Deep Deep Concentration. These are my kiddo's

Its half term, the children's break and mine too if they allow it. 

I always try to get them to unwind and just keep themselves busy for at least two "stay at home days" this invariably includes the usual distractions, garden, Lego, Xbox, reading, (baking, not me!) and with some encouragement something creative usually goes on, although as they get older they know what they want to do, so I try to just let them get on with it.

Ned is making tiny toadstools and acorns from a buff clay, he has decided he only likes the smooth stuff now and won't touch anything that has a coarse grog in it.
 He knows what he likes.
Just look at the concentration!
He makes lovely things but just won't go to it enough, I really have to temp him, then he just gets in the "zone" and he's there for an age, making away with his tiny fingers.

Noah's not so keen on the aftermath of using clay, partly because it means he's going to have to wash his hands at some point, less he does that the better for him, he thinks, grubby littlest one!
He uses fimo clay and spends most of the time warming it up in his hands.
 He is making germs, yes you read it right! germs, the microscopic ones that look quite beautiful under a microscope. There is a photo of them a few pics down.

He is making the lined underside of the mushroom with an old iTunes card.
Yep, hes been watching his mother!

One of Neds acorns.

His little germs are just below the box

Molly doing homework based on Hunterwasser. Line drawings using pencil 
then black liner over the top.

Molly's in the "zone"

She reminds me so much of myself when I was little, I always worked on the floor,
never  at a table, always under one,
and I always used my knees as a rest for whatever I was doing and still in my PJ's as she is.

Kiln Fresh

I am finished making Christmas things now. 

I scaled down a lot last Christmas and decided to just make a few christmas related items that I liked making and using as gifts and hanging on my own Christmas trees as I was beginning to feel like a christmas making factory, and a conveyor belt of things I got fed up with making came spilling out of my workshop, not to mention how much space they were all taking up.

 So scaling down has been definitely a good decision to make and well, I cope with Christmas orders better and just like it a whole lot more again.

This is what I have been making this year.

White clay stars
Folksy Shop

White clay bird tags
Folksy and Not on the high street

Blue print block ceramic tiles
Not on the high street

Terracotta Christmas trees
Not on the high street

Scandinavian Dala Horses
Not on the high street

Folksy



And this is it!!!

Refining Tutorial. Porcelain Heart wedding favours

I have recently made 50 porcelain hearts that have been impressed with vintage lace for a lady who commissioned me to make them for wedding favours.
Here is the guide to the way I made them from the cutting out stage.

First of all I cut out the hearts with a cookie cutter and impressed half of them with lace over the whole of the heart.
 Then I impressed the other half with a thicker cotton lace over just half of the hearts, leaving one side smooth.

When the hearts are at leather dry stage as they are here in the photo above I begin to refine them. I remove all the rough edges and the burrs so I have a smooth heart.
(Leather hard stage means when the clay is firm but not too wet to work with and not so dry you cannot do anything with it and is more likely to break.) 

I also work on the reverse side so that they are smooth all around. 
I use the flat side of a knife to do this and I work all the way around taking off the side of the heart.

The next stage is probably the most time consuming which is smoothing all the hearts. I use a sponge and go along all the edges and then wipe over the front just gently. I also sponge the hanging hole so this is smooth as I don't want to damage the ribbon that I thread through with rough edges.

Here are two of the hearts ready.

After they have all been smoothed I am left with these clay filings, which I recycle as porcelain is so expensive and I don't like to throw any away unnecessarily. It just gets put back in a bag and I do a big recycle when the bag is full at another time.

I leave all the hearts stacked on top of each other to dry out in my workshop.

When they are all dry I check them all for warping, if they are good they go in the kiln, if not they go in the recycling bag as if they warp before firing they will warp more during the firing.

After firing I add the ribbons and they look like this.
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Find them in my shop here.