A Peek Into Venue 28 during Open Studios North Fife

I can hardly believe that Open Studios North Fife is over for another year. 

If you missed it or were too far away to visit, here are some photos of my venue.

The place I have been using in Ladybank was taken over and renovated by Gillian MacIntosh of Kingdom Osteopaths last year. Gillian has made a fabulous job of redesigning the space and very generously took some days off and left me three empty rooms to exhibit in.

I transformed the main room into a display area with sales desk where visitors could browse my whole range of items and purchase if they wanted to.

The newly painted walls in a pale sage were a perfect backdrop and complimented the colours I use in my work perfectly.

An inner wall and door have been removed letting so much more light into the room.

Having such a wide range of printed goods really adds colour to the display.

My sets of four coasters were a big hit with visitors this year.

Both my big felted pictures on the wall above are away to happy new homes.

We always try to give people a nice place to sit and have a cup of tea if they have been to lots of studios and are feeling a bit tired.

Gillian's waiting room was easy to make cosy with some artwork and flowers and the shelves filled with lots of colourful items.

My new cushions nearly sold out!

Of course Open Studios is not all about selling. It's about letting people see into our creative spaces and explain a little about the processes that go into what we produce.

I always try to recreate my work space by bringing as much as I can down to the venue for the weekend.

 This year I did a bit of demonstrating with the embellisher machine and was able to show how wet felt is made as well.

Some of the materials I use in my work.

Fibres laid out ready to be wet felted.

A little shelving area with some bits and bobs and gifts from other makers. 

I find glass jars so useful for keeping oddments of wool in. You can find the scraps easily plus they add a splash of colour.

It has been a big job taking everything back home again and setting up my work space ready to start again. It's all looking spick and span though and I am raring to go!

Today had to be spent restocking my online shop. Lots of new things have been added.

You can browse my shop here

If you are new to shopping with me and have any problems, please feel free to get in touch at aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

I'm looking forward to May and June being slightly less busy than March and April. It was a bit of a marathon jumping from one event to the next and having to make so much stock in between. I have plenty to be getting on with though and will keep you up to date with what's new on here, on Facebook and on Instagram.

Thank you very much to all of you who came along at the weekend. Your support for the event is much appreciated ❤

Open Studios North Fife, 3rd, 4th and 5th May 2014

My biggest event of the year is finally upon us! Although I have been working towards this since the beginning of January, I feel like I have put it all together in the last couple of weeks. I will have my full range on display including Felt Pictures, Textile Trinket Boxes, Felt Jewellery, Textile and Resin Jewellery and Printed items.

I have made five larger felt pictures especially for the event along with a selection of smaller pieces.

Crofter's Cottage above is pictured next to one of my 12 x 12 cm pieces in a standard 25 cm box frame. It gives you an idea of the scale I've been working on and the quality of the larger frames.

Below is 'Iona Waters' which is slightly bigger.

I've been adding to my range of Textile Trinket Boxes as well and hope to sneak a few more makes in before the end of the week.

New jewellery pieces include these Felt Heart Pendants with large metal focal hearts.

More rings too!

Some new Textile Cuff Bracelets have also made it off the work table. I really enjoyed making these as I haven't had time to make any for about a year!

These ones are a mix of sari silk, velvet scraps and merino fibre.

 I have a good stock of printed items as well including the new Mouse Mats, Mugs, Notebooks and Cards.

 I took my mugs up the Quiraing on Skye for a photo shoot. It was very windy and bit showery but I got these quick shots.

I did a quick count when I was packing my brooches into a box and I have made over 100 this year! New to the range are these Donegal Tweed Leaf's in lovely soft colours.

I have also made quite a lot of my Textile and Resin jewellery in different designs. Mostly in my favourite purples and turquoises but there are a few other colours in the mix also.

These are just a few snapshots of what I have been up to. My favourite thing about Open Studios is having two whole rooms to display my work in instead of a six foot table at shows. I also really enjoy welcoming everyone along and giving you all an insight into some of the processes involved in making my work.

And I am delighted to say that I now accept card payments at all my events! This is a fantastic little device which I have used lots already this month. It's quick and secure and very convenient.

So come along and see me at 

Venue 31,

64 Commercial Road, 

Ladybank

KY15 7JS

Fife

UK

I'm having a preview night on Friday 2nd May 7 - 9 pm and will be open Saturday, Sunday and Monday 10 - 6 pm.

Free refreshments are available and we have a comfy couch and rest room facilities for weary travelers (and a daily newspaper and lots of cake for less interested husbands!)

You can find directions and details about all the other participants taking part on our website here

A Peek Inside My Studio During Open Studios North Fife 2013

Open Studios has been busier than ever this year and it's not over yet! I'm awake ridiculously early so I thought I'd get some photos uploaded to share before the day begins.

This is my third year taking part in Open Studios. There are 86 artists and makers taking part this year and as with other years, the response has been phenomenal!

Although I do live and work in the North Fife area, I prefer to move premises for Open Studios. I use my Step Dad's old office in Ladybank for the weekend which has the potential to become my permanent studio but I still prefer working from home.

I do my best to recreate my work space here though. I even brought my curtains!  

This is our little back room Gallery where I have my larger framed pieces displayed along with some framed prints.

We have also been serving tea, coffee and cake in here and at times it has been packed with people!

We set up a little Sales Desk and I'm so grateful to my Mum and friends for helping me out. They have been serving a constant stream of customers over the weekend which has left me free to talk to people about my processes and do a bit of demonstrating.

We've been playing with Transfer Paints this weekend and letting people have a go. Children and adults have all enjoyed it and many textile enthusiasts have been in to have a closer look at the embellisher machine and what it can do. The pink coat is there to display a brooch and to show people how the embellisher machine can be used to make motifs which can then be appliqued onto garments.

I still love my little lobster creel shelf that I brought home from Elie beach last month. In the interests of safety I restricted the display to cards as I have it hanging in a place where people might brush past and knock fragile things off it. The cards are harbour and sea themed though and it has been well admired.

 

The new mugs have been a big hit with the coos going off to new homes all over the country.

These will be available online when I re open my shops next Monday. I'm taking a little break to organise my stock.

It's great having so much space to display my work compared to the average 6' table you get at craft fairs.

It's a bit like playing at shops!

 

Felt and Seashell Trinket Boxes with a few complimentary jewellery pieces.

So if you are reading this on Monday 6th May, you still have time to come in and see us.

We are open from 10 - 6pm and can be found at 64 Commercial Road, Ladybank, KY15 7JS.

Just look for the white Open Studio boards. 

There are 7 other artists exhibiting in the village of Ladybank alone plus Off The Rails Art house Collective are open for visitors as well.

I'll be back next week with lots of new listings in my shops and perhaps a few more photos from our weekend.

Thank you so much to all those who have embraced the spirit of Open Studios and come in to see us and planned a route to visit as many as possible over the weekend. We really enjoy putting this event on for you and are delighted with the reaction we get. Here's to another busy day today!

Open Studios 2012-A Great Weekend!

Open Studios 2012 was a huge success! We had such a busy weekend and enjoyed every minute of it.

We had over 400 visitors to the studio over the weekend. Thank you to everyone who came along.

Here are a few photos of our studio space for those who were too far away to visit.

Many people ask me why I don't use this as a studio throughout the year and the simple answer is that it just isn't practical. I enjoyworking from my cottage and do a lot of work in the evenings sometimes and with children to look after a nice garden to go out into, I just prefer working from home.

We have access to this space whenever we need it though and although it was a bit of an upheaval moving production from home to here, it was enormously beneficial for an event like this and really nice to be able to display all my work to it's best advantage.

 

As well as the main room with my work space set up and most of my work on display, I used a secondary room as a Seascapes Gallery.

We had the sound of the sea on CD playing in the background and we served tea and coffee in here.

We also left a weekend newspaper for the men folk that weren't that interested in textile art and craft and nick named this room the 'Man Creche'.

It was so busy on Sunday afternoon that it was like a cafe in here with standing room only!

The response to my work was wonderful and it was nice to share some ideas and techniques with other fibre art enthusiasts as well as give demonstrations to other interested visitors.

So now it's back to work replenishing stock and fulfilling orders and commissions.

 

My online shop has reopened today and I will be adding new pieces over the next week or so. A great way to keep up with what's new from me is via facebook so if you are new to my website here and are a facebook user, do come over and say hi!

Also Open Studios North Fife is not finished yet. Many of the studios are open for a second weekend on 12th and 13th May. Look for the little orange 2  on the brochure entries. www.openstudiosfife.co.uk

I won't be open myself but you can check my events listings on the right hand side of the page here to see where I will be exhibiting next.