Prettiness comes in all shapes and sizes

Recently I was asked by a fellow Perth Upmarket retailer and friend Tamara Harrison if I could create a one off piece as a wedding gift for a dear friend.

With design in place the makings began, I'm not going to lie pretties, it was has been an anxiety ridden couple of months.

Why you ask? Let me count the ways.

1. Southern Ice - my material of choice is a super elastic porcelain clay body that is surceptive to warping and cracking on the slightest whim.

2. I'm used to working in a hand-building style.

3. It was winter - anyone worth their ceramic salt will know it's a nightmare waiting for pieces to dry in winter.

In saying all that I am an optimist and a bit of an under stater. So when my good friend Danica mentioned (repeatedly) that the piece wouldn't dry for a good month I scoffed with the arrogance of a fanboy first in line at an Apple release. That's right, I was a F.O.O.L.

Why was I a fool? I had advised the ever patient Tamara that a turn around time of 5-6 weeks wouldn't be expected.

Fast forward 5 months, that's right 5 months, I've just delivered the gorgeous vessel.

It's something I wish I had made two of because I will never make anything like this ever again...well...maybe.

HAHAHA!!

So before you eyeball the pretty piece here are a couple things I want, nay, need to gush over:

1. No warpage - holy bananas! The probability of this not occurring is mega!

2. Glory be to glazing -perfect, perfect, perfect!!

3. From conception to realisation - it turned out as planned.

4. Did I mention that I only had one piece? In hindsight I wondered what I would do if the piece failed...yea, that's right, naive arrogance.

So to end, here it is.



This pic taken on my iPhone doesn't do it justice.

Pretty out!

Weekend getaway

This weekend my BFF and I escaped (I mean went) to Margaret River (Margs to the locals) for the weekend. Since BFF was on school holidays (as her day job is a teacher) I finished work on Thursday afternoon, picked her up and we were on the road heading down to Margs by 5pm and arrived at 8pm. Not bad, not bad at all.

I'm pretty prolific in my pic taking when I'm out and about. But to be honest, I spent more time enjoying the time away than taking pics. So here are a few of the pics that I do have of my fantastic time away.


Outside Vasse Virgin, I still haven't grown vary of seeing grapevines. It may take a few more trips to Margs for me to think shots like this are cliched. But until then, its fabulous!

The food! The food!! We ate, drank and rested well this past weekend. Here is a pic of our yummy lunch at Olio Bello. Seriously, if your ever down there..get down to Olio Bello and partake in their lunch menu..you won't be sorry.

Lastly, this pic is from an impromptu stop on our way to Boranup Gallery. I had an moment while standing in the midst of this forest. The trees were sooooooooooo high and I felt minute (yet) felt my place in this world and universe.

You gotta love best friends

I have a best friend.

She's awesome. Truly awesome.

Not only does she listen to me when I rant about things that are troubling me but she always helps me to try and find a solution ASAP.

Most recent crisis: Second sanding of over 300 items in one night.

I'm not gonna lie, I was dreading sanding all those items in one night as I knew if I kept a frantic pace I could complete the sanding in 6 hours without rest breaks.

So I begged, pleaded and bribed my BFF Danica to come over and help me sand (I should mention that I never thought she would EVER say Yes).

But she DID!

So rock on Thursday night, it involved a lot of sanding, a bottle of Rose, two servings of delicious choc mousse but we did it. We did it all.

It took us 3 hours to sand all the pretties. What would have been a trial for me turned out to be a fun experience with my best bud where we got to chat for 3 hours non stop. It involved a lot of laughs, a couple of highs and lows but in the end it averted another anxiety attack.

To end all I have to say is:

LULT Danica!