Courageous collab partner for April's challenge

Meet my April collab, Gill Weavers, a super-courageous women. Gill is a wife and mother and talented ceramist who started Mudbird Ceramics in 2008. Gill and her family have lived through the most terrifying earthquakes in Christchurch over the last four years.

In some parts of Christchurch and where Gill Lives, the intensity of the earthquakes shook the ground so violently that liquefaction occurred. What that means is that soil particles below the surface were so tightly squeezed that it made the soil take on water-like properties. This concoction then bubbled up from below ground, turning houses into islands, ruining gardens, properties and lives.

Huge back-breaking clean ups ensued. But no sooner had they been completed and there would be another earthquake and another liquefaction event. This occurred again and again.  Through all this adversity, Gill stood resilient and turned a disruptive disaster into a creative opportunity. She played with the silt and marbled it into the clay of her products naming the product line, Emerge - the Liquefaction Silt Range.

On top of all of all this upheaval in her life, with a family to look after and continuous earthquakes to endure, Gill continued to be creative and generous too. Last year she took part in Samantha Dunne's Creative Exchange project. I was lucky that Gill was allocated my name. And so I received the most beautiful gift box of items -  each and every item carefully selected and creatively presented. What a talent!

What's more is that I got to meet her when she visited Auckland soon after - we clicked immediately and chatted away. It was amazing to catch up with her and hear her life story and find out about her creative journey.

So thank you Gill for collaborating with me to judge this month's @adiandbert challenge and to provide such lovely prizes for the winner. 

To view Gill's products visit her Felt shop (like an NZ Etsy shop)  at   http://felt.co.nz/shop/mudbird - Gill also generously donates 30% of her profits to Christchurch charities.

Find Gill's blog at http://mudbirdceramics.blogspot.co.nz/ , her Instagram account at

https://instagram.com/mudbird_ceramics/ and her Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/MudbirdCeramics  

 
The prizes that Gill is offering are below - a  tea bag tag (but not the jar!) and a star ornament from her Emerge range. 

To be in to win: You need an open account on Instagram

1. Follow @mudbird_ceramics and @adiandbert
2. Tag a friend and invite to join the challenge
3. Post a NEW picture with a teacup theme and tag to #theteacupseries

Competition closes midnight, Sunday 19 April 2015.

 

It's time to put on the tea -  see you on Instagram !

- Claudia x