They've Arrived.............

The business cards I ordered for the fair on Sunday arrived about an hour after I had left the house! On a SUNDAY! How can that be?! They were meant to be here on the 21st, ooooh soooo annoying.

Anywhoo, they're here and, despite my initial concerns, I'm quite pleased with how they have turned out. The picture I thought was a little dark and the text is too small (specs will be needed). I designed my logo myself, which took ages as I am a complete techno phobe, and paid extra to upload my own image. Let me know what you think. I only ordered a small batch as I'm hoping to get a website up and running soon and want to include address on the card, so any feedback would be great.

Despite not having my cards at the said fair I did make lots of contacts and I was approached by a shop owner interested in buying some items wholesale, which is very exciting!

Also, please follow x

Excited!

Hi, just wanted to share my excitment at the fact that I have a kiln full of bisque cooling down at this very moment. I'm so excited I won't be able to sleep tonight! - sad I know but I can't help it.

This is in preparation for the fair I'm going to a week tomorrow in Blackpool.

There's going to be live entertainment and tea and cakes served on vintage china- wit woo!

I'll be there on the Sunday as I don't have enough stock to do 2 days, I'm worrying I won't even have enough pieces to fill the table and that people will see me for the amateur that I am!

Anyway I still can't wait to open that kiln tomorrow, hopefully there will have been no explosions! I'll post some pics or maybe even a video of tomorrow mornings grand opening.

Keep checking for updates!

Pottin

In my final year at university I specialised in ceramic design. I had always wanted to learn how to use a potters wheel but thought that 1 year wouldn't be enough time to become refined enough to produce quality pieces to contribute towards my final degree. Therefore I decided to stick to slab building which I had been doing since high school.

I later had the opportunity to purchase a second hand potters wheel at a bargin price so I snapped it up. That was over 10 years ago and I still have not learnt how to do it properly, I've had a go on it plenty of times but it has always ended in disaster.

I still have my wheel. It has followed me around, with some difficulty, over the years. It is now in the garage with the kiln where I have set up a little workshop.

My daughter and I had a go on it during the half term holiday and after watching a few YouTube videos I was able to centre the clay easily and keep it there. First go I went down too far- see the one with no bottom! I wish I could say my daughter was responsible for that one!

I persevered with it and could see I was making progress and I was really pleased with my final attempt. The trouble being that my initial expectations of this weren't very high and I had promised my daughter that she could decorate them when in actual fact they are too good and I would like to try and sell them at my next fair.

My next task was turning, taking off excess clay from the bottom and creating a foot ring. Again we come back to centring which I found difficult and keeping the pot pinned down to the wheel, there was alot of swearing as a few times the pots flew off the wheel creating huge gashes in them, so frustrating. Any who, managed to even them out again, if a bit heavier at the bottom than they should be! I am going to stick some handles on a few, see if they work as mugs/cups.

They are currently drying out in the garage before a bisque firing.

Keep checking for up dates on your that goes.

Craft Fairs Part 2

Craft Fairs Part 2

This was my third fair, it took place at Rufford Village Hall on Monday 4th June (Annie's birthday)and it was part of a charity event to raise money for Help The Heros. It was organised by Sarah Tomlinson and she did an amazing job raising over £1700 on the day with donations still coming in.

Table cost £20, which I was a little apprehensive about initially, due to the fact that at past fairs I only just managed to scrap together £10s worth of sales. However I figured it was for charity and therefore didn't mind paying.

After a slow start the sales started coming in and I began to really enjoy myself. The event was really busy with lots of things going on for children inside and out, and the weather was kind to us for a change. Being from Rufford I have family that still live locally who also attended the fair and made a huge contribution to the sales total.

£68 was the sales total for the day, and if you've read part 1 you can imagine how thrilled I am about it! Obviously I had usual costs to deduct from the total, travel expenses, sustenance etc but I still managed to take home a substantial amount which has been put straight back into the business in the form of business cards and stickers (see next blog).

I was up to my usual tricks again- buying things from other crafters, in fairness it was a birthday gift and its just the cutest thing you've ever seen. I bought it for £10 from Ruby at Dotty Delightful. Ruby also asked if I was interested in selling at a fair she is organising in Blackpool, which I am and I can't wait. Apparently its going to be quite a big event taking place at The Winter Gardens over 2 days.

Keep checking for updates on how that goes.

Craft fairs

So far I have earned myself a grand total of £24.50 at two craft fairs, I then had to pay out £22 for the tables plus the necessary sustenance for myself and the girls which totalled £5 so therefore I have come away with a loss. Not to mention the £3 I spent on rings that I didn't really want but felt obliged to purchase from another seller.
Having said that I do thoroughly enjoy the experience of selling my own product, the anticipation of the next sale is quite addictive actually, I will definitely do more but I'm wondering whether or not to leave until the summer months. Perhaps use the next few months to refine my skills and techniques.
I need to get some business cards made but don't want to pay the ridiculous prices just for the privilidge of using a different font and uploading my own image! I also need someone to make my logo into a computer graphic, for some reason I'm finding it quite difficult. Having a business card to give out or just display would perhaps give purpose to these early fairs, it bit of networking if you like, I've been given serveral already.

The picture above came out rather large didn't it, arh well.

I've decided I need to start taking betters pictures of my things, other crafters are putting me to shame.

Blog

My first blog, yay!