Irish Cream Whiskey bottles

Porcelain bottles of alcohol are always very popular. Last year (2013) I made three small bottles and filled them with home-made Irish Cream Whiskey. It has a shelf life of 2 months but it has never been a problem yet. And when there is no more alcohol left to drink you have a beautiful bottle/vase.
The colors in this glaze are really brought out well by the camera flash.

semi glazed bottle

title: Bottle me up, fence me in

porelain, clear glaze. cork stopper

25x10x15cm

For Christmas presents this year, I made some olive oil bottles that I topped up with olive oil infused with rosemary. Olive oil was originally stored in ceramic jugs because it keeps best when not exposed to light.

This bottle and two others were covered in slip then stamped with wire mesh. I left the outside mostly unglazed and used clear glaze to seal the inside. I wanted to exploit the raw texture of the slip and stamped wire and not confuse these beautiful feelings with colors. 

I should do more unglazed work. I like it. Pure shape.

sea glass window

title: Chumporn Bay
30 x 80cm
sea glass and silicone

I did this on the skylight above our kitchen door, on the beach cottage in Chumporn.

Sea glass candle sconces

 I love giving handmade gifts for Christmas.
I also love seaglass.
I made these pair. The brown sea glass sconce is kept on the beach where we gather the glass: The Plantation in Chumporn.
The green seaglass forms a turtle shape
each sconce is about 35cm tall and 30cm across the top.
I put sand in the bottom to help the candle stand up and clean easily.

This sconce is made of white seaglass with three brown sea turtles swimming around.

This was a gift for Santa Swap at Turtle Spit.

Needless to say it was fought over.

A Fish Called Panda

 Title: A Fish Called Panda
acrylic on canvas
60 x 80cm

AT The Black Pearl, our property in Phuket, Thailand, lives Panda: a gentle, loveable and very clumsy, accident prone dog. One day after a walk on the beach he snagged his foot in a fish hook.
This painting was done just after this accident. He has recovered from this and many other accidents. He is still the most gentle smooshy dog in the world.

I started silkscreen printing my own wrapping paper for Merry Mohicans. Some years we have a tradition of alliteration  theme Christmases.  Each theme starts with 'M'. For Merry Mohicans, I had feathers printed onto brown paper. Then for Merry Majesty in 2011, I did crowns. And just recently, 2013 Christmas on Turtle Spit, was Merry Movie-stars. So I did turtles with stars on their shells.
I usually use the wrapping paper to recover shopping bags.
I like that it's all on brown paper, recycles materials and not bought.