Hello!
This year is absolutely whizzing by, I cant believe it is July already! Lots of exciting things have been happening…
At the beginning of the year I was interviewed by journalist Elaine Hunter for the Spring edition of LIVING magazine (Scotland). I was thrilled to be on the front cover and have my work featured in her beautifully written article. If you haven’t already seen it on my social media and would like to read it, please contact me and I can send you a PDF copy as unfortunately it is not available online.
Potfest Scotland returned to Scone Palace at its usual time in June. It was my 4th time exhibiting there and I am still in shock at how phenomenal it was. With tickets selling out each day and great weather it couldn’t have been any better! My 3 months of really hard work prior to the event concluded with a 3 day pottery frenzy! I had a continuous queue over the weekend, which was daunting at times, but I did have a helper this year which made it all a lot easier! I am so grateful for all the customers who were willing to wait patiently for their new pots. Thankyou. I think my display was my favourite so far too!
The run up to any big event is always really hard work, but this year definitely seemed a lot more intense. Perhaps the preparation on top of the last year and a half we have all experienced made it more difficult? Every time I go though intense periods of work I say to myself “I can’t do this anymore”. After I take some time off and rest, I start back to work feeling positive, but then it doesn’t take long before the cycle inevitably repeats. I don’t want to keep working like this so I am taking time to reflect this summer and think about what changes I can put in place to make my working life easier.
I’m considering a few things but most importantly, streamlining! I really wanted to launch the plant pots and vases but after they all sold out at Potfest and having such a constant high demand for mugs, I’m thinking about reducing the amount of products online, instead of increasing! For example, only having larger pieces available at certain times or a pre order. I might discontinue the purple too as it is my least favourite across the product ranges. But, I have a lot to think about before I make any final decisions and of course you will be kept up to date! I plan to make a few changes to the website too as I want to make your shopping experience easier.
The past few weeks I have been concentrating on customer orders and making stock for the website. The humid weather really slowed up the process. On top of that I had a disaster at the weekend and lost a whole kiln load of Pastel and Golden Dreamscapes. I am devastated. They’re not even worthy of the seconds pile! I have restocked some other pieces, but I’m afraid you will even have to wait a little bit longer for those as I will be out of the workshop from now until 6th August. I feel guilty and don’t want to let you down, but it is all just really bad timing and there is nothing I can do until I return.
Sarah Cave, a Silversmith based in Blairgowrie recently used some of my pottery for her window display. She makes beautiful jewellery and silverware. My work complemented her Tea Caddy and strainers for a tea time theme, alongside her new Jewellery Collection, Elise.
If you are passing through Blairgowrie, I would really recommend going to see her stunning work. She will be taking part in Perthshire Open Studios later this year. Speaking of which, that will be my next event too! POS is on from 4th – 12th September. My workshop will be open daily from 10am – 5pm (except the last day – 4pm). I will be selling all my seconds, experiments and end of line stock. There will be tea, coffee and buns available too. I missed it last year so am looking forward to welcoming lots of visitors, hopefully!
Until then, I hope you are enjoying your summer whatever you are up to.
Cheerio for now!
jud