DEE-DEE - Portland Pigeon Table Lamp
Dee Dee is a gorgeous grey feathered bird, with a beautiful bold blue and purple chest. She has beautiful ochre yellow eyes. Dee dee has been created using grogged white clay, and painted with a variety of slips and glazes. She’s lovely!
Bulb and lampshade are not included.
To have these in time for Christmas - the latest date you can order will be the 15th December. Any orders made after this date may arrive after Christmas. Thanks!
The Portland Pigeon is a bespoke ceramic piece, created in collaboration with local residents of Portland Street, Stoke On Trent. Like many of our projects, it started when we noticed something that needed doing. Our building had a hole in the roof – we needed a ridge tile to fix the hole – and we thought about making it a decorative one – adorned with a pigeon! From there we also developed a range of pigeon sculptures that can be attached to the roof, or placed anywhere in the garden or home. We have been selling our Portland Pigeon ridge tile/flat bottomed products for over 3 years now so we decided it's time for a re-fresh - and we now welcome our Portland Pigeon table lamps. All you need is a bayonet bulb and a shade, if you wish, plug it in, and illuminate your home.
Homing pigeons are our inspiration. They travel long distances, through treacherous weather conditions to come home. Stoke-on-Trent is home to a lot of pigeon fanciers and racers – so it seems fitting that this working pigeon be The Portland Inn Project mascot.
By purchasing a pigeon and using it in your home, you are demonstrating your support for our project. Our Portland Pigeons are handcrafted in Stoke On Trent.
The method used to create the original birds involved creating two equal shaped pinch pots which are then joined together. A traditional, hand-sculpting technique is used to tap and lengthen the shape with a wooden paddle, allowing the bird form to emerge from the clay.
From these sculpted birds, we created two different pigeon shapes. A mould was made for each and then all birds press moulded from these two shapes. The press-moulded pigeons are then hand fettled and feathered with traditional sgrafitto mark-making using bespoke coloured slips. The pigeons are first biscuit fired to 1000C, and then glazed and fired a second time at 1220C. This process means that each Pigeon is unique, and hand crafted at each stage of the making process.
These birds have been created lovingly by members of our community in our temporary space. Look carefully at the pictures of your bird before choosing: each bird is carefully hand-made and unique, and has all the loveable characteristics and anomalies of a studio pottery object.
The shipping cost includes postage and packaging, sent first class tracked.
If you are purchasing outside of the UK, please get in touch beforehand so we can research postage options and edit the price.
Anyone purchasing locally, and wanting to collect can request a refund of the postage cost prior to purchase - just get in touch!
