Craftsmanship

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Unique Wedding Gift ~ Hand Forged Lovespoon

Are you looking for a unique gift to give to the bride and groom?

Our maker Mike Davies creates unique forged Love spoons from his forge in Pembrokeshire

Inspiration for making the forged steel lovespoons developed from an idea, in 2002, of making an object from a single piece of steel. As a third generation blacksmith, the magical process of transforming shape by heating in the forge and hammering into its new form was the starting point. Having chosen and purchased a traditional hand carved wooden lovespoon with my wife, I selected the contemporary aspect of the chosen design and took it a stage further by changing the material.

I made the decision to eliminate the traditional symbols associated with the carved lovespoons, except for the heart. The fundamental design has changed very little and I continue to make using the original hand made tooling. However, the designs have become much finer and more recently new work has emerged with the lovespoons being burnt into and mounted on locally sourced wood. These tactile objects come to life when selected and purchased by an individual and become complete when presented to the recipient/s. They then become a reminder of a special event in their lives.

Single Lovespoon retail at £29.00 , shop now at www.pembrokeshirecreations.com

Double Forged Lovespoon retail at £49, shop now at

http://www.pembrokeshirecreations.com/double-hand-forged-love-spoon

Hand Forged Lovespoon on wood retail at £90, shop now at http://www.pembrokeshirecreations.com/hand-forged-love-spoon-on-oak

Introducing our Maker of the Month Carol Brinton Thomas

Over the next few months we will be selecting a ‘Maker of the Month’ and discovering the inspiration behind their work and learning a bit more about their work.

I would like to introduce you to Carol Brinton Thomas a potter & artist from Saundersfoot, our maker for April.

When did you decide that you wanted to do pottery? I attended Art and Teachers training colleges in the 60’s with the intention of studying painting in all 2 dimension mediums but discovered clay, and so pottery and ceramic took priority.

In the 70’s I moved from the midlands to West Wales to set up a pottery studio and have been there ever since making ceramics.

From what do you draw your inspiration? My inspiration comes from nature, Pembrokeshire, tradition, whether it be in pottery or paintings eg. daffodils are the Welsh emblem, Celtic swirl decoration from the Celtic cross designs, cliff pots from the strata in the cliffs, swirl bowl from the swirling water round the rocks on the beach, scenic from the inshore islands or Preseli hills, villages from Pembrokeshire pretty houses.

Describe in brief the process of making the pottery. Pots are hand thrown on the wheel, then hand crafted motives are applied to each pot. These are then glazed in a variety of colours giving a quality finish.

Which other Pembrokeshire maker do you have on your personal wish list? I really like Mandy’s jewellery of Wireworks Silver Jewellery (see her work at www.pembrokeshirecreations.com) and I like the work of the late Arthur Giardelli. I used to go to his studio once a month with some other artists to paint, he was still guiding us in our quest to capture what we saw up till the end, he was 98 when he died a few years ago. My daughter Rebecca Brinton was also one of his students and he influenced her a lot. She paints in a variety of mediums and also teaches art and often quotes him.

Thank you so much to Carol for sharing her pottery with us. We hope that you have enjoyed reading about the inspiration behind the makers work and we hope you’ve enjoyed learing a bit about Carol Brinton Thomas’s pottery.

Have a look at her pottery in the spring section at www.pembrokeshirecreations.com

Why Shop With Us

Pembrokeshire Creations is in its fourth year, so why shop with us?

First a Bit About Me…

Firstly I am a mother to two teenagers, a daughter, a wife and a homemaker. I am blessed to be living by the beautiful rugged North Pembrokeshire coast near Stumble Head.

After working in an Art Gallery & Craft shop for many years I discovered a passion for sourcing handmade unique craft and gifts. Unfortunately the shop closed in 2010 so in 2011 I decided to use my resources and my contacts with the makers to set up an on line shop http://www.pembrokeshirecreations.com

My Vision

Pembrokeshire Creations and Beyond vision is to show everybody that, as well as having the most beautiful scenery and coastline, Pembrokeshire is blessed with a host of talented craft people.

The business started off with only a handful of makers but we now have over 35 makers, mostly from Pembrokeshire and a handful from neighbouring counties.

SO WHY SHOP WITH US?

We’re passionate about hand-picking the best creative Welsh makers to sell their handmade items on our website, making it simple for you to find inspired, stylish or unique home décor, craft and gifts.

We don’t sell one particular style. We choose sellers who offer great design and the best quality unique handmade products.

No item is massed produced and you won’t find these items on the high street!

Support Welsh creative talent

By shopping with us you’re doing business with so many talented independent makers who care about quality and unique style as much as you do, as well as supporting the future and growth of creative talent in Wales

I hope you’ll love the handmade items as much as we do at Pembrokeshire Creations.

Llinos and the team xx

Lets Celebrate All Things Welsh

With St. Davids Day in a few days lets celebrate all things Welsh. Here’s my top seven things that I love being Welsh and living in Wales.

1. Our two famous cakes!

 

Welsh Cakes                                                        Bara Brith

2. Our Beautiful Anthem

3. The Amazing Coastline

     

Abermawr Beach (North Pembrokeshire)         Strumble Head Light House

4. Traffic jam on my way to work!

5. The Welsh People

6. The word ‘CWTCH’

The welsh word meaning cuddle or hug

7. So many talented cottage craft makers

Cushion available at http://www.pembrokeshirecreations.com

I would love to hear what things that you are proud of being Welsh and living in Wales, please leave comments in the reply box.

Making The Most of An Indian Summer in North Pembrokeshire

Beautiful sunset from the house

This weather is amazing and I’m so lucky to be living in Pembrokeshire, here’s my weekend.

1. Enjoying amazing sunsets from our   house

 

Available on line at www.pembrokeshirecreations.com

 

 

Here’s a beautiful sunset of Newport by Kerston Howard Photography

£38

 

Jug available on line www.pembrokeshirecreations.com

 

2.Making the most of the blackberries on our hedges

Blue Jug £24

Oil Drizzle & Canape Dish available on line www.pembrokeshirecreations.com

 

 

 

 

3.Eating alfresco with these gorgeous handmade Oil Drizzle and Canapé dish

Oil Drizzle £37

Canape Dish £22

 

Abermawr Beach

 

 

4.Evening stroll with the family down Abermawr

Maker of the Month Moira White

If you are ever in the Carmarthenshire area you must go and visit Moira White of Moriath Glass, a delightful studio in a tiny village called Cwmpengraig near Newcastle Emlyn

I had the pleasure of visiting this tiny studio in the heart of the countryside a week ago to see Moira at work.

Tell me a bit about your background About 20 years ago I started painting and stencilling on wood and then progressed into glass and started experimenting putting colour into glass. I bought a kiln locally and started selling my work in National Trust shops and at fairs. I opened a studio here at Cwmpengraig 5 years ago, I also sell at Origin in Carmarthen & Craft Alive in Llandeilio and of course on http://www.pembrokeshirecreations.com

Describe the process of making fused glass Some of the jewellery is created as individual pieces but most of my work is created from a larger slab of pre-fused glass.

First I choose the main base colour glass. Onto this I lay fragments of dichroic glass, coloured glass, glass powders, cut copper sheet, mica powders and glass stringers.

Lastly I cover the whole piece in a layer of clear glass cut to the right size for a glossy finish. Or if I want a more textured piece I will lay strips of clear glass across the base glass to give a rippled finish. Sometimes I place yet another layer or two on top again to give a really strong sense of depth to the piece.

The layered-up glass then goes into the kiln and is fired up to 760 – 800 C. As the glass heats up it becomes sticky and fuses together to form one piece. The firing takes a couple of days – the kiln only takes about 4 hours to reach the fusing temperature, but it takes a long time to cool down!  This cooling is extremely important and can’t be rushed!  If the glass is not cooled/annealed at the proper rate it can fracture under the strain and hours of work are wasted.

Once fully cool, the pre-fused slab can be cut and shaped with diamond circular-saws and ring-saws, and any sharp edges smoothed with a grinder.  The individual pieces then go back into the kiln at a lower firing so that the cut edges can be fire-polished to give a smooth glassy finish.

If I’m using a pre-formed glass bail, this can be fused on at this stage – the pendant is balanced on the bail in the kiln and as the edged are polished the pendant will stick to the bail and become one piece.Otherwise, a sterling silver bail is attached with epoxy glue after the final firing. Or I will wrap the glass in sterling silver wire.

Depending on the finished design of the pendant each piece will have been through the kiln between one and three times, although basically it keeps going back in the kiln until I’m happy with the result!

 

From what do you draw your inspiration from? Living close to the land on a small holding in west Wales I am immersed in the landscape – from big skies of shifting shadows to a small beetle hiding under a leaf in the polytunnel. I draw my inspiration from the colours I see every day all around me.

Finally what other makers work do you admire? I love Graham Grace’s work, he puts so much detail into every painting.

You can see and purchase Moriath Glass Jewellery from www.pembrokeshirecreations.com