A new direction for 2016

It's been a long time hasn't it? I became so busy with the business over the last few years that some things just got lost along the way. As well as the blog, I feel my creativity became a little side tracked too. Somewhere down the line I became a manufacturer and it's slowly dawned on me that I've stopped loving what I do. So, I'm having a big shake up.

Since Christmas I've spent a lot of time thinking. During that time I dug out a fairly unused tapestry loom from the garage loft (which holds all my old felting stuff as well as various looms) and began experimenting with fibre and yarn left over from my time as a wet felter. I now have the weaving bug. I've been working on tapestry weaving (because I can do it my lap whilst watching TV in the evenings) but I also have plans for my table top 4 shaft loom when I have the space in the studio.

It feels like I have come full circle as I specialised in weaving in the final year of my textile design degree (way back in the 90's). So, I have a renewed passion for textiles and my head is whirling with lots of exciting plans. It's going to be all change for 2016, and I can't wait. The plan is to share the journey on here as often as possible. So here's a few of things I've been creating so far....(they're a bit of a mish mash as I have just been using my stash to have a bit of play).

***Giveaways***

Just to let you know I have two little giveaways over on Facebook. The first one is to win free tickets to the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate and the second is for a mystery box of Fibrespace goodies worth over £35. Just follow the link and leave a comment on the relevant post to enter.

https://www.facebook.com/fibrespaceuk

Harris Tweed Brooches

It's giveaway time again over on Facebook, only this time it's Tweed brooches for those of you who prefer ready made :-)

The mouse is one of my latest designs, and so far she's my favourite, I'm thinking of making a little bunny version too.

Giveaway over on Facebook

I'm having a little giveaway over on Facebook. All you have to do is comment on the giveaway post for your chance to win three brand new mini kits.

https://www.facebook.com/fibrespaceuk

Play time

Friday is my play day where I allow myself a few hours to experiment with new ideas that I have floating around in my head. They don't always become finished products and often ideas get shelved for a few months before I pick them up again. This Friday I worked on some brooches made from felt and leather (I love the two materials together). What do you think? I made them with some scraps of leather from an off cuts bag but I've ordered some larger pieces of leather so I can keep playing.

Six things to make with felt flowers

I've recently started selling packs of felt flowers and wanted to share some simple crafty ideas for using them.

 Decorating Gift Boxes

 Textured Flower Brooch

 Hair Bobble

 Greeting Card

 Flat Flower Brooch

Decorated Tote Bag

At the moment there are 4 sets of felt flowers which are available on the Fibrespace website or from Not On The High Street.

Work in progress

I've been busy on the laptop ordering supplies for a new range of craft kits. I'm really excited about these ones, and can't wait to share them with you. Here's a little sneaky peek, but you're going to

have to wait for the launch for the full show and tell :-)

Yay, New Website

Well, it's taken a while, but I now have an all singing, all dancing website over on www.fibrespace.co.uk. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out and hopefully everything works. My daughter has just been testing it out. Now the site is up and running this page can change back to a blog where I can write a little about what's going on behind the scenes, as well as sharing our families crafty projects, (we have the sewing bug at the minute).

And because I feel every posts needs a picture to jolly it up here's a little logo I designed. I'm having it made into stickers to jazz up my parcels. The flower is taken from a card making kit which is in the pipeline. I seem to be embracing pink all of a sudden :-)

Giveaway Time

There's only one day left to enter the giveaway I'm having over on Facebook 

http://www.facebook.com/fibrespaceuk

These felt flowers are perfect for sewing or gluing, they could add a little something to cards, gift tags, bags or hats. Just leave a comment on Facebook telling me what you would do with them and I'll pick 5 winners tomorrow.

The Face of Fibrespace

A belated Happy New Year to you all, I hope you had a good Christmas. The run up to Christmas here at Fibrespace was a bit manic. As well as having my best Christmas for wholesale orders it was my first Christmas at Not On The High Street, which definitely surpassed all my expectations. I managed to get all the orders out with one day to spare before the kids broke up from school, so it was a mad dash into town to finish all the last minute shopping.

After a much needed rest I'm now back to work, designing and putting together lots of new kits in preparation for the Spring Fair in February. I'm really excited about the new designs, as well as more kits in tins I'm also bringing out some new ranges, which I will be sharing on here shortly.

As my kits are quite small I want to design a pop up banner for the trade show so passers by can easily see what it is we sell. As my kits are suitable from age 7+ and mostly geared towards girls I thought my 10 year old daughter would make the perfect face of Fibrespace. So when we had a rare glimpse of blue sky and good natural light this morning I requested that she put on her Sunday best and let her pick one of my new kits to have a go at whilst I clicked away. She loved it, and she's such a neat sewer (neater than her Mum), she's already planning which kit she wants to make next.

The Living North Essence of Christmas

http://yorkshire.livingnorthfair.com/

I haven't done any retail fairs for a few years now, but I was contacted about having a stand at this one at York and thought I might give it a go. Fingers crossed I will have enough stock (even if I have to forgo sleep for a few days).

Photographs

I'm never 100% happy with my photographs, so whilst taking pics of my latest kits I had another play around with the composition and styling. As part of my C&G felt making course last year I filled a few sketch books with work based on vintage. This was a good move because it meant I could spend time perusing my favourite shop in Harrogate, Space and pretend I was working :-)

One of my purchases was a vintage wallpaper sample book, it has some beautiful designs in it (but quite a few shocking ones which I'm sure resulted in lots of headaches). After my course finished I thought I might frame some of the samples and group them together on one of our walls, unfortunately my husband did not share my enthusiasm, so they were tucked away in the studio gathering dust, until the other day when I had a ping moment and thought they would be perfect as backdrops for my photo shoots.

I was so pleased with the results that I am now re doing all the other kits as well. Unfortunately this is taking some time as the sun hasn't been coming out to play to often this week, but I'm getting there. You can see the before (very pink) and after photographs in my store.

I know a lot of people struggle to take good quality photos of their products, and whilst I'm no expert I have spent years trying to improve, so thought I would share some of my techniques.

 In the past I have used a pop up lighting box for taking product shots, which is great if you want products only with a white background, but quite awkward if you are using props, so I set up the sunny corner of my studio instead. It's hard to believe but the sun was a little too bright the other day and was casting harsh shadows so I sellotaped some white tissue paper to the window and it worked a treat.

To prop up the finished brooches I had to be quite creative. The mice, for example have pins going through their feet, which act as little stands (I just photoshopped them out afterwards). The sheep and birds were more tricky as their legs don't support them so I rigged up a frame (very Heath Robinson), which you can see in the photograph above, and hung them from pieces of cotton, again, all evidence was removed in photoshop.

Before, with pins.

After, pins removed and image brightened.

Before with thread visible.

After, thread and stand base removed.

I have only recently purchased photoshop, and whilst I would love to have bought the all singing and dancing version, my budget wouldn't stretch that far, and I'm not sure our computer would have coped either, so I bought the elements 10 version, which is much cheaper and more or less does everything I need it too.
 

Busy, busy, busy...

Oh my goodness, it's been a while since I posted on here. Over summer I have been busy working on some new kit designs in readiness for Christmas. I finally finished the instructions last week so they are now good to go and have already gone out to some of the shops I supply. I'm just waiting for a break in the rain so I can get some decent photographs taken then they will be going in the Not On The High Street store as well.

Yesterday I had a idea for a new range of kits, I always get really excited when I have new ideas so I'm going to be working on some prototypes over the next few weeks. They are a bit of a departure from the kits in tins, but they should sit nicely along side my current range.

I'm also working on the design for a counter top box to hold my kits, which I will send out with all wholesale orders of 100 kits or more. So you can see it's all go here in Harrogate and with the festive season looming up it's going to get even busier.

One of my best seller brooches at this time of year are the robin brooches. I'm not making any brooches to sell online myself as I just don't have the time, but the charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research are selling them along with my dog kits, if you're interested they are available on their online shop, http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/shop/women

Fibrespace HQ

Hi,

I love it when other designers / makers share pictures of their studio space, (I'm afraid I'm quite nosey), so I thought it was about time I shared mine with you. My first thought was that I should give the studio a tidy first, but then that wouldn't be a true representation at all. When we had the shed studio built I imagined this beautiful space with inspirational pictures on the wall, retro furniture and shelves with artistically arranged objects, just like you see in the magazines. Unfortunately, the truth is that it just ain't big enough to be beautiful and functional, and I need the limited space to function well as I spend most of my days in here. So here it is, Fibrespace HQ:

 The first picture is taken from our kitchen window, so you see it's just a short walk to work each morning, (please ignore the state of out garden, it is very much a work in progress).

 This is my sewing corner, where I make the brooches.

 Here's the table where I make the kits up, I do them in batches of 100 at a time.

 

This is the area where I pack orders up.

 

And finally, this is the view from my window, the Goldfinches are regular visitors to the garden in summer.

Not On The High Street Store

Woo Hoo, Fibrespace now has a Not On The High Street Store. For the time being this will be the only place online where you can purchase the full range of Fibrespace kits directly from me. Keen to make a good first impression I have been slaving over the camera to try and get some good product shots that catch the eye and reflect the 'Fibrespace' brand. I think I managed it after lots of trial and error, ( the British summer has not helped).

I have some new kits in the pipeline to add to the Fibrespace range and will post them on here as soon as they go in the store.

New Kits

Here are two of the new kits that I designed for the British Craft Trade Fair. The third one, a house keyring kit is still waiting for it's labels to come back from the printers. I think the cupcake kit is my new favourite.

10% discount for 1 week only

I've just spent the morning listing all of Fibrespace's products in our online shop. To celebrate I'm offering 10% discount on everything for one week only. Just use the code WTZNLT when you check out.

http://fibrespace.bigcartel.com/

A new start for 2012

Hello,

It's been a while since I have posted anything on blogger. One of the reasons for this has been the huge success of Fibrespace this year. In April of 2011 I had a stand at the British Craft Trade Fair for the second year in the row. Whilst the the first year in the newcomers gallery surpassed my expectations, the second year really propelled the business and now I'm looking forward to my third year in a few months time.

As well as letting my blog slide I have had to make a few changes to the business in order to keep up with demand. The main change being that I no longer make my own felt. I have managed to source some high quality 100% wool felt which I am now using for my brooches and kits. Not only does this allow me to complete orders quicker but it also means I have more time to devote to designing, which is the best part of being a designer/maker.

I am in the process of adding the new range to the shop and I'm hoping to have a few more designs ready for the BCTF.

Having originally started Fibrespace as a feltmaker, for now I am reverting back to felting for pleasure only. I already have a few ideas for pieces I would like to make for our home, so hopefully I will be able to share these with you in the not to distant future.

As this blog will no longer be solely dedicated to wet felting I have decided to leave www.feltinginfibrespace.blogspot.com and begin this new blog as a fresh start. I hope some of you join me on my new journey, I'm going to try really hard to blog more often.