Craft Fairs

So. I have had a smart phone for about two years,  and it has taken that amount of time to link it to this blog. Now I can be more regular with my posts, spelling errors and all.

I have been giving craft fairs a go since the summer. So far I have been in two venues in Helmsley,  Hutton Le Hole,  Beck Isle Museum and 1940s weekend in Pickering, York and Castle Howard. It's been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to trying out new venues this year.

I did have a few challenges that I managed to work my way around. I can't drive, so the fairs I chose were dictated by good public transport, which also meant my entire display had to be portable. Luckily my stock is small, and can be pinned to boards that fit snuggly in a hand luggage size wheely case. My mum gave me 2 black velvet cloths and battery powered LED lights, and I bought 2 old brass picture frames for 50p from a charity shop. Everything is boxed up or on a board, which makes set up and pack up super quick. I got Moo mini business cards, paper bags from ebay, and some photos printed from Lidl, which only cost 5.27p each and look really nice as part of my postal order packaging. Luckily for me, appart from having to buy more silver stock, setting up cost me less than £20.

I want to talk a bit more about this feature box. I am so pleased with it!!! I bought it for £3.50 from a charity shop and donated back the crayons it came with. I gutted it and sanded off the chalk pastel stains from the inside of the lid. I padded it with calico and fleece on board, lasercut my name for it, and the best part, added an LED strip - I felt like a wizard when I successfully soldered it all together!!!

Throughout the season I have been able to tweak my stock and displays a little. What was more difficult was working out how best to talk (or not talk) to customers, and what stall positions work best for different venues.

This year I hope to be a bit more organised and maybe expand on my catchment area a little bit. I'm crossing my fingers for Whitby hopefully!

Tiny Flower Studs

Thought I finished making these flower studs until I realised if forgot to buy the scrolls.....crumbs.....

I made tiny keepsake necklaces!!! Now what do I do with them??

I Made Books!!!!

Blimey I hadn't realised how long it has been since I posted anything on this blog, I feel a bit like I have betrayed it slightly since setting up a Facebook page. Thank goodness I don't have Twitter......I lie....I do have Twitter but luckily there is a way I can post things on Facebook at the same time so I don't actually have to go on twitter..

Anyway, I have enamelled some book covers. My first-year-self is high-fiving me for soldering a hinge that doesn't fall apart. There is a lot of room for improvement but I have made a good start.

New Items on Etsy

Got some new items listed on Etsy. My favourite things to do is arrange then rearrange my listings to see what sort of colour-columns I can make. It's a bit sad, but that doesn't stop me from looking at my Telly Tubby-esque row of hand warmers at the top and feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

Click on the link and you might get it. More likely you'll think I'm in need of a new hobby

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SteffiGlaves?ref=si_shop

Give away soon.....

So basically, since leaving uni I have been spiralling downwards into the bleak ibis that is my own crochet habit. It's getting to the point where it is overtaking any other procrastination form and I have more hand warmers than I have siblings to give them too. So I'm giving a pair away. I don't know when, or how, or what you have to do to enter, but it will be on Facebook and this is the prize so far. Hopefully I will get my head round what to do in the next couple of days.

Gallery Order and Facebook Page

So over the past month or so I have made a bazillion pairs of handwarmers, brooches, earrings and the odd owl or few... these are a few of my favourite pairs

I also have a facebook page!!! I have been putting it off for so long.  I also have a twitter account that I set up on a whim and never use.... 

Feel free to like and share and comment and things, it will destract me fro the fact that I am still unemployed and no longer have a gallery to supply, better look for ones up north! 

https://www.facebook.com/steffiglaves

In the mean time I am crocheting over some ear defenders. I have no idea how it is going to turn out. more on that next post

New Earrings

Coming soon to Etsy and CDS Gallery and Silversmithing Studio, Leicestershire. 

Work in progress for gallery order

I am cooking on gas!! Got 10 crochet flower brooches well on their way to finishing for the lovely Claire Sherriff at CDS Gallery and Silversmithing Studio. Can't wait to have my stock mingling amongst the amazing work she has curated. Next post will be about the ridiculous amount of hand-warmers I've been making. I think my current score is 20-something. Right now they are buttonless so will show all once they've been sewn on.

Feel free to like the facebook page and look at her websites for more info:
https://www.facebook.com/cdsgalleryandsilversmithingstudio

http://www.cdsgalleryandstudio.com/
http://www.clairedaniellesherriff.com/

This is going to be a good week - I have owls to crochet, buttons to shop for and a ring to make at York School of Jewellery..... and enamelling kilns to oggle over......

Giving Knobs to the Knobless.....

Now that I am back home from uni, for good, and a little bit jobless I have found the time to give this lovely writing desk the crochet drawer knobs it deserves. I tell myself that it was a valuable use of my time, because having full use of the desk's top drawer will aid the inevitable tidying process that comes with reintroducing 3 years worth of rubbish to a bedroom. Said rubbish, however, after 3 weeks, is still in boxes downstairs, and the drawer is still empty. Never mind. 

Since doing those I have been making some flower versions, but have no door knobs left to cover ....*sniff*..... ohum :-(..... 

Crochet enamel pendant

This is my favourite sample from one of my uni projects last year.  I have given a couple of samples to my mum and sister but I couldn't part with this one. The aim for this piece was to be double sided, however the other side got contaminated with white enamel and looks a bit splodgy. The size might be what appeals to me the most, its roughly like a squashed 10 pence piece.