Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Porcelain and Crochet


Yesterday I was fortunate enough to see a demonstration by a very talented lady called Tania Tuominen who specialises in hand made ceramics in porcelain. Her current range is called “Women of Influence”- a range of contemporary hand built ceramics in Southern Ice porcelain with a fresh look at the art of crochet. Tania uses crochet doilies to imprint the porcelain and most of the doilies were made by her Finnish grandmothers over 30-50 years ago. She has named the pieces after the women in her family who have most influenced her creative life and they all have interesting Finnish names such as Maija Liisa and Iida Vappu. A short narrative of four of these women is included with each tea light or vase Tania sells, so the customer can appreciate and share in the sentimentality of the work. I fell in love with a pretty medium sized tea light which is big enough to also be used as a little bowl for sweets, potpourri etc.  Isn’t it pretty ....


Here it is with a lit candle inside


I love how the glow from within shows the pattern so beautifully.
Tania’s whole range was awesome –


 I would have loved the lamp but it was a little out of my range.


My crochet (and a little bit of knitting) this week has been a bit of this and a bit of that – wasn't motivated to work on my baby blankets and just needed to fiddle.  I have fallen in love with the flowers – don’t know what I’ll end up using them for but they’re such fun things to make. The green and white thing on the left is a coaster which is part of a set featured in Simply Crochet - totally not worth the effort so I won't be making the placemat and serviette ring !!


If you're interested in Tunisian crochet, Bev from One Yarn After Another is having a crochet-a-long to learn the mitered square stitch. Bev has had a lovely baby's blanket pattern using this stitch published in the February 2013 issue of Crochet World. I'm sure she'd welcome anyone wanting to join in.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the week.
xoxox


7 comments:

  1. Hi Dorothy..What a beautiful and unique idea.. So pretty...xoxo

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  2. Hi again dorothy.. Love the little flower and the doily is very pretty.. I can see it would take some effort to make though, not sure I could handle it.. :) xoxox

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  3. That range of porcelain is gorgeous Dorothy! Love your crocheted flowers, coaster and beanie from your 'fiddling' :-)

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  4. Thanks for mentioning the crochet-along. I love your finished projects. You always choose such beautiful colors. I do love the pretty lamps. So lovely and soothing.

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  5. Very interesting and unique pieces! So pretty. I would have wanted the lamp too. I have a "thing" for lamps and have lots of them in my house. Your candle holder is very pretty too. Glad you were able to get one to enjoy.

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  6. I had a friend who made porcelain items using a doily as an imprint YEARS ago... I mean 37 years ago! I would love one of those candle lamps!! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  7. Loved your work and those lamps! However, I especially liked the one you purchased! Most lovely!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment. I really appreciate hearing from you. xox