beach dunes and ocean blues

A few years back, I had created a set of beach-inspired vases for an installation in Wellfleet, Cape Cod at my friend Susie’s gallery. The last of these beauties is now heading off to a summer cottage along with a set of ”beach dunes“ cups inscribed with peace, happiness, love, and beauty. Plus a tiny glass bird, hand-blown by my friends at Henrietta Glass, a small woman-owned studio in Pawtucket, RI. Putting together gift sets like these is just so satisfying.

big thank you to lil bub fans

full disclosure: i am the big sister of lil bub’s dude. if you don't know who lil bub is, i recommend doing an image search on google.

for lil bub’s third b-day, dude wanted to raise $50,000 for lil bub’s big fund for the ASPCA. to help him reach his goal, we came up with a limited edition set of two lil bub wee tea cups, with all proceeds from the sale going to the fund.

to my very big surprise all the sets sold in less than 24 hours, and we raised $6100 for the fund. i want to thank all the lil bub fans who purchased a set. you are amazing.

the wee teas are being hand poured, hand stamped, dipped in glaze, typography and lil bub images applied, kiln fired (3 times). it will just take me a little while to complete.

i have to say, it feels incredible to support such a good cause with just my two hands. thank you for giving me the opportunity.

a wedding set for K&A

A friend commissioned an everyday plates and bowls set for a wedding gift. I love the results: bowls are stamped with the couple’s initials in vintage Caslon 540 letterpress type, the wedding invitation monogram is applied to the front of the plates, the colors bring spring into K&A’s home all year round.

how to make a cover for an ice bucket, out of liquid porcelain, hmmmm...

The cover had to be spacious enough for the ice bucket to be removed easily. Making a model is a hard process, made more difficult by the fact that my porcelain shrinks about 10% while it goes through all the firings.

For the ice bucket to fit well, the model had to be at least 10% larger than the final product. Quite a design challenge.

I created a model out of plaster, it is giant, and heavy, and took about two months to get right, the first and second try ending up being too small.

The mold for the cover, also out of plaster, is even larger.

It takes 5 gallons of porcelain slip (liquid) to fill the mold all the way to the top.

It is impossible to empty it out by myself, and I end up spilling the slip all over.

When the cover finally comes out of the mold, it has a very rough edge due to being drained upside down.

While the cover is in the ”leather-hard“ stage, I cut out the handles, and clean up the edges with a sponge.

You can see how much the cover shrinks, the knob of the lid is peeking out on top. It is well below the rim in the previous photo. The carrying handles double as a resting place for the ice tongs.

I made four covers, one for me, and three for the client, Lippincott, a graphic design firm in NYC. The covers are glazed blue inside, and ivory on the outside, to match Lippincott’s other gleena dishes, click here to read more about their custom tableware set.

lovely registry for Christine and Peter

I love how Christine chose mostly ivory for her set of dishes, accenting with mustard, pink, green, and orange on a few pieces. So elegant, and fun.

housewarming mugs

ocean waves, a custom table setting created for a couple who love to surf

on 9.8.12 J&M got married

congratulations Kelsie and Doug

The best part of creating custom wedding registries has been meeting and working closely with the couples. Kelsie and Doug contacted me a few months back, they were looking for a set of handmade tableware with botanical illustrations. That’s gleena! K+D decided on a color palette: ivory, pear green, and warm gray. And then they decided on a variety of images from the gleena collection, creating a one of a kind set of dishes, uniquely theirs.

K+D got married a few weeks back, and I just saw their wedding photographs. How wonderful that the set of gleena dishes echo all the amazing details Kelsie and Doug selected for their day. The gorgeous photographs are by DreamLove Wedding Photography. Click on this link for more beauty.

Thank you Kelsie and Doug, it has been a joy to work with you!

a very satisfying, and challenging, commission

Lippincott, a graphic design firm with offices in NYC, recently renovated their space and was looking for unique tableware to compliment the new decor. I was lucky to have been chosen to create their custom set of dishes. The challenging part of the project was that certain items requested by Lippincott were not yet part of the gleena line. The lucky part was that I have been wanting to create the same pieces for a while, but have not had the time, and needed this extra push. Here are the new pieces designed for the project:

The condiments tray holds two salad dressing bottles, and bowls for ketchup, mayo, mustard, etc. Lippincott orders lunch from a few catering places which deliver sandwiches with condiments in small plastic containers. The porcelain bowls easily fit the plastic containers, hiding them in a much nicer presentation.

The labels on the side of the bottles are set in Lippincott’s corporate typeface, Stymie.

The coffee accessories tray holds a milk pitcher, a cylinder for spoons (or stir sticks), and a container for sugar/sweetener packets.

The word ”sweet“ is stamped into the bottom of the sugar packet container.

The 10-inch lunch plates are decorated with the Lippincott logo.

The 7.5-inch dessert plates are decorated with graphics provided by Lippincott. They are clever collages of the logos the company has designed over the years. My image transfer process was definitely pushed to the limit with these graphics. Solid, even coverage is impossible with a transfer from a laser printer, and it was wonderful that the client embraced all the quirks of this low-tech, handmade process. Each plate ended up being unique, creating a sculptural presentation.

The soup/salad bowls are stamped with a letter on the front, and a corresponding client’s name on the inside lip.

The staff that sets up the lunches wanted to handle the food as little as possible. A 12" in diameter salad serving bowl fits the salads delivered in a plastic container, again making for a nicer presentation, with no food handling and easier clean up.

The mugs are decorated with the home cities of the firm’s partners, making for a nice conversation starter at client meetings. Lippincott logo and motto are applied to the bottom of each mug.

The staff was a little bit concerned with the durability of my dishes, they serve lunch to a client almost every day. This will be a good test of porcelain (my own formula, mixed in the studio). I think it is extremely durable, and I hope Lippincott is amazed by its strength!