Product Photography Improvement

Hello! The first post of the year! I've been working on improving my product photography, I've noticed a drop off of my online sales, which is a bit worrying, and when you're competing against so much lovely stuff online, it's a good idea to look your best!

So I've had an overhaul of my alphabet risograph prints. The old ones are taken against a white background, using lights, which I thought were great at the time, but natural light is so much better. It was fun to do a bit of styling with props too, I think the new shots have a much warmer feel to them. What do you think?

I used the Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos by Heidi Adnum, I'd really recommend this book if you're keen to learn a bit more about product photography. Of course, there are loads of online guides, but I like having a book to refer to! All my prints are available online, and from my bricks and mortar shop at the Craft and Design Centre, which is also having an exciting face lift!

Screenprint Giveaway!

Oh, poor, neglected blog! I think I've had blog fear, after so long using twitter and instagram, the thought of sitting down and typing more than 120 characters feels a little intimidating! The irony is that I actually enjoy writing and looking back on blog posts. So I do solemnly swear to make more of an effort from now on! Well, I have something nice to make up for being silent for so long. A giveaway! Woohoo! At the beginning of the year I invested in a bit of new equipment - a spring-loaded drying rack and some freshly exposed screens, which make my life a lot easier and mean that I can print lovely, high-quality posters.

I have one of each design to give away, for a chance to win just leave a comment saying which one you would like, Koala, Lion, Owl or Tiger! I will announce the winners in a week's time.

The posters are available to buy from my website and Not On the High Street Store.

FutureEverything Workshops

Hello! I'm way behind on posts, I've been super-busy running, cycling, printing and teaching workshops! Here are some photos from the HANDMADE workshop at Victoria Baths. It was a super-fun, busy, hectic day!

More photos on my Facebook page! The next workshop I'm running is on the 30th June at Fred Aldous for the Ministry of Craft. In August I'm running some workshops for 10-15 year olds, so if you know anyone who'd like to have a go at printing in the summer holidays, send them my way! Details here: Craft Academy

Ramsbottom Festival

Last Sunday I went on a tiny adventure to Ramsbottom music festival to help run some drop in kid's crafts workshops and to sell some wares! It was a great day, despite some adverse weather conditions and I made lots of sales, which was ace!



To get to Ramsbottom we took the vintage train from Bury! Hence the sepia effect.



My stall with lovely Andrew there to help me. I haven't done a market stall for ages, as I found them to be a bit hit and miss, but the day was so successful I'm thinking about possibly doing some more around Christmas...

Happy Birthday Fred Aldous!

Hello! This is my 100th blog post and I'd been feeling a little shy about what to put in it. Well, luckily I remembered that I'm doing some drop-in workshops on Sunday as part of our lovely local craft shop's 125th birthday celebrations! There will be market stalls and other crafts to try over the weekend, so come on down, it's free too!
Other than that I've been working on new designs for commissions and such, all good fun.

Giveaway time!

Hullo and a happy Monday to you all! I'm starting the week with a little giveaway, I've been trying to sort out my studio out a bit and am forcing myself to part with some of my fabric stash, it's out of hand! I find it so hard to part with craft supplies, even if I know I'll never use it. So I thought it would be nice for someone to make use of this fabric and make it easier for me to part with it!
So I have 2 bundles of fat quarters of fabric to give to one lucky person! One is a mixture of my own designs: screenprints and digital prints with hand printed overlays and digital embroidery - quite a lot of work has gone in to each piece and you'll find various animals hiding within - owls, deer, swans and foxes...
The other bundle is a selection of Japanese fabrics which are really beautiful - I got these on my travels but have never known what to do with them. I think I bought them in Kyoto, textile central in Japan. They are probably off-cuts from kimonos.
To enter, either leave a little comment letting me know which bundle you would like, or follow me on Twitter and retweet the giveaway (or both for an extra chance to win!). Don't forget to let me know which bundle you would like to win...
I'll announce the winner at the end of the week. Good luck! xx