Art clay certification projects

At the recent conference of the Art Clay Guild a selection of new projects for the certification programme in the UK were launched.  All of the projects were on display and had been made by a few of the committee and other  'willing volunteers'.  I had a preview of these projects during my trip to Japan earlier in the year.  This means that there is now a wider range of projects available to students who wish to take the certification programme, although due to the varying sizes of the finished items these are likely to vary considerably in costs.  I am happy to be able to offer a bit more variety although will not be teaching any of the projects I have not actually made myself.  Here are some of my samples so far......

Teaching Enamelling at the Art Clay UK Guild conference

On the Saturday of the conference my good friend Joy Funnell and I joined forces to teach an enamelling class.  We combined the 'Enamelled Accents' technique developed by Joy with my 'Paper textures' technique.  We had a group of 12 enthusiastic students and (unfortunately) we were so busy that I completely forgot to take any photographs during the class.

On the Sunday morning there was a display of work made during conference but not all of the group were present so here is a small selection.  I hope everyone was as happy with their work as I was to see the results.

Domed resin workshop

My second day at the Art Clay World UK Guild conference was spent in a fabulous class,again taught by Ryota Mitsuhashi.  Under his careful guidance we constructed a frame of syringe type surrounded by a ribbon of clay.  After firing he showed us how to construct UV resin in 3D, removing the supporting compound after the resin had been set.   We could then add more colours to the back of the resin to give the piece greater depth of colour.

Here are all of the pieces made by the group.

I really love my pendant and wore it for the rest of the conference.

Thursday's class

I have just spent a few days at the Art Clay UK Guild Conference.  It has been lovely to catch up with old friends and to make a few new ones.  The best part was of course another opportunity to learn from Ryota Mitsuhashi with the aid of Daisuke Minagawa, both from the Aida Corporation in Japan.  On Thursday we were taught techniques for making texture using cuttlefish bone and applying a layer of copper to the surface of silver.

This picture shows the work of the whole class.  I am really looking forward to practising this so that I can teach the technique myself in the future.

Working but not posting

I have been busy in the studio, working on enamel test samples ready for the Art Clay UK Guild conference in York.  I will be teaching a class next Saturday together with my good friend Joy Funnell so have been spending days testing enamels, making notes, preparing handouts, making lists of tools and equipment to take.

The conference starts on Thursday and I am looking forward to meeting old friends and making new ones, learning new techniques and sharing ideas.

Tomorrow I will hopefully finish enamelling a couple of pieces for the themed competitions, not like me to be working on this right up to the deadline though!

preparation for a Wild Wednesday

I am preparing for a Wild Wednesday tomorrow in Museum Gardens, York.  


This is a free and fun event for all the family in the Museum Gardens, with lots of hands-on and exciting archaeology and science activities to take part in. Activities will include making jewellery, casting fossils, making mosaics, hunting mini-beasts, making a stone trough, panning for gold, Chinese writing, birdwatching, firing rockets and exploring Tudor cures and potions.

18 August, 11am - 3.30pm

Just hoping the weather stays fine!

down time

I haven't been posting much recently as I have been busy teaching mainly art clay certification courses and it doesn't seem quite right somehow to post pictures of the students' work for this.  Anyway, this weekend I have been away to my niece's wedding.  Just so you can see I am only one of a creative family here is a stand of cup cakes made by one of my sisters.  I have kept one of the pretty paper case surrounds but haven't quite decided how to use it yet...... stencil maybe?