Hand-Painted Mugs

Sometimes when I'm between projects, I try to come up with new ideas for our pottery.  A couple weeks ago, you saw the evolution of our large bowls through the years.  It seemed like such a big jump when I started hand-painting our bowls with so many different colors!  From there, I started hand-painting everything!  But only this past week did it occur to me to hand-paint our mugs.  The picture above shows the first ever Jean Elton painted mugs and I am so excited about them that I will probably keep them in my kitchen for myself.  But even if someone didn't want a whole set, wouldn't just one be a fun gift?

The Evolution of Painted Bowls

When asked why she started hand-painting her large ceramic bowls, Lois remembers a conversation she had with a fellow ceramic artist at the Rosen Show in Philadelphia several years ago.  "The woman had hand-painted her bowls and was selling like crazy," Lois says.  They got to talking and Lois mentioned how much she admired her work, while lamenting her own lack of drawing skills.  But the woman encouraged Lois to begin painting.  And that's how it began!  That's when Lois started painting plates; she liked it so much, she eventually graduated to hand-painting all her work!Browse the gallery below to see the evolution of her painting prowess on her large bowls.

The New Wall-Hangings

Wall-hangings are not a new idea to Jean Elton Studio.  In fact, we've been creating wall-hangings for years!  But you might be surprised at how much they've changed recently.

If you are unfamiliar with our larger wall-hangings, take a look at them on our website.  The wall-hanging you see there is a four-piece, three-dimensional wall hanging measuring 22" high and 52" wide!

But recently we have started creating much smaller wall-hangings like the one you see to the left, for those of you who may not have nearly 5-feet of wall to spare!  Interested in how they are made?  Keep reading!

As with many of our hand-crafted ceramic art, the wall-hangings begin with a slab of clay.

The slab of clay is then cut into smaller pieces and placed on plaster bats.

Next, we hand-stamp each piece of clay with any number of phrases.Here are some examples.(We do take custom orders!)

In order for the wall-hangings to remain flat, we have to cover them with another flat, plaster bat while they dry.  When they are completely dry, they are fired in a bisque firing.  Then comes the fun part: painting!

Next, we sprayed them with a transparent glaze so they would be shiny and then fired them again.  Here's the finished product, not including the one you will find as an April item on our website!

And there you have it!  As previously mentioned, we do take custom orders, but even if you're not ordering, we welcome ideas for words or phrases you'd like to see on a wall-hanging.  So leave them in the comments, or you can always find us on Facebook or Twitter.

Ceramic Jars: From Blue to New!

For years, I've been making these little ceramic jars and glazing them with one color or another.  They have never been a big seller like our dinnerware, but they are a fun little item.  Just a few days ago, however, I asked myself why I had never tried to hand paint one of the jars, like I do the plates.  So I decided to try one.  Suddenly the hand-painted jars are getting so much attention!  See the picture below and tell me what you think!  

This jar is on special offer from now until the end of March for anyone who is a fan of ours on Facebook, or a follower on Twitter!

Making of Plates

Jean Elton has its own line of plates that are glazed in a wide variety of colors and designs.  But the process from just an idea of a plate to beautiful, hand-painted one is long.  It begins with an idea, then a drawing, then a complicated process that turns a drawing into a three-dimensional physical object.  That object is then used to create plaster molds, which allow us to replicate the plates over and over again (as you can see in the video below).

Another special feature...

We all know how beautiful the ornaments have turned out to be, but did you know they can also be personalized?

Just use a fine point Sharpie to write your personalized note on the back.  It can be anything from a simple "to/from" note to a short message for your loved one.  More ideas:

• Use them as gift tags to top presents
• Give them as gifts to teachers, students, employees, and other friends
• Give them as your yearly Christmas ornament to your children
• They also make great stocking stuffers!

The prices range from $2.75 to $4.25, so order yours today!

Ornament Update

As you may remember, JE artists Kathy and Lois were hard at work on their Christmas ornaments.  They rolled the clay into large slabs, used cookie cutters to create tons of fun shapes, used straws to add holes to each ornament, stamped each shape with the Jean Elton logo, and once they dried, they were each cleaned up around the edges.

Next, they were fired in the bisque firing.  How did the bisque turn out?  See the pictures after the jump.

The ornaments were fired in the electric kiln, as seen above.

In a bisque firing (or the first firing), the pieces can be stacked on top of each other.

The electric kiln was stacked full of shelves like this with piles and piles of ornaments.

If ornaments aren't given enough time to dry before firing,they will break in the kiln, as seen here.

Here, Lois is unloading the kiln by removing the shelves.They are very heavy!

Finally, the bottom of the kiln and the last of the ornaments to unload.

The ornaments are stacked according to their shape and put into boxes.They are now ready to paint!

New Art: Water Color Designs

New from Jean Elton Studio, artist Lois Barker uses "water color" type glazes to paint these bowls by hand.  All designs are completely unique, and yet match perfectly with each other.  Each bowl or plate takes several hours to complete, and that's just the painting! These designs are available in all sizes of plates, bowls, and even lamps.