Blog Hop

Ok, I know I have been a bit slack over the last few months!  What can I say?  I have been busy.  Actually I have, what with producing orders for my stockists and taking some time out to develop some ideas for new designs, I have had lots to do.  Any way, it is very timely that I have had a nomination from Inky Linky to take part in this Blog Hop, to spur me into a new blog post.  Liz is a very talented jeweller and print maker who creates lovely characterful, atmospheric pieces and you can see her blog entry here.

So the idea is that creative designer maker types like ourselves answer just four questions about what it is that we do and a little bit about how.  

So, to the questions.

What am I working on?

At this time of year I tend to work on what ever needs restocking!  It is the time of year when things go a tad mad.  However, in between fulfilling orders and keeping on top of stock levels I have smuggled in some new design ideas that incorporate some of my ink paintings that I created a month or so ago.  

Recent additions

I have also been playing with an idea I had a long while ago, the use of copper washers in my work.  It comes from my love of the copper colour and how it sets off certain colour combinations.  I have been using a range of metal findings and washers in my cuff link ranges but not yet branched out into the larger pieces.

Bronze cuff links

 So I have a big industrial pack of lovely shiny washers of every possible size and I have been trying them out in some of my designs, I rather like them.

Copper washer range 

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

There are many resin jewellers out there but I suppose what makes my work unique to me is the fact that I use my own photography and art work in them.  My work is recognisable for it's colour and intricate detailing (I use tiny seed beads which need to be added to the designs with a pin!) as well as a strong link to my biological background (many of my paintings are reminiscent of cellular structures).  The comments I have had many times from different people are that my pieces are tiny artworks in themselves, as well as comments on how good my eyesight must be! 

Selene brooch

Why do I do what I do?

I absolutely love what I do and I realise I am extremely lucky to be able to pursue my dream career.  Before this I was a primary school teacher, another job I loved, but it didn't give me the freedom I needed to be with my young family.  So this idea came about - maybe I could make a living from my creativity?  I have always been creative, I have used many media and created a range of artwork either through my educational life or through my own interests.  I had been dabbling in creating jewellery, I taught myself how to work with resin and when push came to shove I took the step to try and make a business out of what I was doing.
  
Over the last few years I have built up my business, honing my ideas, whittling out the things that I may enjoy doing but are not good business sense to sell and I have come round to a more secure identity as a result.  I have grown in confidence and what is more, every day is different.  I have met all sorts of interesting and like minded people and have gained some great friends who understand what it is like to be creative.  Even more astonishingly (to me) it appears that I am creating something that others like enough to buy and so my little business is branching out and I am now stocked in 16 galleries and gift shops around the UK.   I have a real sense of achievement in what I have built up so far, that is why I do what I do.  

How does my process work? 

The creative process can be quite lengthy in my case.  I can have an inkling of an idea months before it turns into anything concrete but I enjoy kicking it about in the back of my head until it is ready to come out.  Sometimes however they may simply spill out onto the page without me really knowing where they have come from!  Most of my ideas are triggered from my background in Applied Biology, I love the microscopic aspect, the hidden world.  Many of my larger canvases are loosely based on cellular structures.  

Xylem

I also love natural forms whether they be tightly wound fronds on a fern or the plumage on a guinea fowl.  I don't go far without my camera which I use to photograph little treasures that I come across.  All these aspects of my interests, once manifesting themselves first in a painting or in a photograph make their way in a cut down form to the back of my pendants.  There they are embellished with tiny seed beads which are finally encased in a dome of resin.    

Organised chaos!

The resin takes up to two days to harden but I love the effect it gives of a lens magnifying the detail. 

Rosa brooch

And there you have it, a little insight to my world and the way that I work.

So thank you Liz for my nomination and now it is my turn to nominate two fellow makers.  My first nominee is Bec Gilray of Do You Punctuate?  Bec is a maker of letterpress printed cards that are both exquisite and at times rather rude!  She has a fabulous sense of humour and her recent profanity ranges are flying off the shelves!

My second nominee is Becky Moore from Becky Moore Handbags.  Becky's bags are lovely (I am a proud owner of one), practical stylish creations made in lovely combinations of wool, velvet and linen finished off with her trade mark spiral design.

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!

Hawkers, Darters and Skimmers

Club tailed dragonfly pen drawing

Dragonflies have always interested me.  I remember walking in Golcar in Huddersfield on a path beside a train track in the middle of summer whilst staying with my great Auntie Mona and watching the dragonflies demonstrating their remarkable aerobatic skills, hovering and chasing each other with such elegance, speed and control.  

They are amazing creatures often with elongated iridescent bodies, strong transparent wings and multifaceted eyes.  They are formidable hunters, chasing other insects at high speed through the air.   They move their wings in a figure of eight motion and are able to fly forwards, backwards and sideways.

The modern dragonflies have ancestors placed 300 million years ago in history, they were magnificent creatures with a wingspan of up to a meter!  

The title 'dragonfly' almost suggests a magical fantastical animal and many of the names given to the different species are dynamic such as skimmers, darters and hawkers.

A good place to view dragonflies in summer is Rodley Nature Reserve

Rodley Nature reserve have a brilliant pond system created to attract dragonflies and damselflies, perfect for a trip out with family.  They also provide free pond dipping and you can have the opportunity to scoop up the juvenile stage of the dragonflies, a nymph.  They look like little monsters! 

A dragonfly nymph

My fascination in these insects has shown itself in various aspects of my life and work.  On my wedding table we had napkin decorations made from wire and beads in the form of dragonflies.

Wedding table decoration

My logo for my business in a dragonfly.

Lino printed dragonfly wall hanging

An acrylic painting of an abstract composition of a dragonfly first executed as a mosaic 

...and my jewellery

One of the many pieces of jewellery I have made with the Club Tail dragonfly inset

I even have a flight of dragonfly gift boxes to package my work in, printed with my own stamp.

Gift boxes

So the next time you see one of these intriguing insects zipping past take a moment to watch it and just think of the prehistoric ancestor with the wings a meter wide!

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.