GNCF

A rare trip to Manchester yesterday, for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair - an Origin for the north (in need of an equally snappy name?).
It's definitely getting more comparable with Origin, in size as well as quality, which is fantastic for those of use who live far from London and/or hate going there. Only complaint - the catering was unexpectedly dire, having been fine last year. No lunch for us veggies. Mind you Origin in Spitalfields wasn't good on that score either.

Too much lovely stuff to mention, but the pic above shows something new to me - Catherine Carr's crocheted glass bowl. Yes, she actually crochets glass fibre, then skillfully fuses and shapes it in a kiln.

Three out of Three

Last batch of work for Christmas exhibitions delivered yesterday, for "Kaleidoscope" at the Platform Gallery (Clitheroe, Lancs.). This time it's all framed pieces, continuing my fascination for multiple small shape floating above the background to cast shadows. The pic below shows a close up of my favourite new design - a mass of tiny butterflies hand cut from an old plant catalogue. More pics on my website in the Shadow Play gallery.

This week also saw the opening of the Craven Contemporary Christmas exhibition in Skipton, with a packed private view on Wednesday evening. This is a different one for me as it includes paintings as well as so-called "crafts" such as textiles, jewellery and ceramics. Hmmm... they're all art and they're all craft to me, any distinction seems false. Looking forward to having plenty of time for a close look when I do my stints on the stewarding rota.

Two down, one to go

Yesterday I delivered a box of goodies for the Contemporary Craven Christmas exhibition, which opens next week in Skipton. Is anyone really thinking about Christmas shopping in the middle of October?!
Lots of felted crochet corsages and necklaces (all new designs – must get some in my shops too), embossed velvet brooches, and a few mini soluble lace bowls. Struggling to get any photos though, the light here is awful – it’ll be a bit brighter when all the trees lose their leaves, but that’s not something I really want to hurry up.

Here we go again

Another deadline met! To twist a neat line I heard somewhere, I really DON’T like the swooshing noise deadlines make as they fly past – I’ll do anything I can to avoid hearing that. Usually that means being realistic about what can be done in the time, and not leaving everything til the last minute – you never know what’ll crop up to get in the way. Easier said than done, of course…
It’s the third Textilia III exhibition of this year, not opening til the end of the month but hand in day is tomorrow.

Unfortunately we’ve lost a few members recently, some at rather short notice wrt this exhibition – can’t be helped, people’s priorities change, but it does make everything harder for the rest of us. On the plus side though - more wall space each!

The pics show some of the work I’m submitting – don’t know how much of it will get hung, that depends how much we end up with altogether. There’s lots of 3D/gifty stuff too, but I haven’t got photos of all that yet.