Barbecued Pots Part 2

So, after leaving things to smoke and smoulder for several hours, the contraption was cool enough to open.

The wood underneath had burnt away and the shavings were reduced to a fine crumbly ash, as had much of the seaweed. I had expected it to burn away completely but it was still there

(sorry about the picture quality - the camera objected to taking photos of dark things at dusk)

So, a bit of cleaning and we had 6 pots of assorted shades of grey. What hadn't worked was the bean tin saggars - the shavings were still completely uncombusted. The answer to that was simple

1 enthusiastic pyromanic + 1 restored Victorian kick-forge

= 1 collection of smokefired beads and buttons

The pots and  beads are now for sale here

Barbecued Pots Part 1

I love smoke-firing. I love the unpredictability of it.

What I didn't love was having to get the The Boss to fire up the forge and the fact we could only do things small enough to fit in a baked bean can.

So when our friendly, neighbourhood flytippers dumped a barbecue, himself was sent straight out to fetch it home. It was a little wonky but 5 minutes with an angle grinder chopped all the legs down to the same height, and wedged in the soft sandy soil of the riverbank, it was just fine.

And so, we got started on very small pit-firing.

First in was a stack of kindling, laid as flat as possible and the grid put back

On top of this went a layer of wood shavings and assorted 'organics' from the duck and goose shed

While The Boss was busily building pyres, I was adding various things to the bisque pots

There are 2 tin cans of beads, packed in more shavings. Sulphur powder was added to one, Bordeaux mixtures (copper sulphate and lime) to another. Wetted fine seaweed was draped over one terracotta bowl and dried seaweed wrapped around another. The larger bowl was filled with seaweed and wrapped in foil - an impromptu saggar. One white saucer was left plain.

A few pyromaniac moments later and the kindling started. The idea is that the shaving smoulder, rather than burning, with the assorted organics creating different colours.

We left it to smoulder...

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!

Sneak Peek

I have been cutting. And stitching. And, as I once wrote as a job description"I take big pieces of fabric and cut them into small pieces. Then I sew them back into big pieces"

This is the unfinished top for '3 shirts to the wind'



The lines and stripes are staggering drunkenly all over and it was made from, well, 3 shirts of mine. Couldn't really call it anything else!

Rags to Riches

Well, that is the idea!

A long time ago (though not very far away)I started my first business, making quilts, bags and generally anything that could be made out of patches. I loved it, it was fun and I used almost exclusively remnants and roll-ends of fabrics.

I loved the recyclingness (grammar police? shush!) of it and I loved the unexpectedness of creating. What I made came from what I had, what I could find. Nothing was really planned and a huge element of luck and chance influenced the final results.

For some reason, I downplayed this aspect and even deliberately tried to move away from it. Instead, I chose fabrics and colours simply for what they were rather than what they could be.

Looking back, a mistake. I lost the fun and I lost the excuse to hoard scraps and pieces "just in case". Life was a little more organised, but ever so slightly more sterile. A number of other things got in the way - losing my studio space, a prolonged renovation of a new house, Little Button* - and a pressing need to have the haberdashery business in a state where bills could be paid.

*I love her to bits, but toddler + pins + shears is never going to end well.

But this past week, a visit from the incomparable Ali made me rethink. And so it is back to basics - a new look, a new online store and a new range of bags, quilts, throws - anything I can make out of patches - from recycled, upcycled, (bicycled?) or eco/organic/fairtrade fabrics.
There will be handmade haberdashery along the same lines, a revamp of boutonnerie, a changing focus at Overspill and all in all, a quiet revolution in where I am going and what I am doing.

I doubt it is the easiest decision I've ever made, but I do hope it will be one of the best ones.

Of course, if it isn't, I shall just blame Ali!

"I could make that"

Without doubt, the single most infuriating thing to hear when working at a craft fair. That or "I made one like that and it didn't cost anywhere near that much".

Of course it doesn't cost that much to make yourself - you probably aren't counting your time or making a profit in order to grow your business/feed your kids/pay bills/etc.

But even if none of that matters to you, and you could make it yourself, would you? Would you be able to make it to the same standard as someone who does this day in, day out, who is practiced at what they do and who has skills (and possibly tools) that you don't?

Take, for example, this wonderous shop of delight: Tea Loves Cake on Etsy

I bake. I'm not a bad baker but I don't massively enjoy it and I tend to have more near-misses than genuine hits. Best summed up in that phrase 'good, plain baking'. Fruitcakes, gingerbread, the occasional muffin. Could I make cupcakes like these? Possibly. Am I going to? Highly unlikely!




Leaving aside the impressive vegan credentials, this is just beautiful. My icing never looks that smooth and as for making handmade flowers to decorate it? I've never done it, never wanted to do it and I know my skills well enough to know just how long it would take for me to get them looking that good. Being honest here, it would never actually cross my mind to do it!

For selling, particuarly online, is all about buyer's perception and seller's presentation. When I came across Tea Loves Cake I sat there, mouth open. The cakes are beautiful. We all know that they are not a useful* purchase, in fact the recommendation to "Once you receive your cupcakes remove them from their recyclable box and store them in an airtight container at room temp. until you are ready to eat them." made me laugh because I know, in this house, that they wouldn't even make it into that box!

To sell, successfully, you have to have either something people need or something you can make people think they need. Not conning or scamming, I don't mean that, but presenting in such away that anyone who sets eyes on your wares instantly thinks "GIMME"




*in the way of wellies or a loaf of bread. Of course, whimsy, beauty and frippery do fall into the 'necessities' category, unless we're all doomed to uniformity.


So next time you think "I could make that" be honest enough to ask youself if you really would. Or whether you should treat yourself to a little bit of beauty and reward someone else for their creations?

On the outside

There is more to life than buttons (shocking, but true!) and the other side of life is spent trying to make half an acre of brick rubble, mud and nettles actually grow something. Sometimes I win - sometimes I don't. Recently, the prizes have been going to the forces of chaos. Of course, the flood didn't help - hard to dig when under 9' of water - and the next year a very tiny Little Button didn't help much either. But this year, I'm determined to take gold!

This may be over-optimistic on my part. Certainly, it isn't looking promising! The main problem is that although we have a lovely amount of space here, the house itself was once part of the brickworks. Famous brickworks, historically important brickworks, but nevertheless, brickworks that dumped all the spoil and misfires all over the land that was one day to become my garden.

And so - where there should be earth, there is brick. What soil that is there is a deeply unpleasant mix of clay and brick chippings. And, at best guess, there is 60 tonnes of brick bits to move before I do more planting.





This patch is going to be an orchard. One day! I'm slowly digging out the bricks, pulling up the weeds and some day soon will cover the whole area with the contents of 5 compost heaps. We have saved some topsoil from other excavations and then the trees can go in. At present, they are down in the veggie plot, but it's too frosty, too damp and if they grow more than 6" they're going to shade out the neighbours greenhouse. I don't think I could live with myself if they did that!

I've already cut down the alder sprouts coming from the stump:


A lot of this will be saved for button making and toggle making. As they are quite young shoots, they have grown lovely and straight and really - there is nothing better than the colour of fresh-cut alder!

Help!

I have it. For the next 2 months I have a babysitter and I can't tell you what a relief it is. Or how much I'm managing to get done in those 2 hours a day!

Boutonnerie is almost fully stocked now with all the pieces I have to hand. There is a new Maker Page, I have a new trade account opened.

And I might even have time to blog!

Introducing Linda

A new maker for Boutonnerie .

Linda, of LeafGreenHandmade, has been hard at work making sewing rolls for me to stock. Not only are these the ultimate gift for the new or disorganised seamstress (sorry - I refuse to use the word sewer!) but some feature handmade buttons, some are made from fabric samples that would otherwise have been tossed if I'd not rescued them. The ultimate in sustainability!

Linda's Maker Page is here and the sewing rolls are gradually being added here

Victory is mine!

The first of the Maker Pages is complete!

I still have a way to go, but each handmade listing will have a link to the Maker Page of the Maker, as well as a page of extra photos. Komposer is my friend.

http://boutonnerie.com/catalog/alison.html

The page is still fairly basic, there is soem tweaking and beautifying to be done, but having got over this first hurdle with only a couple of scrapes (no broken legs, no barked shins) I'm really feeling quite proud.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow...

It does seem, some days, as if this entire project is moving at a petty pace, but like a swan, while there may be calm serenity on the surface there is a great deal going on underneath.

Honest!

The commercial listings are almost finished bar some last-minute stocktaking to see how many of what I really have and this weekend we venture back into html.

I haven't done much coding for a long while and even past experience was pretty basic, so the next few days should be...interesting. If on Monday morning I am greyfaced, white haired and gibbering then you'll know the coding won!

Generally, I like using OSCommerce for Boutonnerie. It is easy to use from the back-end and it is a familiar format for those who I hope are my target market. True, I can't add frills, flash, bells and whistles but then, even if I could, I probably wouldn't. The one thing about this format that does irritate me is that each listing has only one photo.
So, as I'm moving on now to the handmade pieces, not only do I need to write a Maker Page for each person but each handmade listing is going to need another page of pics. I have elegant silver buttons, I have fabulous polymer clay buttons, I have sewing rolls and I have more buttons coming. Simply not possible to show them in all their glory with a single 100x80 photo.

And just as a sneak peak for what is coming next week:

Eye of the storm

Amidst the weeks chaos I did get a couple of straight hours to work on the site. Ribbons are now up, as are felt squares. The squares I scannned as we were having a typical Derbyshire spring day (wet, blutery, lights on in the house at midday) and I though I'd get more accurate colours.

Hm.

The colours are accurate. Better than the camera would have given...but...resizing and cropping has led to some odd effects. Essentially, any stray fibre - and felt is never completely one colour - has pixillated itself like nobodys business! Hence the colourwarp.

The plan (stop laughing at the back. I always have a Plan. Whether or not life conforms is another matter) is to get the commercial items finished this week. I have the first of the handmade buttons here (and being treasured), the first of the handmade sewing items. I have 3 different makers lined up to produce buttons in different materials - but I want to give them all sufficient limelight. I also need to give people sufficient time to make.

So, once the commercial items are listed then we start on the handmades and the Maker Pages. If you are making for me, be assured I will be in touch soon asking all sorts of inconvenient questions!

On the plus side

We are now indexed by google, we have the sitemaps sorted, the handmade sewing rolls are here and are perfect! The plan is to fill them up - needles, pins, thimble, tapemeasure etc as they would be a real treat for a new seamstress or as a gift. They are wonderfully well made and really beautiful.

Also by the same post came the first of the handmade buttons. The photos I saw of them before they arrived were amazing, but now they are here, I don't want to let them go! They will be the most expensive buttons on the site, but at handcrafted, pure silver...they are worth every penny!

And today I have contacted 2 new makers both of whom I'm delighted to say are happy to help stock www.Boutonnerie.com We are still working out the details but I'm happy to know that there are more good things on the way to the shop and that Boutonnerie is making a start in helping artisans increase their business!