From time to time, often to mark a collectors event, or a ’signing’ visit by Hazle to one of our stockists, we  take a ceramic from the range and paint it in a particular way for a specific numbered quantity. When the final number is painted that livery will never be produced again.

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The Dickens Collection

As we look forward to the bicentenary of Dickens birth in February 2012 we present three Dickens themed Limited Edition Paintings as our Christmas 2011 offering. There will be just 50 of each building in this Limited Edition available as a set of three or individually. The earlier numbers will be reserved for the first collectors buying the complete set of three.

Hazle’s inspiration for this comes not only from the upcoming Dickens bicentenary, but also from her own love of Dickens’ works, and also the parallels that can be drawn between then and our present times.

The complete set of three is available now in the Numbered Ceramics section of our shop or each ceramic can be purchased individually. Each ceramic will be come with it’s own informative certificate.

Our Mutual Friend - Dickens at work

Our Mutual Friend

Based on our unusual corner building at Upton upon Severn. This ceramic is designed and painted by Christine, and shows Dickens writing at his desk in the  left hand window, and on one of famous public reading tours on the right hand side.

Alongside the first floor windows, we see three of Dickens most famous characters, beautifully painted in sepia tones.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

This is based on the  Charles Dickens House Museum, 48 Doughty Street, London, where the Collectors had a wonderful gathering to launch the building in the company of Cedric Charles Dickens some years ago. (they now have a cafe by the way—we had to bring our own picnic back then…..)

Our Carol has painted the walls with Carol singers in Victorian dress. Dickens wrote several Christmas stories, the best known and loved being ‘A Christmas Carol’ The signboard outside reads ‘Charles Dickens 1812 – 2012 A Great Legacy’

The Pawnbroker

Painted on ‘England’s Smallest Pub’ The Nutshell in Bury St Edmonds, which was once a pawnbrokers!  The signboard outside, features part of Mr Micawber’s famous quote the rest of which is ’ Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure Twenty pounds ought and six, result misery’. (We thought we’d stay on the happier side for Christmas)  The character of Mr Micawber is said to be based on Dickens own father.  A sign on the side of the building points to Marshalsea debtors prison, where Dickens spent time as a child, with his father whose debts led him there. The top floor houses the Circumlocution Office’ from ‘Little Dorrit’ a place of endless confusion where things go round and round and  nothing gets done.  This was a comment by Dickens on the way government obstructs and discourages progress, and clarity.  Frequent visitors to the pawnbroker were women trying to feed and clothe their families with whatever small assets they had, the result of widowhood or alcoholic husbands. A pawn was a pledge and the practice of securing a loan in this way began in the Italian province of  Lombardy under the name of Lombard Banking.  The symbol is said to have represented three gold coins converted to spheres to better attract attention.

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The Royal Theatre showing ‘The Mikado’ or ‘Madame Butterfly’

We’re turning Japanese with two Limited Paintings on our Royal Theatre Building!  Both with posters beautifully painted by Christine and with colours and details to compliment the theme of the show.

Based on the 19th Century theatre in Northampton, this building was  designed by Charles John Phipps.   He was one of Britain’s most prolific Victorian theatre architects with over forty buildings to his credit, starting with the Bath Theatre in 1863 and including the Savoy Theatre (London 1881) and finishing with Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, completed in 1897, the last year of his life. This particular theatre is a real gem inside and well worth a visit.

Choose from Madame Butterfly at the Royal Court Theatre, set in Japan at the turn of the century, this tale of the doomed love of an American naval lieutenant and his young Japanese bride inspired Puccini to write some of his most beautiful music.

or  choose The Mikado at the Savoy, home of the D’Oyle Carte Theatre company.  It opened on March 14, 1885 at  the Savoy  and ran for for 672 performances, which was the second longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time.

Limited to 30 of each painting.  Make your section of Madame Butterfly or TheMikado in the numbered ceramics section of our shop.

An informative signed & numbered Certificate accompanies.

The Royal Theatre measures 21.5cm (8 & 1/2″) tall x 11.4cm (4 & 1/2″) wide.

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Chandlery by the river – Launched 26th April 2011

This corner building is

The Chandlery Window

located in Upton upon Severn, a small town with an extremely pretty high street!  Over it’s long history, this building has housed a number of different businesses, but here we present it as a chandlery.  Upton upon Severn has a busy marina, and tourists visiting the area often choose to enjoy a boat trip along the river!

Our building in Upton High Street

Here we see the shop windows filled with canoes, kayaks, lifejackets, and all the things you would need for a boating break.  Upton is also home to more than one annual international festival, and as the sign beside the first floor window shows, this little shop also sells festival tickets!

The Chandlery by the river is a Limted Painting of 200 ceramics.

It measures 20cm (just under 8″) tall to the top of the chimney x 10.5cm (4″) wide at the widest point.

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Sherlock Holmes, The Final Problem

Painted on the Sherlock Holmes Museum, this illustrative ceramic features a fully painted wall, showing the famous visit to the Reichenbach Falls,where Dr. Watson presumes that Holmes and Moriarty have both fallen to their deaths down the gorge while locked in mortal combat.  Painted by Carol, who was keen to follow up her earlier Sherlock Holmes tribute to the Hound of the Baskervilles, This version also has a more detailed version of the parlour window, with a tea table set ready for tea.  The Sherlock Holmes House measures 23.4cm (9 & 1/4″) tall to the top of the chimney x 9cm ( 3 & 1/2″) wide.

A Limited Painting of 20 ceramics

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F W Woolworth - 1935

F W Woolworth opened his first UK store at 25 Church Street, Liverpool in November 1909, translating a ‘5 & dime’ idea into 3d & 6d. By the 1930’s there were over 400 stores across the country.

‘Woolies’ as it was called, joined the nation in celebrating every Royal occasion with souvenir china and bunting. In our ceramic, we see the shop decked out ready for the Silver Jubilee of King George & Queen Mary, in 1935. As that time, Woolworths booasted that they sold ‘Nothing over 6d’ but World War II, and inflation soon ended that!

A limited painting of just 80 ceramics.

Woolworths measures 18cm (7 &1/16″) tall x 10cm (4″ wide)

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The China Factory Shop -20th Anniversary Limited Painting

China is the anniversary symbol for 20 years, and so for this, our 20th year of trading, we present the blue and white china factory shop.  It is set in Longton, Stoke on Trent, where the last bottle kiln was fired.  Today this is this site for the Gladstone Museum, which if you find yourself in the area, is well worth a visit.  The ‘ghost’ of a bottle kiln is shown on the wall, and the window is filled with the delicate blue & white china, that for so many years was produced in the area.  This is a numbered limited painting of just 50 ceramics on the Kitchen Shop bisque.

The China Factory shop measures 21.9cm (8 & 3/4″) tall to top of chimney x 11.2cm (4 & 1/2″) wide at widest

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The Roaring Twenties – 20th Anniversary Limited Painting

Another celebration of our twenty years, let’s hope the next 10 years are a roaring sucess! Here we look back at the 1920s, a new decade and the dawning of a new post war era, when hemlines raised, and flappers decked themselves out in beads and feathers!  Over the years we have painted very few fashion houses, but the beautiful styles of this era where always on our wish list, and these beautifully painted windows bring the styles to life.

A limited painting of just 50 ceramics, the Roaring twenties measures 22.5cm ( 8 &15/16″)tall to the top of the chimney x 9.5cm (3 & 3/4″) wide.

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The Chantry at Christmas

Located in the High Street, Billiericay, Essex. The Chantry House was built around 1510 on the site of an earlier building erected to house the priest who served the Chantry Chapel (now St Mary Magdalen) in the 1340s.

Ship’s governor Christopher Martin, a provisioner of ships, owned the Chantry building and lived there until he sailed on the Mayflower with the Pilgrim Fathers to New England. As provisioner, he also supplied the food for the voyage. Sadly, he perished along with his wife Marie, Solomon Prower, and John Langemore shortly after their arrival at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The building has had many uses and changes of ownership over the years, and is currently a restaurant. On the front of our ceramic version, you will see the date of building, 1510. Drive past the real Chantry in Billericay, and you will see a different date… local historians agree with our date!

Here we present the Chantry dressed for Christmas, with snow on the roof, wreaths on the walls, stockings hung ready, and a christmas tree on view inside.

The Chantry at Christmas measures 16.9cm(6 & 3/4″) tall to the top of the chimney x 12.4cm (4 & 7/8″) wide, and is a limited painting of just 80 ceramics.

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The Synagogue at Chanukah

Located in Northampton, this lovely building was built in 1884, and designed by Phipps, who was also responsible for The Savoy, and Her Majesty’s Theatre, in London.

Errol Flynn’s first performance was at this theatre, but here we present it as a Synagogue, ready for Chanukah.

Chanukah (Hanukkah) also known as the Festival of Lights is celebrated for 8 days in Nov./Dec. each year. It begins  with the lighting of the ‘Servant’ candle and one other candle of the Menorah candle stick . Another candle is lit each night till all 8 are alight. Special foods and games are enjoyed throughout the celebrations.

The sign reads ‘May your holiday be filled with joy and light’  The name & word details of this synagogue can be changed  as a Personalised ceramic. It is highlighted with 22ct gold. The Synagogue is a limited painting of just 50 ceramics.

The Synangogue measures 21.5cm (8 & 1/2″) tall x 11.4cm (4 & 1/2″) wide.

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The Police Station

Based on 221b Baker Street. According to the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this was where Sherlock Holmes lived and today the building houses The Sherlock Holmes Museum. The Building itself is a Georgian town house and was used as a boarding house from 1860 to 1936. As the home of a great detective, albeit fictional, this has to be an appropiate building to present as a Police Station.

Our ceramic features cast metal railings and the traditional blue lamp outside. The Police Station is a limited painting of just 80 ceramics.

The Police Station measures 23.4cm (9 & 1/4″) tall to the top of the chimney x 9cm ( 3 & 1/2″) wide.

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The Ski Chalet

Painted as the companion piece to our very sucessful Surf Shack, here we present the Ski Chalet, with it’s beautifully painted walls showing the silhouette of a skier against a snowybackdrop, and the shop windows filled to overflowing with everything you could want for a ski holiday! propped outside the door are a pair of skis.  This ceramic is ideal for personalising, we can replace the wording with the wording of your choice, and makes the perfect gift for all skiers and snowboarders.

The Ski Chalet is a limited painting of just 30 ceramics, and measures 23cm (9″) tall to the top of the chimney x 9.5cm (3 & 3/4″) wide.

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Our Ceramics are individuals! hand made and hand painted with care, individual artisits work can vary, and a photo of one ceramic will not depict exactly every ceramic painted. They are hand made and individually finished. This means the measurements can very slightly from one to another, but only by a milimetre or two.