Resurrection

I may....possibly....resurrect this blog! It has been a long while, and a lot has happened (new house, and new baby to name two very important episodes in my recent life)

A little taster of some recent work....I'm working a lot with unglazed porcelain at the moment.

Lampwork beads made by www.pinocean.etsy.com

Time flies!

Well, I'm still busy! :)

I have a few custom orders on at the moment, and another craft fair on the 1st March, so I'm frantically making again! Dennis is off from nursery, so that cuts down my hours slightly during the week, but never mind, it's nice to have a chance to meet up with other people who usually can't due to school and their nursery classes, which all seem to clash.

I had a lovely surprise through the post the other day....I haven't had much time to spend on Deviant Art of late, but last year the Royal Mail issued two sets of Harry Potter themed stamps to coincide with the release of the final book in the series. I knew there were a couple of people on DA, not in the UK, who would love the stamps, so I sent them off.... I had a lovely New Year's card from the girl in Turkey, Noases, and then last week I received a beautiful pendant with a handmade PMC seaurchin bead from Ellygator, along with a notecard with a print of one of her Harry Potter themed drawings :D

Such lovely surprises! You should check them both out on DeviantArt....Noases is another ceramic artist, and Elly is a fantastic illustrator and jewellery designer/maker.

Making the best of a bad situation

The police rang today to say that someone had broken into my car....it was sat outside the garage and the police saw a young lad in there rifling around, although didn't see him smash the window, so had nothing on him unfortunately! :P

Nothing was stolen though....it was a hassle getting the window sorted out, but I do have a lovely pile of auto glass to use in my ceramics now, and the car was vacuumed for the first time in three years, so it isn't all bad! lol

I'm buy at the moment making custom orders and supplies for my new shop...I also have a craft fair on the second of February....so a few heart shaped pendants! ;)

I have been organised this year and bought Adam's Valentine's card already from zozocards on Etsy. It's really cute!

New Year, New Shop!

Well, it has been a little while since I updated this blog! :P

I guess maybe a brief synopsis is in order :)

Swaps! I took part in two ceramic swaps at the end of last year....one was a mug swap (yes, I made a mug! Of sorts!) I received a fantastic mug from Montezuma Mudd, mostly it's used for tea, but it really should be used for thick homemade soup as it's a lovely chunky cozy mug :)

Also I took part in the BOC Black and White Bead Swap and I received the most fantastic box of treasure in the post! I used some of the beads to make necklaces for friends and family for Christmas :)

Christmas sales :) I was overwhelmed by my Christmas sales on Etsy....I was really chuffed with the amount of pieces I sold and was really feeling pretty pleased with myself :D

Interview. I was interviewed for Pepperina Press' blog, Indie/Pretty/Perfect which was a real honour!

Moo Blog. I was also featured on the Moo Blog with pictures of my Moo cards :)

Electricity monsters. Ok, so they're actually monitors, but I think my mis-hearing is more fun! Adam, my husband is monitoring our electricity usage to see where we can save both money and general wastage.....the first day he started this I had a kiln disaster! :P

Kiln Disaster! Eep! A kiln as full as it gets, with custom orders and everything! It never reached it's final temperature, so held it at just under top temperature for about eight hours or so! I was expecting a kiln full of black bubbled pieces, or at the very least, them all to be fused to the kiln shelves, but actually I got away with it very lightly! The colours of the glass were a bit washed out, and the glazes were shiny and dark, but the main thing was the bead rack, which warped and all of the beads fused together....all except one, which had a crucifix on it! Spooky eh? :)

Finally....I have a new supplies shop on Etsy, seaurchinSupplies. There isn't much in there yet, but eventually I am hoping to supply handmade ceramic beads, pendants, cabochons, mosaic tiles and doll/puppet components, all made by myself....guess I'd better go and do some work!

Christmas!

I haven't added a new post for ages...it's been a bit of a whirlwind, what with decorating, Etsy...a Craft Fair (yes, I finally got round to doing one!) and Christmas!

So just a quick entry today....

Look out for some new stuff in my Etsy shop over the next few days as I did a Craft Fair on Saturday and have quite a few pieces made especially for that that I now need to photograph and list. I have a lot of wallpaper pendants, made using the Anaglypta wallpaper that I stripped from the office. I've also been making simple pendants and brooches.

Another thing that has been taking a bit of my time are the UK Etsy Sellers Christmas Gift Bags....UK sellers donated gifts, cards and decorations that they made and Nicola (Pouch) and I split them into sets that are now on sale in the UKStreetTeam. All profits from the bags will go to promoting the UK Team and it's members. Check them out.....there are some fantastic pieces in them....and you could solve a few Christmas Gifts in one fell swoop! :)

Anyway, off to pack my orders!

Anticipation

Well...I got onto Trunkt :D They didn't want my jewellery, but I got in with my sculptures! Yay!

Obviously I have yet to find out if it will make any difference to my sales! In some ways I'm really glad that my sculptures have more exposure. I do want to concentrate more on the sculptures, obviously jewellery is easier to sell, and hence I've been making more of that. I really must make the effort to use the information I've gathered during my jewellery experiments in my sculptures :)

Talking of which...It's nearly time to open the kiln :D It's my biggest glaze load yet...I would even go so far as to say that my kiln was full!

I usually load the kiln at night, after I've been working for the evening. My kiln is in the garage, and it does feel a little funny going out onto the road late at night with no one around. Last night as I got to the kiln a drunk man stumbled over and lent against the wall....he was ignoring me, but I was still looking round the garage for things to use in self defense if necessary! After about five minutes of fumbling around with his phone and muttering to himself...with a brief burst of "Jingle Bells", he exclaimed "Fuck! You early gave me a heart attack!" I didn't comment that I was feeling a little nervous myself, but anyway... He did apologise for swearing...he must have been pretty drunk to have not noticed that he was next to an open garage with the light on :P

About half an hour now 'til I open the kiln ! :D

Nope...

No...didn't get in :( Buggers!

I have a new application with my ceramic sculpture in at the moment...I'll see what happens when they come back to me with that one....

On a more positive note, I'm loading the kiln tonight. Just bisque ware, but at least that means I'm on my way to glazing! :D