metal is clay

Celebrating National Clay Week 2017, new cookbook The Crafted Dish goes on sale online at thecrafteddish.com Canadian Thanksgiving - a perfect day to dish up a new cookbook benefiting thestop.org , an organization that works on many aspects of food security and building community. The Crafted Dish is full of recipes submitted by clay artists, with the food served on their gorgeous hand-made dishes. Creating the book was a zero-cost project, with all of the work done by a fantastic team of volunteers, lead by Carole Epp (she of the excellent clay web-site musingaboutmud.com ). Go SEE some of the recipes - if only the Instagram feed was scratch and sniff... My contribution to the crafted dish is a gluten-free nut butter cookie recipe (hint: if you don’t tell anyone it’s gluten free, they won’t care, they’re good cookies). I offer a grateful nod to all the other cookie recipes I have ever read because I modified and substituted, and went through lots of trial and crumbly erro...

It’s January. It’s cold. Comfort foods rule. And we’re on the way to February—still cold—and the first of the chocolate holidays… Perfect time for a tray of brownies. Gluten free chocolate brownie: topped with dark chocolate ganache fondant icing and dried sour cherries, dusted with icing sugar. Served on a wood-fired stoneware platter. Christine Pedersen. 2016. A gluten free friend sent me this brownie recipe back in 2002—and I still have the original email I printed off. The paper looks a bit brown now - not from age - just the accumulated smudges of brownie batter and fondant icing from hundreds of bakings… For I am “She Who Brings The GF Brownies” to neighbourhood functions, a deliverer of dessert to those prowling the buffet table in the hope of a dietarily-appropriate chocolate fix. But, if asked, other guests do not seem to care that the recipe also happens to be gluten free, they’re just scarfing down really good brownies before they all get eaten. All this makes me po...

Merry Christmas! Have some rich, dense and creamy gluten free (GF) shortbread—a small (but cunning) gift from me to anyone who is gluten-free or loves someone who is… And if everything goes according to plan, it will mean that lots more people will be able to offer home-baked gluten free goodies when I go round for a visit! My mum’s shortbread was legendary, not least because it lasted for such a short time once she’d baked it… I have modified her recipe by increasing the usually small amounts of ground almonds and rice flour to completely replace the wheat flour. And I took inspiration from her use of whipping cream to ‘wet’ and bind the dry ingredients, instead of just using water. What an amazing difference—that creamy, fresh flavour I had always loved is right there in the first taste. See below for recipe. Gluten free almond, rice four and butter shortbread baked in an unglazed stoneware tray. Diameter 10”, 0.75” deep. The trays make great pizza too. Christine Pedersen 2015...

The Herring: Pre- and Post-Mortem. Champ-levé enamel pendants in copper, fine silver, sterling silver. I loved learning to enamel - the instant wow factor as I stepped into a world of colour - fusing glass to metal. Right now, I am working in champ-levé and cloisonné, and exploring surface effects when the enamel powders are spread directly onto flat metal. it's going to be a very colourful experience. Enamelling appears to date back to at least the thirteenth century BCE(1), with a more modern history boasting master metalsmiths, jewellers, and designers like Fabergé, Lalique, Tiffany, and Cartier. We’re likely more familiar on a daily basis with our enamelled iron pans, kitchen tools like colanders or bread bins, the traditional enamelled cast iron tub, or ubiquitous “white goods” - so-named for the white-enamelled steel panels. There are even obsolescence - and maintenance-defying - enamel-clad “Lustron” houses built in the US for returning WWII vets(2). “You’re ...

There's a fairly long line-up of stuff that gets me hot under the collar… This is also the title of a sure to be excellent upcoming show featuring contemporary necklaces that I, sadly, won't be in. So I decided to have a solo show and post a picture of my current favourite new necklace: "For The Girl Who Has Everything: A Snack". "For The Girl Who Has Everything: A Snack". Sterling silver, stainless steel, gluten free cookie, brass, cubic zirconia. Constructed. 2012. There is at least one reason I won't be in the show: I didn't enter. And there's a reason I didn't enter… That would be the $30 fee to have my entries reviewed for potential inclusion. Simply put, I have hemorrhaged far too much cash recently entering shows—the same amount would have bought me a considerable amount of raw metal and gemstones, a run of business and post-cards, or even the best part of the airfare to go see the show! It's not that I'm against ...