2011 April | Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics

Featured Interview: Wellydog Gallery

Meet: Janice Ashworth of Wellydog Gallery

How long have you been making your work and how did it all begin?

I have been painting as long as I can remember. I got married young and children soon came along, so art took a bit of a back seat. Just before I turned 40 I had the amazing opportunity to do my Art Degree, but after I struggled to find a related job so my art just became a part time hobby again. I was starved for some sort of creativity and started making and selling jewellery and so came across folksy. Then just before xmas last year I had a period of illness that meant I was at home and spend a lot of time chatting on the forum. In one of the chats then I came across ACEO’s (small collectable pieces of art work) and decided to give it a go. It all went mad from there and I opened what has now become my main shop Wellydoggallery and I have been painting and selling ACEOs ever since. After the new year I decided to start producing larger works again, I am enjoying every moment and am now determined not to let it slip again, but to develop it into more of a career.

What processes & techniques do you use in your work?

I have painted and drawn in all mediums, Oils, pastels, acrylics if you can draw and paint with it I have tried it. But in my heart I am a watercolourist. I love the translucence and the unpredictability of it.

What are you inspired by?

I am inspired by everything about me, I love the somerset area i live in and especially love the sea. I have been surprised to find I can paint water. As far as who’s art work I admire, then Peter Scott had an influence on me, As a child we spend a lot of weekends at slimbridge and I saw a lot of his work, My parents also had some prints of his work at home. I now have them and they are precious for so many reasons.

Do you have a work space or studio? What is it like?

I have a bedroom, when my youngest left home last year I took over a room. Its bright and everything is within easy reach, and I can have all my art books together.

Where can people buy your work?

At the moment I sell mostly on folksy although I do have an Etsy shop and also have some work currenty for sale in a local gallery. You will find most of my work on folksy, and you can also contact me at wellydogdesigns@btinternet.com if there is anything I can help you with.

How do you promote your work?

I promote a lot online, folksy, twitter and in my own blog. I should promote more locally and that is going to be something I will be looking into.

What goals do you have for the future?

I am aiming towards an exhibition. I decided it was about time I had one and so I’m looking for a suitable space and will plan to have one either later this year or early 2012

What advice would you offer to someone thinking about turning their craft/art into a business?

I would say just go for it, If you think about it too much you will find to many reasons not to. But have faith in what you do and set yourself goals and try and keep to them.

A few of your favourites (just for fun)….

Colour: Purple

Animal: Swans, I love how graceful they are in the air but how that all changes when they land and they are clumsy and funny, they always make me smile.

Season: Spring, the colours are amazing, things start to come to life and the light makes everything so beautifully intense and bright.

Person: The lovely and supportive Mr Wellydog, who has been by my side for 30 years.

Food: Chips and chocolate… but not together.

Website: http://www.folksy.com/shops/Wellydoggallery

Craft & Design Month

I’m excited to be sending this selection of pieces up to Down To Earth Gallery in Shropshire today, for the Craft & Design Month exhibition in May. The focus of the exhibition is ceramics, where galleries & artists all do their own thing for Craft & Design Month across the country.

If you are in the area from 1st – 31st May, pop into Down To Earth Gallery to have a look at the other wonderful pieces on show.

Bunting in the garden!

I was excited to receive the handmade bunting I ordered from Hollie Lollie on folksy today, and have put it up in the garden already! I wanted some happy cheery bunting to brighten up the garden for summer.

It will look great for my belated birthday barbecue on Saturday!

I chose the ‘sea breeze’ version rather than the ‘summer rose’ bunting so that Dave would approve – the ‘summer rose’ version had too much pink in it!

Can you spot Molly next to one of the garden chairs looking up at it below? I think she keeps wondering what it is…

Have a great long weekend, enjoy the sunshine, and happy Easter! x

Fresh from the Kiln

I thought I would share a few of the latest pieces that were fired in the kiln last week…

I am in love with these new Lily Heart Coasters, they would be perfect for the table in the garden with their spring green colours. I only made one set so for now these coasters are *limited edition!*

Rocky Mountain Coasters

Do you remember the huge pile of ceramic plant markers that I was busy smoothing in the garden a couple of weekends ago? Here are the fired results above, each set of 4 neatly tied with glossy ribbon. My previous sets of plant markers have been tied with string but I thought I would change it to ribbon to add a bit of colour. My full range of plant markers can be found on my website here.

Here are some more coasters with a fresh spring feel to them. These are the Green Leaf Coasters that are now back in stock.

And finally here are some new Fungi Vases that are fresh from the kiln last week. I haven’t decided whether to add these to my website or pack them up with a selection of other pieces for the 2 upcoming exhibitions I am taking part in this summer. (details to follow soon!)

Featured Interview: Mog’s Togs

Meet: Rachel Jinks of Mog’s Togs

How long have you been making your work and how did it all begin?

I’ve always been fairly crafty, I get it from my Mum! I’ve tried my hand at lots of different things over the years – my drawers are full of polymer clay, embroidery floss, sewing and bead supplies!
Mog’s Togs was born in 2010 when we rehomed two rescue cats, Mia (a rather silly tortie) and Lila (sleek, black, and generally disapproves of everything). When they were first allowed outside they lost so many safety collars, we couldn’t keep up with replacing them. I didn’t want them to go out without any identification so I sewed some from scrap fabric. After making the first few, I had so many ideas about designs and fabrics that I wanted to carry on with it, so I decided to see if other cat owners would like them as much as I did.

What processes & techniques do you use in your work?

It’s fairly basic really – mostly sewing straight lines! At the moment I have two types of collar: one made from ribbon and webbing and one from fabric. The important part is to make sure that the materials and stitching can stand up to everyday feline life, and I’m always experimenting to see if I can improve my designs. Lila and Mia road-test my new creations!

~ Mia & Lila ~

What are you inspired by?

Literally anything could start me thinking about a new collar design – colours, patterns, or other crafters’ creations. Or I’ll see one of my cats lying on something and think, hm, that colour looks pretty against their fur! I particularly love stripes and am always on the lookout for stripy fabric and ribbons.

Do you have a work space or studio? What is it like?

I’ve overtaken our 3rd bedroom and keep referring to it as “my room” which really bugs my husband! I sit up there in the evenings, sewing and listening to podcasts on my Iphone, usually with a cat asleep under my chair. It’s an absolute tip at the moment as we are trying to work out how best to store my supplies – so no way am I showing you a full photo but this gives you an idea!

Where can people buy your work?

I sell my collars on Folksy and Etsy. I also supply a couple of vet surgeries and an online pet store.

How do you promote your work?

I use Facebook to promote my new collars but also to share silly cat photos, stories and videos. The most popular things on there by far are customers’ photos of their cats in their new Mog’s Togs collars! Our cats have their own blog about the silly things they get up to; and I’m a bit of a twitter addict too. I always have business cards on me but haven’t yet worked up the guts to hand them to random people with cat hair on their clothes…

What goals do you have for the future?

At the opposite end of the spectrum to my crafts, I’m working on a PhD in statistics and hope to finish that by the end of this year. After that I hope to cut down the hours of my day job a little to concentrate more on Mog’s Togs. The main thing I would like is to have our own online shop, and to expand our range into personalised collars. I’ve got so many ideas and not enough hours in the day at the moment!

What advice would you offer to someone thinking about turning their craft/art into a business?

Work out costs and prices properly from the start, and don’t spend too much cash on supplies early on (says the girl with drawers and drawers of ribbons and fat quarters of fabric!). Try and come up with a strong brand that people will remember; this is really important if you only sell online. Finally, if like me you’re juggling a day job as well, prioritise tasks and try to be honest with yourself about what you can achieve in your evenings and weekends, to avoid getting overloaded. There’s no harm in having a wish list though!

A few of your favourites (just for fun)….

Colour: At the moment, turquoise. It changes all the time!

Animal: Cats, of course!

Season: Spring, especially now I’ve got my own garden.

Person: My lovely husband who is so supportive of Mog’s Togs. I also should add my brother as he’s given me so much fantastic business and marketing advice.

Food: Deep-Fried Crispy Shredded Chilli Beef from the Chinese takeaway! Mmm.

Website: www.craftster.com for crafting inspiration, www.ihavecat.com for cat fun and www.petforums.co.uk for great pet advice!

~

Thank you for sharing your adorable feline collars with us Rachel, I’ve enjoyed finding out about where you started from the beginning. My cat Molly would look cute in the top stripy one, I may be purchasing one of these from you soon!

A walk along the canal

We are so lucky to have a stretch of the canal only ten minutes walk from our house. We only discovered it yesterday while out exploring, after living here well over a month now. We knew it was here somewhere, but couldn’t find it last time we were out walking…

You have to go through the woods and down some steep steps to get to the edge of the canal.

We discovered that a walk along the canal leads to a village pub, so now we know it’s there for next time

A few canal boats went past us… I would have loved to be sitting on the roof of a barge with a glass of wine, but yesterday I made do with sitting in the garden with a glass of wine instead!

New Bonsai Bowls

These new bonsai bowl designs are fresh out of the kiln this week – what do you think?

I was so impatient waiting for the kiln to cool on Thursday! Even when the kiln was opened, I couldn’t see them until everything else had been unloaded because they were right at the bottom. I’m very pleased with the results and can’t wait to make more and develop the designs.

It was good fun drawing onto the clay free-hand. I might try a similar thing on some vases too, and also try some different colours.

Here is the little bonsai tree that initially inspired these new designs…

Cute isn’t it?

These two *limited edition* bonsai bowls are currently available in my folksy shop. They would each look stunning displayed in the centre of a coffee or dining table, and would also make ideal soap dishes. The bowls are also suitable for outdoor display or function.

I would love to hear your thoughts!

In the garden…

Do you like my new flower pot?

This photo was taken last weekend when we had just planted the flowers – they are much more in bloom now and they look stunning. I wanted to add a bit more colour to the garden so this is what we came back with from the garden centre.

You can just about see one of the lily bulbs sprouting up in the smaller pot next to it. I can’t wait for these lilies to flower, they are going to be bright orange!

The hanging basket of sweet pea seeds that we planted a few weeks ago are doing well. Now that they’ve started growing they don’t seem to stop. The dahlia’s that we have had from seeds on the kitchen window sill eventually got too big for the pot, so we planted them in another big pot out in the garden now that the weather is getting warmer. It will be exciting to see what colours they are going to be.

Molly is loving playing outside in the garden at the new house. She has been sunbathing a lot too!

In the workshop…

It’s been lovely out in the workshop over the past few days, with the sun beaming in through the door and the sound of the birds singing outside, it definitely puts me in the mood to keep moving and make lots of new work!

Today I’m taking a break from making while the kiln is ‘cooking’ all of my latest pieces. The kiln has been on over night so it’s nice and toasty out there in the workshop, I can’t help popping in to tidy up or pretend I need to get something, it’s very cosy when it’s warm!

There are a few custom orders in there at the moment, with a massive new selection of plant markers that I showed you the other day, as well as some new stock items and some new bowl designs…

These are a sneak peek of my new ‘Bonzi Bowl‘ range – what do you think? I really enjoyed the loose drawing on the surface of the clay.

Above you will see the initial stage of a custom plaque. These have been quite popular lately – I can engrave any names or words onto the plaques, and they don’t necessarily have to be heart shaped. They make perfect gifts for newly wed couples! Please feel free to get in touch if I can help you with a personalised item of your choice.

Hope you are all having a great week! x

Featured Interview – That Fuzzy Feeling

Meet: Liz Chesworth of That Fuzzy Feeling

How long have you been making your work and how did it all begin?   

I’ve been making felt for about three years now. It started when my partner bought me a starter kit to help me pass the time whilst I was recovering from an operation – I loved it and have been hooked on feltmaking ever since! I only opened my Folksy shop at the end of October 2010 so I am still very new to selling my work.

What processes & techniques do you use in your work?   

For some pieces I use the traditional wet felting method, which involves applying hot water, soap and plenty of elbow grease to felt the wool fibres. I incorporate a resist into this process to make seamless, three-dimensional vessels, bowls and bags. (see photo of one of my seaside vessels which was made using this process).

I make my owls, brooches and little ‘nest’ bowls using a different method which involves the use of a special barbed needle. This locks the fibres together to create felt and is very time consuming but oddly relaxing, too! (see photos of owl and bowl) .

Some of my work, for example my flowery felt bowl, combines both of these methods at different stages of the process.

What are you inspired by?   

Well, I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but I find that the colours and forms of nature often inspire me. For example, my little bowls are very nest-like (although slightly more colourful than your average bird would make!), and many of my bowls and vessels are inspired by the colours and textures of the coast. I am also drawn to the rich, vibrant colours of India, and my travels in this part of the world have definitely influenced the colour combinations that I use in some of my work.

Do you have a work space or studio?

Hmm, well sort of – but it doubles up as my office for my other existence as a university lecturer! This means that piles of textbooks and marking have to compete for space with all my lovely wool fibres and silks.

What is it like?

Basically a big old wooden desk in a little box room. The best thing about the room is that it has a huge sash window that overlooks the garden. In the summer I have the window wide open and work to the sound of the birds singing.

Of course, when I’m using the wet felting method I need to be near a sink, so I have to take over the kitchen!

Where can people buy your work?

You can buy my work from my Folksy shop at http://www.folksy.com/shops/ThatFuzzyFeeling

How do you promote your work?   

I’m really not good at this part! When I opened my shop in October 2010 I didn’t have a clue about online promotion. However, I now have a blog and a rather lonely and neglected Facebook page which you are all very welcome to visit!

What goals do you have for the future?   

At the moment I am quite happy with how things are going. My felt creations have sold quite well, and provide a very welcome supplement to my income. In the future I would like my craft to become my main income, and to perhaps make use of my teaching background to offer felt making classes and workshops to children and adults.

What advice would you offer to someone thinking about turning their craft/art into a business?   

I’m not sure if I’m in a position to offer advice on this yet…but all I can say is it’s really important to keep hold of the passion you have for your craft. I think that artists and craftspeople who keep their passion are more likely to be successful as it fuels their work, even when times are difficult.

A few of your favourites (just for fun)….   

Colour: Green

  Animal: Elephant

Season: Summer

  Person: Tony, my partner

  Food: South Indian veggie food, especially masala dosa.

  Website:  Oh that’s really tricky! I suppose, in terms of my craft, that my favourite website is the one run by the International Feltmakers Association http://www.feltmakers.com/ . It has a gallery going back several years with some amazing photos that really showcase the beauty and versatility of felt.

Find more from That Fuzzy Feeling here:

Shop: http://www.folksy.com/shops/ThatFuzzyFeeling

Blog: http://thatfuzzyfeelingsblog.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/That-Fuzzy-Feeling-Felt/188157201222170

In the sunshine…

This has got to be the hottest day of the year so far! We’ve had a fantastic weekend out in the sunshine. Yesterday was spent visiting the lambs, having a pic nic, playing cards on blankets at the park, and having a ‘kick around’ with a football with friends which was fun. On the way home we stopped for a drink in a beer garden.

Today I don’t think I’ve been inside the house much at all, definitely caught a tan! I’ve been smoothing the edges of these plant markers outside in the sun, beats sitting in the workshop in the cold! There are still lots more plant markers to be made.

Yesterday at the park Dave picked me this cute tiny daffodil!

It’s my birthday tomorrow so I’m looking forward to more relaxation out in the sun (hopefully), and maybe also some surprises!

Hope you have had an enjoyable weekend with lots of sunshine wherever you are

So pretty!

These are the flowers I bought my Mum for Mother’s Day, some beautiful Iris’s. They were all in buds when I bought them but now that they have all opened they look even more stunning. My Mum has put them in one of my handmade ceramic vases that she owns, I think the iris’s really compliment the vase, even if the stems are a little long!

They instantly made me smile when I saw them again today so I thought I would share them with you to brighten up your day too!