Margaret Glackin Ceramics

Margaret Glackin, originally from Ireland but now based in Yorkshire, is a ceramicist and woodworker creating both larger art works and domestic ware.  She is also a very lovely and interesting person.

Margaret's BCTF stand 

Margaret's yarn bowls and domestic ceramics are fired in her own glazes which she has mixed with her Irish and Yorkshire heritage in mind and they all are named accordingly, for example Giant's Causeway and  Brimham Rocks.  This creates everyday items that are also works of art.  

Dipping bowl set with board

Margaret uses reclaimed timber from places such as house renovation projects which she then gives a second life as furniture items.  In her repertoire are large pieces such as dining tables and benches as well as shelves and log carriers.  She is such a capable woodworker that her and her partner built a workshop and studio where she works in her back garden!

The studio.

One of Margaret's most popular ranges are her yarn bowls which she recently had featured in Simply Knitting Magazine.  For those of you unaware of what a yarn bowl is it is a bowl for knitters to put a ball of wool inside to stop it from rolling across the floor at regular intervals.

Yarn bowl

These are stunning in their "heritage" glazes and I know of people who have bought more than one for themselves!  

Should you want to find out more about Margaret and her work you can visit her website here or visit Fabrication in Leeds where she has many items on sale.

Deryn Relph's fabulous furniture

Deryn is a textile designer with a love of colour, pattern and texture, who likes to think creatively about the use of textiles she designs and constructs.

It's funny, when you first arrive at BCTF for the set up day, all the stands are white and empty and everyone is surreptitiously sizing up their neighbours and working out what is going to be exhibited next door.  Well this was the case with me, Deryn's display stand was white and empty but then...WOW!

Deryn's fabulous stand

Deryn's stand needed to be white to let her furnishings do all the talking.  She describes her products as 'quirky knitted interior products in bright colours with a nostalgic hint of retro style' and there was a real element of fun on her stand.  Looking at her work couldn't fail to bring a smile to your face!

Deryn has a wide range of furnishings available

Deryn has specialised in knitted textiles for Interior use during her BA (Hons) Textile Design course and she makes all of her fabrics herself using UK sourced yarns in natural fibres.  She merges these skills with her previous upholstery and furnishing skills to create unique and contemporary furniture which would add a splash of colour to any home.

Reupholstered chair getting a new lease of life

Around the walls of Deryn's stand were photographs of some great chairs she has given a new lease of life to in the past.  All were a work of art in themselves in their splendid contrasting colours and patterns.  Deryn believes that nostalgia and evoking an emotional response to engage the user with an object play a part too - if something makes us happy, or we love it for the memories it brings then we are more likely to treasure that object for longer rather than sending it to landfill.  

   "Retro influences are often evident in my designs, inspired by my own childhood memories and happy times.”   

Deryn Relph

You can see a wider selection of her work on her website.

British Craft Trade Fair

BCTF - British Craft Trade Fair

The BCTF is a large trade fair showcasing the best of British handmade crafts for perusal by a range of retailers from many different sectors.  The likes of Liberty and The National Trust rub shoulders with boutiques and art galleries to look around the dazzling and beautiful stands that exhibitors have gone to a great deal of effort to create.

Lunaria pendant

For three days of talking to prospective buyers and interested parties, some exhibitors have been planning their stands on and off for a whole year.  From the moment they booked their spot at the end of the last fair they have been developing and creating stock and art works ready for this event.  Ranges will have been decided upon, hundreds of photographs taken, tweaked and editted for websites, online catalogues and pictures for their stand. They will have debated prices for hours on end, under valuing themselves and asking various friends for their opinions and so will have worked through prices several times until they are happy that they can charge that price and still pay themselves a wage and pay the rates.

There are so many decisions to be made and so much money that could be spent!  We'd all love glossy brochures and stunning lighting, amazing props and bespoke furniture to grace our stands but the truth of it is that many of us are independant businesses working on a limited budget and so we need to rein ourselves in and keep costs to a minimum where possible.  Sometimes though, that can be a false economy and if you were to spend a bit more money on something it might be the thing that turns your experience from an okay show to a brilliant one.  There is just one draw back, there are no hard and fast rules and what works for one product may not work for another and so there is a lot of pressure on making the correct decisions.

Nimanoma publicity 

So decisions have been made about what publicity you need and all that needs to be done then is the design.  If you are lucky this can be given to someone else to do but once again many of us do that ourselves to cut costs.  I know my brochure was an awful lot of work, masking out images, aligning everything, making it as fuss free as possible but to be honest the price list and order form were equally difficult to design!

Set up day

Possibly one of the most important decisions is how you will display your work to show it off to its best potential.  My display consisted of a two tiers to give me height and space but the shelves I used were from my kitchen and so hundreds of books had to be relocated to the living room!  At last the fair arrives, and set up begins.  It's all very exciting and a little nerve wracking, never mind hard work lugging everything in from the car!   Soon the empty stand you have been given begins to take shape and the plans you have had for the last year start to come together.  

Nimanoma stand set up and ready for action

What a feeling though when all the work is done and all you have to do is meet the buyers.  I say all you have to do, that's a whole different blog post!  And before you know it, the three days have passed and you are breaking down your stand hopefully with orders in the bag and contacts to follow up on and your stand booked again for next year....

Ta dah!

A different dimension...

A blog.  You need to write a blog people tell you and deep down I have known that a blog is where I should go next but I have that problem, the little demon that sits on your shoulder and whispers in your ear, "But who would be interested in what you have to say?".  "What do you do that could be of any interest to anyone but you?"  What's more, I have tried blogging before as you can see further down the page but I have to say I struggled.  It is not something that comes naturally to me!

A week or two ago, myself and three friends met to discuss our progress and plans for The British Craft Trade Fair which we are all taking part in at the beginning of April.  We are quite diverse in our specialisms, Bec Gilray of Do You Punctuate creates beautiful letterpress stationery, Liz Samways makes stunning sterling silver and copper etched jewellery at InkyLinky and Margaret Glackin sculpts gorgeous ceramic yarn bowls and homewares amongst many other things at Margaret L Glackin Ceramics.  Despite our diversity we all have the same thing in common, we work alone all day submerged in our own worlds with no-one to bounce ideas off and so the chance to get together is really valuable.  The lure of cake helps too!

Bec's knitting notepaper

Liz's Fox pendant

Margaret's yarn bowl

At our 'business' meeting we got chatting about blogs, whether we have one or not, their relevance to a business and what sort of thing might be interesting to blog about and it turns out that I probably do have interesting things to share with you all.  Apparently, what I do from day to day when creating my jewellery is interesting to my friends!  My inspirations and the processes I go through to take a thought or an idea through to the end product are interesting!  Who'd have thought it?  So this is the beginning of a new journey for me into the land of Blog and a chance for you to see a different dimension to my work as well as the things I love and the lovely things other people make.