Meet a Maker: Edition 9

Meet Heather Croft

1. What is your craft and how did you get into it?

I am an enamel artist. I did a one-day course when I retired because whenever I bought jewellery it was always enamel. From that day, I was hooked. Enamelling with recycled copper and silver and firing in a kiln with (vitreous enamel) ground glass is a wonderful process. ‘Creating magic with glass, metal and fire’ is my motto.

2. What is one interesting fact about you?

I worked with other businesswomen in our local village and was televised with the Hairy Bikers to set up Meals on Wheels in Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire. The programmes are still shown on TV today and Meals on Wheels is still operating there. I have since moved away to live nearer to my grandchildren.

3. How long have you been making?

I’ve enamelled for three years mostly learning through online resources, because of lockdown, and through the generosity of the Guild of Enamellers members who shared their skills through Zoom.

4. Who is/are your favourite maker(s) in your craft? Anyone you admire in the craft field?

There is a wide variety of enamelling from specialist portraiture to champleve (depth created in metal to accept enamel) and plique-a-jour (holes in metal with no backing to fill with enamel) among others. I admire Dorothy Cockrell from the Guild of Enamellers and the Leith Lapidary Club who has shared her skills so generously over the years and still does to enable others to blossom. I consider myself an enamel artist and not as an enamel technician who understands the complexities of the science. I prefer try it out and see the method, as it is always enlightening even if you don’t care for the result and I’m certainly not disciplined in the art, nor will I ever master it!

I like enamel work by Mer Almagro and Sheila McDonald (who is also a renowned silversmith). However, the best part of enamelling by far is the other enamellers I work with and regularly do workshops together. I have met some lifelong friends through this and I love getting together with them.

5. What is the most challenging skill/technique you learned in your craft?

It took me three days to raise and hammer a disc of silver into a bowl. I hated the process and admire those that do it on a regular basis. It’s a great skill.  After the bowl was raised, I cut it up (as I didn’t like it) and made six small dishes from it, engraved and enamelled them.

I also had to create 12 Bonnie Prince Charlie bowls as a replica of the panel created for the Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels. Anyone who does enamelling knows how hard it is to recreate items the same when there are constraints of time, materials, and temperature of the kiln. Equally they had to look handmade and individual.

6. What is your favourite part of your craft?

I love painting bowls. I just feel very free and easy about creating them and love the vibrancy of a blue or depth of a grass green. I am inspired by nature, my travels and the people I meet.

7. What project are you most proud of and why?

It’s about sharing my skills and it’s ongoing. I connected with Rowlands Youth Club in Selkirk and taught the students. This link led to gaining a grant from the Scottish Government and buying a kiln and equipment for Selkirk High School. I taught the teachers, who are currently doing a project of a panel in their Art Curriculum in 2024 with their students. I am hoping to work with Thirsk Youth Club later on this year and have just been asked to share my skills with Rural Arts in Yorkshire. I will be specifically working with their ‘Heart and Craft’ project that reaches out to the rural areas to enable mature people to get together for well-being. I love seeing people learn the same skill and create something different to the person next to them. I also want enamelling not to be a disappearing heritage craft, hence teaching at youth clubs and schools.

8. If someone who knows nothing about your craft could know one thing, what would it be and why?

I think it’s the quickness of the art. It usually takes small pieces only a few minutes to fire in a kiln at usually 815 degrees centigrade and you can get amazing results. Although it takes a bit longer to prepare!  So a three hour taster workshop will allow you to take away three items and give you a good grasp of the basics. You can also fire with a blow torch if you do not have a kiln.

Learn more about Heather