Why we love doing craft fairs

We love doing crafts fairs, makers markets and ceramics fairs. There are some that haven’t felt right, not enough support for makers or just a feeling of unpleasant competitiveness between makers – but when they work, it’s wonderful . The feelings and attitudes usually come from the top, we have realised. When the tone is set right, it’s such a wonderful and cooperative experience – cooperation between organiser and maker, between organiser and the public and between the maker and the public.

Here is our recent stall at Bute Yard – one of the good events – lovely communication, greeted at the door, lovely helpers and a check in as to how things are going and any feedback. The promotion must work well too, with 1200 people coming through the door on a small island!

The main reason we love doing it (obviously the reason to be there is to earn some money to pay our bills, but what makes it enjoyable…) is meeting you, the public. We may have met before or our work may be new to you or maybe you have seen it in a shop or gallery but haven’t met us before. Either way, it’s so lovely to make a connection. The words mean something to people and we hear lovely stories. We get to see what draws people’s attention even  if it isn’t a sale. We get to meet other makers too and share stories of this beautiful but crazy life as artists!

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Bold new seatree

We are always evolving. The poetry remains the constant, of course, on our work, but otherwise, we keep on adapting and growing. The biggest change has been adding in raku, while still working with stoneware in the electric kiln. The raku clay is rich and dark. The stoneware clay is light and creamy. So, how to display the work so that both are shown off to their best?

Five years ago, we created the picture boards and painted them in dark grey. The stoneware clay stood out beautifully, but the boards did seem quite dull after a couple of years. so three years ago, we painted them a lovely sage green. It looked lovely, but one year on and the raku clay was emerging and looked quite lost against the green. We then painted the boards a crispy white but once up in the sunshine at Scone Palace in June, it looked quite stark and the stoneware clay looked lost. You can see our dilemma!

We sat at the stall with our friend Karl, who is also an artist. We were discussing our quandry and he said, simply, yellow, bright yellow. So, when we got back, we popped to our local DIY shop and bought a sample. It worked! The raku clay stood out – and the white earthenware too. Of course, last minute getting ready for Potfest Suffolk and we have painted all the boards and boxes in the brightest of yellow.

Have we made a good call? Potfest Suffolk folks may let us know!

 

 

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