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 ❤

Upcoming Events in April and May

I can't believe it's April already! I haven't even had time to so much as pick a daffodil.

March was an incredibly busy month with the Yarn Festival and Falkland Craft Market and both were brilliant. I am now working flat out to make for the next Falkland Market on April 18th and Open Studios on 2nd, 3rd and 4th May.

I always make a few larger pieces for Open Studios as I have the advantage of wall space to display my work. I had made a few small felt pictures earlier this year with little thistles in the foreground and wanted to try some bigger versions.

This was my first larger one at 34 x 34 cm. It's not that big but certainly bigger than my usual 12 x 17 cm. I've put the smaller one in the photo for comparison.

When I'm planning my composition, I roughly needle in some fibres to give me an idea of where I will place the main features.  Those green blobs became these thistles below.

Thistle Croft

£285

Sold

The piece above sold the day I finished it so I was back to square one making work for Open Studios. 

I wanted to try more thistles in a pinkier tone on a lighter background. Thistle Bothy below is also 34 x 34 cm before framing.

Since taking this photo I have added a few daisy like flowers in among the thistle stems and made the lupin stems more visible. I think both these pictures will make lovely cushions so look out for them later this month.

I have lots of other new pieces in progress this month and hardly a moment to blog about it.

Open Studios North Fife brochures are now available to pick up from outlets of Waterstones Bookshops in Perth, Dundee, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Aberdeen and Glasgow. Look out for them at cafes, libraries and shops around the North Fife area as well.

You can collect them from me at the next Falkland Craft Market on Saturday 18th April or download the brochure online here

You can find my entry on the website here with a map on how to find my venue.