Custom Orders

A few weeks ago I got an email about whether or not I make kitchen canisters, and while I've made lidded jars before, I hadn't really made canisters.  The taller of these will be for coffee, with the smaller holding tea- pretty, aren't they?  I just thought I'd show you the picture of my bottoms and lids- I trim feet on both my teapots and, in this case, the canisters so that the pots look like they are 'floating' on the counter top.  As a little detail the stems go all the way to the foot- which look so lovely when you turn it over.  Of course a really great fitting lid is a must...
For custom orders I always make an extra set, because you never know if something is going to go a little awry in the process.  And it's a good thing in this case too- I've still got a tall one in the cupboard with a stubborn lid that won't come off and a short one who's lid ended up being a bit to big- so it currently doesn't even have a lid. It's extra time to make the doubles, and frustrating when something doesn't turn out, but it's a huge relief to have a set ready to ship at the time I had estimated for the client!
I'm currently making a Poppy jug for a wedding present, but this time with the Turquoise blue and white with red poppies. It's great to have an excuse to play around with my designs based on someone else's request but taking custom orders can often be a challenge.  At the end of it all I'm always hopeful that it has turned out to the expectation of the person ordering it and that it didn't take so much time out of my regular work that it wasn't financially worth it.  In both these cases it hasn't felt that way so I'm pleased that I took the projects on.  And maybe I'll start making canisters or turquoise blue and poppy jugs from now on because of those requests!