  I just couldn't get a close enough photo where it wasn't blurry or a white mass of light!  I really need to do a photography course, but you know what?  Photography just doesn't interest me.

Here are a selection of photos anyway to give you an idea.

This one includes my feet.  I hate photos with feet in them, especially when the feet are neatly together and posed, but none of the feetless-photos worked at all. And anyway, I had a pedicure 2 days ago, I can get away with it!

I couldn't resist taking a photo of Colin lying in a patch of sun.  I have been out in the garden checking on Harry and Kate every 10 minutes (they have just been bonded and came home, so I'm keeping a close eye on them in case there's any fighting) and each time Colin just got longer and lower and more relaxed!

Only one more Speed Craft post to go, but I'm going to post about something different first!

Cake stand

A month or so ago I wrote a post about a ceramics class that wonderful mum and I had attended with Katie Almond.  We made a two tier cake stand.  You can see the process post here.  We picked them up a few weeks later and assembled them.  Here is mine.

It's sewing themed as it's going to live in my craft room, holding sewing notions.  Nope, no cake is going to grace this stand.  I don't bake.

I tied the little "sew" tag on with a piece of ribbon that matches the colour scheme of aqua, navy and red.

It took me ages to make and put on all those buttons round the edge!

I am really pleased with how it turned out.  I love Katie's style of ceramics and I don't think I did a bad job here.

Speed Craft #2

If you missed my previous post about Speed Craft, please scroll down.

Our second table was ceramics.  The tutor was Katie Almond who we've taken two classes with before - the first at Debbie Bryan where we made plant pokes and brooches and another in Leicestershire where we made a cake stand.  I collected my cake stand when we went to collect these little bowls, so I must show it to you soon.

I can't believe I managed to make this in just 45 minutes.  Rollling out clay, stamping it to make the impression, stamping and cutting out the letters and painting it all with glaze is a time consuming process!

I'm going to use it on my dressing table to keep my rings in.  The motif is a bit off-centre but that doesn't bother me.  I wish I'd been able to paint the outer ring of motifs, but I just didn't have time.  I stuck to the red/blue/navy combination again!

As you can see, it's just a shallow little bowl, around 4" diameter, so cute!  Once again, I really enjoyed working with the porcelain clay.

Next up: Hand-built robin

Cake stand, not a cake in sight...

Today I have something unfinished to show you.  What's that?  When do I every show you anything finished?  Well, yes, you're right!  So nothing new today then.

Me and wonderful mum went to a class to work with porcelain clay and make a 2-tier cake stand.

We've taken a class with Katie Almond, the class tutor, before and loved it, so had no hesitation signing up for this one.  I absolutely love Katie's style and you should go and check that link out, even if you have no interest in pottery, it's inspiring for many other crafts.  

Above is a sideways picture (it's round, why did I feel the need to turn my phone round??) of the bottom tier of my cake stand.  I think it's the top.  I used some acrylic stamps which came free with a magazine to stamp the dress-maker's form, the Singer and the tape measures.  I then coloured them with glazes.  The light blue patch on the right hand side is where I rolled a piece of lace into the clay to make a nice texture.  I'm hoping the glaze on that area comes out very pale, I'm kind of wishing I hadn't painted it now.  I made all the buttons round the outside and in the middle and had the idea of making them spotty or stripy as well as solid coloured when I realised how hard it was to paint the sides!

I cut out a small tag shape and some stamped letters which I very carefully painted with a very thin paintbrush.  I have no idea how this will come out!

Here we have the top.  Possibly.  The blue lines are where I impressed an open zip into the clay.  I only painted the tape, leaving the teeth unpainted.  At the bottom is a button jar and some stamped buttons, along with the handmade buttons that I've glazed.  I got the idea of doing the mini bunting from another girl in the class, she was doing big bunting for her tea party themed plates.

We should be getting the finished pieces back any time soon, then I'll put it together and show you how it turned out.  Fingers crossed my painting hasn't ruined it...

Ceramics

Back in August, wonderful mum and I did a workshop with the very talented Katie Almond (go and check her out) at Debbie Bryan, a wonderful handmade shop with a tea room which hosts workshops in a variety of disciplines.

If you've clicked that link to see Katie's work (and you really should), you will know it was a day of ceramics.

We worked with porcelain clay, rolling it out and imprinting various designs and patterns on it.

We used rubber stamps, lace, trims and paper cut outs to make a variety of different patterns.

The workshop was to make the plant pokes you see on the right, though my plan was to use them as bookmarks as I killed off all our plants years ago.  We also made some brooches.  We cut them out using paper templates and used punches to create different shapes.

You can see I used lace quite a lot on my imprints.  Then we painted them with under glazes.

I thought they looked terrible at this stage, but it was hard to tell how they'd turn out as glazes don't work the same way as paint.  Katie took them back to her studio to fire them and we got to pick them up a couple of weeks later.

This is them after firing.  As you can see, they don't look brilliant and they're too thick for bookmarks.  

I think I did better with some of the brooches though.  I really wish I'd had more time to paint this one so that I could pick out the pattern better.  I should have done the wing in the same dark blue as the flower round his eye.

I'm really happy with the one in the middle.  The one on the left doesn't look too bad in this photo so I might make that into a brooch too.  The one on the right didn't work. The grey paint I'd used just doesn't work with the blue.  I could paint it with ceramic paints to try to save it.  Wonder if that would work on the plant pokes too?

Either way, we had a great day and I went home daydreaming about finally owning a kiln one day!