Thought I should share with you my ‘Victorian Bounty’…..

One particular aspect of my work is to use salvaged shore pottery to inspire and embellish my pieces of work.

When my kids were small we spent lots of time messing about down on the shore at Silverdale. Up-turning sods to hunt for crabs and scrabbling about in the mud to look for ‘shore treasure’. And what is the ‘shore treasure’? It is the results of a Victorian Tip. Many years ago folks must have brought their rubbish to the shore to dump; old bottles, broken crockery and pots. It will have been covered with the shifting sands over the years and as the tide turns the sandbanks get eroded and the ‘shore treasure’ is revealed.

Shards of old trifle dish with edges smoothed by the tide make gorgeous angel wings. (My shore angels became so popular that I would pay my children 50p for every wing they found!!) But we’ve cleaned the beach now and angel wings are in short supply. Beautiful chintzy pottery could also be found and I have used this as gardens for my ‘Houses on the Hill’ and frocks for my angels or, pretty flags on my chintzy bunting.

Occasionally you can find a special piece that has text on it; I once found a ‘present from Silverdale’ in beautiful silver cursive script. I incorporated this into an angel dress as a gift for a visiting friend. Old storage jars with the crest ‘medal of honour for marmalade’ have been found in various states and I have used these for prizes for my running club pals.

My latest commission is for a door panel incorporating a personal local scene….the husbands name is Eddie! (More on this panel soon).

Another recent commission has been for a twin. She wanted fairies and shades of turquoise…and she also liked the pottery that I had incorporated into her sisters ‘Princess and the Pea’. I thought these ‘twin’ fledglings were most appropriate.

I still like to get down to the shore now…although it is getting harder and harder to find colourful pieces. I like to think i have provided a service….’beach cleaners’ we called ourselves!