My Sugar Jar

I love ceramics.  I'd love to do more work with clay.  It's just that my skin doesn't agree, and my naturally cold hands get even colder when working the clay, little twinges in the knuckles reminding me how osteo-arthritis runs in my family.  So I think I will stick with the limited amount of clay work I do to create moulds for my glass, and leave the real stuff to other people.

I was fascinated to read this post by potter Jude Allman about the process of making lids for her storage jars.  They are all so neat!  I loved the little jars she was making and decided to ask her to make one for me, but without the spoon hole.  I will use the jar to store sugar and I want to keep the moist kitchen air out as much as possible; too often I have ended up with a solid bowl shaped sugar lump.

My jar arrived this week and I'm thrilled with it, the neat shape, the subtle glaze, just lovely. Thank you Jude!

You can find Jude's work on Folksy and on Etsy and get a fascinating insight into her processes on her blog.

Sunday (Window) Shopping on Etsy

A little bit of window shopping - this treasury is made up of some of my current favourites on Etsy.

creatocrat $20.00	Weaselfactory $12.50	hodgepodgearts $9.00	AmandaSainsbur... $38.00
AmyandPia $20.00	PaulaArt $21.00	restlessgenera... $34.00	KnitFrekkles $75.00
thestrandline $25.00	TheFeminineTou... $73.00	erintrees $1600.00	ClareBears $16.00
elementclaystu... $450.00	TickTocklers $30.00	bialakura $15.00	MegFred5 $15.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Busy busy busy

I am very conscious that I have been neglecting my blog of late... my excuse is that I have been gadding around all over the place. First we went off to see my Mum at the seaside and of course I managed to fit in a bit of beachcombing...

As usual Mum was in the midst of a clear out - I have no idea why she was the owner of a polystyrene display head but I was quite pleased to take it off her hands!  Meet Florence - as you can see I have already started to give her a makeover...

Then back home to mountains of washing...  On Friday I managed to sneak off to Rugby for the day to visit the CULTEX exhibition.  This inspiring exhibition was the result of a collaboration between 3 Japanese and 3 Norwegian textile artists.  Sadly it has closed now and is off to Norway but the CULTEX website is well worth a look.  I can't show you any pictures from the exhibition but I did take a nice one of Rugby school - Rugby itself is very pretty, I have only ever been to the station before which doesn't give the best impression...

I had a little time to spend browsing the shops in Rugby town centre before my train home and couldn't resist this find in the fair trade shop...

I'm sure it's going to be very useful for something!

And in between all of this gadding about I have been working on  a couple of lovely wedding flower orders, including some flowers in lovely new shades of blue - the new colours will be arriving in my shop shortly!

Shopping - just for me!

I first discovered Etsy and the whole business of buying (and selling) handmade online nearly 3 years ago now. Since then, I have done a fair amount of buying as well as selling and I though you might like to check out some of my favourite shops.

The first seller I am going to show you is RoseLullabyDolls.  I first came across her on Etsy but she has a shop on Folksy too.  Her shops are full of her handmade puppets, each with their own individual personality.  I fell in love with Alice - isn't she lovely?

I have a confession - I bought her as a gift for a friend but in the end I couldn't bear to part with her...

A shop where I could quite happily buy everything is HodgePodgeArts on Etsy.  If you belong to any sort of art or textile group there is almost always a moment when work is being shown and you think 'I wish I had made that' - I feel like that about this whole shop!  At Christmas I treated myself to set of ceramic hearts - I love them!

And last but not least is Beau Papier, a fabulous UK based vintage shop on Etsy.  I am not always a big fan of vintage (it's my age - what's vintage now is the stuff I didn't want when I was younger!) but I couldn't resist these buttons, complete with their own box (and I'm not old enough to remember when these were in everyday use!)

Look, there are even some teeny tiny dorset buttons - brilliant!

Of course, there are loads more great shops I haven't featured - if I have bought something from you but you're not here, don't worry, I have loved every single one of my purchases!