Birthday and Bonanzas

Last Friday it was mine and my dad’s birthday, missing out on sharing the happy day with Queen Elizabeth herself. The weekend before, my family came to visit to celebrate. I’m sure I’ve mentioned last year about me and dad sharing our birthday – we no longer share a cake, but it is lovely to…

Christmas Coloured Ceramics

What can I say? It’s as good an excuse as any to show off pictures of West German Pottery… This year, I’ve not asked for any particular pieces of pottery; mainly because we have so much already. Obviously, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at a Scheurich 414 or a Carstens Ankara piece… If you’re…

Cue Carstens

One of my favourite makers of West German Pottery is Carstens. This has evolved over the past few years as our collection has (not literally) exploded, allowing us to make groups of similar forms, glazes, colours and factories. Carstens is a company that I consistently find myself wanting to collect and keep. From gorgeous, delicate…

New Carstens Ankara Pottery

This is take two for this post. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that I tried to write about my gorgeous Carstens Ankara earlier in the week. Unfortunately, the WordPress gremlins were out to play so it all messed up. Fingers crossed for this time round! These are all new ones bought on the last…

Sunday Car Boot Sale in Glossop

Yesterday’s glorious sunshine saw the start of the car boot season for us properly. We made it to both the Oldham Rugby Club and Ashton Town Centre car boot sales. There weren’t massive amounts of retro and vintage goodies to be found, but we did (well, I did!) come away with a few things: They…

From Spritzdekor to Madbrit: The Many Personas of Kevin Graham

“I have collected things before: fast cars, fast motorcycles and even faster women…” Kevin Graham certainly lives up to his nickname of Madbrit. I knew before I began that interviewing him was going to be an interesting experience. Certainly, I hoped that I would be able to get at least as much sense as I…

Carstens ‘Ankara’ Pottery

One of my favourite pots from previous trips is my black Carstens Ankara. I was thrilled to find another one on the last trip in a different form: And with the original find: I love the bright, turquoise glaze inside. The Ankara glaze seems quite fragile on these vases. We’ve got a couple of the…

Presents: Pottery and Pictures

Merry Christmas! It’s been a lovely Christmas – and it’s still not really over for us. The weekend before Christmas, we had the early one with my family. Then we’ve spent Christmas Day in Glossop, had friends over on Boxing Day. This week, we’ll be seeing Aidan’s family as well; all before we have to…