New work

I've been working in my textiles studio over the last few weeks and now have a batch of new scarves for sale.  Some of them will be available in Arcade Artisans from Sunday, the others directly from me.  Here are a few photos of some of them.

Just a reminder ...

....  that while lots of things turn me on artistically, none so much as

C O L OU R !

When I've finished making a batch of scarves I do love to see them all together.  This photo shows the scarves I've been making in the last few weeks, still needing their final wash to soften them up and restore their shape where necessary, so they're a bit creased at the moment and not arranged particularly carefully.  They're draped over the table top that I've been using to work on.

At some point after they've been washed and ironed I'll photograph them all individually and post proper photos, though this may not be for a couple of months as I still haven't found anywhere as good as my greenhouse in Stroud for good light conditions for photographing artwork.

But as a sneak preview, I can point out one or two new designs.  There's one I call eastern flames - strongly contrasting flamey/domey shapes at the ends of the scarf.  Another is black triangles - black and silver triangles against a background of huge colour triangles.  There is also dot and comma - small colourful circles against a background of huge comma and circle shapes.  And I've done quite a few entirely abstract squiggly ones. That will have to do for now!

I've packed up my work station in the cottage for this year now.  Enough scarves for the following seasons and anyway there are visitors expected in the cottage soon, to which we're looking forward.  I've been working fairly full on in order to get the scarves finished so won't worry about not doing much work for the next week or so. 

Moving on

I'm pleased to say I have moved on from the stuck place I seemed to be in for quite a while.  I'd guess that blogging and talking about it was one factor that enabled me to move on and another was that I finally got round to starting up my Etsy shop.

In case you'd like to take a look, it's   here.

I have a feeling I started this a few years ago but by the time I thought about being organised back in February, I found I wasn't allowed to call my shop ClothAndClay;  there doesn't seem to be such a shop anywhere on Etsy so I suspect that I registered with a user name and password I've long since lost track of and that yer actual ClothAndClay shop name is in fact mine.  Hence my new Etsy shop is called ClothAndClayShop.  A bit clumsy but at least I can have my ordinary banner at the top. 

At the moment I have only earrings in my Etsy shop.  This is partly because I can make them to order at fairly short notice; even in really hot weather I'd be willing to use my heatgun to make one or two items.  I daresay I'll get round to some other items eventually. 


The same day as I built my Etsy shop we also did some playing around with space and furniture to see if I could set up somewhere inside to paint scarves.  Previously when we've been here I've done them outside.  This has one or two disadvantages: you need fair weather, but in normal weather the sun is too hot and drying on the patio where I worked by about 2.00 p.m. so I was under pressure to make scarves during settled weather and every morning.  The result of setting something up inside (in the cottage which has no visitors for the next two weeks or so) is that I can work whatever the weather and I can do half an hour and then break off and leave things as well if I want.

So, I have made a couple of scarves.  Nothing startling and two scarves do not a complete inspirational recovery make, but it's a start.

Have you seen my new scarves?

All these are new.  There are more blue scarves this time as well as a rather nice one in greys with splashes of red. 

There are new designs too:  fuchsia, small triangles and feathers, to name my favourite three.

You can find some in By Local, some in Vivant and the rest will be at Another Beastly Art Exhibition starting on Wednesday.

If you see something you like here which you would like to buy, please email me to reserve your choice.  After the exhibition the scarves that were there will be available to buy on my website.

Launching a new product

Today I'd like to talk about launching a new product.  What's that Ms Chatshow-Host? Have I a new product out myself?  Well, yes, I do, as a matter of fact and thank you for asking. Would you like me to tell you about it?

Well, I know I said you weren't all to hold your breath a little under three weeks ago, but I have in fact already started producing silk scarves.  I wasn't going to until the summer.  I was testing out different fabrics for scarves so that I could decide what to order.  I took them round to a friend for some market research.  She immediately requested a scarf right now as she needed a gift for a friend.  So I made another.  I then still had three perfectly good scarves sitting here and it occurred to me that if my friend wanted to buy one now, so might other people and the money for the first sales would come in handy to recoup the big outlay of setting them all up in the first place.

Now, however you display them, three scarves look a bit sparse.  So I made four more.

Seven scarves have been delivered to By Local in Cheltenham this morning!

Tomorrow will be a day off and then on Friday I start a batch of silk-painting classes for a few days.   This leaves about two and a half days in the middle of the week.  There really isn't any point trying to get stuck in with pottery in that time frame as anything I make will need working on during the time I am teaching.  So, guess what?  I'll be making a couple more scarves this week.  Then I will stop, I promise, until later in the year.

So, I was going to talk about launching a product (other than advertising my own new product.)  I do think that getting the presentation and placement of a new product is vital.  If you go about it half-heartedly then some of your first customers will always remember that it's a bit of a half-hearted product.  It should look as it's going to look when it's become a regular feature of your range.

If I have a new design on my pottery it's a fairly simple thing to launch.  Pictures everywhere people are already taking notice of my work will generally do it.  These scarves, though, are a completely different thing and there is so much to think about.  Here's a summarised version of how I went about it.

• Will they be labelled?  No, I don't want to sew a label on and detract from the design. 
• How will people know how to care for them, then?  Well, there'll have to be a label of some sort available somewhere.
• How will they be displayed for sale?  Ah.  Well, I don't want a huge stand with them all floating about.  Also I worry about their being kept clean.  So in a bag - which can also contain the label.
• How will people know what the scarf looks like when worn if it's folded up in a bag?  Hmm.  OK, photos of the actual scarf in different styles can go on the label.
• But how will they know what the scarves, and especially the different types of silk, feel like?  So, I need some samples of each sort so people can feel the samples.  And the samples will help convey what a loose scarf looks like compared with one folded up in a bag.
• If you put your website address on the label as you usually do, won't people think it's a bit odd when they don't find any reference to scarves on your website?  (sigh)  Yes. Yes, ok, I'll update my website.
• Shouldn't you have updated information on your page of By Local's website too?  Tomorrow, ok?  Tomorrow.

And the result?

and of course here on my website. 
Product launched.  I must say, I'm looking forward to my day off.