SALISBURY'S Phoenix Emporium has added “SkyDog Glass” to its eclectic array of stalls which is owned by a talented Wiltshire fused glass artist.

Pj Buchanan, based in Chippenham, started SkyDog Glass as a hobby in her retirement making colourful glass ornaments and crockery to brighten people’s homes.

This hobby has blossomed into a second career, first with her commissioned pieces, then her Etsy store which has a 5-Star average with raving reviews, and now with her first permanent retail space in the Phoenix Emporium on Tollgate Road.

She said: “It’s really quite exciting, and it is definitely keeping me busy at the moment.

“It has been lovely the way it has taken off from being a hobby to something quite different.”

Her colourful works take inspiration from the early 20th century Bauhaus, Modernist and Cubist movements and these are reflected in the art pieces and platters she is selling at the Phoenix Emporium.

Salisbury Journal:

“I like being able to pick up colours, it’s almost like from a pallet.

“If I were a visual artist, I’d be using brush strokes but instead I’m using pieces of glass I collage together to make these bright pieces.”

Pj has two kinds of glass work that she sells, more functional pieces on her Etsy and other ‘art pieces’ which are more ornamental and can only be found at the Phoenix Emporium stall or her creative market stalls.

She said these art pieces are an addition to people’s interior décor, “just to add a little bit of colour because it’s just so unusual to have them. It’s not like something else you’d buy in a shop."

Glasswork is not an easy hobby, as anyone who has watched the Netflix’s competitive glassmaking show ‘Blown Away’ will be aware of, and as such prices can vary depending on the complexity and number of materials required.

“The commission are cut for size, so I buy the coloured glass in large sheets.

“That’s then cut to size to either a bowl or a platter and then I will cut glass in various colours to make up something bold and bright.

“The smaller the pattern within the pallet, the more expensive it is going to be because it takes so long to cut these pieces of glasses.

“With the strips of glass, the edge of the cut is very rarely absolutely true, so you have to sand each piece... It’s quite an involved process.”

It is worth keeping an eye on her Facebook page, as in the past she has run great workshops that people can book and get involved with the creating process.

“I love doing workshops I really enjoy meeting people.

“The curious thing about it is that you can give everybody the exact same materials, and everybody makes something entirely different because everybody has their own approach to colour and pattern.”

Salisbury Journal: Before becoming an artist, Pj was an IT Consultant, and her work has taken her to far flung places such as India and Latin America.

She was born in Scotland but has lived in places in across England as well a range of places abroad such as Italy where she plans to return for a visit with her partner this September.

“I love Italy. There’s art everywhere you look. If there isn’t art, then there is beautiful countryside and that in itself is art.”

She moved to Chippenham in December 2019, where she is happy to be “finally, finally, settled” nearer to her family in Bradford on Avon.

On the second weekend of September, there will be the change to have a peek inside her studio in Chippenham as part of The Peacock’s Arts Trail which is still announcing artists taking part.

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