Garter Pot

Here is a simple, lace textured slab built pot decorated with my own screen printed ceramic decals of my grandmother’s handwriting and finished off with a bright gold lustre. I have made the pot to commemorate my grandparents’ 65^th wedding anniversary, commonly known as a ‘sky blue anniversary’. A bit of a rarity I am certain!

It plays on the bridal tradition of something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. In this case the old is the garter lace, the new is the pot, the borrowed is the handwriting and the blue is the glaze itself (and one of my grandmother’s favourite colours).

I chose the garter lace to imprint into the surface of the clay as it is symbolic of weddings and my grandmother used to demonstrate the making of lace at Nottingham Lace Market several years ago. Her handwriting is not meant to be read but to be appreciated for its beautiful flowing forms. I have cut up and rearranged the text on the outside of the pot so it takes on a wholly decorative purpose. 

Let’s hope they like it. Although, I suspect my grandmother will be much more excited by their congratulatory card from the Queen!

Upcycled Bottle Top Necklaces

Recently, I have been having lots of fun making and developing new items of ceramic jewellery. As a lover of fine ales, I have long thought that the humble bottle top is a rather beautiful item and reminds me of a pendant setting. 

Developing a new product range

As I have been collecting them for a while (much to my family's amusement!), I decided it was time to use them. Playing around with off cuts of clay and coloured slip resulted in small circular discs which fit neatly inside the bottle tops. Once bisque fired, I glazed the discs and then fired them for a third time with a ceramic decal. After a bit of fiddly and frustrating drilling (the drill bit kept slipping off the curved surface of the metal. Grrr!) and the addition of an ‘O’ ring, I found that I had created a rather lovely upcycled bottle top and ceramic pendant necklace. They’re still at the prototype stage but I hope to stock them in my online shops from January 2014.





Curious Clare’s Studio

I have decided to write a post on my studio today as it has been featured by the lovely Katy Cowan on Creative Boom this week. If you’ve read some of my previous blog posts you will know that my studio can be found at Local Creation in Altrincham.

I fit in studio visits around being an Art teacher and Community Co-ordinator (and writing this blog!). The studio has to given me space to focus upon my own work. I have spent time decorating it as I wanted to create a haven that I would want to take myself off to.





Alice Melvin's Cut Out and Make Menagerie can be found here
 

 

I aim to use the studio two days a week. One evening a week, I meet up with friends for an informal art club where we chat and ‘art’ (although this involves much more chatting & chocolate eating than doing!).

 

As was mentioned on Creative Boom my own art work is quite varied as I love trying out new things and like to use materials to suit my ideas. I work with Ceramics, Textiles and digital media such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

Since acquiring the studio I’ve designed flyer a for Vintage Afternoon Teas , designed a postcard for French Knots Craft Studio and I am about to create their new logo.  I am currently making laser cut Perspex trophies for The Joshua Tree’s Fun Run and I have been approached by a magazine to produce some illustrations for them (fingers crossed).

My Upcycled Jam Jar Tutorial can be found here

I am also working on a new personal project called ‘Paper Conversations’ that is a mix of illustrations and three-dimensional objects. Last but not least, I’m playing around with a series of quirky badges that I hope to start selling soon.

 

Feathered Friends: Eden Project's Rainforest Robin

It is no secret that I love birds and in particular robins. I like hearing their bird song early in the morning on the way to work and unexpected encounters with them whilst out and about. They lift my spirits on the dreariest of days. Initially, I hesitated to include birds in my work as there are lots of artists who use their imagery. However, I think that you have to be true to what inspires you and initial sketches can lead to all sorts of different outcomes as you can see here.

Meet the Eden Project’s Rainforest Biome Robin.

I first came across this friendly little robin in late August 2011 in one of the hottest parts of the Rainforest Biome on a beautiful sunny day (remember those?). I was really surprised to see him hopping around in there as we all associate robins with cold winter days. Maybe this one had come to its senses and realised that the sunny, hot climes were much more appealing? When I visited a year later he was still there and must have found that the biome suited him very nicely!

The images above represent how much this one robin inspired my work and has formed an important part of my Curious Clare image (see above banner!). The painted robin study in my sketchbook has led to digital illustration, relief ceramic tiles and laser cut details on my wedding stationery and bunting. It also highlights the importance I place on drawing when embarking upon new projects!