A Dozen Red Roses

 

Happy Valentines Day

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 💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘

I'm Going Through A Purple Patch.

A new colour combination for this style of vase, great for flowers, dried arrangements or just on it's own. 

Available from Amazon or eBay

 This is a brand new design which is a take on a customer's request. I call this a Bouquet vase, and it is shown here in Purple, Lilac, and Pearl. The pearl tends to go from a very pale sunshine yellow to a mid pink hue as you turn the vase or view it from different angles, I love the effect.

This is also available form Amazon or eBay

The World Of Gift Fairs - Selling To The Trade - Part 3.

When Reality Bites.

 

After the euphoria of a successful Trade Fair comes the reality of actually making and dispatching the goods.

It seems to be some kind of unwritten rule that the first order you send to a customer is "Pro Forma", that is to say the client pays for the goods prior to receiving them. Thereafter, the account becomes "thirty day terms" which literally means that when the goods and invoice are dispatched to the customer, they have thirty days to pay for them.
Obviously, some pay early, some pay late. I was lucky as I always got paid on time, but I know of some real horror stories from other makers who have had all sorts of problems with finance. I have been lucky enough to only work with nice people.😇

Whilst taking orders I always kept a monthly planner handy, this was invaluable to schedule dates for orders to be made and dispatched.This helped me give the customer some idea of a delivery date, after all, there are only so many items that can be made in any given day and you have to be honest with youself and your customer.

 I left the weekends free and tried to base my day on a typical 9 to 5 as far as life (kids) allowed. Once you are back home you MUST try to stick to your planner schedule come hell or high water. Unforseen events will conspire to eat into your day, from unexpected visitors to a child needing to come home from school. When this happens (and it will!) you need a new strategy. If you have to, get up early, work late, even work those sacred weekends but never fall behind - If you do, believe me, you will never catch up


You have to be very realistic about what you can achieve in an hour, a day a week, a month. And plan your workload accordingly.
I did this and thought about what I could comfortably achieve in any given day and it's worked out pretty well for me. I use the word "comfortably" because there is no point pushing yourself and your stress level up every day.
Obviously you need to make a living, but there's no point making youself ill doing it - it takes the fun out of life.

Whatever happens,

NEVER OVER PROMISE AND NEVER UNDER DELIVER

After breakfast.....

I Made This!

This large bowl is the last one of only five I will be making.

It is a great centrepiece and looks fabulous, but it is VERY heavy to work with.

 

Mackintosh And More Rose And Leaf Bowl

Limited Edition Bowl By Marion Brown - Mackintosh And More

When it's chilly outside...

 

You need chilli inside!

O.K. I am NOT a food blogger,

But this is my take on the Mexican classic Huevos Rancheros. I think that "Nigella" makes a version which she calls "Eggs In Purgatory". It makes a nice change from cereal or toast if you have time.

My concoction served three adults and consists of:

A four egg omelet with diced onion, chillies and peas included. A tin of lightly drained chopped tomatoes poured over then sprinkled with grated cheese and finished under the grill.
Add more chopped chillies or herbs, or both! A slice of toast and a Tequila on the side - lovely!

Only joking, I skipped the toast😉

Look at what I found on the dresser!!!

All in a (few) days work for a little old Cottage Industry like Mackintosh And More. My work is inspired by shapes and patterns taken from the Art Deco and Art Nouveau eras. With a hint of Charles Rennie Mackintosh unique style.

This dresser is now doubling as my "Image Factory", you will see it as the background in numerous pictures on this fledgling Blog. Each item needs to be individually photographed to then be loaded onto the Amazon and eBay Marketplaces.

O.K. I know that I have many challenges with my photographic efforts, and I am always trying to improve. They say image is everything and that is certainly the case with internet sales, I do my best but it's a steep learning curve.

I try to take three or four shots of a vase from different angles and rightly or wrongly I have recently included the wine bottle to give some scale. I tend to sit astride a dining chair and rest my forearms on the back to steady the yips! However sometimes I just point and hold my breath.😅

By the by, I'm not using some kind of specialist top of the range mega pixel camera, I wouldn't have a clue how to use it. My current weapon of choice is an everyday "Tablet" computer, maybe it's an unusual choice but I feel comfortable with it at the moment.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Inspired - Now Available.

Mackintosh Rose and Leaf Design

Hello Everyone,


You may remember that I have posted this design previously, it is now available to purchase.

At 30cm tall only £49.95 with FREE U.K. delivery.

Availabe from Amazon HERE
               
                  OR

Available from eBay HERE 

The World Of Gift Fairs - Selling To The Trade - Part 2.

The Trade Show must go on!

First things first, choose the size of pitch you'd like, I usually had 3m x 2m, and pay the organiser LOTS of money. Then they ask if you'd like lights - as though a dark display is an option - and they charge more money for those! Then they ask if you'd like an electricity socket, and guess what? Yep, more money. I was getting scared. This was fast becoming a massive financial investment and I had to make it work.

Alan sourced a display stand which was predominantly glass, this was to minimise shadows and make the  display light and bright. Believe it or not we built it in our dining room, it looked so huge! I spent weeks filling it with vases and moving them from one position to another, grouping colours and such, until I was happy with the result.

TOP TIP - we then took photographs of the completed display to remind us where to put everything. This is key to preserving your sanity when you have lugged all your stuff from the hire van and plonked it in front of your "space".

First Day at Trade Show in my new uniform

At last, the day before the show, we were off to Harrogate to set it all up

 

Wildflower Studio - back in the day!

With everything in position and pens, order forms and calculators to hand. The first morning of the show should have been calm, but of course I was anything but. The cost was weighing heavily on my mind and I was feeling antsy.

When the doors opened, I figured that it would be hours before we saw any potential customers, so I went for a little wander around to help calm me down and left Alan in charge.

I was happily chatting to another stallholder, when some friends from Hexham appeared. They joked that I was 'skiving' and had left Alan to do all the work. I laughed along but was puzzled until they said 'yeah, he's got quite a queue forming'.

  

Shmoozing Customers.

I literally ran back to the stand!

The weather for the duration of the show was blistering sunshine and we almost melted in that Marquee. BUT we took orders steadily for four days, it was heady stuff and we were delighted. I could not believe it!!

All I had to do then was make them...

Ruby Red Glass Vase In A Rennie Mackintosh Inspired Design, H30 cm X D9 cm,

This design is another "Blast Fron The Past" which I have'nt made for a while.

It was popular back in the day - (Amazon 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 customer ratings!)

It was available in a range of colour combinations, so watch this space😉

This one is shown in Ruby Red, only £34.95 with FREE U.K. delivery buy it NOW

The empty wine bottle is shown for scale and not included, I did'nt drink it, honest!

One I Made Earlier.

Mackintosh And More Ruby Red Rose

I still like this design, although I have'nt made it for a number of years.
At 30cm tall it is a nice size to display on it's own or with a floral arrangement.
The pattern was suggested by a customer who had something similar on a glazed hallway door.
Maybe I should give it another try.

What Now! The World Of Gift Fairs - Selling To The Trade.

 Tackling the gift world, one vase at a time!

 

 😟 It was more like apprehension than worry when I first stuck my toe into the muddy waters of attracting retail outlets to stock my vases. Sale or return was all well and good, many retailers will happily take on stock if there's no financial outlay, but I wanted to know if the product was attractive enough for people to order their stock and pay for it up front. The only way to do this is to book space at a gift show.

At the time (2006?) there was a Business Forum in Northumberland who were keen to help small businesses take off. They kindly offered us a very small space (at vastly reduced rates) at the British Craft Trade Fair. This is an annual show which takes place in Harrogate, and is the best place for retailers and gallery owners to see exclusively hand-made British products.

My BCTF stand was similar to this one.

Well the space was small, only a metre wide and two metres tall, but I was grateful for the opportunity.  I arranged as many vases as I could, as artistically as I could and waited nervously for the doors to open.

It was a slow start.

Trade Buyers are a mixed bag. Shops, Galleries Museums, Tourist Information Centres, National Trust, Garden Centres, to name but a few. They only have so much money to spend and they need to feel that the product will sell in their particular market. So they like to look at everything, often twice, making notes as they go, before they feel they can commit to an order.
But eventually the orders started coming! OK, I wasn't going to make a fortune, but it was a good start. As well as the promise of actually being paid, I was getting a lot of feedback and suggestions about colour combinations and current trends. It was a really worthwhile experience.

So I'd gained a little confidence, had some new ideas, and thought I was ready to take on another Gift Fair, something bigger. The obvious choice seemed to be the Home & Gift Fair, again in beautiful Harrogate. This is a much larger affair, and has all kinds of different products from around the world, not just hand-made things from a little "Cottage Industry" like mine.
There was a good chance my display would be entirely overshadowed by so many sparkly imported things so I was going to have to make an enormous effort, Hmm.

More to follow...

AAAGGGHHH!!!

What were you thinking!!

Actually Hurts My Eyes!

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Inspired.

Hurricane Lamp - Coming Soon - Actually £49.95 - It's Quite Large, 30cm Tall.

Now What?

That's what I thought, so you think you're a "Cottage Industry", now what are you going to do to make it work?

I outlined a potted history of my journey earlier but in many ways that was just the start of it all.
We sold our shop Artifacts, as we were made an offer that we really couldn't refuse. The shop had been very good to us since our return to the U.K. but both Alan and I felt that we were being given a new direction. The money raised from the business basically financed the next twelve months or so of refining my designs, creating new ones and testing the market to see if my work would sell!

Artifacts - our third baby!

A friend and fellow "Crafter from home" told us of a Tourist Information Centre in the lovely Northumberland town of Morpeth. This T.I.C. is also a Northumberland Pipe Museum and Gallery for local Artists and Makers, and is called Morpeth Chantry. Thankfully my work was accepted, and for a monthly fee and commission on each sale I started to display my glass. This move proved to be one of the best things that I ever did! My work sold, thank goodness, which made me feel a little more confident, and as well as that, provided the platform and contacts to approach other local galleries and shops to take my work on a sale or return basis. This is perfect for the outlet as there is no initial outlay or financial risk, and for me it was more exposure, so a winner all round.

I think at this point I should mention a slightly sensitive subject - Managing Your Day.
I know it doen't sound particularly tricky but it is, without doubt, one of the toughest aspects of working from home to get to grips with. Oh the distractions, kids, housework, homework, cooking, kids, bath time, theirs and mine, husband etc. etc.

 AND

Why is it that friends and relatives who just "pop round" don't understand that technically I'm at work? They expect me to drop everything and put the kettle on so we can have a lovely natter. You may think I'm being miserable (and they usually do) but I'm trying to be creative here! The truth is, other people don't see what I do as a proper job and I'm sure they think it's a hobby. How do they imagine I pay the bills! So be warned - if you're going to work from home you need boundaries. If anyone figures out how to do this tactfully, please let me know :D

 

What Now! The World Of Gift Fairs - Selling To The Trade.

 Tackling the gift world, one vase at a time!

 

 😟 It was more like apprehension than worry when I first stuck my toe into the muddy waters of attracting retail outlets to stock my vases. Sale or return was all well and good, many retailers will happily take on stock if there's no financial outlay, but I wanted to know if the product was attractive enough for people to order their stock and pay for it up front. The only way to do this is to book space at a gift show.

At the time (2006?) there was a Business Forum in Northumberland who were keen to help small businesses take off. They kindly offered us a very small space (at vastly reduced rates) at the British Craft Trade Fair. This is an annual show which takes place in Harrogate, and is the best place for retailers and gallery owners to see exclusively hand-made British products.

My BCTF stand was similar to this one.

Well the space was small, only a metre wide and two metres tall, but I was grateful for the opportunity.  I arranged as many vases as I could, as artistically as I could and waited nervously for the doors to open.

It was a slow start.

Trade Buyers are a mixed bag. Shops, Galleries Museums, Tourist Information Centres, National Trust, Garden Centres, to name but a few. They only have so much money to spend and they need to feel that the product will sell in their particular market. So they like to look at everything, often twice, making notes as they go, before they feel they can commit to an order.
But eventually the orders started coming! OK, I wasn't going to make a fortune, but it was a good start. As well as the promise of actually being paid, I was getting a lot of feedback and suggestions about colour combinations and current trends. It was a really worthwhile experience.

So I'd gained a little confidence, had some new ideas, and thought I was ready to take on another Gift Fair, something bigger. The obvious choice seemed to be the Home & Gift Fair, again in beautiful Harrogate. This is a much larger affair, and has all kinds of different products from around the world, not just hand-made things from a little "Cottage Industry" like mine.
There was a good chance my display would be entirely overshadowed by so many sparkly imported things so I was going to have to make an enormous effort, Hmm.

 

More to follow...

On Trend Colours With A Timeless Style.

Perfect for flowers, the cylinder vase in Teal and Pearl on the left is approximatley 30cm tall, while the flared vase in Blue and Pearl on the right is 27cm tall.

Stunning Hurricane Lamp Hand Decorated Glass Vase In Mackintosh Inspired Leaf And Line Design. Ideal For Large Candles.

Fuschia and Pearl Hurricane Lamp perfect for a candle or flower bouquet. Only £44.95 with FREE Shipping, buy it NOW

The Journey To Now.

Right Here, Right Now.
Wildflower Studio is alive and well and trading under her sister company Mackintosh And More. I am retailing my glass vases via Amazon and eBay rather than my own website as I'm such a technophobe! In the meantime I will attempt to be a newbie blogger! 

Time To Start My Own Business
My "Cottage Industry" was born in 2002 when my husband and I decided that it was time to do our own thing so we opened a gift shop in the market town of Hexham in Northumberland. 

Within two years I had started to experiment with "leading" glassware. This was fuelled by my love of the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Art Deco and Art Nouveau eras. Soon I was selling my very own product in our little shop.

This really gave me the confidence to pursue my small business full-time so in 2004 we sold the shop and took the next big step. We became a genuine cottage industry and our home was never to be the same again, we were and are, constantly surrounded by glass. We did try another shop premises to try to separate work and home life, we enjoyed it for a while but ultimately we preferred the flexibility of working from home, so here we are again surrounded by glass but now the kids are both at college so it's not such a big deal.

 

In Summary
Over the years, we have produced more variations on our designs with the input of our personal customers and the shops, galleries and heritage sites we have supplied. It is very rewarding to create a design which people like enough to actually purchase, very flattering. Anyhow, I do hope you enjoy looking at my work as much as I have enjoyed designing and making them. 

Thanks for listening.

Tea Towel Challenge Anyone?👀😁👍

Bouquet Glass Vase for Flowers In a Rennie Mackintosh Design, 27cm Tall.

Only £32.50 with FREE shipping, buy it NOW