My Favourite Season Is Here, and Exciting Product News

by Ness Lockyer

My favourite season is here, technically tomorrow, but Spring is already bursting to life, and I find myself filling every jug, vase, and bottle with spring blossoms and blooms!

We’re still working away on the rejuvenation of our main veggie garden, and since adding the apple crates to the outside of the garden, it has let me get a head start on planting- the new seedlings have really taken off!

These are the apple crates, and they are so easy to look after! I would actually like more in the main patch, but we can’t find the amount we need, so these ones will do for now.

The last owners loved the poison, RoundUp, and used it under all of the beautiful old ornamental and fruit trees. Since 2016 when we purchased the property, I’ve been feeding the gardens with lots of organic matter to bring them back to life, and it has worked wonderfully! There’s still lots to do outside, but at least I know I have saved the grounds.

We’ve been taking time to enjoy a slow coffee lately while we plan the next renovations, and Mic and I are absolutely loving this new coffee from Emme Mac Black. We have three different blends for our French Press, but right now my go to is the Bob Bob blend. It’s all roasted here in Australia too! It’s nice to come into after a day in the garden or the studio.

Speaking of studio…

The Custom Glass Baubles are back!
I’ll be releasing them, as well as the next batch of Wee Hoose Decorations, this Friday 2nd September at 7pm Sydney time. Each bauble comes with organza ribbon, and in its own box that you can use to store it after the season has finished. There will be limited numbers in both releases, and as you know, items sell fast. Don’t worry though, I will be making the Wee Hooses right up until Christmas.

~ Ness xx

Leave a comment

My favourite time of year with lots of new items

by Ness Lockyer

I’ve been busy…..

busy making lots of new pieces for Marley & Lockyer. I adore this time of year- hints of Spring are in the air, and I tend to spend a lot of Autumn and Winter putting my sketch ideas into a more workable form, ready for testing and design. So, when it comes time to actually be putting pieces in the kiln to release, it gives me such a great buzz….and I know that the Christmas season is here.

You know how much I love a Wee Scottish Hoose, so making a small version to hang on your tree has been something I have wanted to make for YEARS! I released these this week just gone, and they were sold out in minutes. I put up another batch, and gone in minutes as well. I will have more ready soon, but I need to build these batches of pre orders first – each Wee Hoose is completely hand built. It takes time.

Something I released today was these new Nutcrackers. There is also a “bust” version- without legs. The last few years I have made small Nutcrackers, but these ones are big at nearly 10cm tall! The bust ones are 6cm tall. After some requests, I’ve also added a hanging hole to these ones so you can hang them on your tree. For comparison, last years Nutcrackers were 4cm in size total. So, it’s nice to have a really good sized one out this year.

There has also been this years Forever Wreath. The last few years I didn’t make them as the post during the height of the pandemic worried me that they would never arrive in one piece…so I held off. I’ve made these a little thicker this year with a lot more leaves, and every wreath is different, just like a real wreath would be.

The new Pie Dish has also been released. For the last 3 years, I’ve been releasing a new design in limited numbers. This years pie dish is from one of my favourite Christmas songs – “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas”….but let’s face it, I love ALL Christmas songs 😆

The Hope Latte Mug is one of my favourite new mug releases. The sweet little bird with a hand drawn branch, offering a reminder of hope. I think we all need that right now.
There has been so much going on around here lately, that I’ve been a bit slack with blog posting. We’ve been busy building new vegetable gardens, and rejuvenating the ones we already have. I’ve been working on some furniture pieces, and we are planning some more updates to the farmhouse, but it’s kind of hard to find the time as I’ve been so inspired to create lately, and when I get that urge to make new things I have to go with it. It absolutely fills me with love for my work, and after all, that’s what it is all about.

I hope you love these new pieces I’ve been creating, as well as the new plates and bowls that are in the store. I actually have a new farmhouse sized mixing bowl in the testing phase at the moment, and I hope to release that in the next few weeks. For now though, I’ve just had a great idea, and I need to get it onto paper.
Have a great weekend.
~ Ness x

Leave a comment

New Christmas 2022 Pieces, and Other New Happenings!

by Ness Lockyer

Whether you’re a lover or Christmas like me, or not, there is no denying it is creeping up with 23 weeks exactly to go. The nature of ceramics means that Christmas planning starts about 12 to 15 months beforehand, and making starts in January. It’s a long process of testing and getting the feel of the collection right, then there is the building of stock to make sure we are on top of it all when it really hits…..and I love the whole process!

This years Christmas 2022 mugs have been released last week that you can see above. There is the Jingle mug, which I’ve made this year in our new mug design, and the Tree Farm mug. I love that they have a different feel to each other this year. I wanted a more fun calligraphy style for one (jingle), and a chalkboard sign style (tree farm) for the other. I’d love to hear what you think. They’ve been going like hotcakes so far, which is lovely to see.

I’ve also just started to release some new pieces for the coming season, including the new Santa Keys, and the Alba Star. Each of the Santa keys vary, just like each door. These are great if you don’t have a chimney, and you can leave them out on the door mat so Santa can get in to deliver his presents. The Alba star is made from my own thistle design that I emboss onto the stoneware. It’s name comes from the Scottish-Gaelic word for Scotland = Alba, and seeing the National flower of Scotland is a thistle, it just seemed fitting. I’ve made a whole set of these for our own tree this year!

New Santa Keys
The new Alba stars

I’ve also been getting into the routine of adding a new tutorial/episode to my YouTube channel each Tuesday. The most recent one is all about making this chalkboard recipe. It’s a great recipe too! You can watch the episode HERE

At the moment I’ve been building on the calligraphy and chalkboard tutorials, but I will be starting to add some ceramic Hand building, styling, diy and more to it over time. If you do head over, please like and subscribe. If there is anything you’d like to see there, please let me know.

New Highlander Garland mug

With the cold of winter set in here in Tasmania, I’ve been thinking more about making our home more cozy, baking, and lots of coffee, hot chocolate, and soup. I like having soup from a mug, especially if I’m answering emails or doing something while I’m eating. That way if I get sidetracked, my soup doesn’t go cold. These new Highlander Garland mugs hold around 600mls, which is perfect for soup…or as some customers tell me, a beer 😂

The new Highlander Utensil pot her with the Callander Pitcher

The new Highlander Utensil Pots sold out straight away, and I do have more drying as we speak. I’m loving these to fill with knives and forks if we are having a buffet style gathering, or to hold my pastry brushes and the like next to the oven. I’ve been using the Callander Pitcher as my wooden spoon holder lately too. I’m loving the two pieces together.
It’s been lovely lately to dive into creating with all the uncertainty in the world. It’s a little session of calm, and I’m so glad you love what comes out of the studio!
Talk soon – Ness x

Leave a comment

Super easy Apple Oatmeal Muffin recipe

by Ness Lockyer

These would have to be some of the easiest muffins I make here on the farm. Sometimes I’ll be making a batch while everyone is getting ready in the mornings. They are quick enough that you can make them when you know someone is on their way over for a cup of tea too!

Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee in the new Green Botanic Latte Mug

They are super easy to make, and I’ve been playing around with other versions too by adding sultanas, or cranberries alongside the apples.
——————————————————————-

APPLE AND OAT MUFFINS

Ingredients-

1 1/4 cups of self raising flour

2 tablespoons of caster sugar (I use a bit less)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 cup of apple purée

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

2 small apples (cored, peeled and chopped)

3/4 cup of oats

METHOD-

Preheat oven to 180c

Put all ingredients into a mixing bowl, except flour and whisk until combined.
Add flour and fold through until JUST combined.
Divide mixture evenly into 12 muffin cases and sprinkle tops with oats.
Bake for about 25 mins until cooked through. Cool on a wire rack.

—————————————————————

That’s it! SO easy, and you can freeze them to add to school or work lunchboxes too.
I hope you have a go, I’d love to know how you like them if you do.

Btw, the new YouTube calligraphy/chalkboard art tutorial will be up tomorrow.

talk soon, Ness xx

Leave a comment

Taking a positive step forward

by Ness Lockyer

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing some planning, mainly on getting more regular at posting here, and on my social platforms aside from Instagram. There’s been a lot happening with Instagram, and creatives are not liking it. Being made to pay for posts to be seen, or your posts are hidden is one of the main things people aren’t happy about. Impressions have dropped for most businesses, even the huge accounts. It’s really sad as it started as such a great platform, and has been great for a long time…until the last year.

So, I have started a TikTok account (you won’t ever see me dancing or lip syncing there though!), as well as my YouTube channel. These will be some great add ons to my blog, Pinterest, Facebook and VERO accounts.

I’ve also made a decision to catch up with my newsletter subscribers each Tuesday. If you haven’t signed up yet, the pop up form will show on my website page HERE. That way you would know to be expecting a little hello from me each Tuesday.

I did want to show you my new Watercolour Tea Cups on the top shelf here that I recently released. I’ve been playing with the technique to get it to have that painted on look, and I’m really happy with how they turned out. I’d love to hear what you think.

I feel like there is so much to show you, like the Hannah Latte Mugs. Each one hand painted by me. I love how they are each that little bit different. I’ve also made some Everything Bowls to match, and they have been both received so well.
I’ll be looking forward to tomorrows kiln unloading as I have some brand new pieces that I can’t wait to see.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you would like to see here on the blog. I plan on sharing behind the scenes, what I’m up to, what jobs we have on the go around the farm with renovations, calligraphy, recipes, styling and some diy…a bit of everything really.

I can’t wait to share more with you.
– Ness xx

2 Comments