January has been a reflective time to think about a new spring collection of seaside sun catchers after the busy Christmas period.

One of my best sellers lately has been the painted fish spiral sun catcher. I’ve decided to make a new design of a fish with striking and beautiful colours: the mackerel.

Last summer I witnessed the arrival of a large shoal of mackerel off the Slapton Ley in Devon’s South Hams. Occasional tails would flip out of the water, and crowds of seabirds were attracted from miles around for an easy meal. The shoal forced smaller fish like sandeel, herring and sprats to the surface, making it look as if sections of the sea were boiling.

My partner managed to catch a few mackerel fishing from the shore which were delicious on our BBQ later that evening!

The beautiful iridescent colours and patterns of the mackerel’s skin on their top dorsal are the focus of my next sun catcher.

The stained glass mackerel will have hand-painted black zebra-like vertical stripes on it’s back, fired in the kiln at around 660 degrees C. I have some fantastic textured glass ready for the fins and tail, and a greeny-blue iridescent glass for the top half the mackerel’s back.

I can’t wait to get started!

The new mackerel sun catcher will be available in my shop and on Etsy this summer so watch this space…