Blustery Day(s)
Hi and I hope if you’re reading this that you’ve managed to stay safe from storm Eunice!
I’m going to start with today and work backwards with this blog…
I should have been at my bench today working on some Etsy orders and new collection pieces, but the weather decided otherwise and forced me into spending a day on the sofa. It’s been productive though, as I’ve finally finished off completing both the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Tourism website and airbnb forms to list my workshops on there - hoorah!
Ok, time to, erm, go back in time a bit and talk about what I’ve been up to over the past couple of weeks. I called this blog “Blustery Days” obviously because of today’s weather, but also it seems to fit with how I’ve felt over the last couple of weeks. If you follow me on twitter, you might have seen a couple of tweets about being copied and ethical business practice. I’ve decided now, that I’m not going to bother writing loads about all the things that I’ve seen over the last couple of weeks that are wrong, or that have made me feel crap as it’s not going got make a blind bit of difference. I will just write a little bit though about what being “ethical” means to me. It’s obviously related to the materials that I use and the way in which I make my jewellery, but it’s also way more than that. It’s about how I conduct my whole business. It’s about “always” considering and supporting my fellow small business’ and making sure that I’m not doing anything that might get in the way of their success. It’s also about being honest with what I offer. I’ve seen a couple of instances of stock photos being used this week, and it’s really bothered me because to me, it’s just misleading to their customers. If you need a photo of a jewellers bench, why not use your own? Maybe I’m just being hypersensitive but I know I’d be disappointed if I’d paid for something that wasn’t actually what I was getting. Finally, and yes, yes, I know I should just be flattered, but it does actually really hurt when you see one of your business tag lines, that you’ve been using for years, copied by someone else!
Right, that’s all I’m going to say on that as I want to get back to talking about positive stuff!
So, over the last week, I feel like I’m really starting to get somewhere with developing a collection thats really “me”. One that conveys my style and what I’m all about. I’ve been steering my commissions much more towards being made in my particular style too and have started to say no to ones that just don’t fit with that. I’m loving loads of texture and putting different coloured metals together at the moment. I’m letting myself be influenced by the natural world where I live as well as other places I might visit. My collection of pendants and earrings that are “in progress” for an exhibition at 7Q gallery are all about the river Severn. The textured pebbly “beach” that I walk to at the edge of the estuary, the bits of drift wood and weed floating along and the sun glistening on both the wet stones and the moving water. Once the exhibition finishes, I’ll be having a little display of this collection at my studio, and hopefully in my Etsy shop too.
Finally, I’m going to finish with a photo of my cute doggie - just because!
