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

Trunkt

Hummm....so I've just applied to trunkt.....

Trunkt is a showcase for art and crafts and is linked to your items for sale, in my case on Etsy. I have heard it is difficult to be accepted onto, especially in the jewellery section, so I won't be (too) disappointed if I don't get in....first time anyway! lol

I will try again with the ceramic sculptures if I don't succeed with the jewellery section as I think it could be good exposure for my shop:)

Meeting up :)

Well...I'm still going with the decorating, so I still don't have time to do much making :P

I am however meeting up with another Etsyan tomorrow. Nicola, Pouch on Etsy, and I are collecting items together to make Christmas Gift bags for the UK Etsy Shop. I find it quite mad that I can actually meet up quite easily with someone else who sells on Etsy :)

I have a few new pendants that I'm listing on Etsy at the moment, but most of my new ones are still at the greenware stage. It's taking me so long to make a kiln load...I've also got a few custom orders I need to get on with!

Finding the time

Ceramics time has been cut quite significantly recently :( We're trying to get the house decorated, which it is sorely in need of :P

I have finally managed the second batch of black and white beads for the BOC bead swap, so I'll get them photoed and bagged up and sent off on Monday...if they don't get caught up in the backlog of the postal strike I may even get them in on time! :D

I have also just completed a porcelain coral crater bowl that I will be offering as a prize in the Deviant Art Artisan Crafts Competition....this one is on the theme of Greek and Roman. I have an idea about what I would like to make for this....I'd like to make something based on the King Midas Myth.

I've also entered the Etsy Halloween costume contest (the renegade one, as I am not in the US it is against the law for me to win any prizes! lol) Oh well...the fangs were fun to make! :D

Hallow'een

I have an idea for the Etsy Hallow'een costume contest....I won't be able to sell any though as it will be too late with these blooming postal strikes to send them off anywhere....maybe someone might like them for Christmas fancy dress parties or something?

I'll post a photo when I've finished....I reckon if they work, they'll be really fun :D

I have also entered my spider pendant for the Etsy UK Hallow'een challenge :)

Decorators :P

I'm not getting much done craft wise at the moment as we have a decorator in at the moment....obviously decorating itself is not that disruptive, but we have so much junk it's hard to move it all round...and of course we are trying to throw stuff away or put it aside for charity shops.

I did however open the kiln today with my lustre firing :D

I fired at a slightly lower temperature this time, as last time I left the bung in from the start (I always fire at night and just leave the kiln to get on with it) and the glass beads melted into the pools of glass underneath....it made little bulls eye's in the glass, pretty, but not what I wanted.
This time it was too low a temperature as some of the beads hardly melted at all and were easy to pick off....I'll fire them again later.

Even with a few that need firing again, it was a pretty good haul :) There were a few pendants in there from other UK Etsysellers that were created on the retreat in August. Still more to finish though !

Also out were half of the beads that I need for the BOC bead swap on the theme of black and white. I've made little pendants/charms in porcelain with craters filled with clear glass , silver lustre and black glass pearls in the centres :) Hopefully I will get on and make the rest soon...time is running out! Damn decorators!

Tagged!

Thanks to Kelly at The Domino Effect I have to tell all ten of you, or however many are reading this blog, seven facts about me :)

1. I have been with my husband since I was 17, and he was 23...we got married three years ago with three weeks notice when I was seven months pregnant.

2. I've always loved nature...on holiday when I was 14 in Corfu my parents nick named me Gerry (Gerald Durrell) as I was always out looking for mantids and tree frogs.

3. I am a Lost addict!

4. I am vegetarian, but I do wear leather and cook meat for my son and husband.

5. I wear contact lenses...without them I can't see the eye chart at the optitions at all!

6. If I'm reincarnated I want to come back as a cat!

7. I am a Jedi....it's official ;)

I'm not going to link to anyone else, as I've just started and I'm assuming that everyone else I know that's currently blogging has been tagged already!

Now back to business....

The EtsyMud Team just hosted a Teapot Challenge....I didn't really have much time, so I entered a teapot pendant and not an actual teapot. One day I do hope to rise to the challenge of building a teapot...when I have some time lol!

Obviously I did not win....the winner was in fact Ginny, Ginpins with an absolutely fantastic tromp l'oil (no idea how to spell that!) mug of cocoa with a spoon spout and marshmallow lid! Sheer genius!

The Craft Fair Debate

I'm not sure whether to sign myself up for any of the posh craft fairs....I went to the British Crafts Fair today at the Paintworks in Bristol, mainly just to check it out. There certainly was some beautiful work and everyone's stalls looked so professional. I wanted to ask how it was going, but I thought it might be a bit rude!

Stalls are £220 for the smallest (to be honest I wouldn't need anything larger!) There was certainly a good stream of people walking through....I also noticed plenty of people walking out with their shopping bags full! I guess it's one of those don't know 'til you try it type things. The next one in Bristol by the same organisation is same time next year...I guess that gives me plenty of time to think about it :D

I would definately need to buy some professional looking display boards and maybe some small stands too. Of course there was a lot of jewellery there, but also a lot of ceramics...someone even making ceramic seaurchins! Well, there's no such thing as an original idea!

Right! My goal is to reach 100 items for sale on Etsy, and then try to keep around that number in my shop....then any surplus items I make will be set aside for those times that I am unable to keep up the pace.....*or* dah dah dah! Set aside as stock for craft fairs. I also want to make some more sculptures, using the information from my pendant experiments over the summer and incorperating the melted and fused glass, and also the lustres into the vessels.....

Hummm...watch this space! ;)

Just starting :)

Hello there,

Here is my first blog post ever, please bear with me as I'm a bit of a technophobe (who is married to a technophile!)

I am a ceramic artist, making experimental small pieces, currently a lot of jewellery...I'll get some photos up, it's easier than explaining!

I have a three year old son and I am currently working from home with a shop on Etsy seaurchin.etsy.com Before that I was one of the senior sculptors at Aardman Animations working on "Chicken Run", "Wallace and Gromit-The Curse of the Wererabbit" ,"Creature Comforts-USA", "Angry Kid" and plenty of others.

I took the opportunity to learn ceramics while I was still working and have been hooked since. It took me a while to find my own style, but I feel I have reached it now and I will continue to experiment and develop further. I am currently learning to throw...so we'll see how it pans out and whether I can work with the thrown pots to make them my own ;)

You can also find me on Deviant Art http://c-urchin.deviantart.com/ and also flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/7255679@N04/