Artisan of the Week, Sara from Sara's Texture Crafts

This week we have the multi-talented Sara as our weekly featured artisan. Not only does she create the most gorgeous mixture of goods to sell, she has such a passion about what she does that she makes up kits to encourage others to be creative too. If you wish to meet her and share in her joy of textures and creating she will be at the Stitch & Craft Show 27th to 30th March 2008, Stand GB14, Olympia, London.

Copyright Sara's Texture Crafts 'Bubble Knit' Copyright 2006

1 & 2. Could you please introduce us to who you are and what you do? And what led you to take up your craft?
My name is Sara and I am a freelance Fashion and Textile Designer based in London.

I started designing as a child by making clothes for my dolls and later grew into customising my own clothes and making jewellery to sell to friends, family and neighbours. My mother is my main inspiration and she always encouraged me to learn new crafts and techniques. She was also very supportive of my educational choices and opting for art and textiles I trained to become a Designer. Graduating from the London College of Fashion in 2000 and I got my first job, starting the very next week and have since worked for a number of British designers. In June 2006 I became a freelance Fashion and Textile Designer, moving from company to company working on different projects. I have enjoyed my new found freedom in design after leaving a full time post and found that this suited my restless creativity much more.

As a Designer I have always been taught to take inspiration from a number of sources; from museums and art, to the world around me and as a crafter I have been inspired this way too. Through all of this the one thing that has always inspired me the most is texture. I find anything that is layered or 3-D in effect a great source of inspiration and I enjoy recreating texture by combining a number of media.

In late 2006 I decided to turn my crafty passions into a business and set about creating Sara’s Texture Crafts to work alongside my freelance design jobs. The business was two fold to start with; firstly supplying craft kits and equipment, through eBay and secondly creating and selling hand crafted, unique jewellery, bags and gifts, through Etsy and DaWanda. Since then the business has grown to include my own blogzine for like minded crafters and I am now appearing at major UK Craft events and local fairs and markets.

3. Which part of your work do you most enjoy?
Creating… it doesn’t matter what else gets thrown at me, as long as I can get at least an hour creating a day, then I’m happy!

4. Which part do you find hardest?
I guess that’s a mixture between confidence and accounting! Like most creative types I find it hard to openly say ‘I’m good at this’, or ‘my work is good enough’… I am always striking to improve and yes, like most creative types figures are not my favourite things either, but they must get done!

5. Where do you hope to be in 1 year’s time?
Personally I would like to be able to move out of the city… and live a bit greener! In terms of my business, I would like to have created a wider presence with my work and be big enough to allow this to be 100% of my working time.

6. What is the best advice you have ever been given?
‘To study/work hard and to keep on trying no matter who tries to put you down, or get in your way… if you really want something you have to go out, get it for yourself and prove people wrong’. My mother has been consoling me with this one since the day dot and you know what, she is right!

7. Name other artisans sites/shops would you recommend are worth a visit?
I’m inspired mostly by my boyfriend’s work… by day he is a civil servant and by night a Photographer. He doesn’t show his work at the moment (I need to build up his confidence too!), but I believe he should. He has strong ideas and statements in his work and his clever use of light carries with it a wonderful texture, which I just adore. I am working him up to a feature on my blog at http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com – so watch this space!

8. What is your favourite sandwich filling?
Either just cooked bacon with brie, spinach and cranberry sauce in a freshly baked baguette, or just plain avocado on an English muffin – divine!

Thank you Sara for taking part in this feature. I have loved looking through all your shops and I hope all the readers will too. So dear readers if you do like what you see, click on each of the pictures to be taken to the land of Sara's Texture Crafts and be amazed and inspired by her beautiful choices of materials and colours!

Passions & Desires

Yesterday, being Valentine's day, got me to thinking about people and things I love and am passionate about. The result is I realise that as well as my family, and Jon and his family, the things that matter to me most are my health, hula hooping, poi, juggling, and being able to express my creativeness in many ways. Crochet, knitting, sewing, drawing, writing... all these things are important to me.

It also occurred to me that I'm attracted to people who are also passionate about what they do. That goes for when I shop too. I'm drawn to shops that seem to care about what they sell. Sellers on-line that just ooze with joy about their goods and the process of making them will always get more of my attention than the sellers that just state facts about their goods.

I've told others before that enthusiasm is catching and that they should always write their descriptions with that in mind, but now I think it's more about showing your passion for what you make than just saying what you make is great or fabulous.

Woolies is a lady that makes Pretty little hand knitted/felted animals. Each one has a short story to go with them, that not only personalises each one and gives them a character but also shows her passion for making them. This is cocoa the bossy cow.

LittleLily is a new comer to etsy. Her descriptions show a passion for life and her goods. This pretty little pendant is titled "R for renewal" and part of the description is "Every new day is a chance to start again. No matter what yesterday was like or what tomorrow may bring, isn't it wonderful to think of the fresh start the new day brings?"

Now shower art is an item that I have to admit on first look I would not have thought to buy, but having read UglyBaby's descriptions I'm utterly feeling where each piece originated from and how they came to be. I love her witty comments and her reasoning behind the making of each item so much so I'm mighty tempted to get some art into my shower! I won't be mocking her for not knowing Spinal Tap weren't a real band.... well ok maybe just a little bit of mocking is in order, hehehe...

Gush4plush is another person that adds character to their goods by describing them not only in materials and size but by offering a bit of background history to each one. Loopy the ninja chicken has some very dubious habits involving cow pats. You might have to keep your eye on him if you decide to take him home.

Anneliese writes her descriptions as if she were chatting to you about each one as you view them in her shop. She tells you a bit about the materials and her thoughts on the design of each piece. She enthuses passionately about the way they are conceived and put together. It's quite catching and makes you want to see more.

The way you talk about your goods in you listings can completely change the way customers see the item. Letting people know just how much you enjoyed the creative process or letting them get an insight into how the item came to be, helps them to feel like they could see themselves owning that piece. Don't be afraid to display your passion.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is my birthday, so I won't be writing up a blog for you all to read. Sorry about that. I just came in to wish you all a fabulous day filled with love and laughter. Remember to tell all your loved ones just how special they are to you... Oh and did I mention it's my Birthday? hehehehe

*spins around on her office chair giggling*

YIPPEEEEEE!

Help yourself to a bit of cake!

Cake supplied by

sweettouch

cheesecake supplied by

Cheesecakequeen

Happy Valentine's Day!

My hunger for colour

Today, once again I felt hungry for some colour. I can't explain the craving I get other than to compare it to a craving for a certain food. Colours have become very important to me. Today it's the colour orange and purple I crave. I found lots of gorgeous things to share with you.

I’ll start with this beautiful pendant from Juln. The way the light travels through it to create the gorgeous orange light on the white background just does it for me! It also looks so smooth and tactile. I can imagine rubbing its flat surface on the palm of my hand and how cooling to the skin it would be.

lusitania has combined the colours in fibre, to make this eye catching zipped purse. Very fitting that the zipper has an orange heart on it, seeing as tomorrow is Valentine and orange is one of my favourite colours and Valentine’s Day is my birthday.

This mirror is made by GeminiMoonMosaics a member of the Etsy Mosaics street team. They have many other very talented artists as well as GeminiMoonMosaics. The mix of colours and textures made this one leap out at me as one I should feature. From the tiny glass beads to the large vintage flowered tiles it all works so well together.

Knitastic makes beautiful machine knitted items. Her shop is chock full of interesting patterns and designs that she has created. It's well worth a look. Her cushions look very snuggley. I can imagine curling up on a big feather filled couch scattered with them. The colours of this trim are just perfect for my craving.

DavidvMoore's print just grabbed my eyes and made them look. This is taken from an original acrylic that he painted. It has a feeling of heat and fire about it. He has a sale on at the moment so if this picture zapped you as much as it did me, why not go and take a look at what else he has to offer. he has lots of great artworks to see.

Yes wibbly Woo! I'll be yours. You are just so darn cute. How could anyone ever resist you? Abbydid created this cutie to share with us. I wonder what other treasures he has in his mouth....

So, that's my colour craving fulfilled. I hope you like my choices.

Health and Safety.

How important to you is your health and safety?

A strange question you might think. You will probably answer "Very!" as would I, but recently I have realised that I'm not taking my health and safety a seriously as maybe I should.

I work from home, making hula hoops and pirate pixie hats, bags, blankets etc. Most of my day is spent sitting down either making things or typing on the computer promoting the things I make. Now that's not very good for my health at all. The risks of getting varicose veins, stiff necks, and numbness in the legs not to mention RSI, deep vein thrombosis, hemroids, decreased heart and lung function... the list goes on.... is increased greatly for those of us that have very sedentary life styles/jobs.

The rest of my time is spent lifting piles of hula hoops, pipe and boxes of tape about. Now, do I always bend from the knees to lift...no, not always. Sometimes the boxes are in an awkward place so I just lean over and lift, so I'm putting my back at risk of injury.

Many of you out there work with dangerous chemicals. All you soap makers, Jewellery crafters, metal workers, etc.... Do you read and keep all the MSDS sheets for the chemicals you use? Are they kept in an obvious place so that if you have an accident someone coming along and finding you will be able to see the best course of action to take not to make things worse for you? Do you always wear safety gear to protect yourself from those chemicals, or have you become a bit lax? Has familiarity bred a bit of contempt? Have you ever left any of these chemicals in unmarked containers?

How about your eyes... Do you wear safety goggles when doing tasks that could result in a foreign body ending up in your eye? Something simple like drilling or using a dremel could end with shards of your work going in your eye. We all do it without thinking until an accident happens, but then it's too late.

How about your lungs? Do you work with powders or do something that involves making dust? Do you always use your dust mask?

All you people that use soldering irons, hot glue guns, irons... do you have a burns kit at your place of work? Do you know the different ways you should treat different kinds of burns?

Let’s all try and take a bit more care of ourselves. Do a risk assessment on the place you work, be it your home or a studio and figure out what you can do to minimise the risks. Also make up a plan of action to follow if things do go wrong. Just because we work for ourselves, doesn't mean we don't have to do the kinds of things big business do. They do risk assessments and put in place health and safety rule, because they are frightened of being sued for not taking care of their workers. We should do it just because we DO care about our workers... ourselves and our families.

Remember to take regular breaks from your work. If you sit most of the time take 5 minutes out of every hour to get up, walk about, skip, and turn on loud music and dance. Doing anything that gets your blood moving and your heart pumping is good. If your work involves a lot of standing up remember that standing in one position isn't good either and you need to move about too. You too could strut your funky stuff for 5 minutes in each hour.

Drink lots of water. It's very easy to get engrossed in what you are doing and forget to keep your fluid intake up. Dehydration has a very negative effect on your health.

Always wear all the safety gear recommended to be used with any of the substances you use. It's the one time you don't that the accident may happen. Is it worth the risk?

Taking care of business also means taking care of yourself, because as an independent worker/trader, you ARE the business!