Internet On The Radio - After The Jump

image from here

I love the internet.  I devour blogs, procrastinate on Pinterest, enjoy the bantering on Twitter and so on.  But the problem is, you can't do anything else at the same time.

It really eats into your productivity.

So that's why I'm enjoying Grace Bonney's series of podcasts, After The Jump. It's like the internet, but on the radio.

She interviews fascinating people from all walks of creative life - illustrators, designers, entrepreneurs, writers - in an informal but intelligent way. Through the course of the interview, their route into their career is discussed as well as their family background and plans for the future.

I was a bit worried that it might be all too "Yay Me!" for my self-effacing British ways, but  she's a great interviewer, naturally curious and engaging, and the people she chats too are open and generous with their answers, often dishing out sound advice on how to deal with the problems of running a small creative business.

And all the while I'm listening, I can get on with making stuff! Meanwhile, I'm picking the brains of some really talented people.  Working and learning.

Any other recommendations for great creative podcasts are welcome - there is also a good list here by Abby Glassenberg.

Stocking Up

A few in-progress Instagrams from my lightbox.

I'm currently working my way through some new stock for The Stained Glass Museum as well as some for a new stockist which, very excitingly, is opening soon in Bridport.... more on that another time.

I've never sold any of my work locally before (apart from to friends and family) so it's going be interesting to see how it goes.

Lets Make Art

I spotted the top image in my Pinterest feed a few days ago and fell in love with it.

It comes from a children's creative workshop, run by a Bristol-based company called Lets Make Art (Karen Davies and Alice Hendy).

To find out more about them, and upcoming workshops and events, visit their blog, or follow on Twitter / Facebook

I'm wondering if I could lure them to do some sessions in Bridport....

All images reproduced by kind permission. ©Alice Hendy

RebelMouse / Blogging The Lazy Way

It occurred to me recently that what I need is a site that amalgamates all my interesting, informative and visually splendid* social media content (Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram), and puts it out there in one easily digestible dollop.

If you can get past the name and cartoon mouse, Rebelmouse does exactly that, and in a pleasingly simple layout.

*My actual content may not be interesting, informative or visually spendid...

Where They Create

JASON WOODSIDE

GREEDY HEN STUDIO

IJM

JOE ANDOE

Where They Create has been around for a few years now, and there is also a book available, but I've only just come across it.

Loving the Selby-esque, unstyled shots of creative spaces, which reveal a lot about the inhabitants' processes and working habits.

It also makes me feel a bit better about the perma-chaos of my workshop.

There are even more enviable environments over on Where They Dwell.

All images ©Paul Barbera

Pocket Money Shop Update

A new A4 print listed in The Pocket Money Shop, entitled Thinking Man.  When Nelly painted this the other day I thought how much it reminded me of Cathy Cullis's work, which I absolutely love.

And below it, the artist, with the WWF snow leopard she received with her adoption pack, purchased with her shop earnings (we got a bit excited that we might have taken delivery of an ACTUAL snow leopard as part of the deal, but thankfully it was just a Sky TV van parked outside our house).

Thanks again to all the kind and generous supporters of Nelly's project.

Crafty Magazine.

What?  Another new craft magazine?  Ah yes, but this one is quite a sexy little beast.

I was pretty excited to get my hands on a copy of the first issue of Crafty Magazine, after I saw Perri Lewis tweet this.  Because there really has been a gaping hole in craft magazine publishing for one that has a bit of edge, a bit of bite to it.  A Rizzo to the rest of the Sandra Dees*

With lots of moody, grainy photography and printed on uncoated paper, it's got the sniffability factor I like in a mag.  Articles include some great DIY projects (ombre Converse anyone? make your own moth?), interviews with contemporary artists (Mel Elliott, Iona Thomas) and guest spots from Perri Lewis and Mr X Stitch.

I'm looking forward to the next edition already - I hope they continue pushing the boundaries and seeking out genuine original talent.  You can have a peek at issue 1 here.


*Don't get me wrong, I love Sandy.  Primrose yellow cardigan, white high-collar shirt, too-short fringe.  It's a great look.

Etsy Shop Open Again

Finally managed to get my head around the various hurdles caused by the postage price increases, and re-opened my Etsy shop.  It has involved ordering new size mailing boxes, researching other options for the "medium size" parcels and (unfortunately) raising prices a little.

I'll still be using Royal Mail  - First Class for small items and Special Delivery for high value (£50+) items.  For medium sized items (e.g. Here Comes The Sun, Big Bloom etc.) I'll be using Collect Plus (which will involve me cycling a mile to the nearest drop off point - no bad thing, could do with the exercise).  I think the delivery time on those will be a little slower - they state 3-5 days.  Ok, turns out Collect Plus are a bit picky about what they will and won't take.  So I'll have to swallow the extra to use Royal Mail for medium parcels.  Gulp.

For overseas items, I'm sorry but the situation is pretty dire.  Royal Mail has cut the compensation cover to £20.  For smaller items, I'm happy to risk it so that's not too much of an issue.  But for medium and large items I have to use Airsure, which I'm afraid really bumps the price up.  I'm thinking that maybe it would be best to offer 2 options - one without the extra cover and one with, then people can decide if they want to take the risk or not themselves.

As you'll see, I have not listed any items with combined shipping prices, but will refund any difference via Paypal after posting.

Postage on cards and postcards remains the same!

On The Shore

Today we found: a seagull's foot, a ballerina drowned at sea and a piece of cheese.

Last day of the Easter Holidays today.  It's been lovely.  Looking forward to getting back to my workbench too though.

Eastergram

A few Instagrams of the Easter Weekend (so far).

Multi-coloured hen eggs from the WI market.

Sunlight on the lagoon at Abottsbury Subtropical Garden egg hunt.

More sunlight, generally, flooding into the house.  Making everything just nice.

British Birds in Stained Glass / Freelance Life

This is a little bit of what I've been working on while my shops are on holiday - some freelance painting work for other stained glass studios... mostly Victorian style painted glass centrepieces.

Very enjoyable it has been too.

It seems that British birds are quite in demand these days - top to bottom: Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Tawny Owl.

Coming soon: Long-tailed Tit and Chaffinch!

New Stockist - Comma, Oxford

(Images from Comma and Quaint Living)

Ever so excited to announce that my work is now being stocked by Comma, Oxford.

Such a gem of a shop.  If I ran a shop, I would want it to look just like this!

Check out that Ben Javens painted shopfront, and the Gemma Correll mural inside.

Did you know that the very nice Dave and Sally who run Comma are the people behind everyone's favourite tea towel emporium, To Dry For?

They run an annual competition to design a tea towel, which I fancied having a go at this year, more for fun than anything else.  This was my (non-winning) entry, entitled Dishfunctional.

Because, you know, what's not to love about a slightly needy selection of washing up equipment?

Sorry that my online shops are still closed, going to have to keep them that way for a bit longer while I sort out all the issues caused by postage price rises.  Should be opening again mid-April.

A big thank you to everyone who shared and signed the petition in my last post - keep spreading the word :)