Ode to a Jam Jar- An inspirational artistic journey from our guest blogger Beatrice von Preussen

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…

(picture from thecuriousbumblebee.tumblr.com)

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.

Unless otherwise state all images Copyright to Beatrice von Preussen, photographic credits to Gregory Davies.

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