Preparing for Christmas Fairs

It’s a busy time of year for any crafter with lots of fairs to prepare for, stock to make, packaging to sort out, websites to keep updated…..I could go on and if you do fairs I’m sure you can easily add things to this list.

Over the past week I’ve been making new Christmas themed stock and today started to pull it all together with the packaging and thinking about how to display it on my craft stall. I’ve been posting images of some of the new glass designs onto facebook and they’ve been well received which has led to sales and me making lots more glass stockings. They are a simple design but I am happy to create lots of them as I can make them all slightly different which means it’s continually interesting to do….not so sure I could focus on making as many Father Christmas’ or snowmen!

 

Today I spent several hours adding ribbon to hang the decorations, sorting them into sets and putting them into gift bags. Then came a rummage through the garage to see what display baskets I had for the stall…..I was definitely glad that the kiln was kicking out a fair amount of heat brrrrr it was cold today wasn’t it! Anyway I think the cupcake stand was a perfect solution and might even be a suitable mini xmas tree substitute….what do you think? I’ll decide towards the end of the week I think.

Next on the ‘to do’ list were the Christmas cards and Santa keys. I’m suspecting the keys could be a top seasonal seller this year based on how well they have been received so far. I’ll be sending some over to Chicken and Frog Bookshop in Brentwood too.

 

All this creativity is great for my business  but not so good for the tidiness of the house…..my kitchen is madness this eve….Does anyone ever manage to craft neatly?!?

Glass Workshops in the Essex countryside

Back in the summer when it was scorching hot (yes we really did have a few non-rainy days!) I ran a fusing workshop at my house for 3 lovely ladies. 2 were friends and had come along having seen what a friend of theirs had been making with me and the other had seen me at RHS Hyde Hall Craft Fair. It was so hot that day I actually had to move the location of the workshop from the conservatory so that we didn’t melt!!! I think that’s why I can remember it so well as days like that didn’t happen much this year did they?

The 2 friends contacted me a couple of months ago keen to come back and learn more and wanted to bring 2 others with them too….I love how glass fusing enthusiasm is contagious like this hehe. So yesterday the group came along with some sketchy plans of what they wanted to make in glass and we had a great time chatting and making glass dishes, candle lights and jewellery.

Christine wanted to make the 4 seasons in glass for her mantelpiece and came armed with a book of flowers for technical accuracy, Philippa thought she was going to make something Christmassy but after seeing how long it was going to take to cut out lots of circle shapes this quickly developed into Christmas presents for her friends instead. Alison was more unsure but took inspiration from a blue colour pallet and made a lovely aquatic dish among other bits n pieces and Bobby was so determined to get her colours right for a present that she rang a family member to check they would match their decor. This level of thought about design definitely helped them to create a wide range of fantastic fused glass pieces.

Over the next few days the kilns will be going crazy fusing everything flat and then slumping everything into/over moulds….especially as I had another 1 to 1 glass lesson in the evening with fused glass Christmas decorations on the menu.

For now I think it’s tidying for me as this is the current state of my conservatory…..