2010 May | Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics

Molly’s outdoor antics

It will be Molly’s 1st birthday in a couple of weeks, how time flies! She loves being out in the garden now, although she’s still a bit of a wimp and jumps at every single noise and still sometimes comes bolting through the cat flap if she gets scared. Just recently she especially likes jumping up onto the garden wall, and then leaping over onto the roof of my workshop where she is high up and can get a better view of the birds…

peeka boo!

I’ve never known a cat to be so fussy. Molly goes off her food if she has the same thing all the time (like me actually), so I have to rotate her food. That’s fine but in every box of cat food I buy theres always one flavour she doesn’t like!

I’m wondering what to treat her to for her birthday. She would probably love one of those high climbing things for cats since she loves being king of the castle on top of the statue in the garden

Ceramic Clocks

I’m pleased to show you these new clocks as I haven’t made any for a while. I enjoy displaying them at craft fairs, they usually sit on the top shelf of my stall, leaning against their own individual display stands, attracting a lot of eyes.

Decorative Rustic Clock

I currently have clocks available in either circle or square shapes, and at the moment I’m working on some heart shaped clocks.

Rusty Red Border Clock

Each clock is completely handmade and hand decorated, and shows elements of my inspiration from the natural world.

Green Bark Clock

Bark Glimmer Clock

Each clock comes complete with a clock mechanism including a set of 1 x black hour hand, 1 x black minute hand, and 1 x black second hand, finished with gold detail in the middle. All hands are attached to the block on the back which holds 1 x AA battery (battery included). The top of the mechanism on the back of each clock has a hook ready for it to be hung up.

Bark & Crater Clock

Seashore Clock

There are more clocks available in my online shop. Thank you for looking, I’d love to hear your comments

Stone baked Pizza & Gallery Display

Do you remember the cast iron burner (scroll down on that link) that my Dad got last summer? Look at it now! It was originally pure black but it has been out all through winter and weathered with a rustic effect. I think it looks better like this, it gives it more characteristic.

Last week we sat out in the garden at my Dad’s and made homemade pizza’s. Yep, you guessed it – then we cooked them in the cast iron burner. (The section with the sunshine pattern on it is a flap that pulls down with a shelf inside).

We tried this last summer for the first time but we put the pizza’s on too early while the fire was still smoking. The pizza’s turned out tasting a bit like charcoal. But this year my Dad used coal instead of wood and the pizza’s cooked perfectly.

We used these hand-thrown terracotta dishes that are heat proof. The pizza still had that rustic tasting edge to it but thats what cooking in this burner is all about. Some nights we toast marshmallows on it too

Remember the new stock I took to the Hayrack Gallery before I went on holiday? Those pieces were added to my existing collection and a few pieces were swapped around. This will keep my display fresh for the customers, and it’s good for them to see new pieces I’ve been working on. My display in the gallery is looking quite big now.

~ News ~

And guess what?

I’ve had a shop in Devon contact me and they are interested in stocking a selection of my ceramics. This was great news and made up for the bad craft fair last weekend! I’ll be keeping you up to date with the progress.

Disaster Fair

What a disappointing weekend!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and the country show I was at in Althorp, Northampton attracted plenty of people over the 2 days. But the customers didn’t seem to be spending much, they just wanted to look. All the other stall holders said the same, and I don’t think any of us made the huge profit that we were hoping for in such nice weather! I made some good sales that I was pleased about, but didn’t quite cover my costs at the end of it all.

The show was in the grounds of Althorp House, where Princess Diana is buried. It’s an extremely impressive place, we might go back there in July to visit the house when it opens to the public.

I had a good spot in one of the marquees, with my usual ‘L’ shape displayed next to the entrance.

I’m still staying positive, and hope things pick up at my next show. The trouble with doing most fairs is that they are all risks – you never quite know how they will turn out. I’m looking forward to a craft fair I’ll be doing on 26th & 27th June in the walled garden of Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire. It will be three huge marquees full of handmade crafts only, so the members of the public who visit this event will be expecting to see handmade products, and will know that is what they are going for!

Hang some love up in your home

I’m back from my show over the weekend, it was absolutely boiling! Stay tuned for details about my weekend tomorrow, and in the meantime…

Everyone should have some love sprinkled around the place…

Whether it be a wedding gift, a treat for someone special, or a decorative feature to hang up in your home, garden or conservatory – these plaques make perfect summer buys at very reasonable prices.

My handmade ceramic wall plaques/signs are all available at my online shop, plus many more. Feel free to have a browse.

The photograph of my heart plaque below was kindly taken by Blonde Design in her home, one of the winners of my last giveaway. I love the composition of the photo.

Folksy Friday – Travel

I’m thinking about travel this week – From flying in an aeroplane on my recent holiday, to packing my car and driving to my craft fair this weekend, and my order for the ceramic pendants travelling in the post to their new home.

I decided to host my first ever Folksy Friday and the theme is Travel. Enjoy!

1. Map Badges by Hats Outrageous

2. Butterfly Map Art by TerrorDome

3. Vintage Resin Map Bangle by Pennydog Jewellery

4. Vintage Map Brooch by BuriBoo

5. Travel Book Hearts by Asking for Trouble

6. Frame Purse by Yunisacs

Order for Pendants

When I got back from my holiday I had lots of e-mails waiting for me. One of them was from someone asking if I could make a selection of ceramic pendants that they could use for their jewellery. The lady wanted a range of butterflies, hearts and tear drop shapes. She also specified which pendants needed to be textured, which ones she wanted plain and which colours to decorate them in. Having never tried this before, it was an exciting challenge and I enjoyed trying something new. Just over a week later and here they are…

I melted a few bits of glass on some of them, I think this has turned out well. I can just imagine them on necklaces!

Each pendant has been individually wrapped and packaged, and will be posted out to the customer tomorrow. I really hope she likes them. She has kindly said she will send me some photos of her jewellery when she has used my pendants, I can’t wait to see! I’ll show you when I get them.

What do you think? Should I make more?

Oh… and here’s Molly watching me photograph the pendants in the garden. (That’s when she wasn’t walking all over everything and getting in the way!)

New Bowls

Here are a selection of some new bowls, I hope you like them! I’ll show you some more next week. Most of these bowls, plus many more, are available to purchase at my online shop.

If you are really keen to buy a specific item, please be sure to do so before Friday, as my online shop will be set to holiday mode this weekend, and I am unable to guarantee that any specific pieces will still be available from Monday. (I would love to say that not many pieces will still be available from Monday, because I will make loads of sales this weekend – here’s hoping!) I will be exhibiting a large selection of my work at the Althorp Park Craft & Country Show on Saturday & Sunday. Due to the one-off nature of my work, no two pieces are ever the same so the pieces you see are the only pieces like it.

‘Summer Dish’

‘Lily Pond Dish’

‘Natural Tones Soap Dish’

‘Ice Glacier Dish’ & ‘Organic Impressions Dish’

‘Earth Bowl’

‘Mushroom Bowls’

‘Organic Rippled Flower Head’

‘Frozen Lake Bowl’ – series

Monday Mood Board

As well as enjoying a very relaxing Sunday, I spent some time out in my workshop yesterday. Although I wasn’t making anything, I was sorting a few things out, having a tidy up, and photographing some new work in the garden. I often have days like this where I get sudden urges to jot down lots of new ideas and developments.

You may have guessed by now that I am inspired by all things natural and organic, especially trees and bark. I put together this little inspirational mood board of colour, texture and pattern using images from Flickr.

I can’t wait to start making new things!

1. Peach tree bark closeup #1, 2. DSC02068adj birch tree bark, 3. Textured Tree Bark, 4. Birch tumbler

Bird of Paradise

The bird of paradise flower is one of my favourites. In Tunisia we spotted some buds outside our hotel that were due to flower.

My Dad has had a bird of paradise plant in his conservatory (below) for about 10 years and it hasn’t flowered since he bought it. I would love one, but I think I’d be too impatient waiting for it to flower!

To our surprise, a bud sprouted up out of nowhere this year! At Christmas we were discussing if the new shoot would be more leaves or if it would be a flower.

It was a nice surprise when the flower opened up, with another one following close behind.

Gorgeous aren’t they?

Apparently it is good for the plants to live in smaller pots because when the roots have no room to grow, they grow upwards instead and that is where the flowers come from. You learn something new every day!

New Vases

Each of my handmade vases are unique one-off pieces, so no two are ever the same – just like every other piece of my work. I use similar decorating techniques on each vase, although the decoration is applied differently each time. Even if I tried to recreate the decoration on a particular vase, it would not be exactly the same. That’s what I love about the organic nature of the way that I decorate my work, each piece is different and keeps my ideas fresh.

This new textured surface on these pure white vases below is my latest favourite. The appearance of the vases is quite soft and subtle, but they are still tactile to the touch.

I’ve been melting some glass into the bases of some vases. It is like a little bit of hidden glimmering treasure when you look inside.

I’m feeling proud to show off these new landscape designs below. The pattern, texture and colour turned out perfectly and I think it really compliments the form of the vases, flowing all the way around the exterior.

Many of these vases and more are available to purchase at my online shop here. Enjoy!

Vintage Lovebirds Giveaway

Kirsty Elson is running a giveaway over at her blog, it is the best giveaway I have seen – Too good to miss!

For a chance of winning these gorgeous fabric caged lovebirds, head over to Kirsty’s blog to read about her recent feature in a magazine, and to enter the competition. I would love to win – what a perfect house warming present it would make!