New Moby Dick Necklace

Pressed ceramic Moby Dick earthenware necklace (http://bysaw.bigcartel.com/product/moby-dick-necklace)

Book Title Brooches

Some designs I've been doing for fun, they're carved into plaster and then the clay is pressed in, and measure around 2.5 cm across.

Spirit Specimen Drawn Tiles

 Here's a few of my wall tiles based on the London Natural History Museums Spirit Collection. Its called that because the specimens are kept in alcohol, not because all the little and large creatures are magically stored with their animal and plant spirits floating around them, but it's a nice name, and gives my work an unintentionally mystic title. The alcohol has to be topped up constantly as it is forever evaporating, which apparently is a bit of a boring job as there are thousands and thousands of jars to do.

The original pen and ink sketches for these tiles are reproduced on my Spirit Collection tableware, that you can see (here bysaw.bigcartel.com)and I'm currently making a new batch of tiles for an exhibition later this year at the Ruthin Craft Centre. Here's the first of many....

Independent Tableware Museum Drawings

My tableware got a lovely mention in the Independent Magazine today on their 'Reccomended' page... (http://www.independent.co.uk/property/interiors/what-to-do-see--buy-the-reclaimed-tile-company-sophie-alice-wiltshire-joanna-basfords-secret-garden-graham-nash-8551804.html)

Mugs and bowls with this Spirit Collection design are available from my online shop- bysaw.bigcartel.com, where I've been experimenting with new products and prints, using sketches taken at my time in the Natural History Museum storage areas, which have been sitting neglected in sketchbooks and illustrator files. It's such a buzz getting a load of transfers through in the post, (which could have something to do with the strong chemical smell of the sheets)  and seeing the images away from the computer screen and on a product.

Moby Dick

The start of some Moby Dick themed brooches....and some based on a childhood hero of many many people- Geoff Keegan who ran Byker Grove with some of the mightiest facial hair that 90's TV had to offer!

Winchester Bindery Mugs

I have just loaded the kiln with a batch of mugs which were a commission for Winchester based book binders The Winchester Bindery...this is a photo of them before they've been fired, so you can still see the blue backing of the transfer paper, which will burn away in the kiln. Here's the design of College St..

William Walker

Today I've been doing a project that's been on my list for a long time- a figurine of a Winchester Victorian local hero- William Walker. Every kid growing up in my town had to learn about him, as he dived under Winchester Cathedral and filled the marshy waters there with sacks of straw and what not to stop the Cathedral sinking! It always seemed pretty far fetched that ground could be both stable enough to hold a Cathedral but soft enough to dive in!