Gardening Times

Alliums and Aquilega

After last year's terrible weather it's been lovely to actually get into the garden and enjoy the planting.  This year the alliums have put on a great show (we didn't see them last year) and the day lilies - Hemerocalis - are thriving.  I have replaced the Penstemons that died off from the bitter cold of last winter and planted Nepeta and Gladioli too.

Day lilies and Alchemilla Mollis

Crocosmia "Lucifer" and Valerian

Meanwhile, at the back garden there are peas, onions, parsley, lettuce, broccoli and more Gladioli crammed into the small veg patch.  Sadly, the courgettes have been a casualty of the snails and, although the remaining solitary courgette plant is flowering, the flowers won't set.

Veg patch

More pictures of our Yorkshire Garden HERE 

News!

www.southpennines.co.uk

I shall be taking part in the South Pennines Making and Doing Festival in October. Not sure where I will be yet but I will be doing a free glass Make and Take activity there :)

www.settlestories.org.uk

I will be at the Makers' Market as part of the Settle Story Telling Festival on 12th October. More details to follow soon. 

www.creativemasham.com 

My last piece of news is that I have been accepted at Crafted By Hand in the Dales village of Masham on 27th October. So excited! 

Retro Glass Commission

Retro Glass Dish

I love glass commissions and I receive most of my commissions via my Folksy shop where I have a large range of my different styles in glass. This dish was commissioned by The Cotton Potter because she liked the colours of the dish below but wanted something bigger for the coffee table. 

I wanted to show Emma (The Cotton Potter) the shape of the dish so I fused and slumped a float glass test dish, just to check that she was happy with the shape. 

Float glass test piece

I used some graph paper to chart the design and planned out the colours on a grid.  Once I had cut the glass to size I would need the graph to help me place the coloured squares accurately onto the vanilla and clear glass surface. 

Coloured glass tiles on graph paper

The next stage was to place all the component parts together and put into the kiln on a full fuse programme. The glass I am using is Bullseye 2mm opal. I never compromise on quality so it has to be Bullseye. 

Glass dish on kiln shelf prior to fusing

Once fused, the glass is washed and dried then placed back into the kiln for a second firing.

Fused glass ready for slumping

Finally, the fused piece is placed into the slump mould and fused at a lower temperature to create the finished dish. 

TaDa!

If you would like me to make you a dish to your specification please email me HERE