2012 could be a very important year for me . . .

My new pieces of work are currently under review by a panel choosing candidates for their residency. I am keeping everything crossed that I get one of the places as it would allow me to spread my creative wings and explore the possibilities of working with glass, a kiln, my hands and my imagination. Just think of that! Anyway, I hope you like them - they could be the start point of a very exciting year.

Norfolk Contemporary Craft Society Show at Hostry

Yesterday saw the end of the NCCS Show at the Hostry in Norwich Cathedral. What a fabulous venue - bright, airy, modern, historical and suprisingly busy throughout the week we were there. I did two "invigilation" sessions and was amazed at how many people came through. All were very complimentary about the displays and the space and I actually sold some pieces - notably the large bowl shown below which was the most expensive piece I had on display - most heartening.

Now I must get on with making some more.

Burnham Market Craft Fair and new glass bowls

Phew! Well that was exciting! Working up to the Burnham Market Craft Fair that is... It went well and was a lovely day in spite of the threat of rain. Sold some stuff and had a thoroughly enjoyable day. Picture shows how nice it all was. The bowl is our newest line - I am pleased with the final look and thrilled that we managed to retain the pie-crust edge. Chris' "Falling Leaves" was much admired too. He's going to work on it some more and maybe take it to Newmarket Craft Fair if we go.

Poetry and Printmaking Workshop

The group were extremely hard working and produced some fabulous poetry under the expert guidance of Caroline Gilfillan on day one. Then on the second day everyone learnt how to produce images using a variety of printmaking techniques and by the end of the day had portfolios of work to take home with them. Some of my favourite images from the day are shown above. Annette Rolston was the expert printmaking tutor - that's her on the left of the photo above.

Pulse 2011 - a great success

Last Sunday the collaboration between us (Burlingham Hall) and Gabi Bolton (Original Little Bird) finally saw the light of day - at Pulse 2011.

The stand looked great thanks to Chris (Gates) and Gabi's hard work and the bags looked fantastic. 

It has been a long journey since last year when Chris contacted Gabi to ask if she'd like to collaborate with us on a bag using her fabrics. I had found Gabi's fabulous fabric designs during a routine trawl of the web - one of those times when you start in one place and end up in a completely unintentional site and discover new things. Such was the case and in fact it was a "suitcase" Gabi had covered with one of her designs that set the ball rolling. I sent Chris the link to her page and suggested that perhaps the Burlingham Traveller that he had designed and was producing in plain canvas, might look good in Gabi's fabrics. Chris agreed, phoned Gabi and the rest is history.

There was steady interest in us, everyone loved the bags even if they were outside their price range and we secured some fantastic orders. Totally and utterly fabulous! 

It's been so long...

Masses to say now. We've had my first Kiln Fused Glass 1 day workshop, a two day Paper Marbling Workshop and we are getting ready for the Art Clay Silver Weekend and Polymer Clay Millefiori Weekend. Plus another weekend of Kiln Fused Glass with Barbara Coulam. Totally exhausting but very exciting too.
I am now a member of the Norfolk Contemporary Crafts Society having been accepted after showing some of my work at their AGM.
Pictures here are all you need to see how busy we've been. The fabulous book was made by Paul Garcia who attended the Paper Marbling Workshop. So wonderful to see something being produced using some of the lovely papers he made over the weekend.  Check out the website to see everything up to date.
http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk

http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk

Wedding Show Stand

We did the Sprowston Manor Wedding Show on Sunday and showed some new items for the first time. We are now able to offer bespoke glass plates with a personalised greeting, a piece of poetry, perhaps some favourite song lyrics or just the names and date relevant to a special occasion. We can hand letter in almost any colour onto almost any colour of glass to match a theme or just a preference.

Here is our stand and a photo we took for our leaflet. Further details available on our website page for Burlingham Glass: http://www.burlinghamhall.co.uk/burlingham-glass.html

Fabulous work done on the Polymer Clay Millefiori Workshop

Here are some of the fabulous things made on the latest Polymer Clay Millefiori workshop which took place here at The Studio @ Burlingham Hall last Saturday with Tutor Hadas Nussbaum.

The top picture is of Christine's beads (the largest ones) which she has already strung with some other beads she had to make this lovely necklace.

The second picture is of one of the two trays of work just before firing in our domestic oven for 20 minutes at around 110˚.

The third and fourth pictures are of Lucie's heart pendants.

The fifth one is Christine's lovely heart pendant. A wonderfully creative and productive day thanks to all our participants and of course Hadas our Tutor for the workshop.

Workshop next week - Polymer Clay Millefiori Jewellery

Saturday week (22nd Jan) will see Hadas' first Workshop here. Should be a great day and I can't wait to see how it's done myself.
More information on the web page