Browse the latest makes available to buy in my new online shop.
Shop Thrift
Salvage Search: Harris Tweed
Todays Salvage Search was less about searching and more about it finding me. This is becoming more often the case, as local businesses and fellow makers start to think about the waste they create and what they should do with it. The wonderful Anne of Fab Fleur has sent me a massive bag of her Harris Tweed offcuts.
Of no further use to her, these beautiful scraps of fabric would have tragically found their way into landfill.
I can’t wait to get creating with these wonderfully rich sumptuous deep pinks and purples… hmm Valentines maybe?
Festive Fairs
This Year I will be attending the following Christmas Fairs;
Saturday 2nd December
Etsy Made Local, Handmade Christmas Fair, Preston PR1 2PP
Click here to see the FaceBook event page
Sunday 3rd December
Crafty Vintage, Festive Market By the Lake, Preston PR5 0UG
Click here to see the FaceBook event page
“One to Watch”
Featured Maker in Craft&Design Magazine.
I am delighted to find that I have been featured in this months Craft&Design Online Magazine as ‘One to Watch’.
After meeting Rachael Chambers, Contemporary Craft Editor at the British Craft Trade Show this year. Rachael was very complimentary about my stand and expressed an interest in writing an article about my work.
I was thrilled by this opportunity and I’m even more thrilled to see my work featured in a magazine.
Here is a link to this months Craft&Design Magazine: http://www.craftanddesign.net/online/craft-and-design-jul17.pdf
You’ll find my article on page 39- have a read, or if you are too busy you can jump straight to the article on my media page.
An image of my press pack from the BCTF is also front and centre in a different article on page 25. I must be doing something right.
Mixed Media Hares and other British Wildlife
The Jumping Hare
I have a great appreciation of the hare. Seeing them in the wild is always a special treat and they are one of my favourite animals to re create.
British Craft Trade Fair- Harrogate
The British Craft Trade Fair Harrogate 2017
I’ve just got back from the prestigious BCTF in Harrogate after a whirlwind three days of showcasing my Thrift Designs. Not only is it a fabulous opportunity to talk to existing customers and potential new buyers but it’s also an amazing opportunity to network with other makers.
I’m a relative newbie to the BCTF having only exhibited there once before as a ‘New Comer’. So leaving my stand to go and look at the other exhibitors was nerve-racking to say the least – you always think that as soon as you leave your stand, hundreds of buyers will descend wanting to place orders (which typically seems to happen). This year I was lucky enough to have a helper doing work experience with me for her BA degree at Uclan. So I was afforded the opportunity to go and investigate. Check out @missjonestextiles she’ll be hot stuff on the circuit in the next few years
There was an amazing array of talent to be seen and a lot of good advice to be taken from some of the show regulars. Everyone was so forthcoming with help and advice. It was one of the best networking experiences I’ve had with such a supportive community of British Makers.
A massive thank you and much appreciation to fellow stand holders;
Maxine from – Big Black House Design Co, www.bigblackhousedesign.co.uk
Tracy from – Ruby Spirit Designs, www.rubyspiritdesigns.co.uk
Andrew from – Gobannos, www.gobannos.co.uk
And Edwin from – SpiritLight gallery, www.spiritlightgallery.co.uk
For your kind help and support, suggesting leads to follow up and even sending their buyers over to look at my stand!
Salvage Search: Wood
Todays Salvage Search has me headed back to see a good friend and fellow upcycler; Chiltern’s Church Antiques. It’s an amazing wood workshop, which salvages the wood from decommissioned churches and makes new pieces of furniture for retail and domestic customers. I love exploring the nooks and crannies of the wood store – some of the wood carvings are amazing. I’m often tempted by the elaborate chairs and tables they restore, but I need to keep focused – I’m here for the carpentry offcuts loitering around the feet of the wood working machinery. A fresh new batch of Victorian wooden Owls are waiting to be created.
Colours| Layers|Textures
Discontinued Wallpaper and fabric sample books are a wonderful resource and provide me with a seemingly endless assortment of colours and textures to work with. I love sorting through newly salvaged books, discovering what new treasures await.
Salvage Search: Paper & Fabric
On todays Salvage Search I headed to a local interior design outlet JF Interiors to see what I could save from the seasonal cast offs.These items might be end of season but they are by no means end of life.
With my car full of last season’s fabric and wallpaper samples, I head back to the studio to explore what I had salvaged. I love looking through the newly acquired sample books because you just never know what you’ll get. This month’s haul is full of colourful silks and velvets.
Green Seventeen
Pantone (my favourite) have announced that the colour of the year 2017 is green – ‘Greenery, to be exact.
“The force that through the green fuse drives the flower, Drives my green age,” Dylan Thomas
Green is a wonderfully versatile colour which goes with just about every other colour. There is seemingly no end of colour combinations one can pair it with.
I like the sentiment in the choice of green, as colour of the year promotes, one of reconnecting with nature and our surroundings.
“Greenery bursts fourth in 2017 to provide us with the reassurance we yearn for amid a tumultuous social and political environment. Satisfying our growing desire to rejuvenate and revitalize, greenery symbolizes the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose.” Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Colour Institute.
Lets have a Great Green new year.