Photo from last February has a strange familiarity about it!

I took a photo last February of our front garden with snow.
Amazingly it now looks exactly the same. Twice in one year - incredible.
Awesomely beautiful still and exactly what I can see from the kitchen window today on 17th December!

Polymer Clay Millefiori Workshop in January

Unique One Day Workshop:
Polymer Clay Millefiori Jewellery
Saturday 22nd January 2011
Fantastic introductory price: £40 + approx £9 for materials.

Hadas Nussbaum is your expert Tutor for this workshop which offers an introduction to Millefiori - working with Polymer Clay. You will make your own Millefiori 'canes' and then use slices from these canes to create your own unique jewellery or small decorative items. All the items shown here are Hadas' amazing jewellery. Use the link below to view more examples of her work.
See our website: www.burlinghamhall.co.uk http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk/studio-millefiori.html

Fabulous EDP Wedding Show launch for bespoke glass plates

We finally launched our bespoke glass plates at the recent EDP Wedding Show at the fabulous Assembly House in Norwich. Our plates and other glass items were well received and visitors were captivated by the uniqueness of our latest creative offering. Using the skills learnt over the past 30+ years as a Graphic Designer, Sheila hand letters any quotation, poem or just the event details around the edge of the glass plate (round or square) to provide a unique and long lasting memento for the happy couple of their special day. A wonderful wedding gift from a family member perhaps - a modern heirloom even...
We also do glass ornaments to adorn your wedding invitations and can make very special wedding favours or gifts for the bridesmaids too.
http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk

Wedding Fayre at Norwich Assembly House October 31st

We have taken a stand at the EDP Wedding Fayre in Norwich on October 31st 2010. We will be unveiling some of our latest products for the Wedding market - some exciting original glass items that we think will get people talking. Come along and see what we're up to. Would love to show you some pictures but then it wouldn't be a surprise...

Fantastic Glass from our latest Workshop

We had some extremely creative people here on our latest Kiln Formed Glass Workshop a few weeks back and a new Tutor, Gloria MacArthur.
Gloria is an old friend who has been working with glass for about 5 years and she brought a whole new dimension to my own knowledge on this subject. Gloria works mainly with "frit" to produce some stunning, rather painterly effects. It was wonderful to play with all her materials in addition to my own and to learn some new techniques and different principles.
Glass is such a fantastic, experimental material that we were each able to follow our own creative pathways and produce some very special pieces.
All the firings went well and our experiments were most enlightening.
Of particular note were Angela's Celtic Cross (incredible) and my own personal favourite was Julie's square dish. She wanted to achieve a "strata" effect and I hope you agree that she's done that. For a first piece I think it is amazing.
Julie is completely enthralled with the material and is definitely buying a kiln of her own and another of our participants, Anne, has told me she now feels more confident to get going with the kiln she had already purchased.
A fabulous couple of days. I've had very complimentary feedback from all participants who thoroughly appreciated the lovely lunches made by my husband Christopher - and they enjoyed my cakes too.
The pictures I've featured here are of the kiln stacked at the end of day one for an overnight firing, some of the lovely larger pieces made on day two and some of the small dichroic jewellery.

Felt Hat Making

Bridget is just too busy to run a Hat Making Workshop this year but we've arranged one for next March. Come along for the day and leave with a hat to keep you warm in some considerable style. Some fabulous inspirational pics left - more on the website: http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk/taster-workshops.html

New - Gift Vouchers

We are now offering Gift Vouchers in multiples of £100, £50 and £10. A truly original birthday or Christmas present for a loved one. We can even make the value of the Voucher fit the occasion. How about a £60 voucher for a 60th Birthday present. All we need is the money and the information. Each voucher will be issued with the recipient's name and a unique voucher number and can be redeemed against any of our Workshops. More details available on the website:

http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk/gift-vouchers.html

Polymer Clay Millefiori Workshop - Price reduction

Fantastic bargain price now for the Polymer Clay Millefiori Workshop on 19th October. We have reduced the price to £49 to include £9 worth of materials.

We don't think you could find a similar course cheaper elsewhere in Norfolk and especially not in the idyllic surroundings of The Studio @ Burlingham Hall. Fabulous home-made light lunch and teas/coffee included. Come and learn this fantastic craft and make some unique jewellery for yourself or as very special gifts for others.

Joanna & James Wedding Stationery

I have just uploaded to our website a picture of the Wedding Stationery I did for last weekend's Wedding at Emmanuel College Cambridge for Joanna & James. By all accounts a fabulous day.
I was really pleased with the final result which was digitally printed in black with gold foil blocking for the unique logo I designed for them. They seemed very happy that my stationery fitted the occasion perfectly - and the foil blocking was simply divine.

Time flies when you're having fun...

I am amazed at how much time has passed since my last posting.
We have had my 60th Birthday Party (which was my best birthday ever) and just this last weekend our 30th Wedding Anniversary. Loads of other things have happened too which I will try to recap here.
We have some new workshops added to our website. Take a look at the current list: http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk/studio-course-list.html

POLYMER CLAY MILLEFIORI BASIC WORKSHOPS see:
http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk/studio-millefiori.html

And we've introduced a bespoke hand-made, hand-lettered glass plate to our Artworks page: http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk/studio-artworks.html

It could be the plate that the wedding cake sits on - a very special lasting memento of a unique occasion.

Some of my glass experiments

Just found the time to take some pictures of the glass I have been experimenting with. Photos not great but I hope you get a flavour of where I'm going with this amazing material. There are more items in the pipeline and I am starting to develop an idea of what my core range will be. We all just love the glass platters and the spoon rests were a bit of inspired thinking. Once we have ironed out a few firing problems we will start to make some quantities for the Christmas markets. We need to decide which markets we're going to as well.

Some pictures from the latest workshops...

Both Workshops were fantastic and in the 4 hours each day we made some amazing things. Don't have much to show for the Silver Workshop as I forgot to take pictures but there is one image that shows the work of just one person for the day. I didn't forget to take pictures of the Felt Workshop though - again some lovely things done by our participants.

We got Felt by Bridget today - brilliant!

Bridget O'Connell came and taught a Felt making Workshop here today. In just 4 hours we made some lovely things and it was a great basic introduction to this lovely craft. Will post some images tomorrow when I've processed them.

Silver I made at the workshop on Monday

These are the things I made in the 4 hour taster session in Art Clay Silver on Monday.
Really impressed with how much we all made and can't wait till we have another, more advanced session. Fantastic stuff! Hope you agree.

Art Clay Silver is the most amazing stuff!

Had a fabulous Taster Workshop on Monday - Art Clay Silver.
Really accommodating and knowledgeable tutor in Elaine Martin. Everybody had a fantastic time and we all made far more than I was expecting. Yes, I joined in because it really is the most incredible stuff and I just couldn't help myself. The weather was sunny, the people were lovely and the work was just amazing. Definitely want to do some more myself. Will post some pics very soon.
We have a Felt Making Taster Workshop today so will take some pics of that and post them all together.
Just made some bread and Madeleines (which went down really well on Monday so I made some more) - Scrummy! Just had one before I sealed them in a tin for later.

New directions?

Chris and I had a fantastic day out yesterday at Broad House Hotel Raspberry Foolery. Fantastic music all day, beautiful weather, great burgers and Pimms in lovely surroundings. We didn't sell much but met some lovely people on other stalls who were complimentary about my new glass pieces and our lovely Burlingham Traveller bags. Thinking about some new directions as a consequence and the fabulous day out together really focused our minds on the need to enjoy life rather than constantly slaving to earn a pittance. So - new directions, new thoughts and a new push in fewer diverse directions.

Have just updated the website to include a more detailed descriptions of what we could offer in the way of wedding stationery: see http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk/studio-weddings.html

And the new glass Sushi dishes and spoon rests we made on Friday are lovely. Will make more of these - very exciting.

The Studio @ Burlingham Hall featured on UK HANDMADE

Take a look at the lovely piece about us on the UK HANDMADE Blog.
Just follow this link for loads of information and some great pictures of the Studio.
http://ukhandmade.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Studio+at+Burlingham+Hall

Event next Sunday at Broad House Hotel

Just realised that we are going to the Broad House Hotel Raspberry Foolery event next Sunday and Chris is off to the Wroxham Barns Farmers Market on Saturday. Very busy making some items for both these events. We'll have honey, herb jellies, herbs, the Burlingham Traveller and hopefully some glass!
Received a deposit cheque this morning for a place on the September Kiln Formed Glass Workshop - places filling up nicely.

Really exciting things happening...

Fabulous two days just gone. Met the lovely Gabi Bolton of (original) Little Bird (take a look: http://originallittlebird1.blogspot.com) whose fabrics are just stunning. We are going to collaborate on a new project using her fabrics. Very exciting. Also had a productive and creative meeting with the equally lovely Maria Veronese who is hopefully going to help me with my media presence. All utterly inspiring stuff.

A couple of the pieces I have created

Thought it about time I exposed my skills as a glass artist - such as they are. I am still experimenting and haven't yet found a direction to take creatively. So here they are my first free-fall pieces using some of the budget material I have bought.

Exhausted after the weekend...

We are slowly recovering from organising this year's Burlingham Festival which took place last weekend. Although it was un-seasonally cold and extremely windy we still had a reasonable turn-out - although sadly down on last year.

The 11 scarecrows in the open gardens made by the gifted and talented pupils at Acle school were fantastic, St Andrew's Church looked amazing with flowers by Gaye and her lovely friends and the Bridal display which was created using dresses from The Big C shop with extra mannequins supplied by Jarrolds. The Alpacas belonging to local family the Starkins were absolutely gorgeous (especially the new baby) and our new Burlingham Bangers on the Barbecue were a fantastic success. And the gardens - well they were fantastic as always. We are so lucky to live in such a great community.

Now I must get back to work and start promoting the next two workshops here at Burlingham Hall: Art Clay Silver on Monday 19th July and Felt Making on Wednesday 21st July. New pricing for a shorter day to accommodate busy people who can only spare a few hours in a day. 10am - 2pm with a home made sandwich lunch provided. Details on our website: http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk

Was FeltbyBridget yesterday - ooer!

Had fab meeting with Bridget (FeltbyBridget.com) yesterday to discuss collaboration on series of new workshops. She has such energy and we got on really well. Apart from agreeing a series of one day workshops - dates to be confirmed - we have, subject to availability, agreed to offer a Felt-Tasting Workshop on Wed July 21st 10am - 2pm with sarnies-on-the-hoof lunch thrown in. Thought it might appeal to those with busy lives and perhaps children at school. Everyone will make something to take away. £35 per head. 10 max. Contact me to reserve your place: email: sheila@burlinghamhall.co.uk

More work done by my brilliant students last weekend.

Life's a little slow today...

Definitely a little slow. Went to an 80th birthday party last night which was great. Danced well into the night with friends. Today we have a "create and manage a wildflower garden" workshop going on in The Studio organised by the Norfolk Smallhoders Training Group. We are members and have hosted beekeeping workshops before but nothing on this scale. It's a good job we have the studio otherwise they'd be outside in the drizzle.
Tea/coffee and bacon sarnies are keeping me going. Will post some more glass pics as soon as I have edited them.

Some pics of the first Workshop

The Workshop was a great success

Yes - we finally made it and the first Kiln Fused Glass workshop has now been completed. Yay!
It was brilliant. We had 7 paying participants and my husband and son's girlfriend also joined in. When I wasn't in the kitchen I made some glass things too so I enjoyed it all as well.
I made loads of cakes: Nigel Slater's scrummy Apricot and Lemon cake (a real family favourite), some date slices (an old Cranks recipe from way back - not that great really) another Cranks recipe Prune and Honey cake which I didn't really like and some really fabulous Chocolate Brownies. Lunch on the first day was Watercress soup with homemade handmade Spelt Bread plus my machine made Organic Wholemeal Bread, lots of lovely cheeses including the gorgeous Pie d'Angloys, some leaves from the poly-tunnel, yogurts and cake oh and a few Strawbs.
Lunch on day 2 was similar but with a homemade Asparagus Quiche (eggs courtesy of our lovely free-range girls!) and fruit salad.
We have fired three times and the kiln is behaving really well. The work is astoundingly good and everyone is thrilled!

Help! The floor paint hasn't dried yet! Time moves so slowly when you want it to race by. Shame it can't be managed. Nice catering for the weekend is my next task - my Asparagus and Parmesan Quiche, lots of leaves from the garden and homemade Spelt Bread, Nigel Slaters scrummy Apricot Cake for afternoon tea.

Off to Broadland DC today to do a course in Writing a Dynamic Press Release.
Watch out publishing world I'm coming to get you.

Changed the look of my blog

I've changed the look of my blog to represent my tastes. I am pleased with my new look. Haven't really got the time to grip the finer points of blogging yet but I will get there. Off to the official opening of a friend's shop in Aylsham today - Boxes & Bags of Fun - Red Lion Street I believe.
If you're in that neck of the woods and want something unusual as a child's present or a party theme you should check it out.

My first ever blog entry...

This is my first ever blog entry. I am hoping that through this blog I will reach people who may want to come to our studio at Burlingham Hall to learn new exciting skills in an inspirational setting. The studio is still being built at the moment but the first course will be 29th/30th May. By then the studio will be completed and the weather will show the garden off to its best.
Details available on our website: www.burlinghamhall.co.uk