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!

A Doll and a Daughter

Meet Rosie...

She’s three months old now and discovering new things that she can do each day. I can safely say that Rosie and her big brother are my two best ever creations, even if my body did go through the mill whilst I was pregnant.

We have been showered with many gorgeous gifts and good wishes. We feel so lucky to have such generous friends and family. One of my favourite gifts for Rosie has to be her ‘Curious Clare’ (mummy!) doll commissioned by Jo Cushing from talented local maker, Sally Leigh. Sally is the owner of Folksy shop, Betsy Boo and Gracie Too, where she sells her ‘unique cuddlers for the unique dreamer’.

The doll is beautifully made and perfectly captures Curious Clare’s style, from the tiny bird in her denim jacket to the brightly patterned Desigual skirt. I just love it and I am sure that Rosie will too when she’s old enough to play with her. 

I’m just hoping that Rosie doesn’t stick pins in the doll when she’s a teenager and we’ve had a heated disagreement. Ouch!

And here's the first 'Curious Clare' doll knitted for me by my lovely grandma when I was a little girl. Oh what fun we're going to have playing with these two dollies!

Curious Clare's Handmade Wedding - Part Two

So far this year, Hyperemesis Gravidarum and anaemia have brought normal blogging service grinding to a halt. However, I am feeling slightly more human these days and to celebrate here is a post on our wedding as featured in Handmade Wedding magazine (pages 86-91). The article is written really well and sums up the spirit of our wedding beautifully.

In short, our wedding was a colourful, handmade family affair from the wedding dress and cake to the laser cut invitations, paper pompoms and laser cut birdy bunting. We hired a heritage red London double decker bus to transport the guests (and ourselves) to and from the venue to create an informal, relaxed atmosphere before the ceremony started. The theme was birds and buses - buses to fit in with the transport and birds to reflect my passion for them. I designed, laser cut and hand foiled invitations shaped like buses with a robin riding on the top deck. My son was given the role of bus conductor, collecting the individual tickets that I had made for everyone. The colour theme was hot pink and turquoise, a real feast for the eyes on a rainy day in south Manchester!

My family's creativity ran throughout the wedding - my mum made my tea length baby blue wedding dress out of duchesse satin and lace, we based it on an elegant 1950's Vogue pattern, my grandma made the sugar paste flowers to sit on top of my sister's cupcakes, an old family friend made the bridesmaids dresses and I even trained up my husband (and son) in the art of origami so that he could help make 180 paper flowers for the tables. It had the look of an old fashioned but vibrant English summer fete by the time we had finished complete with hog roast and local English ales.

Tips for other brides-to-be looking to add handmade details to their big day.

Handmade elements really personalised the wedding and ensured that we could have exactly what we wanted. I would thoroughly recommend adding your own touches to the day.

Do gather lots of ideas together from wedding magazines and online sources such as Pinterest (elements of our wedding can be seen here)

Do keep a tight control on the budget, handmade is not necessarily a cheap option

Do involve family members with making details for the wedding. My husband was brilliant at making the origami flowers!

Don’t be afraid to ask family and friends to help out otherwise you will become overwhelmed with the prospect of decorating a whole venue yourself!

Don’t forget to have fun! As the wedding day approaches enjoy the making and planning.

Photographs were taken by the talented Kelly Clarke of Imagesplash.

Ted & the no.17 bus

Meet Ted, he is the driver of the no. 17 bus. He's a quiet yet friendly chap. He dreams of retiring and working on his allotment all day. He reads seed catalogues in his break and makes plans for entering his peas into the regional vegetable competition.

Size - 20cm height, width 15cm, depth 11cm

Ted is a papier mâché bird character. His clothes and accessories are made from found materials such as vintage silk handkerchiefs, scraps of tweed, leather, old buttons & even an abandoned sock. Can you work out what his beak and claws are made from?* 

Ted's leather bag contains miniature vintage style seed packets

The surface of his head and hands is decorated with extracts of a letter sent to me by my grandad that I have then printed onto tissue paper. I chose to do this as ‘Ted’ is loosely based on my grandad in terms of his dress sense and keen gardening interests. I have mentioned in a previous post that he has written to me every week since I went to university and I have decided to begin to capture our personal history in my art work. 

Grandad tends to his garden almost every day

*If you haven’t guessed yet, Ted’s beak and claws are made from acrylic nails that I have cut and shaped!

Ted's cap is made from scraps of tweed and linen. I loved making it!

Washi tape came in very handy when making the paper pattern for his shirt 

 

Here's 'Ted' in his posh greenhouse Unit Twelve. He's being very well looked after in the Contemporary Craft Open. If you'd like to meet Ted, the exhibition runs from 5th Dec 2013 to 1st March 2014. It is well worth a visit as it showcases the best in contemporary craft, both amateur and professional. Work has been selected by Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fairs, Yellowstone Art Boutique and Print Garage.

Curious Clare's Handmade Wedding - Part One

Bird bunting can be ordered here

Our wedding reception at a local village hall was the perfect venue for this handmade vertical bird bunting. It added a splash of colour to an otherwise tall and dark ceiling. The bunting decorations hung beautifully with tissue paper pompoms and lanterns. 

The bird motif used in the laser cutting is taken from the robin on my Curious Clare logo (see above!). 

I had great fun making this bunting and it looked so pretty hanging above the trestle tables at our wedding reception.