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!