Christmas is coming....

December has crept in this morning , bringing with it, a cold and frosty dawn, the water troughs are frozen and the grass had a pleasing crunch as I trudged through it out to feed the animals. I love the first few days of December. Time to look forward to Christmas and all the joy it brings!
Christmas for me is the busiest time of year , and each year I try to design something a little different for my clients although the Christmas hanging dove above is a perennial favourite as are the holly stars . This year customers seem to be taking the patriotic route ordering lots of the union jack doves and stars and hearts as well as the stars and stripes which is popular with my American customers .

Hearts are a constant theme but after a trip down to the South of France to see the Carmargue this summer I fell in love with the floral motifs of the gypsies beautiful fabrics and embossed leather designs and designed these hearts with an embossed floral design.

I love Mistletoe and the wonderful way nature creates such symmetry. We have great balls of it in the trees here and I have used the same motif on all sorts of decorations this year including hearts and doves as well and ceramic Christmas gift labels using my mistletoe design .

Of course Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without an invitation to kiss under the mistletoe and this 10cm heart on its Gingham ribbon has just the message for anyone who is shy in coming forward.

All the ceramics are available direct from me, you can email me at unpeuloufoque@free.fr

and other designs not shown here, including the patriotic range mentioned , are on my website http://unpeuloufoque.com/creations.html .

Prices are doves £3.50 each, 10cm Hearts £9.50 each ,small embossed Hearts £3.50 each and gift labels £3.50 in either Bisous or Noel design.

Postage and packing to anywhere in the world is a £2.50 per item with a resuced rate for multiple items sent in the same package. I will also gift wrap and send direct to someone for yo with your own message. Last postage date from France is the 12th December so remember to order early for Christmas!

Love is in the air.

It is that time of year again when a young womans fancy turns to love and alas most young men are, as ever, at a total loss as to how to be romantic. Well Chez Nous anyway!!! It's hard each year to come up with a valentine's design that is a little different from the cuddly bears hearts and flowers image that abound so I thought Id try something a bit Gothic and more sophisticated this year to add to my collection and hopefully tempt a Romeo or two to make a romantic gesture!

So here we have my Valentine's collection .. or some of them ..

If you are interested in any then please email at unpeuloufoque@free.fr. Prices range from 10 pounds sterling for the large black and white Gothic hanging heart to 5 pounds sterling for the smallest 5cm heart, plus postage. All can be personallized with a short message and are available in black and white or red and white.

Of course if you would ratherer secretly hope someone might buy you one then email me their email address and Iwill send them the link with a note saying someone who loves you would rather like one of these!!

Well you never know it might work!!! Heres hoping your Valentines day is a romantic one!!

A drum roll please for the Christmas Give-Away!!

Well here we are then, the time has come to make the prize draw, the names are in the hat and some more than once , all legal and honest and no slight of hand...everyone ready.. no pushing at the back!..Firstly may I just say that I have really enjoyed doing this so Thank You ElizabethD for encouraging me to join in and meet lots of new interesting bloggers whom I might have never met otherwise. Thank you too to each one of you who entered and made such kind comments about my work, they are much appreciated.


Alright its not really a hat but Brigitte here was not willing to donate her hat and insisted she hold the basket instead as it matches her hair...vain creature...


Widdle, one of our cats, decided he'd help and act as ajudicator just to make sure everything was above board. Here he is checking all the names against the list of entrants in case I have forgotten anyone.

He wanted to take the names out of the bag too but, being a little lacking in poseable thumbs as he is, I thought I had better get a human to do that....

And the winner of my Glazed Expression Christmas Give-Away draw is.....oops sorry dropped the paper.... now where are my reading glasses? You'd think I could read my own hand writing wouldn't you.. sorry, as I was saying the winner is....are you sure you want to do this? You wouldn't like a nice cup of tea or something instead? Or something stronger? No? oh well if you are sure then lets get on with it.

The winner is... or should I say are ...

Jan and Tom from Jan and Tom's Place ( http://jt-jantom.blogspot.com/) Well done you...!

Oh look do stop looking so miserable not everyone can win everytime. Oh now stop it at once I hate grumpy faces... go on then, I shall be kind and draw a few more Christmas Give Aways as well to get you all in the holiday spirit ( I know its months away yet but as I said before some of us have to plan early!)

Here we are then another drum roll but smaller this time..3 small give aways just because I hate dissapointing people... and the first ones goes to Fennie ( do read Fennies very funny blogs http://corner-cupboard.blogspot.com/) and thank you Fennie I see you have linked to my glazed Expressions that was very kind.. .. Carolien who does the most amazing stitching see http://caroliensstitches.blogspot.com/and finally but not least to Debbie of Debbies English Treasures who has a real conrucopia of floral china on her new website and blog http://d-e-t.blogspot.com/

Now if all you lucky winners would like to email me with your postal address and your real names so I can send your giftees to you I will pop them in the post on monday..sorry to those who didn't win this time but if you are interested in anything that you see on this blog but you don't see on my website then email me and I will be happy to let you know prices and details.

I am really sorry I couldnt give everyone who entered a little something....perhaps I will do another one later to make up for it. I do love giving things away..Any if any of you haven't tried Give Aways on your blog then I hope you will soon. Its great fun !

Must go now as I have some very important parcels to prepare! I haven't taken photos of the prizes as I do not want to spoil the surprise but hope the winners will be kind enough to display their well earned gains on their blogs so everyone can see them when they arrive.

Have a good weekend!

Ho ho ho Christmas has come early and its all ED's fault!!

You know how it is, you think someone is sweet and kind and then blow me down with a feather you find that under that gentle demeanour is hiding a grim determination and you discover that the woman you knew as a charming English rose is in fact really a hard bitten bully after all !

For months Elizabeth D has been gently prodding me to do a "give away" ~on my blog , and I keep saying Ok yes of course, blah de blah and never getting around to it , Yesterday she gave me a prod with a sharp stick and reminded me , yet again in no uncertain terms, that I should get my finger out and do as I was told.

So, here I am doing as I was told to do . Asking a band of total strangers if they'd like a chance of a freebee something or other that I have made . Well would you ? It might be a ceramic heart or a Christmas decoration or card ( I know I know Christmas already but yes here in retail land Noel starts on 16th October and wow betide the artisan who has not got their stock sorted by then, sorry you din't think Santas helper did it all over night did you?!). It could be a tile or a tiny cat or goodness knows what I haven't got that far yet so its a bit of a pig in a poke but whatever it is it will be packaged up and posted with love from me to you.Apparently it works like this all one needs to do is leave a comment on this blog, and if you find your name picked at random to receive something from my box of creations. I am not sure what length of time these "give aways" run for ,being a novice at this, but how about I say the winner will be drawn at random on October 27th 2008 , midday French time and I am relying on ED to remind me of that too! Of course that gives me almost a month to make up a pleasant surprise little package that I think someone might like and to bite my finger nails to the bone whilst I wait anxiously to see if anyone wants to join in that's all! ALSO I AM TOLD THAT IF YOU PUT A LINK TO MY GLAZED EXPRESSION BLOG ON YOUR OWN BLOG YOU GET AN EXTRA CHANCE OF WINNING THE GIVE AWAY ( see what a learning experience this has been for me already and its only teatime!) If you want a taste of what I do go to my website http://unpeuloufoque.com/ to see more.

Honestly I do like ED, she is a really really lovely person and butter wouldn't melt in her mouth and she is as warm and generous as the sun but she can't half nag that one! (Is that Ok ED? Did I do it right?)

PS The Christmas card above is one of several I have been working on this summer..the angel is wooden and hangs on wire and can be detached from the card and used as an ornament afterwards. Below are two of a set of three ceramic American Patriotic Christmas cards , the third is a dove in the same design, for those in the USA I also do Union Jack ones too.., Nothing like making Christmas cards in August to get you in the holiday mode!

On the tiles in Marrakesh

Carpets drying on the mosque roof top







Abandoned lamps on the road to Marrakesh


I started this long long ago on my return to France after our trip to Morocco but then the Computer God cursed my internet connection and it has sat here dormant and unloved whilst I gave up and sauntered off to play in Italy Greece and various ports in between.





Traditional carved plaster work

I went to Morocco hoping to be inspired by all the ceramics and tiles and wondering if they might in turn influence my own work. In the end, beauteous and abundant though the tiles were, it was the over all colour and designs that captured my imagination not only in the tiles but in every aspect of life there. Everything is so vivid and even the humblest pieces of furniture become a work of art form in themselves covered in traditional Berber designs.



I had planned to write about about how the Spanish and Moorish cultures had influenced ceramic design in Morocco and visa-versa, to recommend the best museums to visit to explore the decorative culture of the area to describe, as many have before, the infinite skill and patience of the craftsmen who spend their days engrossed in the making of the small tiles that when placed together form the Zillij designs which go back centuries and are still sought after the world over... how the skills and tools used have not changed for generations and so much more

In the end pictures speak louder than anything I can say so , instead, here are some photographs of some of the eye catching designs I fell in love with in Morocco. I hope they delight and inspire you too.



Traditional Berber designs on wooden ceilings

Carpets (below)

Putting my cards on the Table

Cards are vexing things. They are expensive and have a short shelf life, when you take them down it seems a shame to throw them away but what else can you do with them? Recycle them perhaps? Put them in a shoe box for later as a reminder then forget them never get them out again until you move house and they become just another bit of clutter? They may look jolly on the dresser for a day, a reminder that someone cared enough to send it to you, but after that how long do you have to keep them on display without people asking what the occassion is and you feeling a rather sad and pathetic prat and saying well yes it was for your birthday and no it was 4 months ago ...?

The French are not, on the whole , terribly taken with the idea of sending greeting cards. Supermarkets stock a few bland and dated offerings, the Maison de presse the odd one or two which are slightly more flamboyant but on the whole you would be pushed to find anything original or different amongst them. Nothing to make the recipient feel you had gone out of your way to find something just for them. Sometmes too, you want to send a card that is a little bit more than jsut a card for occassions when a present might be a little over the top but when something more than a card is called for.

So I put my thinking cap on and decided I'd bridge the gap and do a series of cards with ceramic motifs on them, some on ribbon hangers, some with magnets which can be kept as mementoes once the card has out lived the occassion.

And this is what I came up with....

They seem to have taken off quiet well, the baby cards a popular with th eold fashioned prams in pink blue or yellow, and the rather 1930's suburban villa with its red roof is a hit. The teapots and ladies heads are magnets, and of course there is inevitably a dove.

Each is made from good quality card and each is slightly different . The colours vary and the background pattern is not always the same which gives them an individual and original touch. They come in their own protective cellophane sleeve with an envelope, either white or coloured and left blank for your own message.

I am working on more designs at the moment, a three tier wedding cake in pink and white and a few other trifles are cluttering up my desk.

If you are interested you can find out more via the link below or contact me direct via email.

http://http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/unpeuloufoque/product/ceramic_greeting_cards

Avoiding the Evil Eye

When I lived in Egypt, long ago, on the Nile River, which ran beneath my balcony, every vessel from the tiny fishing boats to the ornate gold floating pleasure cruisers, bore painted eyes on their prows like those on the pharaoh’s tombs to ward off danger. Taxi’s and Lorries and the big people carriers , so prone to accidents they were known locally as flying hearses, held together with dust and rust all had brightly coloured eyes superimposed on a hand shaped design, plastered on them. Even the Zabbaleen, the despised Coptic Christian garbage collectors carts had them and in Upper Egypt, the women place hand prints on their mud walls with ochre pigment. Every shop, every office every handcart selling Coca-Cola had a hand and an eye hanging from it, even the Cairo Hilton had one above the front desk and the horses pulling the caliches on the Corniche wore them on their bridles . In shops everywhere you could buy self adhesive versions of varying degrees of luridness for a few pence. The goldsmiths make them encrusted with gems and sell them to the wealthy for a fortune.

This hand and eye symbol is the خمسة, Khamsa/Hamsa meaning “LIVE” in Arabic, a protective symbol used all over the world. Look and you will find it in Jewish houses sometimes inscribed with prayers; you will see it too amongst the Masonic symbols. Turks and Greeks paint it on their boats. In America and Europe between the wars it was worn by women on charm bracelets and was as common as a horse shoe or a four leafed clover as well known as a a wishbone.

It dates back before Christianity, before Judaism and before Islam so far back that its origins and full symbolism are hazy. Do the 5 fingers represent the 5 books of the Torah or the 5 pillars of Islam, is the eye the eye of Fatima Zahra, the daughter of the prophet Muhammad, or of Miriam the sister of Moses who hid him in the bulrushes to save him from the Pharaohs slaughter of all the Hebrew newborn infants? No one knows but across the world it has become a sing of the protecting hand of God, whoever that God may be, a magical talisman against the envious attentions of the evil eye, an amulet of protection and it crops up in the most unlikely places. Even Hollywood celebs are wearing them now, Nicole Richie for one, mind you with as a best friend Paris Hilton she may need all the protection she can get!



If you need a little protection yourself or just think these would be fun to hang up in your home have then email me.


Ceramic Blue Evil Eye


( 10cm wide handmade and cobalt glazed on a blue beaded leather thong.)
3.00 sterling plus 2.50 sterling postage.

Ceramic Hand of Fatima


(18 cm long handmade and glazed in bright colours on a beaded leather thong)
10.00 sterling plus 2.50 postage.