We are so excited to have a very special Guest Blogger this week. Beatrice is
an artist whose unique and original designs have us inspired and reaching for the sketchbook! Here is her wonderful story of her journey to her beautiful new range...
Ode to a Jam Jar.
Hi everyone, I am so
excited to be a Guest Blogger here at Duck Egg. I met Ellie by chance and was
pleased to learn that she is busy getting on with her beautiful designs not far
from me near the Ashdown Forest. I too am busy designing and making here in
Brighton and Ellie has kindly invited me to share my newest project with you…
Pots To Put Things In.
I have always been
delighted by the mundane items of everyday life. There is nothing more
appealing to me than a kitchen dresser jostling with eggcups, teapots, and
toast racks. I love the way that things rated ‘special’ such as granny’s silver
tea pot, once carefully displayed, over time come to take their place next to a
drying wishbone, a stone from the beach, a postcard slotted behind the spout.
These objects and their haphazard arrangements tell such individual tales and
illustrate to me the beauty and richness of our run of the mill, domestic
existence.
One of my all time
favorite day to day items (possibly on a par with The Matchbox) is the humble
jam jar.
A jam jar is a basic
vessel, often on the stout side, yet when clean and gleaming, label removed,
all trace of it’s past life scrubbed away; it is an elegant item. In my eyes
full of promise, bursting with possibility, ready for anything.
You can do all sorts of
clever things with jars but essentially you can put things in them. And you can
stick labels on them. And I do love a label.
Which is how this
happened…
Just imagine, I thought,
if that label were to say ‘Sweet Peas’
And then - as sometimes
it’s hard to stop just there - ‘Perfectly Pink. Personally picked for your very
own perfumery pleasure.’
Or some such.
So I made this one.
With this on.
And suddenly it was a
real item – a Home Ware.
I was pretty keen on
this development, this pot pleased me on many levels.
So, I got to thinking,
as some might say…
I stared at many jam
jars, made moulds, poured clay.
Things were put in pots,
things were stared at – lots of staring, thinking I like to call it - pictures
drawn, glazes fired, colours sampled.
Some of this:
and some of this:
Eventually I arrived at
these:
Seven different Pots To
Put Things In.
This picture was taken
before the final tweaks to the labels, I made some little changes such as more
white in the Sticks pot and darker writing on the Shells label. You can see the
whole range on my website www.beatricevonpreussen.com where you can also
buy your very own pot to put things in.
And remember, you don’t
have to do what the label says, it’s just for fun. All these pots make
beautiful and unusual vases, or chopstick storage, or magic wand holders…
So there we are. The
tale of how Pots To Put Things In came to be.
They are 1 pint in
volume, hand made in England, dishwasher and microwave safe and cost £32 each.
Except for the Kitchen Pot, which is 2 pints – fits more stuff in – and costs
£36.
I carefully wrap each
one and it arrives in it’s own little box, with a bow, on your doorstep; ready
to jostle up next to Granny’s silver tea pot on the dresser.
It’s been really good
fun writing this and looking back over all the pictures, I hope I can come back
soon to join Duck Egg Designs.
