Mural for my cousins nursery

My cousin is expecting her first baby in about August time, she found out she's going to have a little baby girl ...so planning has begun!

All the nappies and little outfits are piling up, next thing was to start planning the nursery. As she's expecting a little girl of the course the colour theme has to be pink!

My cousin decided she'd like to decorate the room with a pink blossom tree, I thought it was a lovely idea as its suitable for years as she grows up. Being the artistic one in the family I obviously offered to help.

I began with sketching the tree freehand on the bedroom wall

That's me sketching away, photo courtesy of my cousin

Whilst I was preparing to get started on the blossom flowers her cat (who had been around our feet the whole time, very interested in the commotion) seemed to think the tree was real and sat considering a way to climb up it! At least it shown I can draw a good realistic tree!

After drawing the blossoms cascading on the tree I started painting them one by one, I had a helping hand as the blossoms ended up taking an entire day!

 Day 1 of painting complete, all the blossoms are painted nicely using an array of hand mixed paints, I think it looks great! Just the tree to paint next!

An insider glimpse

I thought I'd share an insider glimpse into how I create my ceramics.

I create my pieces using a range of hand building techniques, exploring details on both large and small scale. Every individual element is constructed one handed!

Here's a collection of images showing the beginnings of pieces in creation.

Each unique piece is extremely challenging and time consuming to make as every element is individually constructed.

Katherine attaching an individual spike to the body of a piece in the progress

Here's a finished piece 'Natural Series #2', its part of the Natural Series Collection, consisting of 11 pieces inspired by delicate structure in nature. 

To view the full collection please visit my website, if you have any inquiries about purchasing or displaying any pieces please get in contact via my website.

Natural Series #2, hand built stoneware, 2013, 25 x 5 x 24 cm Katherine Fortnum, photograph by Nigel Essex

Newly listed on Etsy

Freshly out of my latest glaze firing! First piece to be photographed using my new studio photographing set up! What do you think?

(will post details about photographing booth set up soon)

Newly listed on Etsy, have a look :) 

Untitled, Hand built stoneware, 2015, 

3 x 13 x 15.5cm, Katherine Fortnum, 

photograph by Katherine Fortnum

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/234365268/ceramic-bowl-handmade-unique-nature

New Workshop is finished!

The new extended workshop is now finished! ...on the outside at least!

I've given it a few coats of paint so it matched all over, you'd never know they were two separate!

I absolutely love seeing solar lights in gardens they are so pretty and make any garden more homely and welcoming, so I brought 30ft long solar lights to reach the length of my workshop. I think it looks quite pretty during the day as well!

As a little finishing touch I got a path joining from the patio to my workshop. Its a lot more practical than walking over the grass; especially if its raining! 

My Nanna calls it the yellow brick road!

New extended Ceramics Workshop

My current workshop was very cosy but it was quite small, which is quite a big problem for a hoarder! My workshop is for my ceramics only but my collection of tools, various clay's; continues to get bigger every day! Plus as most creatives do, they spread! A 20ft table would still be insufficient!

So here it is, the beginnings of my new large workshop, I extended my current workshop, it came delivered very handy in flat packed form ready to join onto my current workshop.

My lovely dad and brother were kind enough to construct my workshop for me.

Below images show the end of my old workshop has been taken off so the new part of the workshop can be joined on the end.

(The pole in the middle is holding up the ceiling so it doesn't collapse whilst being put together)

Side views of the construction. You can see the old and new sections from the colour difference.

The end is now being added on after the sides were put up. I was so excited, seeing the size of my new workshop, I knew I was going to be in heaven working away in my (not so little) workshop! 

Just a coat of paint so it matches the other side and a lot of work on the inside to go!

*Next post I'll show you the finished studio!*

*So keep posted!*

Large group workshop for fundraising for Women Vs Cancer!

I was contacted and asked if I could run a large group ceramics workshop in aid of fundraising for Women Vs Cancer charity. 

Here's how it went!

I demonstrated and helped people make a hanging decoration for the house or garden. A large group of 27 people attended, most who had never even experienced clay before! It was a fantastic evening, attendees loved getting their hands dirty with clay; with a cheeky glass or 2 of bubbly!

I had a stall of handmade ceramics to purchase.

The pieces were left to dry out for a week before they could go into their first firing, the first firing clay goes through is called a 'bisque or biscuit firing', this turns the soft clay into hard durable ceramic.

Here they are ready to be loaded into the kiln ...along with a few of my ceramic mushrooms!

Here are the lovely pieces created at the Ceramics Workshop charity evening! 

Some attendees chose to have their pieces glaze fired (finished pieces below). You can see the difference in finish between the unglazed and glazed finished pieces, they are the exact same colours applied, but with glaze the colours really pop and become much more vibrant!

I had a nice surprise during the evening when the local paper came and took some photos for an article!

Surprise article in the Harborough Mail

(That's me second from the left)

 Are you looking for activities for an event? 

Please get in touch!

Revamped my old desk

I decided to have a decorate and revamp my old "office" desk; yes I'm a ceramicist and spend half my like in my workshop, but the other half is spent at my desk ...doing the boring stuff - accounts, online shop etc. And who wants to spend their time sitting in an ugly workspace? So I indulged ... it's amazing what a transformation you can get with a coat of paint! What do you think? :)

Heres how I revamped this desk- - I removed the handles using a screwdriver - so I wouldn't paint them! - I painted 3 layers of plain white over the entire desk as a base coat to cover the wood colour - letting each layer dry between coats. - I painted 3 coats of cream paint over the entire desk - again letting each layer dry between coats. - Once dry I could start adding colour, I painted the first coat of the lighter brown on the upper and lower drawer front. - Then a dark chocolate brown on the middle drawer. - Each drawer front had 3 coats. - I let it dry for 24 hours before the next step, I applied lots of coats of clear lacquer spray to the desks top, this gave it a nice glossy shine; it also makes it easier to wipe clean for those tea spillages! - Last step was to reattach the handles. And Voila! If you have a go and revamp your furniture using these steps I'd love to see!

Meet Katherine Fortnum Ceramics Workshop ...in the beginning

My workshop is like my second home, I love it! My own little get away where I can create and indulge myself in clay! I first started planning my own studio whilst I was at uni, saving little by little out of my student loan; eventually that added to a bit of savings came my workshop. I had a lot of help my wonderful dad putting it together, insulating, making me shelves and other bits n bobs.

I started to add little touches like adding solar lights to the roof, they lit up lovely all multicolored at night time, lighting up like a fairy house! I take a lot of pride in my little workshop, saving up and planning it for so long, I loved organising...well at least trying to organise all my tools and glazes, it hard when you end up accumulating so much!

This is how my little workshop started out, there's a long bench down the other side that fits 3 chairs for making. As I'm only just starting my blog, I'm showing how I initially set my studio up and all the bits along the way. So keep popping back for more, I cant wait to show you my new workshop!

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

Hello!

This is my first ever blog post, I'm not sure how this works yet so bear with me!

My names Katherine I'm a ceramicist based in Leicestershire, England. 

I create functional and sculptural ceramics inspired by delicate structures in nature. I run fun ceramics workshops for both adults & children teaching a wide variety of items & techniques!

In my blog I aim to share my knowledge of ceramics, making techniques, getting to know my studio, hints & tips and share my work with the world :) 

Thanks for reading my blog!

Keep popping back for exciting updates!

Katherine

http://www.katherinefortnumceramics.com/

https://www.facebook.com/KatherineFortnumCeramics

https://twitter.com/KFortnumCeramic