Chippygeoff
Established Member
On Saturday I attended an annual craft fair that I go to every year, it is held in a small village but from when the doors open to when they close it is heaving with people. I had one of my best days and made £320, not bad for five hours work. When I got home I could see the delivery guy had called with a pile of wood I had ordered, mostly oak but also some planks of beautiful cherry, one of my favourite woods to work with and a nice colour to it as well.
On Tuesday I have my normal craft fair and again I hope to do well. It is the busiest time of year with people ordering Christmas presents, thankfully a lot of people order earlier. When I get back from the craft fair it will be all hands on deck to empty the car and then get loaded up again with different things. I shall be off to Manchester the following day. 2 or 3 years back I helped a lady who was just getting into scroll saw work, she came to me for a couple of weeks and learnt a lot and she went home with lots of things she had made and a smile like a Cheshire cat, she was a natural and took to it like a duck to water. soon after this disaster struck, several things happened and as a result she has not been on her saw for just over a year and has now lost her confidence. Now that she is over the things that brought her down she is keen to get going again so I am going up to her place, first job is to sort the workshop out and then go over the saw and other machines and make sure they are all okay and then we will start to make a few things. Unfortunately I have to come back on the Friday as I have another huge craft fair on the Saturday but I shall be going back next month and will stay for a few days as I shall be attending another huge Christmas fair in her area and we are going to run a big stall between us with her stuff and mine.
Some of you will remember me playing about with various resins, it was a bit of a disaster, that was some time back. Since then I have been thinking of ways where I can introduce colour into my work and thanks to one of the members on here with his help and advice I have hit the nail on the head and it's considerably easier than resins. I am talking about polymer clay. I have done quite a few new designs that will lend themselves nicely to the clay. there are several types and makes of the clay but I will be concentrating on just two. One is an air dried clay and the other needs to be baked in the oven and there are two main ways I will use the clay. The first will be to use an air dried clay to fill in the letters on name signs and with the second type of clay I willbe making embellishments like flowers, especially roses, Christmas decorations and things to go on children's plaques.
I have ordered most of the equipment and tools I will need. Another stall holder in bringing me in a pile of clay on Tuesday and then I will order some more when I see what she has brought me. As it is the busiest time of the year I won't have a lot of time to spend on the clay but what I will be doing is a lot of practice using off cuts to try out different techniques and a whole load of other things. I have looked at many videos on you tube and spoken to a few people that have been using clay for years and I feel quite confident. One thing is for sure, it is a damm sight easier than working with resins. After Christmas we have a 3 month break from the craft fairs and immediately after Christmas I think I will be ready to make a start on some proper projects. Actually I am quite excited about it all as there is so much potential incorparating the clay into scroll saw work. I will give an update on how things are going in the following weeks.
On Tuesday I have my normal craft fair and again I hope to do well. It is the busiest time of year with people ordering Christmas presents, thankfully a lot of people order earlier. When I get back from the craft fair it will be all hands on deck to empty the car and then get loaded up again with different things. I shall be off to Manchester the following day. 2 or 3 years back I helped a lady who was just getting into scroll saw work, she came to me for a couple of weeks and learnt a lot and she went home with lots of things she had made and a smile like a Cheshire cat, she was a natural and took to it like a duck to water. soon after this disaster struck, several things happened and as a result she has not been on her saw for just over a year and has now lost her confidence. Now that she is over the things that brought her down she is keen to get going again so I am going up to her place, first job is to sort the workshop out and then go over the saw and other machines and make sure they are all okay and then we will start to make a few things. Unfortunately I have to come back on the Friday as I have another huge craft fair on the Saturday but I shall be going back next month and will stay for a few days as I shall be attending another huge Christmas fair in her area and we are going to run a big stall between us with her stuff and mine.
Some of you will remember me playing about with various resins, it was a bit of a disaster, that was some time back. Since then I have been thinking of ways where I can introduce colour into my work and thanks to one of the members on here with his help and advice I have hit the nail on the head and it's considerably easier than resins. I am talking about polymer clay. I have done quite a few new designs that will lend themselves nicely to the clay. there are several types and makes of the clay but I will be concentrating on just two. One is an air dried clay and the other needs to be baked in the oven and there are two main ways I will use the clay. The first will be to use an air dried clay to fill in the letters on name signs and with the second type of clay I willbe making embellishments like flowers, especially roses, Christmas decorations and things to go on children's plaques.
I have ordered most of the equipment and tools I will need. Another stall holder in bringing me in a pile of clay on Tuesday and then I will order some more when I see what she has brought me. As it is the busiest time of the year I won't have a lot of time to spend on the clay but what I will be doing is a lot of practice using off cuts to try out different techniques and a whole load of other things. I have looked at many videos on you tube and spoken to a few people that have been using clay for years and I feel quite confident. One thing is for sure, it is a damm sight easier than working with resins. After Christmas we have a 3 month break from the craft fairs and immediately after Christmas I think I will be ready to make a start on some proper projects. Actually I am quite excited about it all as there is so much potential incorparating the clay into scroll saw work. I will give an update on how things are going in the following weeks.
