Vintage doilies and clay creations

I've been collecting vintage doilies for some time now and love using them for embellishing clothing, tablecloths and yes, even ceramic creations.

When they are covered in liquid clay and attached to a clay form the cotton burns away in firing and you are left with the beautiful  lace pattern. 

before firing

Here is an example of how I am using the doily as the pattern to cut varying size holes in the clay forming a flower frog.

This is a great way to repurpose damaged doilies.

These pieces had stains and the two small ones were ripped in the center.

When it came out of firing,

 I liked the white matte finish so well that I chose to leave it and only glazed the insides and bottom to make the pieces water tight.

This is a creative way for repurposing someones handcrafted pieces beautifully 

and preserving the past.

Just out of firing...

my latest creation

inspired by where I live 

   and by the William Morris quote,

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”

It measures 10" X 3" and is replacing my old colander 

that is seriously dented and rather unattractive.

Creative fun, using barbecue skewers, chopsticks and drinking straws 
to create the holes in the clay form before firing!


And another one created to donate to this worthy cause
World Hunger Bowl

It's a girly girl thing,

a sweet little tussie-mussie

created with eyelet lace and clay.

This tussie-mussie was fashioned as a bottle stopper for a small bud vase,

so when there are no fresh flowers, it is still filled beautifully.

And since several friends that were with me 

when I was fashioning it, had never heard the term before,

here is a brief description.

A tussie-mussie is a small flower bouquet, 

typically given as a gift.

The term tussie-mussie comes from the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901),

when the small bouquets became a popular fashion accessory.

Often they would include floral symbolism from the language of flowers,

and be used to send a message.

Sending floral fun your way…