Designer Crafts At The Mall

Repost from my website...

This year started on a high for me with my first exhibition as a Merit Licentiate of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. As a new member we were required to help with the set-up and I really enjoyed getting my hands dirty and getting to have a say in some displays, it's definitely something I want to be involved in again.

I decided to make some completely new work for the exhibition so here are some pics, new jewellers got half a cabinet each so I have two shelves. Trying to make a display stand out in a row of 10 cases when having such little space was hard when I could only carry so much with me on the train/tube but I was pleased with the overall effect of my trusty cork mats.

I displayed new jewellery featuring handmade paper sections cast with vintage patterns, framed in sterling silver and strung on woven paper yarn chains. I experimented with oxidation and was pleasantly surprised, so I matched the oxidised ones with dyed chains.

On my first display I had two brooches front middle, a large fan shaped necklace to the left, a white 3 circle necklace to the right and back middle my grey woven paper neckpiece with silver tassel.
 

On shelf 2 I displayed two large circle necklaces front middle, black three circle necklace to the left, two of my drop-in necklaces to the right, and front right & left were a suite with stacked paper discs. I really liked the way these pieces turned out and exploring the paper casting that I used at uni.

The Harley Gallery Arts Market

Last weekend I participated in the tenth annual Harley Gallery Arts Market, despite the snow it was a massive success, I thoroughly enjoyed it and met loads of new people.

Setting up my own stand for the first time was a bit daunting, especially as I was travelling 60 miles in the fresh snow! But everyone was really helpful and I enjoyed putting together the display. After a quick change of mind over some wall frames I was all set and ready for the crowds..... which surprisingly appeared, despite several inches of snow and seb-zero temperatures!

I had great feedback and made plenty of sales so it was really encouraging, it's made me eager to do more shows!! 

We were in a marquee and as the inside temperature rose (apparantly...) the condensation started to drip off the beams onto our stands, argh!! With the nifty use of some black bin liners overnight to protect our displays we defeated the weather and stopped our tablecloths getting soggy.

With a hot water bottle doing the rounds courtesy of Anna Colette Hunt and humour courtesy of Nicola Lidstone I had a wonderful time and will definitely be applying for next years's market, though hopefully it'll be a lot less chilly!

Lists, Christmas and fabrics galore!

I've been selected to have a stall at the Harley Christmas Market, as well as a few local markets I'm doing, so my list making has gone into overdrive to decide what to make! It's also been a great excuse to go fabric shopping, so off I went. I'm making a quilt, my first ever, for my nephew's 2nd birthday so I'd been looking for something to back the Alexander Henry 2D Zoo fabric I'd been saving. I went to a lovely local fabric shop which has just expanded and found a perfect dark blue polka dot cotton and just HAD to buy some Hungry Hungry Caterpillar fabric too! I also picked up some nice grey spot ribbon and a lovely toadstool painted darning mushroom.  

I couldn't find a binding to go with it so I nipped across the road to Boyes, a fantastic general purpose store that my area of the country is blessed with. They've got some nice 100% cottons in, £3.50p/m!! So the 5 fabrics across the bottom row from the right are from there. The bottom left one is a remnant I thought I'd missed so pretty much whipped it off the table with delight, it's a yellow Peter Rabbit print and I'm going to have a good think before I decide what to use it for. I also decided to make a green crocodile for my nephew so I picked up some felt and a pack of googley eyes. The snowflake fabric and the blue and green birds fabric are both from the great Seamstar online shop.

The sewing machine will be put into service tomorrow as I have a whole day to devote to it. Fewer shifts at work means an unhappy bank balance but at least I have time to craft!
Speaking of work, I tend to use quiet periods to plan what I'm going to make, do you do the same? One thing that's been going round in my head is a 'sprout' design wire bangle and tonight I finally tried it out and I'm really happy with it! What do you think?

 

I'm going to make more based on this design but first I need to order some more wire! Watch this space for new pieces and I'll let you know when I list them in the shop. 

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I haven't posted on here in, well, let's just say a while. In the meantime I have completed my degree at uni, displayed my work in not one, but two graduate exhibitions with a third national one looming on the horizon, oh and I managed to squeeze in a blissful week away in Spain. Phew!

So, I thought I'd have a quick catch up session and show you a few photos from my various escapades. Firstly here are a few shots from our lovely graduate exhibition, this was a first show for many people so I think we did pretty well and we got really good feedback.

Glass by Emma Whitton

Ceramics by Kelly Fisher

Paper by Natasha Reidie

Glass by Tanya Beasley

Porcelain Chandelier by Lauren Hirst, Silver Necklaces by me.

These are just a few of the makers who exhibited, you can see the full list here. Our year has had a great mix of materials and styles, I think these worked together well in the show. It was part of our course to organise our own exhibition, which we did, but as it was a few weeks before the rest of uni exhibitions our work was also put on display in the foyer of the Think Tank, the new building where are workshops are so it tied in with the other courses. And just recently we were told who would be exhibiting for the university at Week 1 of New Designers, so there has been a lot of planning and organising going on. I am very excited to be showing my work and perhaps some of you may see it if you are planning on visiting. If so, do say hi, a friendly face is always appreciated!

Lincoln Christmas Market

Lincoln Christmas Market 2009 is an event I've been looking forward to since I started university because this year was our turn to hold our own stall selling our own handmade work to raise money for our end of year exhibition 'Direction' next May.

This year's stall featured the work of students on the Furniture and Contemporary Decorative Crafts courses.

This is our stall being manned by Kayleigh and Tasha.

Here you can see porcelain wall panels by Lauren Hirst, glass paper weights by Tanya Beasley and glass necklaces by Emma Whitton.

Paper bowls by Natasha Reidie and myself, snowflake jewellery by me and glass pendants by Kayleigh Rose.

Embossed cotton linter wall panels by Natasha Reidie.

Porcelain wall panels by Lauren Hirst.

And these are the sterling silver sets I made, tassels above and domes below.

If you're interested in any of the items shown please ask me for the contact details of the maker who will be more than happy to make a similar item for you if the one pictured is no longer available.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, organising the stall, making my jewellery to sell and sitting at the stall seeing all these wonderful people who liked our work enough to buy it! It has made me excited about the thought of having a stand at a show, though I know it's on a completely different scale.

2010 just got even more exciting at the prospect of our Final Year Show 'Direction'!