Well, here we are in sunny Southwold, me and my glamorous assistant Frances. We eventually got set up in the Box, it's surprising how long it can take to display some jewellery, but we'd like to think we've done it all very tastefully. It was lovely to walk into an empty shop and turn it into a jewellery emporium. Local shopkeepers have been generous enough to display my flyers and several of them have visited to see what we're up to.
There has been a lot of interest in my new range of fine silver - which I have made myself!! Thanks to step-daughter Hannah who arranged for us both to go on a course. My word I'm enjoying it, and have a head full of design ideas, so watch this space. I'm sorry I haven't put much new on the website this week, and I've been concentrating on making enough stock for this shop, as we're here for two days. I'm looking forward to my Southwold pop-up experience again tomorrow, and possibly a lot more over the Summer. I promise to make amends on the website next week.
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I'm having one of those days which is not "to plan". The plan was to get on with making necklaces - I had such a good event in Aldeburgh yesterday in support of The Pear Tree Centre, that I really need to get on to replenish stocks. Things were going well until the postman came, and I know it's not his fault, but today is really not a good day to receive a delivery of 72 (yes 72!) plug plants. They're in such tiny pots that they really need to be potted on immediately, but believe me, the greenhouse is not somewhere you want to be today. So I'll find a sheltered spot in the garden and get on with it.
Dick (and Otto) came to Aldeburgh with me yesterday, but as I was at a ladies fundraising lunch, they made themselves scarce - I understand that fish & chips and beer were involved. When my event had finished I met up with my boys and had a lovely walk along the beach, followed by ice cream (well, you don't often see maple & walnut and that's my favourite!). It's going to be a lovely Saturday for me - I'm being taken to the Big Bead Show at Sandown Park by Hannah, and I'm prepared to buy an awful lot of beads. I see suppliers there who I just don't get to see anywhere else, and it's lovely to see so many semi-precious beads in one, very large, building. We're also going to be attending a couple of taster sessions - one involving silver clay which I'm genuinely excited about. Poor Dick, on the other hand, will be running my regular jewellery stall for me at the Beccles Produce Market at Ellough. He's a good man. Next Thursday and Friday are coming round very fast - that's when I will be at The Box in Southwold. I placed an order with my favourite silver supplier, and one of the items received this morning was the glorious Crab pendant shown in the photo, all of it's claws are articulated and it's gorgeous, ideal for Southwold! I've been on the phone and ordered another ten - now I'm planning a display. I don't know how anyone else feels, but I'm a bit tired of the weather at the moment, it's quite hard to take attractive photos in the fog and murk. This morning it even managed to be foggy and breezy at the same time, surely that's not right? There was a minor (very minor on a world scale) miracle, hens are really tricky to take good pictures of, they're usually running in different directions, but today seven of them kindly sat quietly and posed for a group photo. Thanks girls (and Chalky). The hens don't realise it yet, but we took delivery (thanks Stuart & Helen) of a quite superior coop which we'll use when we next have a broody hen, which I think will be quite soon - Dolly is showing signs of being a bit on the broody side.
I've put a photo of the lane outside ours just to show you (not very successfully) how many Primroses we have out at the moment, it's lovely. There are thousands of them forming a carpet all down that side of the road. The Violets are also really good this year, so perhaps the cool weather is helping the spring flowers. There are new items on the website, and more to follow. I'm having a busy time at the moment. On Saturday I will be at the Craft Fair in St James, and Dick will be at Halesworth Farmer's Market, which will be his first stall on his own. Today I had a visit from a lovely lady wanting help to choose jewellery to wear for her daughter's wedding, so we spent a happy hour choosing beads and styles, oh, and there was cake too! Have a look at the new items in store via this link We had a glorious visit to Southwold this morning, it was a tad breezy but it was great if you could find a sheltered spot. After completing a good length walk, when Otto made lots of new friends, we found ourselves at the harbour, and lo! there was a sunny spot. The truth is that this particular sheltered spot was a bench in the sun right outside a very good fish and chip establishment, it would indeed have been extremely rude not to partake. Otto did quite well out of the visit too, he does love chips.
There was a "proper" reason for our visit - I have bravely (for me!) hired a pop up space in Southwold for the 26th & 27th of April, this will be a new departure for me, and I'm looking forward to it. The shop is called "The Box", it's on Southwold High Street - right behind the bus stop. It is very successfully used by the Penny Bun Bakehouse on Saturdays and Rosa Farine Patisserie on Sundays, and luckily for me, John is happy to rent it to me for a couple of days. Fingers crossed that I can make it worthwhile. If any of you are planning a Southwold visit in the near future, why not do it while I'm in town, it would be great to see some familiar faces. It will also be lovely for me to have enough space to display so much more of my jewellery than I can ever manage on a stall. I have been making a lot of new stock this week, in anticipation of the several events coming up this month - I will be at Beccles Farmers Market at Ellough this Saturday, and at the annual Daffodil Day at St Margaret South Elmham on Sunday. I've spent so much time making new stock that I haven't yet had time to put it on the website, but I will be starting that job now that this blog is finished. So here goes...... take a look at the new stock page on this link |
AuthorThe weekly(ish) ramblings of a self-employed jeweller and countrywoman based in the Waveney Valley. Archives
March 2020
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