Gilbert and Stone

Bunting Bonanza!

My name’s Kate and I’m a bunting addict.  I love how the jaunty colours and cute motifs bring fun and frolics to any space. Over the past couple of years I’ve made gingham bunting, crochet heart bunting (made using a great pattern from the amazingly talented Lucy at Attic 24) and an assortment of seasonally themed bunting :  ghosts, pumpkins and bats for Halloween, gingerbread men and hearts for Christmas and hares and eggs for Easter. So obviously I had to have a go at some ceramic bunting, and here’s the result:

Each pennant has the design embossed into the surface- I’ve done two colourways, a red and grey glossy version and a more traditional red white and blue satin glaze version.  I really enjoyed putting a new twist on the ubiquitous Union Jack bunting that’s appearing all over the place. My version is guaranteed never to fray, fade or go soggy in our Great British Summer! You’ll find it in my Etsy shop.

 

Open for business!

This week I opened not one, but two online shops! It's taken much longer than I expected to get to this point, but after months of designing, mould making, slip casting, firing and painting I now have a Folksy and an Etsy store. Why two stores? I couldn't decide which would suit me best, so I've uploaded the same items to both and will see how they go- wish me luck!

 

What lies beneath

Things have been extremely muddy and dusty chez nous the past week or so. We've been doing some ground works in preparation for an extension on the back of the house, which has meant removing a couple of hundred tons of earth from the garden. It's been an 'interesting' process. For example, whoever would've guessed that 3 natural springs have been slumbering peacefully under our lawn? This soggy discovery resulted in numerous site meetings, long silences and shaking of heads before an elaborate (and expensive) drainage plan was settled on. Why are these things never straightforward?!

 It wasn't all doom and gloom though, it also turned out that the residents of our cottage at the end of the nineteenth century were massive slobs! We unearthed scores of lovely antique bottles, earthenware pots, a broken stopwatch and some old shoes.
There's all kinds of different bottles, my favourites are the grandly named 'Ellimans Royal Embrocation for Horses', Pearce Duffs Lemonade Crystals and a smaller one embossed with a single word 'poisonous' (gulp!) A quick google dated the bottles between 1890 and 1910. They look pretty good in their new home on the kitchen mantlepiece.
On Saturday we escaped the water feature for an hour to watch the Olympic flame pass through St Stephen. Though it was heavily guarded by a crack team in cycling shorts, we managed to get right next to the torch as it was lit. In seconds it was gone, hussled through the village at breakneck speed before disappearing off in the huge convoy, logos and music blaring. 

Spring through the square window

I'm overdue in posting the seasonal view from the window at the front of our house- I've been waiting patiently for a sunny day as I didn't want to dispel the myth that it's always sunny in Cornwall!
One good thing about all the rain is that the plants have gone into overdrive, everything seems so green all of a sudden. That's my cue to sow the less hardy seeds- beans, cucumbers and courgettes have all gone into pots in the greenhouse today.