I was really pleased to be asked to make a splash back for a friend who is converting a big blue VW Crafter into a campervan. Thanks to lockdown and not much else to do, he made good progress and thoughts turned to what he’d like on the tiles.

I’d already made a tile showing the family kayaking down a river in the Alps, where they’ve spent many happy holidays, and where we’ve been lucky enough to join them in recent years. They then came up with a plan for other images to represent their heritage, home and cats.

The design was primarily blue and black to match the exterior of Big Blue, but we decided to use more colour for the interior tiles. After all, the Welsh Dragon has to be red and the Yorkshire rose has to be white!

I looked at the Warm Glass website and chose some soft blues for the plain tiles, which would blend with Big Blue’s interior and the picture tiles. I also ordered some grey glass for the house; white, yellow and green glass for the rose and red powder for the dragon. I already had some glass paints, which I could use for the cats.

I started with the dragon, using a stencil to create the design, then firing it to fuse the powder to the glass. Meanwhile, I cut out the pieces for the house and fired them into place using my second kiln.

I felt the house needed a little colour adding so back it went into the kiln for a second time. Then it was the turn of the cats. I printed the picture on paper and sandwiched it between clear and white glass and started to paint. I’m not really a painter so I was very pleased to find that my painted cats did actually looked like cats!

I’d intended to cut the Yorkshire rose out myself, grinding any rough edges into shape, but it’s a really tricky shape and glass isn’t always very well behaved! I decided the tile would look far more professional if I ordered a ready cut rose from Soso and Bobo Designs. Hopefully, one day I’ll have a fancy ring saw to do this myself but, at the moment, I can’t justify the cost. I still had to fuse it and paint it myself, so I can take some of the credit!

With the plain blue tiles fired and added to the design it was ready. Now how to deliver it in lockdown? Exercise from the door is allowed so John and I got our bikes out, carefully packed the glass tiles into our panniers and set off to cycle the 20 miles each way. Luckily it was a beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed the ride and seeing our friends (outdoors of course!).

They were very pleased with the tiles, which are now in situ in Big Blue, lit with some funky lighting, and looking lovely, even though I say so myself!