sarah's birthday!

this past weekend
i hosted a morning tea to celebrate
a significant birthday of my darling friend ( and stylish blogger )
sarah b !

a small group of friends
sat around my lounge room
for a rambling and lovely morning tea on saturday

we had bubbly and cups of tea, yummy things to eat,
and a cake decorated with ( at a special request )
sugared violets . . .

and i just had to make a special cake plaque
for this special occasion
in sarah's signature colour - red . . .
( a keepsake for her also )

happy happy birthday sarah b
you are so treasured !

introducing . . .

this years christmas bird . . .

these will be available in store hopefully from the last week or so
of september
( as well as my other christmas ornaments )

in the mean time i am getting
more excited every day
now that i'm feeling slightly better,
and my 12 day trip to japan
is now only a week away !

my fabulous studio girls and i
have been making christmas ornaments for... well... 6 months now,
so we are well and truly on top of things this year . . .
and between all the work and being unwell this winter
my short break away is keeping me inspired and determined to be well

for on my return it will be a crazy workload right up until christmas . . .

and finally a big thank you to all those who
purchased from the sale !
the personalised stars are still listed in store and will be so
up until mid october

have a lovely weekend

pressing . . .

bits of my heart into clay this week . . .
one day at a time
one letter at a time
one word at a time

one

revisiting . . .

as this custom order of one of my pendants sat on my desk
this afternoon, just before the customer picked it up,
i realised how much
in years past, and even in creating this one,
that i love making them.

pendants like this one, in some ways,
was where the ceramic work
i made from scratch with my own hands really started.
for the years when i started to make these i had decorated
the beautifully constructed vessels my friends made
while part of an artist collective called amfora here in brisbane
( through all of the 90's and a few years into this decade . . . )

i used to make the pendants in my (then) very small home
and a very dear (to say the least) friend of mine,
used to fire them in his kiln for me.

it was in those hours of packing the kiln together
with my work, his work, and our friends work,
that i learned, without even realising it,
how to pack a kiln, glaze, the tricks of the trade really . . .

now i feel it time to revisit these black and white
pendants, so some may pop up from time to time in
my online store
and i'll make sure i get some made for my christmas show too. . .

my winter sale continues to go well,
( i will try and restock the tags etc that have sold out )
but thank-you to all those hopefully happy customers
who have purchased work
there's one week left now as the sale ends
monday next week . . .
details HERE

another flower . ... .

above is another flower from my mother's garden

i've posted here and here
with other flowers that my mum has given me
from her rambling garden over the past year

this one brightened my
slowly-getting-back-into-the-studio-day
the other day . . .
nature, and a little gesture of love like this,
can help to heal the body and the mind

( it sits in a beautiful little dish made by my friend trevor
the perfect vessel for this camellia )

vintage button stars

here is the first reveal of one of the ornaments in
this years christmas range . . .
my vintage button stars

for years i've been collecting all sorts of things to press into clay
vintage plastic buttons, and antique glass buttons,
cutlery, glass, shells . . . (the list goes on)

when i first started making ornaments (years ago now)
i started with ones like this . . .
and this year i have decided to revisit this style . . .
paring back a range without colour just letting the natural
colour of the clay do the talking

my stores have already been placing orders for these
by the hundreds, so there'll be plenty out there
and my online store will stock them also

today we made a pile with the imprint shown in the first photo above.
the patterns and spaces that form as the work is getting made
is such a lovely part of the process . . .
those little parts left behind . . .

and finally
a big thank you to vanessa and the lovely team at
australian home beautiful
who did a humbling little piece on me and my work
in this months issue ( page 30 for those that want to have a peek )

new vessels instore...

i'm just popping in for a quick update on my sale . . .
the poetry vessels i listed
didn't last a day,
thanks to all those customers who
loved them enough to buy them...

i've just listed 4 new little ones
that came out of the kiln today

i've been slowly slowly getting back into work
as i'm still not that well . . .
i've been able to do little bits and pieces
(especially with the help of my fabulous studio gals)

this illness has reminded me how much
i love what i do. . .
and how when i'm away from it
and as i inch my way back in . . . how much i've missed it

clay doesn't just get under your fingernails
it gets under your skin
and when i work with it i feel i'm doing what i'm meant to be doing . . .

there's a lot that makes you feel better when you are poorly :
hugs, a meal on the doorstep, messages from friends,
and knowing that your lifes work is worth
resting and getting better for
so you can fall in love with it all over again

and in other news the publishers and i have
agreed on the title of my next book . . .
i'll keep you in suspense for a little longer though . . .

k x

winter sale !

every year i usually have a winter show where there's cake & cups of tea
and my work is displayed for a mid year shopping visit...

but this year, for a number of reasons,
i have decided to have a break
however, i still want to offer you something special in its place...
and it spreads the sale to interstate and over the seas as well

so... i am having a sale in my
online store for 3 weeks
(offer closes midnight AEST mon august 24)

simply write the discount code
WINTER
in the shopping cart area to receive 25% off ALL purchases

i have recently added my new kitchen labels,
and finally there are a couple of one off poetry vessels,
this new work is added to my year
round stock of quote tags, books, pencils,
prints (there's an extra special on them) and cloud brooches.

also to coincide with this sale i am listing my
personalised christmas stars,
so if you would like to take advantage of this special discount :
order now...
it is tricky as the majority of personalised
star orders won't be sent out until late november, but I will
endeavour to get them out earlier if ordered now.

happy shopping and thanks again for your ongoing support
k x