Tag: british craft house

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All About myself and HRJ!

Welcome!  Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself!


I’m Fallon, a thirty-something year old, living in Hertfordshire with my husband and daughter.  I’m an avid crafter, have been all my life, trying my hand at many different activities for fun and making numerous things for my daughter and as gifts.   I also love home baking and drinking copious cups of tea!  I have a degree in photography and shoot freelance baby and children photography (when global pandemics don’t get in the way!)

 

I’ve been using polymer clay since I was a child, initially making teeny tiny food for my dolls house.  My husband bought me a food themed polymer clay book many years ago, and after experimenting with cakes and sweets, decided to start selling the increasing number of makes I produced, mainly to clear some space!!  The rest is history, HRJ was born in May 2011!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I chose to continue the foodie theme as I love all things quirky and retro – I’m an eighties child, so the retro food you find at old school birthday parties is an absolute favourite at mine – plates of iced ring biscuits, fondant fancies, etc – whenever we have a birthday at home, we always have that kind of tea party to celebrate!  I think the theme brings a sense of nostalgia to childhood/good memories from the past (my allsorts sweetie bracelet was one of my very first makes, and is still so popular today, with the young and old!). I’ve now also started to branch out into homeware and decorations…but more on that in my next blog post!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspiration strikes me at any time – I generally get distracted by anything cute and quirky, especially colourful eye catching things.  I love kawaii styles, and have incorporated it into some of my pieces.  Current trends inspire me, as well as actual foods; being a keen baker, I follow lots of baking accounts on social media, and sometimes try to recreate something edible into clay form!  I also have had many commissions and special requests over the years, and some I have felt would be really popular, so have then made these into pieces for my shop too.

I joined TBCH in early 2020 and love the unique community of makers here, they are all so helpful and friendly, with each and every one making beautiful high quality handcrafted items.

Oh and if you’re wondering…my favourite biscuit to dunk in my cup of tea is….a chocolate bourbon or Lotus Biscoff!

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More Squashed Glass!

I’ve had another go at the squashed glass technique and this time I used opalescent glass which reflects light as opposed to transparent glass that transmits light.

I love the effect that has been produced where the various coloured pieces have met and merged. There has been some reaction where some different coloured pieces have overlapped and merged caused by the chemical make up of the glass colours I have used in this piece. Various colours have Lead, Copper or Sulphur in them and when they meet you can get some special effects ranging from subtle to dramatic. 

This piece has some subtle reactions where the sulphur bearing red has overlapped the copper bearing greens and blues.

In addition a particular colour called Steel Blue has a tendency to dramatically change to a matt steel colour on the surface exposed to the air in the heat of the kiln. This hasn’t happened to a great degree because it was covered by the kiln shelf except for some subtle areas on the edges of the Steel Blue bits in the piece.

I shall square off the edges and slump this in a gently curved mould to make a lovely platter to be listed in my shop.

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How to photograph fused glass?

Ever since I started selling online I have struggled with photographing my fused glass pieces to show them at their best. As you can imagine the main issue is light reflection on the glass. I have tried reflecting the lights off white card, black card and silver backed card. Pointing the lights at the backdrop, directly at the glass, and at the reflective card. All have produced mixed results and I seem to try a different set up every time I have a new piece to photograph.

My most recent set up is featured in the picture above and involved using two clamps to attach the light that is hanging down to a handy shelf above my ‘photo studio’ corner. I got a nice new camera for my recent birthday which has lots of handy features which have made a big difference and I shall probably be retaking pictures over the next few weeks.

Wish me luck!

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A little bit about me!

Hi I’m Jo from Jo’s Little People also known as ClayFiguresUK

I live in North Cumbria (very close to the border of Scotland) with my husband, three daughters, dogs, cats and guinea pigs!

I’ve been making my unique little figures for over 20 years and have hundreds in my collection!

All my figures are designed then entirely handmade from polymer clay by me. I don’t use molds. Every figure starts life as a lump of clay, so they are slightly different and unique, the slightest change to facial expression creates a new little character each time.

I love making commissions too, it’s always nice to do something completely different and one of a kind.

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Hearts aren’t just for Valentines!

I have had a lovely time over the Christmas lock down period making fused glass hearts in a cast iron pan. Thanks to an excellent tutorial from glasshoppa.com me and my daughter whiled away the time, when we couldn’t see the rest of the family, coming up with various combinations of glass to pile up in the mold ready for a hot fuse.

Once out and cooled down they needed a bit of grinding and cleaning before going back in the kiln for a nice fire polish.

Now I’m waiting for some little box frames to be delivered so I can mount them and then put on sale in my shop. Should make a lovely little letter box gift to send to those we love.

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Why Re-Energize You?

Hey, thanks for checking out my blog post! I’m Caroline, creator of Re-Energize You! I thought I would use this post as an opportunity to expand on all things ENERGY:)

What is energy? Why do we need to re-Energize?

Essentially, we are all energy- from our thoughts to the sound of our heartbeat. The vibration or frequency omitted denotes how well we are feeling. Maintaining a higher frequency keeps your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual body on point in order to achieve ‘optimum wellness’.  

So how do we raise our vibration?

Meditation, creativity, exercise, eating healthily, drinking water, being around positive people and keeping a positive mental attitude can all help us stay in the ‘wellness zone’ and keep us ‘high’on life. 

Of course this is easy to say but sometimes hard to do. We fall off the wagon, we stop looking after ourselves or get annoyed and irritated by life which can bring us down till we are so low in energy that we may bring others down with us. At worst we get run down and may be prone to physical illness.

Re-Energizing is about taking responsibility for our own wellbeing. When we reawaken and become aware of who we are in order to recognize our true life’s purpose.

How can Energy Stones help me?

Energy Stones are essentially from nature, chosen, hand painted and attuned by me to flow Reiki- a Japanese healing art meaning Universal (Rei) Life Force Energy (Ki) With the intention of receiving Reiki, holding the stone or consciously placing it in your room, nightstand or mediation space, you are connecting to the intention in that stone from when it was attuned. 

During this connection, you may feel more relaxed, or more focused or energized- whatever you intended to receive from the Reiki. Personally, I like to hold at points throughout the day so I keep a stone in my purse particularly useful when navigating emotionally challenging 2020!

So energy stones act as an anchor: a mindful tool that brings you back to a state of awareness of who you are and why you are here and what is truly important in this present moment.

A powerfully positive pebble for our times that will re-energize you, keep your vibration high and promote your overall wellbeing- oh and they are very pretty too!

Love and positivity,

Caroline xoxo

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Meet the Maker – Beverley from Bevart designs

Meet the maker blog

Beverley Chapelhow – Bevart designs.

I am Beverley, of ‘Bevart designs’ I live in the beautiful Ribble Valley in Lancashire. I will always be that artist that fell into making jewellery making and designing, many people have said that my artwork would make lovely jewellery pieces, this got me thinking and I started to create and work on this possibility. I made a few pieces and put them on display in my studio… to my delight I sold a few, 12 months on I was accepted for a great art and craft show called ‘Art in the Pen’. I took with me my framed artwork and my jewellery, I made more sales than I thought possible. Being encouraged by this I applied to sell on ‘The British Craft House’ and was thrilled to be accepted.

I have always taught art classes to adults sometimes with a crossover into craft making like flower arranging, printmaking, card making etc.

I am inspired to create any art work including my jewellery by nature, the Japanese way of Wabisabi, travel, and other artists, I love the work of Greyson Perry, Yayoi Kusama, there are lots more!

my art studio

I graduated from university in 2008 with a degree in fine art, with a friend and colleague we wanted to still try and work together in a studio environment, we wanted to find a place where we could provide affordable studio space for other artists. I am currently the proud owner of ‘Atelier Arts’ an art studio collective with gallery and teaching space in Clitheroe from here I sell my paintings, I teach art classes to adults including general art and life drawing , I also teach art in Spain with partners ‘Caves of Dreams’  we provide a full all-inclusive art holiday experience in Baza, the region of Andalucia.  

Teaching in Spain

What is the dream? The dream was always to own an art studio, the other is to be selling my work more regularly, whether that’s jewellery or my paintings to build a following and to become successful.

I am currently working from home and we have a workshop in the garage, so I can keep on creating and making.

My proudest moment business wise is owning my current business and that being a success. Forever proud of our two daughters growing into confident, successful, independent women.

My creative future looks like this, over the past year I have been experimenting with ice dyeing and eco printing on fabric. I love textiles and pattern, this is something I want to add to my shop in the future in the form of scarves as I believe this would enhance my jewellery range. I am also planning some Yoga and Art retreats, I want to provide creative relaxing workshops based around self care, using our mental and physical self in a creative way using clay and paint.

To relax and have fun I love to tap dance, I regularly take part in yoga, pilates and meditation. I also love photography and to travel sketch and paint.

I also enjoy a good night out with friends in the city of Manchester drinking cocktails!

I also adore cake, what is my favourite cake ….any cake!!! But very partial to a lemon drizzle

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Squashed Glass?

So what is squashed glass? This is a fused glass/kiln forming technique that I’ve been having a go at. As described it is glass put in the kiln to fuse but you have to weigh it down with a second shelf to ‘squash’ it as it fuses.

Glass is viscous at high temperature and up to a certain heat it conforms to the glass fusers mantra “the 6 mm rule”. This basically means that however many layers of glass you put on top of each other the finished fused piece will always end up 6 mm thick, unless you dam it, but that’s another technique! 

Squashed glass is multiple layers of glass weighed down with another kiln shelf on top (and any other bits of kiln furniture you might have to hand) so that the pressure of all that weight will go down on the piece and the glass will flow and merge together. The finished glass piece is nice and level and will have a smooth texture from the kiln shelf.

After that you can cut up your sheet of squashed glass and cold work the edges to smooth them out and slump in a mould to get the shape you want for your finished pieces.

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Hallmarking Jewellery in the UK

Hallmarking in the UK.

Did you know in the UK it is a legal requirement to have certain items hallmarked?

For silver items this legislation applies on any item over 7.78 grams in weight. For gold and palladium the minimum requirement lowers to 1 gram and for platinum its 0.5 grams.

The process of hallmarking involves sending articles to one of 4 assay offices; either London, Sheffield, Birmingham or Edinburgh where the precious metal content is sampled and tested. Assuming the items meet the standard they can then be hallmarked.

London Assay Office StampIn the UK we have one of the strictest systems in the world for testing and quality marking items.  This makes it a fantastic way of guaranteeing the precious metal item you are purchasing is indeed what you believe it to be.

The process of regulating the purity of metals began in 1238 and was progressed further in 1363 when King Edward III decreed all precious metal items were to be tested and marked for purity and that this also had to include a makers mark. It is amazing to be part of such a long standing tradition.

A hallmark consists of various stamps including symbols to indicate where the piece was tested, its purity and the personalised stamp of the maker. Optional stamps include a date stamp to indicate when the piece was made, and fineness stamps to show the metals purity.

Laura Llewellyn Design HallmarkI am proud to have my hallmark registered with the London Assay office and to have my work checked here.  My makers mark is an oval shaped stamp with the initials LJG; the G is from my maiden name. Each person or company’s stamp is unique so the maker of a piece can be identified.

Hallmarking is a costly process. Therefore I don’t tend to have smaller items which are under the threshold hallmarked as the costs would escalate. If however you would like an item to be hallmarked which doesn’t currently display one please get in touch to discuss the options.

I have included the official dealers notice below so you can see the different marks that can be applied and perhaps identify some on a piece of jewellery?!

I hope you have found this article of interest.  Please get in touch with any questions or leave a comment below.

Laura x

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Summer is coming ….maybe

Unprecedented times, furlough, words about 8 weeks ago we had never considered to be part of our everyday life, supermarket queues, the world taking up baking leading to an unnormally high demand for flour of all varieties.

It has amazed me the number of people who have decided to take up gardening, me included! I currently have various ? salad leaves, radish, basil, peppers, mustard, plus some forget-me-nots and pansies popping up … it is also great for home schooling (I am not good at being a teacher, I get too ratty far too quickly, but I think that is because my little darlings know how to annoy me in the hopes I give up and they can drift back to the various game machines they have) but at least one them has been very involved in preparing, planting, and watering so I will take that as a small win 🙂

Grey Metal Planted Planter
Grey Metal Planted Planter