Yet another hare

Nothing going on, except a lot of planning, designing and unfinished work - here's a little something I have actually completed, with amber chips on a bronze wire. Yes, it's yet another hare. Well, it is nearly Spring!

The swans fly

Joe and I are enjoying our second Christmas together. Yet again it's simply a quiet time; a time of being thankful that we have a roof over our heads, food, logs for the fire and most importantly, each other.  Whatever you do at this time of year - and especially if you are alone - we both send you the warmest of best wishes and hope for the future. Because there is always a better place, despite the long haul to get there.

Christmas stall

Well, that's that out of the way and I seem to have my life back again. I don't usually do stalls, as it's an almost impossible (and expensive) thing to do when you don't drive and live in remote ruralsville. But this one was only a couple of miles away and Brian-next-door helped me get everything over, on a stormy day with gale force winds and driving rain.

Thankfully it was all under cover. This is the annual Christmas Fair held at Concord International College, at Acton Burnell. It was bigger than I expected -  much bigger. My heart quailed, not for the first time, but I got stuck into setting up. I'd been planning this for weeks, so it was just a case of popping everything out.

 

There was a small emergency when I had to get Brian to pick me up again so that I could dash home and print off more price labels (which I thought I had, but patently hadn't). And also borrowed an extra table cloth from Jean, having scrounged some extra table space.

 I even unearthed my old stock of cards, and sold quite a few.

In the end it all went well. My old retail skills kicked back in and I had a pleasant smile glued to my face. There was a large footfall of over 2,000 visitors, not including the college students. My stall was nice and busy and I sold enough gubbins to make it worthwhile. My new Paypal card reader worked and the three hours flew by.

I was inevitably asked about my prices for my own needle felt work. One couple directly asking me why it was priced 'so high'. Once upon a time, I might have shrunk under a stone, but now I've got more confidence. For a start, I answered (keeping my pleasant smile) the smallest thing on my tree took at least four hours to make.  I am a published professional in my field, very well known, with over eight years of full time practise. And my work is collected, especially in America, where they really value good craftmanship. So the prices reflect my time, my skills  and my name.

It's hard not to be British sometimes and undersell yourself.  I now realise that I have to be my own walking, talking CV; there's no point in being overly modest.  What I didn't add was that with the hours of work I put in on each and every piece, I am still working for less than the UK minimum wage which is £6.70 at present. So I am pricing as low as I can afford to, even if it seems 'high'  because this is not my little hobby, but my livelihood.

But here's the thing - although I only sold one piece of my own work, the look of joy when so many  people came up to my stall and admired the displays was immensely rewarding. I put on, as they say, a 'good show'. And sold a lot of kits and supplies on top of that. I have to admit, I treated myself to a celebratory bottle of cheap wine and a pizza on the way home when Brian drove me back. He refused petrol money point blank.

I also had many people asking me if I was holding a local workshop, which is now on the cards and spurred me into setting up a monthly newsletter, which will start in January. It will be solely about needle felting - workshops for next year, tips on working, my own work in progress, new kits - that kind of thing. So there is now a sign up page on my website, here. Of course, your details remain completely confidential.  I've already had quite a few subscribers, so I'd better start planning the January edition...

Needle felting wotnots for 2015

So many thanks for all the kind and lovely comments on my last post. Joe and I were incredibly touched that people were happy for us. Now that I have a real purpose, I've thrown myself back into work with a vengeance, starting the New Year with two little hare brooches in a newish style.

 Little Brown Hare brooch available from Etsy

 Little White Hare brooch available from Etsy

 It's good to be making again.

2014 ended with a gorgeous feature in 'Filtz Fun', a popular German felting magazine - they made it all look beautiful, I think the prettiest magazine article of mine I've seen. I do need to update my publicity picture though.

2015 is starting to fill up with workshops - at the moment I have five definite dates, starting in March with a bang at the p-Lush alpaca show in Coventry, where I will be using alpaca wool for the first time ever. The next day I am in Oxfordshire at my regular venue of Folly Fabrics, Smith's Restaurant in Manchester in April and back to the Buckingham Summer School for two full days in August. (Summer, hooray!) More info and contact details can be found on my website. More to be added, with luck.

My book and a giveaway

Last year, the most terrible of my life, also saw one of my life ambitions fulfilled. With ghastly irony, the offer from Harper Collins to commission my first needle felt book came just two days after Andy died, in January 2013. What should have been a joyous occasion was like ashes in my mouth. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered any more.

Yet this book was part of my future survival; I was left rudderless and precariously positioned financially. Somehow the mortgage had to be paid, the electric bill, the water rates, the council tax and now it was all down to me. So having been given a deadline extension and much sympathy from my publishers, I began designing the first patterns in March.

Believe me, when you have lived through your worst nightmare, when you have howled into the snowy night for your love to come back to you,  dreaming up cute toys seems like a monstrous irrelevance. And so the years of professional working kicked in and I immersed myself in making the best book I could, under the circumstances.  

Somehow I found the strength to get this book finished by summer last year, despite having to take a break to organise Andy's woodland burial. I worked seven days a week, 8-10 hours a day. I often found myself crying as I sat alone in my studio, just me and my felting needle. But I did it. And in the end, I rediscovered my love of toys, as I surrounded myself with more and more of them.

Most of the designs were new.

Some were old favourites, like the Roly Poly robin, who I've made many, many times.

And I was able to include a good section on techniques, including how to sew in eyes and how I get that firm, smooth finish people are always asking me about.

I also wanted to produce a book which had more challenging  patterns in - there are plenty of 'simple' needle felting books out there, and while I do have some very easy 'roll it up and stab' patterns, such as the Rainbow Mice, there are some more tricky designs for seasoned needle felters to get their teeth into. Over the space of four months, I produced a heck of a lot of creatures.

Although it is great to finally have my own needle felt book out, the person I wanted to do it for is no longer here. So these two lines are, for me,  the most precious part of it.

"This book is dedicated to the life and dear memory of Andy Macauley, 1971 - 2013. My Forever Love."

I have three signed copies of my book to give away - if you'd like to have the chance to win one, leave a comment here so that I know who you are, and I'll do the draw next week, when I return from my workshop at Oxford Fibreworks. I'll also pay the shipping costs to wherever the winners are in the world. so all you have to do is enter and keep your fingers crossed!

If you don't want to leave it to chance, then it seems to be available in major book shops all over the place, as well as  Amazon UK and Amazon.com. It's also available as a Kindle edition and iTunes. Harper books in the USA have also published it, so my American friends should have no problem in sourcing a copy. I do hope that people like it.

*GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED NOW!*

Woolly scrimshaw

Some of the new designs I worked on over the Christmas period, looking at antique scrimshaw folk art and converting the style into my own versions. 

Hares, foxes and a little dog

I have a big list of custom orders to get stuck into, but have managed to update my Etsy shop with some new designs, including the foxes which have had such great feedback.

 Large fox - SOLD

 Medium fox - available to buy

 BAR - available to buy

My new line of hares - for some random reason I fancied giving them Anglo Saxon names, despite the circus theme. So  this is 'Bar' (meaning 'from the birch wood')

 SILVIA - available to buy

'Silivia' (meaning 'of the wood')

 WOODROW - available to buy

 And Woodrow (meaning 'of the birch wood) and my favourite.

 GOLDY - reserved

And little Goldy, who is reserved for a Very Special visitor coming to see me all the way from America!

Latest needle felting news

Off to do two workshops in Oxfordshire -  one at The Fibreworks Oxford and another all day session at the dear old Queen's Head in Eynsham. Just managed to get a pattern finished for 'Crafty' magazine (coming out soon) and finish a couple of custom orders.

The elephant is very big (for needle felting) - 8 x 5½ inches. This sweetie is only a couple of inches tall, by comparison.

Not only that - I have some foxes and new style hares to sell, when I return - here's a little preview of one.

Foxes, geese and tiny houses

 Order just off to America, to the lovely Empty Nest Emporium in New Virginia - a trio of slinky foxes.

A trio of flower geese - 

 And a street of tiny houses -

I hope the foxes are making friends with the geese...