Photoshoot

Sue has been struggling with taking photos of her work for what seems like years.  The high gloss glaze, the perfect squares and the white porcelain; a difficult combination for even a professional photographer!

Two years ago we had some beautiful product shots taken, but work moves on, and these designs and images are no longer current.  If  we are going to venture into the on-line world, taking good photographs is something Sue has to crack!

Sue has a notice board in her workshop filled with inspirational quotes (I will introduce you to it in another post), and one of these is "We learn to do something by doing it.  There is no other way". by John Holt, an American author and educator.

There is no doubt in my mind that practising this motto has led to Sue's ability to make beautiful ceramics.  So it is time for her to get over her fear and throw ourselves into another area of the business.

Our friends Hannah Nunn, who makes paper cut lighting and owns Radiance, a beautiful lighting and craft boutique in Hebden Bridge, and her partner Robert Currey of Ahand, gave us lots of helpful advice and encouragement.  Armed with that, Sue bought a new camera, a few photography accessories to try, found some bits of what we call 'fluff' ie pebbles, seeds etc and locked herself in an attic bedroom for two days. And so the fun began!

There is nothing quite like doing the same thing over and over again with minute changes each time.  And of course, when you're trying to control the light, there are so many other factors to contend with.. Now not all of the shots looked like they had been taken by a professional, and Sue was certainly grateful for the camera delete button, but here are a selection of some of our favourites.

The mustard box has always been one of Sue's most pleasing shapes and this red lamps design is Sue's latest.

These little silver star tealight holders do sparkle, but it is not always easy to capture this on the photo.  But we were getting somewhere.....

And I think the strategically placed pebbles give the beach hut range a seaside feel.

As you can imagine, there was quite a lot of huffing and puffing, but on the whole after an intensive period, Sue had made great progress, and her determination was starting to pay off.

Watch this space over the coming months as I share more photos with you, and if anyone has got any tips for taking photos of work, then I'd love to hear from you!

Day Trip to The Hepworth Wakefield

Sue and I really enjoy a day out of the workshop visiting galleries, and Tuesday was just one of those days!  It was a miserable day when we set off from Hebden Bridge, but travelling East, the rain stopped, and by the time we arrived at the Hepworth Wakefield, it was a beautiful winter's day.



Every room in the museum has it's own atmosphere, and there are fantastic views from the windows over rushing water.  My favourite room is 'Hepworth in Context' which as well as exhibiting Barbara Hepworth masterpieces, also displays work by some of my favourite artists, including Alfred Wallis, Ben Nicholson and Winifred Nicholson.  


Sue's favourite room is 'Hepworth at Work' which displays some of her tools and items from her workshop, as well as showing video footage of her work being cast in bronze and commissioned.  This is really inspirational and totally absorbing.  

Suddenly it's lunchtime!



This was our third visit, but we both loved it just as much as the first time. If you like the work from the Arts and Crafts Movement at the moment there's a great exhibition by David Thorpe whose work in ceramics, leather, plaster and painting is modern but with a definite flavour of the likes of William Morris.


If you haven't already been, go. And if you've already been, go again as there is always something new. Next stop Hockney at the RA in March!

From despair to delight....

As you know Sue is the ceramicist, and I am not a technical expert, but I would like to share with you her journey of decorating pots, and our delight at discovering and learning some of the techniques involved with decals or ceramic transfers.  Our lives have been transformed!  

Sgraffito

Up until this time last year, Sue had meticulously decorated all of her work using the techniques of sgraffito and inlay.  For those of you, like me, who are not artists, sgraffito simply means scratching into a surface, and inlay is the technique of setting into a surface.  If you know Sue, you will be aware that she absolutely loves doing this.  It appeals to her love of precision and detail and she was happy doing this for 10 hours every day (you wouldn't catch me sticking at anything longer than an hour!).   After the scratching and incising, Sue would drop coloured clay into the surface and scrape it back when dry, to leave the imprinted pattern.


Although these methods created beautiful designs, after 5 years it nearly sent her potty!  Not because of the obsessive nature of the work (we all know that Sue's motivation is fuelled by perfection, and a desire to make each pot better than the one before), but the problems she was having with the transparent glaze catching in the scratched out grooves and causing bubbling.    Yet another box for the seconds cupboard.


Sue always strives for that perfect, silky finish and this was seriously making her bang her head against the wall.....we also had production problems, as unfortunately there is only one of Sue, and however hard she worked, she was only able to make 4 wee boxes in a day.  

Gizmo at work

So at our AGM last January (in attendance: Sue, me and Gizmo the cat taking the minutes!), it was decided to dismiss our preconceived ideas about transfers (Charles and Di mugs), and have a go at using ceramic decals.  




It was a steep learning curve for me, as I volunteered to work out how to get Sue's drawings into digital files and printed with ceramic ink ready for Sue to fire onto the pots.  Without going into detail (sorry, we both have this trait), I have embraced Illustrator and Photoshop and we have a great little production line rolling.  Sue is now able to do curves freely (previously most of her designs were straight lines) and the options for colour are endless!!  

Sue's anemone drawing

Sue still integrates sgraffito and inlay with ceramic transfers, but we now have smooth surfaces, curvy lines and colour!  

Sue's red lampposts drawing

It has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for Sue and she is full of excitement and ideas for the future.  

Hearts

January is always a good time to set new challenges for the year and start making new work.  I love this time of year.  My main challenge is to develop all things on-line and to learn new skills along the way, while Sue wants to spend more time in her workshop playing with clay, and in her garden growing all things organic to eat.   

Now that the tax returns are safely filed with HMRC, I have begun, and this is my first post of my blog.  Meanwhile, Sue has been beavering away since Christmas making a small range of heart boxes for Valentine's Day.  Now hearts are not usually in Sue's vocabulary, but last year a number of galleries asked if Sue had any designs for the romantic among us, and so with a bit of arm twisting, here we are!  I think this ring box is particularly sweet and there are tealights and budvases to complete the set.  You can find them at Heart Gallery, Hebden Bridge, Pyramid Gallery in York and Leeds Craft and Design Gallery. 

It looks like it's going to be a cold wintry weekend, perfect for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, sowing some tomato and cucumber seeds, settling down in front of the fire watching the box set of The Killing and maybe a bit of tweaking on the computer.... I love my life as a ceramics moll!