2011 August | Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics

Coasters Featured in Asiana Wedding Magazine

I had an exciting email a few days ago telling me that my heart coasters had been featured in the ‘Asiana Wedding’ magazine. How exciting!

The Light Direction ~ Official Merchandise

I’m so excited to finally have the full completed collection of my official merchandise designs for The Light Direction available on my website. It has been a fun and creative process, and I am so pleased with how my designs have turned out.

The ceramic beach hut hangings, magnets, pendants, brooches, plaques and mini art easels were made and influenced by the ‘Beside The Sea’ theme of The Light Direction novel. The melted turquoise glass has given the pieces a touch of the seaside, along with the impressions of shells and natural textural markings.

To find out more about each of the items I have made for The Light Direction, including photos of the stages of which they were made, please follow the following links:

Beach Huts
Magnets
Pendants
Plaques
Brooches
Mini Art Easels

To read my interview with Ces Creatively, author of The Light Direction, please click here. The interview includes lots of photos and information including how I felt about having one of my unique vases written into the printed novel, my thoughts behind The Light Direction and more on my background.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ces of The Light Direction for this fantastic opportunity – I look forward to working with you!

Fresh From The Kiln

A few new bowls and vases fresh from the kiln and added to my website this week…

From left to right:

Blue Dandelions – Wavy Bowl

Rock Pool Love Heart Dish

Beach Hut Dish with Yellow Door

Field of Dandelions Bowl

Meadow of Dandelions Medium Vase

Field of Dandelions Pentagon Vase

Hope you like my latest pieces! Have a lovely weekend x

Hazel Twig Fence

I had to share my new hazel twig fence with you! I love it! It was so much fun, especially collecting the branches from the woods. My dad had made a fence in his garden and as soon as I saw it I had to make one too. The fences aren’t very practical, just ornamental and decorative, they add a really nice rustic look to your garden.

First we had to locate some hazelnut trees. In woodland areas you would probably be surprised at how many there are scattered all over. They are easy to spot – tall thin vertical branches with the odd leaves growing here and there. Make sure you take a little saw or some secateurs to cut the branches down – they are very strong!

If you can find any thicker branches these are good to use for the posts.
Pull off the leaves and cut off any jagged bits so that you are left with a pile of straight, clean wooden sticks. Begin by cutting the posts to size, taking into consideration the height you want your fence to be, and also plenty extra for the posts to be positioned in the ground. My fence was about 30cm high and I left about 15cm for the posts to go in the ground, so each post was 45cm tall.

Hammer the posts into the ground first. Depending on how hard or soft the ground is, they may be able to push in. The further down in the ground the posts are, the stronger the fence will be. The rest is easy and takes no time at all! Weave the hazel branches in and out of the posts. They are so strong that they stay in place by themselves. Once you’ve reached the top of the posts and are happy with the amount of branches, cut off any excess at the ends and use cable ties to tighten any areas that are a bit loose. I only had white cable ties but you can hardly notice them as they have been coloured in with black pen!

If you want to continue the fence at an angle, start again with more posts. Effective isn’t it?

Below are some other creative ideas I found using twigs and sticks. I will no doubt be trying all of these too!

1. Stick Centre Pieces

2. Garden Driftwood Trellis

3. Twig Frame

4. Twig Candle Decoration

And look at this!! Hazel branch walls made in the same way. Amazing!

and the winner is…

'Blow Away' Dandelion Bowl

Congratulations to Lynda of Tilly & Rose ~ Your name was picked out of a hat this afternoon and the dandelion bowl in my competition is now yours!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered and for your kind comments. Be sure to check back soon for my next giveaway.

Handmade Market, Kenwilworth

Come and visit me at this monthly handmade market on Saturday in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. I will be selling a selection of my ceramics alongside numerous other local designer/makers with their handmade products including cakes, textiles, jewellery, wood, glass and many more. For more details of the makers exhibiting this Saturday, please click here.

Hope to see you there!

This week…

Following the popularity of my mini ceramic art, I have been experimenting with some pieces on a larger scale this week. The Ceramic Landscape Art pictured above includes chunks of different coloured dried pieces of clay that were pressed into the surface of the panel when the clay was soft. This piece also features areas of my signature volcanic crater glaze, and coloured slips that have been applied to create a textural feel to the surface. The back of the ceramic panel has a similar decorative design so that it could be changed around. This panel comes complete with an acrylic display stand (pictured below) and can be displayed in a landscape or portrait position.

The panel above was fun to make and has quite an abstract look to it. I’m now working on some more ‘scenic’ panels that will be a little more simple and elegant.

Here’s some snippets of a couple of pieces in progress, yet to be glazed and fired. I’m not sure how they will be glazed as yet, but I will probably keep them looking natural and organic. I think they would make stunning features displayed in the home ~ Might keep one of these initial ones for myself!

I’ve also been working on some new pieces that I’m making for The Light Decoration as one of their official merchandise creators (read more about that here). Below are some of the brooches and magnets in progress that include a ‘Beside The Sea‘ theme. I’m also working on some beach huts, plaques, pendants and mini art for The Light Decoration novel series. I’ve been waiting to get these fired for a couple of weeks now, but waiting on a new element for my kiln to be delivered is taking longer than expected. Hopefully it should arrive on Monday!

On top of all of that (as well as trying to make the most of the sunshine), I sent a batch of items to a new shop in Derby called Pretty Things this week. The shop only opened on Monday, but they have a huge array of ‘pretty’ items on display – if you are in the area why not pay them a visit?

Pretty Things
35 Market Hall
Derby
DE1 2DB

Vote for Molly!

It’s been a while since Molly appeared on my blog! Here are some recent photos…

Love this one, shame it’s blurry… Being a cat is a hard life!

Being cheeky…

It’s hard to believe Molly was this tiny 2 years ago!

The main reason for this post is to let you know about the competition Molly has been entered in on the Royal Canin site. At the time of writing this, she is currently in 5th place and it would be fantastic to see her reach 1st place – if she does she will win a years supply of cat food! Please vote for Molly and spread the word to help her be the champion!! Every single vote is a big help. I (and Molly!) would be extremely grateful if you could! (It only takes a minute) Thank you! x

Featured Interview – Sparrow Primitives

Meet: Martina of Sparrow Primitives

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

I have been making things ever since I can remember. My parents are both creative people. My mother used to do the most beautiful embroidery and would buy high street children’s clothes for me and embroider them to make them unique. She was also a fabulous knitter and taught me as soon as I was old enough to hold the needles! My Aran knitwear was popular but I rarely have time to knit now. Sparrow Primitives began as a hobby, selling handmade jewellery, our own greeting card designs, wreaths and our distinctive signature shelf blocks and as more and more people wanted them, it grew into a small business. I came across the American Primitive dolls and animals while researching historical toys, and discovered a whole new art form which had great appeal!

What processes & techniques do you use in your work?

We source our wood locally from FSC approved managed forests and do not outsource any of the stages of manufacture. We cut, sand and rout the wood ourselves, ensuring a smooth finish and a top quality item. Our customers are looking for that little bit extra and so we work hard to provide it. We use an expensive top quality non-toxic paint and each set is carefully handpainted. Most of the sets take approximately 12 hours to complete, so they certainly are not churned out! The fabric Primitives are stitched, handpainted, aged, scented and baked in the oven a number of times before completion!

What are you inspired by?

I am inspired by craftsmanship, especially from the past. Mass production and machine manufacturing has led to people taking things for granted and many have lost touch with how difficult and time consuming it is to make something. I am really keen to show that handmade can mean gorgeous items made with care and attention to detail by people who take a great deal of pride in what they do. I have been so pleased to find a community of people online who feel the same and I have found that inspirational too.

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

We have a workshop in the garden for the woodwork and have a studio at the back of the house. I tend to use the dining room table a lot too, especially as we use so many different techniques and it isn’t always practical to confine ourselves to one room!

Where can people buy your work?

We have our own website and we sell through other outlets too. We also supply independent gift stores throughout the country.

How do you promote your work?

We are on Facebook and Twitter and have also had our products pictured in some national publications.

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

Go for it! It is hard work but very rewarding. Don’t fall into the trap of pricing your products to compete with the hobbyists. Produce top quality items and value your customers and they will come back for more.

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

Colour: Black and Purple

Animal: Birds

Season: Winter

Food: Does chocolate count?

Website: Sparrow Primitives™ – Handmade Designer Gifts & Home Accessories

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Thank you for sharing your gorgeous items with us Martina! Being a proud owner of some of your shelf blocks, I know the high standards finish of your work. Love the new fabric primitives! Check out more gorgeous accessories by Sparrow Primitives here.

Beautiful Photography

It’s been photography mad here over the past week! We have been experimenting with Daves Digital SLR, which has worked wonders on the product photography for my ceramics. Dave is now my new official photographer, and has enjoyed taking shots of almost everything! We went for a walk along the canal last weekend and got some great shots. Here are just a few of my favourites that he has taken… aren’t they beautiful?