Sunny September

After a lovely week walking in the South Downs 

in glorious sunny September weather, 

I came back to find that the Christmas puds 

were on the shelves in the supermarkets, 

which kind of shocked me into thinking about 

designs for Christmas decorations!

sketches for Santas and Angels

Trying to be original 

when designing Santas and Angels

is a bit like trying to re-invent the wheel,

but I did a few sketches and eventually

came up with some ideas, 

which I then transferred into clay.

Detailed patterning on Christmas Decs

As ever, they will be incredibly detailed

and super-faffy to glaze, but hopefully

that will make them a bit special when finished.

Sneek peek at finished samples

A couple of samples

have made it out of the kiln so far,

which I will learn from when making the full batch.

Hexie patchwork patterns 

Other pieces in the making 

are these tiny hexagon dishes, 

to replace those sold out of my Etsy shop,

and some messing around with Autumn themed pieces

- all bare trees and leaves.

Autumn leaves, bare trees - wet clay slab

And speaking of my Etsy shop,

I have now introduced overseas shipping,

which is improving my pathetic knowledge of Geography no end.

Every time I post a parcel, I look it up on a map.

I now know where Durham is - it's in North Carolina!

And I also know where Bradford is - it's in Rhode Island!

Which is where this little lot headed off to today.

Safe journey across the pond, little pots!

So that's me for this month.

Apologies for not getting round to visiting your blogs

- which I am looking forward to catching up on this weekend!

x Cathy

August - hot or what?

August was true summery weather

and much of it was spent outdoors,

rather than slaving over a hot kiln!

That said, the Summer Gift Fair went reasonably well, 

considering that we had an outside pitch 

and had to battle against torrential downpours 

and a poor turnout of people!

Here are the action highlights from August ....

star bowls, hexie bowls and nine-patch plates in the making...

Some things are continually in demand 

and I'm trying to never run out of stock for my Etsy shop.

more hen ornaments, plus lots of tiny decorative tiles

My new favourite thing

to make with left over scraps of clay

is tiny ceramic tiles.

fired once and glazed - ready to be fired a second time

Dreaming up the design

and how it's all going to fit together is quite satisfying.

finished tiled pot-stands or trivets.

Once completed, I fixed them to cork mats

and made some lovely pot-stands.

Some have sold, a few are still available

in my Etsy shop - link in side bar.

Seeing stars!

Some more star dishes came through, 

in all sorts of colour combos.  

Again, some have sold already, 

but there are a few in the shop.

lots of driftwood and ceramic signs for summer-living!

Really pleased with this one - now in my shop

Oh, and a lovely commission to make

 a wall-hanging starfish, 

which was great fun to do!

'Making a difference'

And now I'm off for another little holiday 

while the summer lasts!  

Have a happy September everyone!

x Cathy