Featured Artisan: Christine Pike Ceramics
Filed under Featured Artisan
Made by Artisans is thrilled to present Christine Pike Ceramics.
Christine has been crafting and making collectable teddy bears and dolls for fifteen years. She has always had a passion for ceramics which came about when she learnt how to restore pocelain in the year before she attended university. Not only did this help supplement her student grant, it also helped plant the first seed in what would become her passion.
Having dabbled with ceramics on and off during all these years, she finally took the plunge and set up a proper studio in her Norfolk home. She now specialises in figurative ceramics alongside her other work.
Her inspiration comes a variety of sources. She is particularly fond of fairytales, fantasy themes and Edwardian postcards and illustrations. This is strongly reflected in her work which evokes a mythical and almost surreal feeling to the pieces.
Christine likes to experiment with different processes and techniques. She loves the clay medium, but also enjoys making her own paper clay, which lends itself well to more delicate designs and still provides great strength. Her pieces are all lightly glazed with oxide washes and stains, which give them a lovely earthly colour and texture.
Her decorated ware is achieved by using digital transfers created from her original pen and ink illustrations and drawings. Sometimes she will use lino cuts and print them directly onto the unfired clay surface.
Whatever the piece, you can be assured that they are original designs and truly unique.
Her most unusual commission to date has been for a handmade teddy bear, the requirements being that it had to be an exact shade of turquoise, with wings made from real feathers of dark blue and yellow. He also had a removeable bowler hat with a halo fixed to it. Needless to say the client was delighted with such a bespoke piece of work!
Christine is currently working on her first nude figure with some more fun dancing bears wearing party hats.
When asked what her given choice of cake would be the answer was lemon drizzle, but chocolate cake would not be turned down either!
Christine hopes that when people see her work they will find it amusing, exciting, desirable and hopefully gain much pleasure from owning.
We are delighted to annouce that Christine has kindly agreed to demonstrate her paper clay technique at the Fair. So be sure to visit and see for yourself a true artisan at work!
Christine Pike Ceramics Website
Showcasing hand-made and hand-crafted work by local artists, designers and crafters. Made by Artisans will remain faithful to the arts and crafts movement with only items handcrafted by the artisans present. No mass-produced or brought-in items will be sold at our events.