bryony burn ceramics

Cathedral Close

2010-04-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to a private view called The Close in Art. It was a tile project which I had done last November with a group of Secondary students from 4 different schools in Hereford.

The project was a celebration of Hereford Cathedral Close which is being completely renovated. All the students took patterns and textures from the close, which formed the boarder of the mosaic. Some students worked on creating a relief tile depicting the collapse of the west end of the cathedral in 1786, and some worked on a tile showing animals grazing in the close. The central cross in the mosaic is made up from raised tiles which have architectural details of the cathedral on.

These close ups show the mosaic before the grout went in.

You can see the exhibition inside the cathedral until the 23rd May.
There is an article about the project and another picture of some finished tiles in this weeks Hereford Times.

Dinosaurs

2010-04-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been working in my little boy's reception class. They wanted to make dinosaurs so I took in some boards, a big bag of red clay and a few textures. I worked with groups of 4, and I had about 30 minutes with each group. I tried to plan lots of different things to show them, but in the end found it was better to just give out the clay and let them take it in the direction which they wanted to go in. It was a lot of fun. These are a couple of the results. The top one is a mummy and baby lizard dinosaur, and the bottom one is a slide o saurus whose 'tummy is a slide'...fantastic!

Yellow dresser

2010-02-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

I've been looking for a cross between a dresser and a sideboard for ages and here it is. It came from a kitchen in a little terraced house, and is a very bright yellow. I might paint it a less bright yellow or maybe a blue. It houses all my teacups and bowls.

Packing pots

2010-01-13T12:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a selection of pots which I am arranging to put in a couple of exhibitions. When I send work off to galleries, I try and give them a balance of work height wise and price wise. I like to have matching patterns in different sized pots, and patterns which compliment each other; some bold patterns, and some delicate patterns. I can fiddle about for ages doing this, and when I'm done they all get packed up in a big box and sent off. The group on the left is going to The Pyramid Gallery and the group on the right is going to Leeds Craft Centre and Design Gallery

Etsy Treasury

2009-04-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

Illusio has very kindly featured one of my vases in her lovely treasury.

mydeco.com

2009-02-12T12:19:00.000-08:00

The nice people at mydeco.com have asked me to sell my vases through their design boutique, the 'unique place to shop online if you're looking for something special'. It's a massive site with loads of articles and other things to keep you busy, you can even design your own virtual room.
Have a look at my profile page....

and products for sale.....

wibble wobble

2009-01-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

I got these lovely jelly moulds for my birthday, and I've been working out the best way to turn the jelly out without it ending up as a puddle on the floor.
1. Use double the consistency recommended on the packet ie. 2 packets of jelly to 1 pint water.
2. Rinse out the mould, shake out the water and pour jelly mixture in, and set in the fridge.
3. When it has set, put jelly upside down into a bowl with half boiling and half cold water. make sure water comes up to the top of the jelly mould so the bottom of the jelly will release.
4. Leave for 1 minute. Place plate over top and shake out. If it won't come out , put in water for another minute. Repeat. Mine took 3 mins to come out, but if you leave it too long it just melts and runs everywhere.
If this does happen, and you are quick, you can pour it back into the mould, re-set in the fridge and try again.

Mmm they look so good

My Etsy Shop

2009-01-21T06:07:00.000-08:00

I have recently set up an etsy shop, selling some of my tiny vases.

Visit www.BryonyBurnCeramics.etsy.com

or click on these pictures.....

Gingerbread house

2008-12-17T07:07:00.000-08:00

I am very taken with the idea of making a gingerbread house and covering with sweets. There are some great pictures on google pics such as these ones.
I read that you need to make gingerbread one day, assemble the next and decorate the next. I didn't really have time to do that, so I've made some paper ones with fabric paint and sequins to send as christmas cards.

Christmas markets

2008-12-17T06:57:00.000-08:00

It has been so long since I did a post I've forgotten how to do it, but I've finally managed to remember how to put these pictures up.
The first picture is a new pattern called lozenge. When I was at school we had to fill in a careers questionnaire that had questions on like FILL IN THE LOZENGE.... Would you rather work with people or help sick animals?
At the end it tells you if you are more suitable to be a nurse or a vet.
I think mine came out with interior designer. Anyway these are the lozenges. Who knows what the questions are, some are filled in and some are blank. Hmm!

Picture 2 is me selling lozenge and others at a Christmas market in Malvern. I have done the last of these markets now, and I'm quite glad about it they were too cold!

cupola gallery

2008-09-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

It is my friend Mari's opening night of her solo exhibition at Cupola Gallery in Sheffield.
Mari only ever works in white so it's very nice to see some colours in her work.

It's the last day of my open studios today, and I'm putting all the pots in the back of the car ready to do a craft market in Hereford tomorrow. It's 9am until 5pm, and should be busy. I'm hoping for some early Christmas shoppers!

open studios

2008-09-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

Open studios has come around again and as part of H-art I have opened my doors to anyone that wants to come and see how I make my work. There is also lots of work for sale including 2nds, and examples of all the work my students have done. All the brio traintrack was moved out of the living room and it is now my gallery(for one week only)

All the pots are in little families around the place.
I have met some very nice people this week but also managed to make lots of pots as I have been demonstrating to all my visitors. One lady documented her trip to put on her blog, so you can see me making a vase.

symbol

2008-06-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

This pattern is called symbol. The vase has been painted in underglaze and then scratched into with a clear glaze on top. The green and pink one is a screen print.

tile workshop

2008-06-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I did a tile workshop with some nursery children. I had rolled out a large slab for each of them, and they explored patterns and textures in the clay. I cut out an interesting section with my tile cutter and then they used cutters on the remaining clay which we then stuck onto the tile. After firing I painted them with one coat of brush on glaze. I learnt a lot from working with the children, and the first thing was that I didn't leave any room for them to just squelch clay.

lime and turquoise

2008-06-14T05:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some close ups of a couple of the lime green vases I have been doing recently. I have to call all my vases names to identify them to myself, and galleries. I have to name them the first thing that comes into my head or I can spend far too long thinking about it. The top one is 'Eyes' and the bottom one is 'Atom'

Party

2008-06-11T03:54:00.000-07:00

There was a third birthday party in this house last week! I had a lot of fun making cakes. One of the mummies said what camp puddings! And I took that as a compliment!
I made the rabbit jelly in a glass mould and had to slightly melt it in hot water and then turn out onto a plate. It was all very stressful, and on my second attempt managed to turned out a skinned rabbit with no features. Even Etienne didn't recognise it, but I put him in a strawberry patch and I think he is happy.

Eiffel Tower

2008-05-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

While I make and paint my vases, I look at my little Eiffel Tower which i love and I think it looks lonely and it needs some bigger Eiffel Tower friends. Why I waste time thinking about groups of Eiffel Towers I don't know.

patterns

2008-05-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a metropolis of pots waiting to be fired. They will be black and white and turquoise and brown when they come out. I've had fun doing some new patterns.

wavy prints and wavy pots

2008-04-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent screen prints of mine, and an example of how I have used the designs on my vases.
The vases haven't been fired yet, they will be black and white but a bit glossier.

The tiny spots were done with a spotty screen , and the big spots and waves with paper stencils.
I just painted the pots freehand.

inspiration

2008-04-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

I thought for ages about how to catalogue all the snippets of things that I like. I have got loads of cuttings from magazines, postcards, colour ideas etc, but they were lying all over the place until I stuck them all onto A4 bits of paper and put them into clear wallets. I can put them in an order like textiles, prints, chinz, and then swap them about if I need to. It's a great way of spending time cutting up bits of paper, and it makes me feel very organised. The next kiln load of pots aren't getting painted though!

decorating a vase

2008-04-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

Here's me decorating the vase. I pour a layer of coloured slip into the vase first and then a layer of clear glaze. I paint the vase in it's base colour. I put the designs onto newspaper first and then transfer onto the vase. The designs are painted in clear glaze and fired to 1200 degrees centigrade in my electric kiln.

waterlily

2008-03-28T01:20:00.000-07:00

I am doing some designs with waterlillies in them. My current floral vases are of a Japanese Anenome and a Clematis, but i'm going to leave them for a while. I find it good to choose a flower and spend a while drawing it on paper so that I get a bit more familiar with it before going into any designs on pots.

making a vase

2008-03-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a slideshow of me making a vase.
I use Earthstone Original clay and do all my rolling out by hand. When the clay has gone leather hard, I use newspaper templates to cut out the shape of the vase . I scratch and score the edges of the clay, curve the pieces around a rolling pin to shape them, and then stick them together with a mixture of water and clay.
I tidy up the top and edges, and put a base on.

2008 workshops

2008-03-12T04:16:00.000-07:00

I have just had a little tidy up of the studio and thought I'd take this picture for my website as I have just put some dates for workshops up. There are two saturday courses in May and June and a weekend one in July.

blue and green prints

2008-03-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

My screen arrived, it is very exciting i burnt some ovals onto it as you can see on the top picture, and also some tiny spots on the bottom picture so I can print ovals and spots to my hearts content. I have tried printing onto my clay with slips....fairly unsucessfully so far, but I'm sure it's just practice.
Through Print and Pattern I have found a really nice blog about screenprinting called Make It
There is lots of useful information and links to other silk screeny type things

wrapping paper?

2008-02-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

I was pleased with how these designs came out. They looked like they could be wrapping paper. Although the designs are improving, the technique is not, it's still all blobby!
My screen has arrived though, and I have been experimenting with coloured slips onto leather hard clay.

paper pots

2008-02-21T05:47:00.001-08:00

The screen printing looks much improved in 3D. I've ordered my own screen now so hopefully I can try some of these effects out on clay with slips and glazes. I will have to do it onto flat sheets of wet clay, so have no idea how I will make them into a vase shape without ruining the decoration.

teapots

2008-02-17T11:32:00.000-08:00

I was teaching 15yr olds some slab building techniques last week. This is what the group of 4 produced in a day and a half. This included looking at contemporary teapots, design time and carving their own plaster stamps. When I was searching around for images I found that Ceramics Monthly is online including some articles from the latest issue.

christmas book no. 2

2008-02-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

My friend Mari found me a lovely book called 'Kimono and the colours of Japan Kimono collection of Katsumi Yumioka' by Katsumi Yumioka.
The book is divided into colour catagories, and each one has a desciption of how the colour is achieved and it's significance.
For example' We use white black and gold as an expression of cheer. Red indicates sun, blood and fire. White black and silver express sadness'

spring

2008-02-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

Spring is here, but only inside my house

more prints

2008-01-31T07:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a quick week, and I am already screen printing again. This time I went prepared with 4 identical templates, and lots of ideas about how wonderfully they would all turn out. GRRRRRR! It's so difficult to get what you have in your head onto paper/material. I understand how my own students feel. Time races by and as soon as you get going it's time to pack away.
I was trying to do fiddly prints and the more successful ones in the class were BIG and BOLD. I hope I remember this for next week and meanwhile I'm going to take inspiration from these!

screen printing

2008-01-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

I have started a course in screen printing. I want to dedicate time to getting some new pattern ideas. You can't get that much done in 3 hours, and I am just getting to grips with my positives and negatives and how they will look on paper. These are my first attempts! I want to move away from some of the patterns which I already do on my ceramics, but find that I am clinging on to them.

This print was getting quite interesting at the top, but managed to splat the print below with the screen full of ink.

shot glasses

2008-01-21T11:38:00.000-08:00

I have been having a BIG tidy up. It has taken about 5 days to do, and I'm still not finished, and I'm wondering whether it was really worth spending 5 days of my time doing this. However I have found some treasures when clearing the attic. The best one is the collection of shot glasses. I lovingly took them out of the box to photograph, and now I'm not sure what to do with them, so I've put them back!

christmas book no. 1

2008-01-04T06:08:00.000-08:00

It was a pattern-tastic Christmas this year, and I got some lovely books.

This one was on my Amazon wish list as I like the work of Amy Butler so much. This book is about her work , but you also get to see her house and studio which is just as interesting.

It has inspired me to heave the sewing machine out of the attic and make a patchwork quilt. Better phone my Mum up first and see how you do it.

christmas

2007-12-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

Some ceramic bunting I made for this years tree.

old friends

2007-12-20T06:20:00.000-08:00

I've just finished all my shows and exhibitions and there's only a couple of things for orders left to do. I've been having an early studio spring clean, but it didn't go that well I was just hanging on to lots of things 'for the archives', and didn't manage to get rid of anything much. Here are some pots from the bottom of the box!

These ones are based on textile prints and dressmaking patterns

I haven't done yellow for ages, these are some early pieces. I'm glad to be reviving my lemon yellow with turquoise!

Ruth Green

2007-12-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

I did a show at the weekend, selling my ceramics at the MAC in Birmingham. It's only a one day show but they run every sunday for about 6 weeks during November and December. I'm doing 3 this year, and my last one is this coming Sunday. I have forgotton to take my camera every time, so no picture of the stand!
Last Sunday I bought a bag with this Ruth Green design on it.

These screen prints are so nice, I could have housed them all.

There are also some paintings on her website and a lot of them are of pots which appeals to me!

before and after

2007-11-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

Here is my kiln before firing..........

and here it is after. It's not a very full load this one, my controller's been playing up recently so I'm spreading firings out. I've got some test tiles on the top shelf that didn't come out very well, but there are some new designs on the pots that I'm pleased with.

sunny day

2007-11-15T02:04:00.000-08:00

If I look beyond the remains of the building work, it is a beautiful frosty morning.

I have a whole day of painting ahead of me. It's my favourite bit, i'm too excited to start, but had better get on with it as the kiln has to fire tonight!

workshops

2007-11-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

I had my first one day workshop on friday. We were making dishes from one slab of clay. Templates were first designed in paper, and then sheets of clay were decorated with slips, cut to the pattern of the template, folded around and re-joined to make a dish shape.

The finished fish dish! This just needs to be bisque fired and a clear glaze added.

Patterns were painted on and then scratched into using pins. Areas were also textured.

As well as all the hard work, we all had fun and managed to drink a lot of cups of tea.

test tiles

2007-10-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

I have been busy doing some new test tiles. The ones at the top are painted with brush on glazes, which I usually use with students. The ones at the bottom are powdered glaze stains mixed with white slip, which is what I use on all my work.

mari

2007-10-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

My friend Mari is coming to stay at the weekend and I can't wait. We shared a studio for 7 years, before I moved to the countryside. Mari took over my work space as she needs lots of room for the many projects she has on the go. Our work couldn't be more different. I love colour and pattern, and mari loves shape and form.Here we are at hello kitty world in Japan.

Mari mainly makes wall pieces based on nature

Here is a recent commission Mari did for the cancer research garden at Chelsea flower show this year.

eric carle

2007-10-14T09:16:00.001-07:00

Etienne and I spend a lots of time enjoying picture books. Eric Carle is one of our favourites. I was really pleased to see he has a website with videos of how he makes his collages, and lots of information about his work and life. Lots of teachers have written in to say how they have used his books in their art lessons. I'm looking forward to having a go!

writing

2007-10-10T06:08:00.000-07:00

I have just ordered some letter stamps from cox and cox. I have been looking for ages to find the right size and font. Writing is a recurrent theme in my work, and I am always asked what my writing says. I usually write the words on the vases as though I'm writing a diary, with snippets of conversation, radio, songs all pieced together. Sometimes I use poetry, match results, or the shipping forecast.
I used to use lonely hearts ads, as they are full of positive adjectives, but my customers were a bit unnerved by this!

amy cartwright

2007-10-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

I've recently found my college friend Amy Cartwright on facebook
While I was getting my hands dirty in the ceramics department, Amy was in the clean bit, the graphics studio. She made lush work then and it is even more lush now!

finished

2007-10-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

Here is my finished studio. Lots of worktop space!! It's better than my kitchen, but it won't stay this tidy for long.

The best bit is the drying rack. All shelves are removable, so that you can do the work on boards and leave on the shelves for firing. I can also dry my slabs of clay here and not leave them all over the floor where I usually step on them. Probably only other potters will understand why I am so excited about these shelves!

ikea again

2007-09-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

I went to ikea to find a shelving system that we could cut up and fit into a wall in our new extension. We can across a great blog http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/ different people have sent in ideas of how to hack up ikea products and make them into something else. I bought a 30p bag just in case i ever manage to make a nappy bag/changing mat...( my personal favourite)

We didn't find anything so Ben with have to make it all, and worse, sand/paint it.

I also managed to find my apron material

and find a little bit of space for this!

storing my stuff

2007-09-24T05:43:00.000-07:00

Now that open studios are over Ben has put up lots of Ikea units for me to store all of my glaze materials in. This will be really good as stuff won't get so dusty as they do on shelves. I've got lots of raw ingredients for mixing up glazes that I'll probably never use again...so I'll just leave those at the back and keep a list of what I've got.
I'm also going to have worktop all around the edge so that I can run workshops from here too. I'll be running an evening class next month, so it's all got to be done before then.
I'm back to Ikea tomorrow to get all the bits they didn't have last time, and some material for making aprons with!

open studios

2007-09-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

My new signs!

Some new designs and colourways. Yellow and turquoise is the most successful. I think I'll change the coffee/blue combo and make it more of a brown/blue

This week I have had to clear up the studio all ready for h.Art Herefordshire open studios. 115 artists, makers and galleries open their doors for 11 days to let the public in to see what they do. It's a good chance to tidy up your studio, make some new work and meet some new and existing customers

new studio

2007-09-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

I moved into my new studio last month. Here's what it looked like when I was moving all my bits in, I plan to put in fitted cupboards and worktops.