Lions and tigers and business advisers, oh my!

This Tuesday past I went to the Civic Centre to meet with a business adviser. I didn't really know what to expect; I'd asked Other Half to come along in case there were numbers involved and before I left I told him "I don't need too much tough love, so please stop him if it gets nasty".

I would say that it was a very frank meeting; there was some tough love involved but I don't feel I got any advice that wasn't constructive. It all comes down to me having to profile myself (and my work!) more and better. A lot of the things I need to do I have done for others or helped others do, but not done for myself. That's a little bit me in a nutshell. I also need to work on my versatility and expand functional work because I can't afford to (at this point) only do what I love and follow my passion. I have been making jewellery for a while now and I need to step up my production of this and work in a "functional line" as well. Sew Crafty Fox said something along those lines to me at the last meeting of the Make, Do and Mend craft group; fashion houses have ready to wear lines that are accessible to everybody but they also do their couture lines that are much more narrow. She's right. I've had some ideas rattling around in the back of my mind for a while now in regards to functionality so I'm going to try some of them out. The point is to retain your aesthetic vision and feel while still making your work broader.

For the rest of the week I have just been working away in the studio doing both my own work and admin things. There's so much to do in both departments! I'll give you a little sneak peek of my little space:


I actually took this image week before last so things are more ordered now, apart from my desk where, since I have started working again, there's a mess.

Tomorrow I've got a stack of things to do which will keep me from going over to the studio. But I intend to make the most of my time and pick up some items in town I need. The most important one being an electricity meter so we can gauge how much electricity the kiln uses. When this is sorted and plugged in we can start firing again! Looking forward to bringing the camera into the studio and snapping some previews of Work In Progress!

Day off

As important as all the work is, it's also important to stop sometimes, take a deep breath and regenerate.

So last Thursday this is exactly what we did.



Me and Other Half packed up enough of our things to weather a nuclear holocaust and took daughter on a trip to the beach at Dawlish Warren. Between the train and the beach we picked up a small beach tent, which was the best investment of the day as the wind was chilly even though the sun was warm.

There were sandcastles made...


...and kites flown...



as well as a short moment in time when OH actually took a picture of me that came out decent.


All in all, we had a marvelous day and hope to be able to do it again soon!


And now the schools have started again, which is a relief, and life can start to assume some kind of normality. My studio is finished and I have managed to do a little itty bit of work, although with there still being work to do around the building I feel guilty whenever I do something for myself... Hopefully this feeling will gradually go away and I can go back to enjoying making things and helping out with things. Finding the balance between the two is the hard part...

It was the worst of times...and it was the worst of times...

And so it was finally time to say goodbye to Exeter Castle.

I would love to be able to say that it was a great experience and that I'm going to miss the place...but no. The unprofessional behaviour of The Castle towards us as artists and as an organisation was at best neglectful and at worst appalling. To avoid any mudslinging I think the best thing that can be said is that we've moved out, we've moved on and we're working hard to build something bigger and better, both as an organisation and in terms of the new studios!

Exeter Castle; a shame that all the glitters isn't gold...

Now we are resident at Alphinbrook road, pulling apart and rebuilding what used to be an auctioneers place. It is a lot of work but when you work together with a great goal in mind it all becomes so much easier!