Hard Times

Running a shop and gallery can be one of the most erratic, vibrant, difficult and wonderful ways to make a living. Last week was at the more difficult end of the scale and inspired by a tweet I sent I felt the need to write a hopefully honest blog about the difficulties and stresses involved. My apologies if it gets a little rambling!


Last week was probably one of the hardest I've had at the gallery. We've been open since summer 2010 and financially it was our 3rd worst week since opening. This can be very difficult to stomach, especially when you really are doing your all to bring in paying customers. Unfortunately some times you just can't do anything else. It wasn't my fault that it didn't stop raining all week and the main car park was flooded. It wasn't my fault (I hope!) that we're officially back in a recession. And it's not my fault that the town is not looking so great at the moment, with a good number of empty shops and more to come on the horizon ( I know of at least 3 places closing within the next month or so). But, however much I tell myself these things, it doesn't make sitting here waiting for customers and not seeing them any easier. 

Flooded Carpark at Blandford courtesy of BlandfordForumPeople

Luckily I don't tend to be twiddling my thumbs as I can spend the time making my animals, especially at the moment with Dorset Art Weeks looming. Others aren't so fortunate and I see fellow shopkeepers sat there, waiting for the door to open, and if they're anything like me, wondering quite how much longer they can do this for. From visiting business and retail forums, it's obvious no one is alone in this.


I realise this all sounds a bit doom and gloom and I do want to say that it isn't always like this! If it was, I really wouldn't still be open. For every difficult day, week, moment, there are many more that are great, uplifting and that remind me why I did this in the first place. And financially, the bad weeks are thankfully outweighed by the good, at least at the moment.

Image courtesy of and copyright Katie Meyer 2012

I don't want to get into the ins and outs of why high streets are struggling here. I have my theories but that's for another time. What I do want to address and point out is the stress and hardwork that goes into running a business like this. I'm certain other businesses are more stressful and involve more hard work, but this is me and what I know. To do something like this, and to be able to cope with the ups and downs talked about above you need support. You cannot do this alone, and if you do, sooner or later you'll be stuck. I am so lucky to have an OH who is happy to sit and listen to my rants, and parents who are involved in the business and able to offer both business support and emotional support. I also have a wonderful gallery assistant who, though she's only in one day a week, is often the crutch I need to keep going, and is also there for a glass of wine when needed!


I also have a fabulous support network online through twitter. The ability to talk to other gallery owners, makers, and those totally distanced from this world is such a treat and one that I would never take for granted. 

Image courtesy of and copyright Katie Meyer 2012

Opening a shop or gallery is something that should never be done lightly, and I personally had no idea about quite how much hard work it would be, or how much stress I'd be dealing with from time to time. It's a hard slog out there some days, but I'm truly happy to still be here, and once the hard weeks are over and done with, the sun does come out (if only for a day!) and you can stop. Reset. And start again with a smile and a rush of lovely customers as has just happened here!

British Craft Trade Fair

On Sunday I was up bright and early to head to the British Craft Trade Fair (BCTF) at the Great Yorkshire Showground. It's definitely better than going to London for trade shows, the showground has beautiful views and it's a lovely drive through Yorkshire to get there.


There are about 500 stands at the show and I was driving back to Dorset that evening so we didn't have all that much time. My mum came along to give another opinion and ask the questions I always forget! I was also hoping to get some inspiration for how to display my animals as I've now got two big shows lined up (more on that another time). 


I love going to the trade shows. It's a great way to see new trends and new makers, but I especially enjoy meeting up with existing suppliers and friends from twitter. Plus there's lots of beautiful craft to look at of course. 


We had a pretty successful day and have about 5 new makers lined up for the gallery, and plenty more to keep in mind for the future. A few favourites have to be...

Rare Notions, otherwise known as Phiona Richards whom you may have seen on Kirstie making her fabulous paper jewellery and playful sculptures. I was pleasantly surprised at the durability of the pieces and fingers crossed we'll have some to show off in the gallery soon. They make really quirky yet elegant accessories and I can't wait to get my hands on a pin brooch.

Vanessa Conyers and her wonderful ceramics. We already stock Vanessa's work, and her studio is about 200 meters from the gallery but it was lovely to see her at the show and see all her pieces laid out. Her ceramics are truly beautiful and different and well worth a look if you haven't seen her work before.

Made by Simone. I spotted Simone online a few weeks ago and had been really looking forward to seeing her stand. I wasn't disappointed, her ceramic bottles and jewellery are fresh, unique and very wearable (the jewellery, not the bottles...!)

Helen Lea. I hadn't seen Helen's jewellery before but was so glad I spotted it, and we'll be showing her work later in the year. She makes the sweetest little silver pendants, charms and earrings with everything from hedgehogs and ladybirds, to rabbits and carrots and mice and cheese. Fun jewellery that definitely made me smile :)


A few other makers that caught my eye were Richard Goodwin-Jones' raku boats and beach huts, Suzie Horan's ammonite inspired silver jewellery and Anne Cope's simple and bright ceramic jewellery. 


There were loads more, and it was great to see so many talented British makers all under one roof, a real inspiration. 

A Home Visit

I headed up t'North this weekend to go to the British Craft Trade Fair (BCTF) in Harrogate on Sunday. As it's a rather long journey from Dorset I stopped off for the night at my parents in Nottingham. They still live in the village where I grew up (they've lived in 3 houses in the village so far, the current one they built themselves) and it's always lovely to spend some time there, however short. 


The village only has about 100 houses and a church (no shop and crucially, no pub!) but I love it :) I also got to see the family dogs which is a treat, especially as Jim is getting on now; but he is 15 so he's had a good innings so far. I'll put some more up about the fair in another post but for now here's some pics from sunny Thrumpton.

Meg, our forever eager Border Collie

Action shot of my Dad!

The beautiful Thrumpton Hall, I was so lucky to grow up with free reign of the estate

Old boy Jim

Meg posing infront of the Ice House

Conker Tree

Foray into Wet Felting

I'm making a slightly secret piece at the moment and need a long piece of flat felt for it. I thought that needle felting it would take me forever so I decided to give wet felting a go...
I've read about the basics of wet felting and decided to just go for it. Can't say it totally caught my imagination but I was only making a flat piece in one colour. Perhaps I'll try again and be a bit more creative with it. 


I only had a small bamboo roll so ended up making two pieces that I joined together and I'm actually quite pleased with the result. Watch this space for what it's going to turn into...!

 It's thirsty work this felting malarkey...!

I'll be able to show you what I made and hopefully what it's for next week :)

Balancing Act

As I mentioned in my first post, I'm currently running two businesses side by side. My main job is the day to day running of my little gallery and haberdashery. I opened Hawthorn in 2010 originally on a bit of a whim and I'm glad to say we're still here almost 2 years later, on the high street promoting handmade all the way! 

Hawthorn Contemporary Craft Gallery and Haberdashery

After we opened, I was looking around on the internet for a craft to have a go at whilst in the gallery. Somewhere amongst my wanders I found a little needle felting starter kit for about £14 and after watching a video on youtube thought it looked like something I could do. The kit arrived and I pretty much haven't stopped felting since. I've tried numerous crafts before and never quite found my calling. One go at needle felting and I was entirely hooked. I think I've come a long way since I started, but my very first little piece, a little hare is still sat proudly on a shelf at home, keeping an eye on proceedings. 

Then and Now

I think he'd be rather proud of what he's turned into over time!


During the last few months, my felting has started to become a bigger thing. This is in part due to my pushing it a bit harder, but there's also been a bit of luck thrown in. What I'm now faced with is a delicate balancing act. The gallery needs a lot of care and attention, but now that my own craft is generating some interest I'm finding myself a little torn as to how best to use my time. I'm very lucky in that I can sit and felt in the gallery inbetween customers and chores, and this has its advantages, not least the instant feedback from customers. But I'm an awful one for procrastinating, and when there's a gallery full of things to do, I'll often get to the end of a day having been nowhere near my needles and wool. And now I'm also looking at how to fit craft fairs and workshops in... Some days I really do need to be two people!


If I'm to make more of a thing of my felting, I need to look at better ways to balance both businesses, and to stop myself from wandering off task! I find it fascinating and humbling that people are willing and happy to pay money for my animals and can't wait to see where this might lead. In the meantime, I've got a gallery to run...!


Are you juggling two businesses, or two lives? I'd love to hear how you manage things, of if you've had to be ruthless and focus on one thing only.

Getting Started

Hello!
I have a confession to make... I've tried my hand at getting a blog going a total of 3 times now. Each time, I've written one post and, well, that's it. It seems I don't have the blogging gene. My main obstacle has definitely been time. I essentially run two businesses side by side and this takes up the majority of my hours and minutes and I haven't before now felt the need to fit a blog into this.


However, I'm on a bit of a mission to change this. I've seen what a good blog can do for a business, but my main motivation is that I think that what I do is interesting, and could be of interest to others. If I keep this in mind, I hope I can come up with enough to write about and entertain with!


I'm also a business woman (sounds so professional!) and I like to imagine I may be able to help others a little with some advice here and there; about how I've done things, and how you might be able to use that in your world. I can't guarantee my advice will be sage or 'correct', but it will be honest :)


In the spirit of starting as I mean to go on, I'll put another actual post up today. I hope you enjoy reading about my life and what I get up to and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments. 

Thorn Tree in Bloom at Arne, Dorset (possibly Acacia?)