Appleby 10th November 2012

Yesterday I did a craft fair over in Appleby. I really like travelling over to Appleby as I think it's a lovely little town. I didn't do so well but I had lots of nice chats with other crafters and have come back with new plans and ideas for the New Year. I also got plenty of knitting done which is always good! My next craft fair will be at Tithe Barn in Carlisle on Saturday 1st December, 10-4.

Pictures from BOB

 My Lovely Owls at BOB

I had a lovely time down in Bakewell for BOB this weekend. Not really a financially successful venture but I met lots of lovely crafty folk, especially Red Apple Tree Crafts who I was next to. Very well done to Hannah Greatorex for organising it all, it was a lovely atmosphere and great to see so many unique ideas in one place.

I would put more pictures up but picassa is being silly. Grr!

More owls, penguins and others!

Birdies

Hot water bottle covers-cosy!

Details of hot water bottle covers

BOB!

Watch Key-rings. Hand stitched felt and fabric.

Coming up this weekend is BOB, the underground craft festival down in Bakewell. I am now entering full panic mode getting everything organised/made/packed and so on. One of the little things I've been making is watch key-rings. I made some for my summer craft fairs and they all sold so I bought some more watch faces and have made some more. I'm not sure I like these watch faces as much as the previous lot but we shall see how they go. They are all different, all hand stitched and I think they'd make really sweet little presents.

Stitch detail

Detail

Detail

Flyer for BOB (the buttons are mine!)

West Cumbrian Game Fair

In the marquee

I had a stall at the West Cumbrian Game Fair at Armathwaite Hall, near Bassenthwaite on Saturday. It was not a very successful day for me but I did get to chat to some other lovely crafters and we didn't get rained on!

Things and stuff

Lovely owls

Lovely key rings

Lovely hair things

Culture Bazaar

My Stall

I have just returned from a very tiring but very enjoyable day at The Culture Bazaar at Richard Rose Central Academy in Carlisle. I had a little stall there which was very nice and I was also there demonstrating how to make friendship bracelets and demonstrating my favourite activity; crocheting and melting plastic bags! As Heathlands was also there we took the lace space down and the marquee covering we'd made in textiles to display. All in all a good day and here's some pictures as I've lost the ability to put words together coherently!

Brooches

Cushions and brooches

Owl Brooches

Keyrings

Doorstops

The Lace Space (Indoors!)

Lace Space (detail)

Lace Space and marquee covering

Display

Brooch Displays

I'm doing another Craft Fair next weekend; at Armathwaite Hall, Bassenthwaite. It's the West Cumbrian Game Fair and I'll be with the Solway Crafters in the Fell Gather Tent. This will be the biggest event I've done so far and I've been thinking of ways to improve how I display my work. I think the last stall I had at Appleby had too much on it, I'm going to try and edit my display more carefully this time. I also wanted to display my brooches more effectively so today I went and bought some frames and have turned them into brooch displays. I just bought fairly cheap silver coloured wooden frames as I wanted something nice but not too showy as this would distract from my pieces!

Frame with Button Heart Brooches

It was really easy making them into badge boards; I chose frames with stands (extra easy to display on my stall if they stand up by themselves) and then took the glass out and covered the hardboard backing with wadding and felt to give a cushioned surface to pin my brooches to. I burnt my fingertips on the hot glue but apart from that it was quite an easy job and I think the finished product looks pretty good.

Frame with Felt Flower Brooches

Frame with Suffolk Puff and Origami Brooches

The frames will get a test run tomorrow as I have literally just been offered a stall at Carlisle's Culture Bazaar tomorrow. It is at Richard Rose Central Academy from 11-5 if you're in Carlisle tomorrow!

Appleby Craft Fair

A selection of crafts

I did my first Craft Fair of the year yesterday at Appleby Public Hall, organised by Masseuse Smooth of Penrith. I did one there last November which was really good and yesterday I had the same spot, right at the entrance which was great. It was pretty quiet yesterday and none of us took a lot of money but it was good to see the other crafters and compare notes and have a catch up. I think next time I may put less stuff out as I think my table is looking a little bit crowded, but I'd rather it was that way than not have enough stuff! Anyways, here are some pictures!

Owl Doorstop

Owl Family

Suffolk Puff and origami hair combs

Cards, purses and gadget cases

Brooches

Buttons

Cushions

All images © Helen Walsh 2012

New Cushions

Three Cushions, applique and hand stitch

Well, no posts for a while because I've been a very busy bee with one thing and another. Anyway, I'm off to do a craft fair in Appleby tomorrow (10-4, in the market hall just by tourist information if you're around!) and have just made these cushions which I'm really rather pleased with. I appliquéd lace and organza onto cushion covers with bondaweb and then added handstitch details to finish them off. I think the smaller bird works better than the bigger ones but I'm pleased with both designs. They definitely have potential!

BOB and Birdy Tiles

Birds on Branches Coasters

I had a very exciting email yesterday inviting me to participate in a new Craft Festival in Derbyshire. It is called BOB: the Underground Craft Festival and is taking place in September in Bakewell, Derbyshire. I'm really looking forward to it, best get making! Which leads me onto my next topic...

We've recently redecorated our front room and one of the things we did was put some lovely red tiles on our bare concrete fireplace. They look really good and finish the room off. We had a few left over and not liking to see things go to waste I thought I'd do a little experimenting, as you know I'm mildly obsessed with birds so that seemed the obvious way to go.

I thought about using light colours but then decided silhouettes would be more dramatic so I used black ceramic paint. I worked from drawings and pictures of real birds and painted the silhouettes directly onto the tiles. I then baked them to fix the paint which was very stressful as I was sure they were going to crack (and we couldn't have dinner until they were done!) Luckily, it all worked out fine and I'm really pleased with the results. I finished the tiles off by backing them with felt so that they wouldn't scratch any surfaces. I think they're quite dramatic and a bit different from my usual stuff but that's no bad thing. If you like them they are for sale in my Folksy shop!

More Bird Coasters

Backed with felt

Felt Backing

Warwick on Eden Craft Fair and Two Commissions

My Stall

Close up

The craft fair I did on Sunday at Warwick on Eden went very well; it was quite quiet but I still managed to do fairly well and it was a nice, relaxed affair. I met some very nice people and one of my friends from work came down to support me and my friend Helen (I offered Helen half my table as she wanted to do a fair but hadn't done one before.) I also was asked to make two pieces for presents, I like special requests as it means people like my stuff (always a good ego boost) and it's fun to make things for specific people rather than just making a product.

Cat head brooch

Cards and frog 'phone case

Hedgehog 'phone case

Polymer clay 'lace' brooch

The first commission was for a cream cushion with a swallow on, I'd taken an aqua coloured cushion with a swallow on but the lady wanted a cream cushion with a 'proper' coloured swallow. I'm really pleased with the way it came out and may well make something similar for my next craft fair. The second commission was for a doggy doorstop. This was more of a challenge because I really don't like dogs. However, I decided to rise to the challenge and after a bit of planning and experimenting I came up with a design, made a pattern and used this to make a little hound doorstop. I hate to admit it but I think it's quite cute! I hope the recipients are pleased with their presents, I did have fun making them!

The original cushion

The commissioned cushion

Detail of the swallow



Hound doorstop

Detail