For your eyes only!

Last week I posted a new tea cosy with poppy design on Facebook and sold it the same day:

But I need some for a Skipton fair so that I had to make two more with similar design but was not going to show them in social media until the event is over, I need a good display there. Here are they:

 

Hope somebody will like them... 

Just pictures...The rest of the order:

Quite happy with the most of them. The only one which turned out mediocre is this one. Poor thing was left behind and the rest were posted to the shop.  

 

Time management in Felting

It's a bit of joke, of course :) !
As the most of crafts the felting is a very time consuming hobby and there is a very little you could do to make it easier. And still! If you felt purely for hobby reason you can skip this post straight away. If you, like myself, not only make but sell sometimes and know about pre-fair frenzy and shortage of time - you may find it useful.
At first I pinpoint the part of felting process which is the most tiresome or annoying. It could be very individual, some felters do not enjoy rolling, but rolling is fine with me because I usually listen to some book or workshop on youtube while rolling. My weakest points are preparing everything at the beginning (and putting everything back!) and laying the wool.
For large fairs I need to make a lot of small items, very often in the same design but slightly individual still. I prefer to layout a few in one go because it saves me time on preparation and on choosing and getting out the boxes with the colours needed and so on. I can lay out a few items in the same design, say, with poppies - glasses cases, Kindle covers, tea cosies and so on. They are all different in pictures and scales but I use the same colours and similar compositions. I prefer to do the layouts one day and the felting the next day or even after whenever I have a few spare hours. One very intense and messy day of layout and felting and finishing later.
The same with scarves, especially if they are of medium size - I can lay out two one day and then roll them together in one roll the next day. It will not save me a huge amount of time, but it will reduce the mess and give me more flexibility with my time.
Of course it doesn't work for a large one off pieces when I need to focus on it entirely.
As an example - I was working on pictures (they are relatively small) and laid out some small items in the similar design:

   

Snowdrops

The small picture of snowdrops, made in a soft
manner, to reflect this last day of winter. Very dull, but spring comes tomorrow...

Grassy morning

I'm sure that most of you have seen it on Facebook, but decided to show it here as well. Framed.

 

New Pictures

Just wanted to show two new pictures. Recently finished and framed.
I'm not happy with the framing of the Sunflowers,  may change it...

Poppy Picture

Have felted large panel with poppies. The first picture shows just a layout, the second one - felted.

 Interesting to compare, obviously the sharpness of some lines is gone and some shapes changed. But in general, it's OK. If I make it a cushion cover (haven't decided yet) I'll felt it more.

What is a good fair?

Just before my largest craft fair of the year I started to ponder on the subject :) Why I need a fair at all and what is a good one?
At first it's of course fun and excitement! Meeting people, getting their reaction, making new acquaintances or friends (even better).
But from practical point of view? What's in it for me?
- I could sell things which I do not sell through Internet. They are bulky or heavy like pictures and cushions or I do not know how advertise them properly like fish. I still want to make them and the fairs provide opportunities of sales.
- Felt is difficult media, it's much easier to sell in real.
- Not only to sell but to attract attention of  "important" people like those who run shops, galleries and other craft events. You may not even know about them and it could be more difficult to get into uninvited.
- Spread the word about yourself especially if you make something unusual. I become known as "a fish lady" :)!
- Advertise your classes if you teach. I've got one fantastic student for the fish course!
All these points above may be hard to estimate in money equivalent so let's talk profit!
What fair is good in profits? How to calculate it?
1. Put all the expenses together. Everyone could get it different and it very much depends on the particular fair, but general points are: - the cost of the stand.
                               - if the fair is far away  - the traveling and accommodation cost. In my case I need to include the cost of my husband's day away of job because I do not drive and anyway I need his help for a large shows.
                               - comparing to Internet sale there are extra expenses for staging the stand. They could be one-off (table  covers) or regular like extra packaging.    
2. Put your sale profit together.
3. Now it's a tricky one. I know a lot of people consider a fair to be a successful one if  #2 is more than #1. Not exactly.
I do sell through Internet and in a real shop. If I was to sell there (not at fairs) I would avoid all expenses #1 but will lose 35-40% of commissions.  So I deduct say 30% of my profits #2, then deduct expenses of #1. If the result is more then zero I am in profit! How much it's to everyone to decide!

To finish on a lighter note I'll show one of a few cushions ready for the fair. Hope to sell it and make some profit :)!

Catching up...

Oh dear! I'm so behind, do not even know what to talk about... OK, what's gone is gone, I'd better tell you what's on and what is coming.
I'm in the third week of online course on Fantasy Fish. It's the final week so it's time for a brief summary:
- am I happy with the course - not exactly;
- do I know what should have been done differently - no;
- am I going to run another course, later - not sure.
Very positive, isn't it?

The second show of Crafts in the Pen is coming next month. I was quite happy how the last year it went and was looking forward for this one. Now it's close and we've got a brochure and I'm growing  more apprehensive as it nears. 
At first it's huge this year 176 participants instead of 105 last year, and many of them (myself included :( ) have double pens. It means vast space for visitors to cover and it's not indoor meaning a lot of customers will just give up before checking on the all stands.   
Then the selection of exhibitors is a little bit strange to my taste. I do admit that the last year show was a mixed bag, and the standards of this year is much higher but it's much closer to art show than to Xmas craft fair. I do agree that artistic quality of, say, paintings or prints, is much higher than, say again, of decorative candles, but we are there for Christmas! I'm sure people would prefer more festive staff which means - cheerful, cheaper, even slightly kitschy. I myself was exhibiting at art show earlier this year but at Crafts in the pen I'm to present very different stuff.
Anyway "happiness comes from having low expectations" and my expectations are really low!

To end on more optimistic note I'll show something cheerful! Sunflowers tea cosy, just finished:

Scarab Butterfly

This is another work in cracked mud technique similar to the fossil Here I had to do a bit of carving because the lines created by resists were very thing. Apart from very bright coloured merino I used a lot of viscose fibres to make it shiny. It was fun!

Here you can see a bit of 3-D effect

                                                          This is my original drawing I've used to create a resist. 

New works in wool watercolours

Have been working on small floral pieces, playing with colours and new shapes.

This is a new Kindle case with rather familiar yellow daisies. Done some small details differently and pleased with result:

 

This one is very different, I've tried to focus on shapes on poppy pods and stems lines. Far from perfect but still like it as a try!

 

 

Fossil Ammonite

The images of these fossils were always fascinating to me! I've made this as a sample to show at the demonstration I'm giving in our felters group next week. To show various effects achieved when work with resists. After all felting it happens to be too small to be anything apart from a sample 38x38 cm.

 

Dandelion Picture

Jumping from fish to pictures... Can't stop, sorry! This is a recent picture of spent dandelions on the dark rich coloured background. Apparently I like dramatic colours, surprised myself... I started to use a lot of viscose to create more depth and add some sheen. Play with it at the moment. 

Again it was felted on the base of cotton scrim to make it firmer but thin still because I want it to be framed under glass.