Margaret Glackin Ceramics

Margaret Glackin, originally from Ireland but now based in Yorkshire, is a ceramicist and woodworker creating both larger art works and domestic ware.  She is also a very lovely and interesting person.

Margaret's BCTF stand 

Margaret's yarn bowls and domestic ceramics are fired in her own glazes which she has mixed with her Irish and Yorkshire heritage in mind and they all are named accordingly, for example Giant's Causeway and  Brimham Rocks.  This creates everyday items that are also works of art.  

Dipping bowl set with board

Margaret uses reclaimed timber from places such as house renovation projects which she then gives a second life as furniture items.  In her repertoire are large pieces such as dining tables and benches as well as shelves and log carriers.  She is such a capable woodworker that her and her partner built a workshop and studio where she works in her back garden!

The studio.

One of Margaret's most popular ranges are her yarn bowls which she recently had featured in Simply Knitting Magazine.  For those of you unaware of what a yarn bowl is it is a bowl for knitters to put a ball of wool inside to stop it from rolling across the floor at regular intervals.

Yarn bowl

These are stunning in their "heritage" glazes and I know of people who have bought more than one for themselves!  

Should you want to find out more about Margaret and her work you can visit her website here or visit Fabrication in Leeds where she has many items on sale.

A different dimension...

A blog.  You need to write a blog people tell you and deep down I have known that a blog is where I should go next but I have that problem, the little demon that sits on your shoulder and whispers in your ear, "But who would be interested in what you have to say?".  "What do you do that could be of any interest to anyone but you?"  What's more, I have tried blogging before as you can see further down the page but I have to say I struggled.  It is not something that comes naturally to me!

A week or two ago, myself and three friends met to discuss our progress and plans for The British Craft Trade Fair which we are all taking part in at the beginning of April.  We are quite diverse in our specialisms, Bec Gilray of Do You Punctuate creates beautiful letterpress stationery, Liz Samways makes stunning sterling silver and copper etched jewellery at InkyLinky and Margaret Glackin sculpts gorgeous ceramic yarn bowls and homewares amongst many other things at Margaret L Glackin Ceramics.  Despite our diversity we all have the same thing in common, we work alone all day submerged in our own worlds with no-one to bounce ideas off and so the chance to get together is really valuable.  The lure of cake helps too!

Bec's knitting notepaper

Liz's Fox pendant

Margaret's yarn bowl

At our 'business' meeting we got chatting about blogs, whether we have one or not, their relevance to a business and what sort of thing might be interesting to blog about and it turns out that I probably do have interesting things to share with you all.  Apparently, what I do from day to day when creating my jewellery is interesting to my friends!  My inspirations and the processes I go through to take a thought or an idea through to the end product are interesting!  Who'd have thought it?  So this is the beginning of a new journey for me into the land of Blog and a chance for you to see a different dimension to my work as well as the things I love and the lovely things other people make.