This weekend, we were at Thoresby Ceramics Fair, in Nottinghamshire. It’s the first time in a while that we only had one six foot table and no extra space, so it was a challenge to us as at many fairs, we get two tables, or an allocated space to use as we wish. This was our arrangement in the end. It may be considered too full but also it felt like we gave each thing that we make a space if its own. We also packed differently, cutting cardboard and making inners that we could just pop our pottery into instead of using lots of bubble-wrap (and time). That was helpful.

We have boards that clamp to the table. We used to have freestanding boards but they began to feel cumbersome and a trip hazard with their feet.

We ordered the sign from vistaprint to give us some visibility as only used to have the business cards.

We also have lights that we connect to a battery so that wherever we are placed, people can read the words on our work. They make a big difference.

The shelves are wooden shelves with blocks of wood to prop them on, giving us flexibility wherever our table is places and whatever size it is – or if we have two, we can arrange them accordingly.

The rest of the work is arranged on flat wooden squares/rectangles painted to match the display boards – that makes the smaller pieces of work more succint.

 

Here we are in beautiful Styrrup, Nottinghamshire, for a pottery fair, along with thirty other potters. Each of us brought our own gazebo and tables but that’s unusual. Most often tables and chairs are provided and you are either in a marquee or a hall. The gardens here are beautiful and the sun is shining so we are having a lovely time. I remember looking for a list when I got started doing fairs so thought I’d put one out there. Here goes!

1. Think about what you would be selling. Maybe not everything you make. It’s good to curate a collection or a few collections together
2. Find the right fair. It might not be a local event with a raffle and tombola as people don’t always expect to spend more than a few pounds here and there.
3. Apply! You won’t get in unless you do. First take good pictures and put an artist bio together – it helps you clarify what you are doing.
4. To get ready for the big day, make sure you have packaging for your work for travelling and also for your buyers. Consider a logo on your packaging but it’s not crucial if you’re just getting started.
5. in the run up to the day, make sure to do your promotion, whether it’s telling friends and neighbours, handing out leaflets, doing social media posts or sending out a newsletter.
6. Consider promoting other people who will have work there too. It’s a good way to make connections before you go and visitors like to see that support too.
7. Make a plan for your stall before you go – set it out at home or draw out. You might need to make adjustments but at least it’s not a blank canvas.
8. Think about how to take payments – setting up card payments or having a card machine is very useful as not everyone carries cash.
9. Have ready – petty cash, business cards, table cloths, display items that suit your work, wrapping and tape or bags (blank news sheet is good and easy), a table for wrapping if you have space.
10. On the day, wear comfy shoes, have layers, drinks and snacks and lunches with you and a seat if you need to provide your own.

 

Tonight, we had a studio sale. It’s a way every now and then to clear away some things that we maybe have had around for a while. Sometimes too, we have seconds – maybe the glaze colours aren’t right, or the words aren’t clear enough after firing, or something didn’t go right in the kiln, like in this recent firing where the clay ‘bloated’.

A long while back, someone said to me that you shouldn’t keep things that are ‘wrong’ as they don’t help your creativity. I think it’s true. It can be, usually is, that our ‘mistakes’ are still part of our learning but we don’t need to keep them around for that. They also serve to remind our inner critics that we have messed up.

The extra reason for doing a studio sale is that we know that some of our community like and need work that is in a lower price bracket.

And finally, we also know from doing fairs and events that quite often pieces we don’t sit well with any more, for whatever reason, someone else just loves! Or pieces that we love don’t sell for a long time, then suddenly someone falls in love. So, we pass them on with joy!

This image represents some team work between the two potters who make up seatree argyll.

Chris writes poetry – has done since childhood – and Michaela started putting his words into clay some years ago.

Now both of us make pottery, always incorporating Chris’s poetry.

Chris made these mini moon bowls, about 10cm diameter, by forming two domes using slabs of clay inside small bowls. Once they are dry enough to hold their own shape, they are joined using slip and the join softened and cleaned up, and a hole pierced in the top. The clay is smooth raku clay.

They were then wrapped in a (used many times) plastic bag, keeping them soft overnight till Michaela came into the pottery the next morning, ready to add the poetry.

We have worked out that we can fit an average of eight words around the moon bowl centre, depending how many short or long words there are. Michaela looks through our poetry collection to find a line that would work. The letters are then pressed in using letter stamps.

They are now sat in the drying room, and we wait for them to be dry enough to fire in the next firing. Watch this space or our social media to see the finished results.

We found these beautiful ‘soldier lichen’ on a wall in an ancient woodland in Kingussie, Perthshire. So teeny tiny and very beautiful. We discovered many beautiful plants, trees (whispering aspen..) and funghi on our walks through the woods. So breathtaking and inspiring.

I guess that has stayed with us both, as on a walk yesterday in our nearby Botanical Gardens, we talked about possibilities for work in the coming year. Maybe we could work towards an exhibition. even if the exhibition doesn’t happen, then it will bring about new work.

One of the questions for us is how to bring our skills and styles (and two different clays and firing techniques) together to form one body of work. Michaela loves detail, Chris the big picture. Michaela likes gentle colours, Chris bold. In the woodlands, these two things come together beautifully. You can look up and see the awe-inspiring trees and skies. You can look down and see a tiny frog or lichen on a rock. So I guess nature is telling us that we can have both.

We might call the exhibition that might not happen, Elements. It’s a working title. We will have large pieces of work and alongside them small pieces that show the details from within.

Stay tuned!