My first commission in January this year to make 10 gold lined bowls for a friend of a friend in Winchester, was really the beginning. As I made the bowls for her my clever son designed and made my website for me and I decided how to package my work and created a business card; it was exciting and I suddenly had a reason to apply all my business and PR skills (from another life!) to the process. It has been a busy year; working in platinum was next and these lustres are notoriously tricky to handle. There is a lot of trial and error and it's very hard when a piece I particularly love doesn't make it to the end of the line - perhaps it will crack in one of its three firings or the glaze won't take properly - it's always hard to accept, but I move on quickly now. A few days ago I really did put my head above the parapet by taking a stand at Kite Studios Christmas Fair in West London. As I carefully unwrapped my bowls and sculptures for the display, I was struck by the familiarity of their individual shapes, curves and idiosyncrasies. It was as if I had made them that morning, and as people chose and bought them, and I packaged them carefully in their boxes, I found myself saying a silent goodbye to each piece as if it was an old friend. This time last year I was just beginning to work with porcelain and lustres and now, 12 months later, complete strangers will be receiving my gold and platinum bowls on Christmas morning, chosen just for them. I honesty could not be more amazed or proud.