Tomorrow sees the opening of this Christmas exhibition at the lovely Platform Gallery in Clitheroe, Lancashire. There’s a nice little slideshow here to tempt you along.
“Star Lace – Orion” (above) is one of my framed pieces that’s included, along with a selection of Bloom embroidered brooches (below).
The lacy brooches are also available in my Etsy and Folksy shops if you can’t get to Clitheroe!
This week I’ve been working on some new little brooches along the same lines as my bowls and bookmarks. Well not everyone can offer a suitable home for a bowl that’s not intended to hold anything, can they? And lots of people have Kindles so they don’t need a bookmark…
Note my valiant (?) efforts at “styling”… I find this so difficult, trying to come up with suitable props and backgrounds. I need to work on it though, as apart from adding interest, it helps with the problem where pieces show up at many times life size in my shops – NOT flattering for free machining!
Look what popped through my letterbox!
It’s Folksy’s “Summer Sampler”, sent out to tempt more people to take a look, get involved, spread the word about the UK’s alternative to Etsy.
It folds out to A2, with a lovely selection of hand crafted goodies on one side and makers’ stories on the other.
Why did I get one? It’s those bowls again! One of my Cottage Garden bowls is pictured in the “Stuff We Love” section. <blush>
Aren’t I lucky? A big thank you to everyone at Folksy, and let’s hope it brings us all lots more friends and customers.
Or, flowers… but did that grab your attention?!
Hot off the Bernina – a batch of “Bloom” brooches, now launched in my Etsy and Folksy shops.
The design was inspired by alliums, and they did start off in suitable shades of purple, but the colours have branched out a bit now… there’s no limit really, I could do rainbow ones! Each flower head is made up of four layers, free machined on dissolvable fabric and put together to make a lacy, three-dimensional structure.
I made the first few for Textilia’s recent exhibition at Farfield Mill, to tie in with one of my framed pieces, and they sold out. But for this new batch I’ve switched from stick pins to tiny brooch backs. They looked good on long metal “stalks”, but that effect was lost when they were pinned on clothing, and the stick pins were a bit thick anyway. These will work better on fine fabrics I think.
Only trouble is, they look HUGE in the photos in my shops – bigger than life size, of course they don’t seem as delicate and lacy as in real life. Hmm. There’s an awful lot to learn with this online shopping business.
As the sun finally put in an appearance today, I took the opportunity to photograph a couple of new bowls. They’re now in my Etsy and Folksy shops, replacing ones that sold.
While I was playing shop, I thought I’d better review my postage costs. I’ve always been a big supporter of the Royal Mail, and the situation they’re in isn’t their fault, but the recent price increases are stunning. The cost of posting one of my feather-light bowls to a UK address has gone up 55%. For other addresses it’s 60%. Unbelievable.
So if you sell online too, don’t forget to check that you’re charging enough for postage and packing, allowing for PayPal’s cut as well.
And remember that Folksy’s charges for listings and sales have gone up too!
