01/01/2014

January 2014

I'm writing this on New Years day and its raining! I don't like January, the weather is too unpredictable, which makes trading at events tricky for us, events get cancelled and I get stuck when it snows (that's the trouble with living in the middle of nowhere!).  However I also like January, because its the time we sit down and work out what we are going to do all year. And in 2014 we have plans to make this year "Fun".  We are hoping to go to more music festivals and less street markets, we are going to bite the bullet and see where our work can take us.

In December we piloted a new way of printing Mark's art work, which gives us more flexibility and you more affordable art. Sales for prints were flying, with some customers being able to buy 2 or 3 prints at a time, which made Mark start to believe that people really do like what he's doing, trouble is that's making his head "explode" with all the new ideas he has in his head!  Mark is a believer that his work is not just for us, he wants to share it, and whilst times are hard, he needs to make it affordable, so that more people can enjoy it and follow his progress in his artistic career.

We also piloted t-shirts, these are still work in progress, but we do believe these will go down well at festivals.

So where will we be going this year? Its all in the planning stage at the mo, as everything has to be applied for and some applications (such as Glastonbury Festival) takes a few months to be processed.  We do intend to go back to some of the events we attended in 2013 such as Uffculme Show, IMEX, Blackdown Woodland Fair, Tiverton Balloon Festival, Honiton Show, North Devon Show, Silverton Street Fair, Watchet Live and we will still pop up on Taunton and Exeter High Street.

But this year, if accepted we hope to be going to other events such as The Rural Living Show at Taunton Race Course, I hope to get a place to trade regularly at Glastonbury on Tuesdays and Wells on Wednesdays, Glastonbury, Womad, Chagstock and Beautiful Days music festivals, Oakhampton, Holsworthy and other agricultural shows and many others.

Our website has changed slightly, you can still buy jewellery online (dont forget to look out for the offers I run throughout the year), but Mark decided after we got stung by a hefty postage charge to America, that his work will be sold in a more personal way. All his work is listed, but now if you would like to order something online you will need to email us, we can then tailer your order, making sure you get the right size image and mount and the correct postage is paid.

Then if we have any time in between making new stuff, trading at events and running the website we will also be opening our studio for open days and maybe even running a few courses.

Its going to be a busy year and we invite you all along for the ride, so dont forget to say "Hi" when you see us at one of the events.