Yarndale Mug

After making this mug for when I'm at ceramics and enjoying it so much; I thought I'd make another for when I'm at A Good Yarn. We all had a lovely trip to Yarndale, so I've used the wonderful sheep logo as my inspiration.

There's a sheep on both sides. The biggest challenge was to try and match the colours because they are different before they are fired, compared to the finished result. Not exact but I'm very happy with it.

Of course, I have how I like my coffee on the mug. Here it is, just in case you want to make me a coffee!

A little "funny" that I made this week, my version of a heavily sealed envelope.

Zentangling ceramics

I promised to show you my finished teaspoon stand from when we went mug painting. It was awhile ago but it had to be refired and then I started a mug with a similar design so thought I'd show you them together.

Here's before firing: 

And after. The colours become really vivid.

I'm not as pleased with the mug, the shading wasn't dark enough so it doesn't have that 3D effect. If I do it again it will definitely have 3 coats of the grey.

The mug is a Christmas present for a friend and the handle says "Hot and Dark", which is what he calls bad coffee.

My Mug

I have my finished mug from Mug Painting evening. The tea bag stand is being re-fired, so I'll show you that another time.

Before firing

After firing, the colours really change. They look dull and chalky but the glaze becomes vibrant once fired.

I added how I like my coffee on the handle too.

A short blog, this week, but I've been preparing for blog week. So hopefully you'll get 7 days of blogs from me that week. For more information, click here.

Mug Painting

Last night, a group of us from knitting went to the Paintbox Ceramic Cafe, Cleethorpes for mug painting. It was great fun and they all made some fantastic mugs. None of them are glazed yet, we'll get to pick them up next week. 

I thought Charlotte's frog was brilliant!

I normally go every week, so I just carried on what I'd been working on. Though it did happen to be a mug. Here's mine -

I also did a little teaspoon stand, as well, which will be a present for Mr; done using my current zentangle obsession.

I'll let you see them once they're fired, as the colours really brighten.

Here's most of mugs by the end of the night.

Julie and Stacey made the night great. Here's a few of the pieces in the shop, that Julie's painted, with some gorgeous tulips.

It's was a fun night and hopefully everyone enjoyed it.

Handmade Christmas: The Tree

I thought I'd share my Christmas tree with you!

I've made a few decorations for the tree.

This flat ceramic bauble is double-sided and from the photo above you can see the Christmas tree on the other side.

A ceramic glazed santa

Hardanger embroidered decoration and it's filled with cloves so it smells very Christmassy

Secret Garden folded fabric blocks with lucet cord and beaded tassels

And, it's not just me. These are Mr's contributions, a wood turned bauble and a star for the top of the tree which is made from white leather (a strange material for a star but it looks nice)

These are a few tree decorations that friends have made for me over the years.

Going through them all, I've realised there is not one knitted decoration. That will be something I'll have to remedy for next year!

Delft Inspired

This is my most recent piece from the ceramics studio and I'm decidedly smug about it. It's to replace a Commemorative Birth plate that was broken. The original was a transfer with the details painted in and I'm very happy I've been able to paint fine enough to replicate it. I thoroughly enjoyed painting this one and think it's one of the nicer pieces I've made.

Monochrome

My latest project from the ceramics studio. I'm using the tiles to experiment with the pattern before I use it large scale on other things. The bottom one has more contrast in colour: the border is a lot darker and the inside lighter. Even though the tiles were meant to be a practice piece I really like them. Wondering on ideas of what to use them for?

Latest FO: Little Child's Sock by Nancy Bush. Yarn used is The Uncommon Thread Super Sock in Brassica; and I am a little in love with this yarn. Works wonderfully with the textured pattern

Mince Pies

Already for that mince pie making marathon on Christmas Eve. A quick little plate I did at my local Ceramics studio this week.

Ceramics

Going to veer away from knitting for this one. For the last few years I've been going to a ceramics class every Tuesday morning with my mum-in-law at Brushstrokes ceramics at Waltham Windmill near Grimsby.

Thought I'd share with you a few of the projects that turned out well.

First is the Christmas present that I made for Jim; he has a huge shed out in the garden which he near enough lives in, (which presumably most men do!). So I thought I'd make him a name plaque for it. It was a lot of fun because normally we just stain or glaze the pots but I made it all mushrooms and leaves etc from clay myself. The glazing turned out well too (it can be a little temperamental; you don't often know what it will look like until after it has come out of the kiln).

I've also been doing a few plates with my own artwork on the first was an Islamic inspired plate that is glazed:

Since I was 18 I have also been to a local botanical watercolour painting class (slipped a bit recently - oh well) though I still do a bit at home. So I thought I'd paint a plate covered in clematis; found it a bit odd using acrylics instead of the usual watercolours but I think it turned out well:

I have quite a few clematis in the garden; it's such a beautiful versatile plant, this is photo of one my sister-in-law bought which is flowering this week.