My Button Project

This summer I will be joining hundreds of other artists turning their talents towards unique button-making. 
A stunning exhibition of contemporary handmade buttons will go on show alongside the silk costume collection at Macclesfield’s Heritage Centre this June.  Running from 14th June – 8th August, The Button Project exhibition will be launched at Barnaby, the town’s summer festival of art and fun, and will showcase work by artists and makers from across the UK, and even beyond.

I've always wanted to have a go at making some glass buttons but never seem to find the time to play around with designs. So when the call for applicants came out, I thought it sounded like the perfect opportunity to give it a try. 
Using lampworking techniques was probably the obvious way to go, so I decided to go with blown and coldworked glass instead. Just to keep you on your toes!
Something contemporary. Minimalist with precise detail. A design that connected to my blown pieces that wasn't necessarily a typical rounded shape but still keeping within the 3cm size restriction. 

This is what I came up with:

What do you think?

I'm so intrigued to see all the other beads displayed together!

British Craft Trade Fair. Harrogate, April 2013

This was my 4th year exhibiting at BCTF, so you'd have thought I'd have gotten over the terror of the event date looming...no. A little bit more confident than normal, but still stressing adequately in the last week running up to it. There is just so much to think about! Especially when you have decided to change your display, yet again (I always seem to look back on past displays and cringe). 

A lovely sunny day for setting up in Harrogate.

For all those who have never had the experience of exhibiting at a show such as the British Craft Trade Fair, I can only outline how much time, effort and resources go into preparing for it, let alone what it takes to execute it all. 

So hats off to all the other designer makers with their wonderful stands who make it such a great event to take part in (and of course the organisers), and a special thanks to Mummy and Daddy Duck for all their help!

No amount of planning in advance seems to make the next exhibition go smoother.  This year I had decided to  spend quite a bit of time on my catalogue. I made all my pieces, got them photographed (blog entry about that to follow), edited the photographs, designed the layout, and sent them off to print. All was going to plan until a call to check the progress of the printing (I was expecting them to have been shipped the previous day) resulted in finding out that they hadn't been sent to print yet?! I quickly entered panic mode. I couldn't have spent all that time on them only to not have them for the show! In short, they arrived in the nick of time and all worked out well.  PHEW!

So after stuffing my little Fiesta to the brim, off we went for set up...

3 days at the show.

The show went really well. I had a good number of orders, made lots of new contacts, was pleased with my stand (until next year!) and caught up with some of the other exhibitors. I would say I'm all unpacked and back to normal now, but I don't want to lie to you!