Clay Day

One small problem with the new set-up is that I can't just disappear down the pottery shed or the potting shed whenever I feel like it. On the other hand, not being here all the time, does impose (a small amount of) discipline, and Wednesday's have been declared Clay Day. Doesn't always work - weather, plants and The Boss's unexpectedness sometimes get in the way, but when it does work, it works well.



I've been playing a lot with a bunch of Indian wooden printing black I picked up. They work beautifully on clay and I get to do a lot of detailed bits with coloured stains. I usually end up with cramp in my back and a dead arm at the end of it, but generally, I think it's worth it!

These pieces were designed as brooches and pendants, but I've got a few ideas, using the same technique for hanging ornaments, like my birdies

So, today, I shall be in my wonderful new shed - which doesn't look anything like this anymore! - up to my elbows in mud and colour

String Theory

Well, I am well and truly moved, settled in and starting to find a routine. rather strange after 10 years of working on whatever the weather dictated I could, but now I have set hours, set times and the very faint hint of organisation.
 I no longer post at weekends, so Monday is a big packing day. Which means Tuesday is restocking day. Today was down for refilling the linen drawer

and as winding string onto card is slooooow, it became a thinking day too.

First thought - and it is a fairly frequent one for me - was I need more colours. So far I have some marbled, some natural shades and a few pastels and a few brights. But it seems my supplier has some new shades in, gorgeous darks and brights and so, soon, shall I.

The next thought centered around "what to do with...?"

Moving the studio brought to light all sorts of bits and pieces, including these little boxes. I've been using them for packaging the Embroidery bags but there are still rather a lot.

Handily, they hold 6 wooden spools of linen!

Coming soon to Paperspill in assorted mixes of colours. And yes, you can pick your own :-)

Buttons and Ribbons

Summer is the quiet time

No, scratch that. Summer is the quiet time for selling buttons and ribbons, as I'm spending most waking hours outside battling the wilderness and trying to coerce recalcitrant poultry into doing what they are told

A job that goes about as well as you might expect.

Been a  bit damp, this summer, though, so I did for once have time to play

New at PaperSpill are these mixed packs of ribbons and buttons

in rose

in spring leaf

and in winter red

The Greenhouse

To some extent, it is where I've been living the past week or so, as everything has ripened, all at once, and demanded attention.

But it is, also, however the name of my new Etsy shop, GreenHouse Bazaar. I struggled a little for a name as all the ones I wanted were taken, but in the end, the idea of Green, Home and the fact I live in a mishmash of styles on a smallholding, all came together.

Some new pieces are listed already, others will be moving over from my original textiles shop, and more are in progress.

I have a head full of ideas, shelves full of fabrics, some incredible samples of organic and fairtrade textiles, so do please come by and visit!

Coming Soon

New toys!

I have been off for a while, planning and organising. Now The Boss is also self-employed, making Boutonnerie work properly is even more important. There has been a site revamp and some resorting. Still some work to do, but I'm getting there.

There is also a whole bundle of new stock coming in the next week. My Lovely Babysitter is arriving tonight to take care of Little Button for me for a couple of weeks so I shall be hard at work.

So...
Felt packs to accompany the felt squares
New vintage buttons
A whole new section for Embroidery
and a fair few haberdashery basics.

On top of all this, I've been making. My first experiments with polymer clay didn't work that well - they looked pretty but were simply not robust enough. The second days work went better:







They all still need sanding and finishing, a task not helped by Little Button being firmly convinced they are sweeties!

When the weather warms up, I can start prepping the alder and there may even be some fruit wood toggles coming too, once I get around to doing the pruning!

So, do come by and visit - I'm having so much fun with Boutonnerie! For now, I'm off to sort the stockroom and find somewhere for the Lovely Babysitter to sleep. As she, and the button, says, life is...

Coming soon...

Well, yesterday I worked most of the day on uploading pics and descriptions to the website. Promo material has started to go out and I reckoned it might be a good idea if people had something to look at.

It is tedious and really not my favourite part, but around a third of the commercial button listings are done now. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

I'll carry on with more today but I need to make a decision. Do I include other haberdashery items - beads, bias binding etc and slowly move everything over to this one site thus making my business more focussed, or do I keep the site focussed on buttons and buttons alone and sell the other things through other sites?

Thoughts?