Artists in Business

Aire and Worth Valley Arts Consultation Event

2012-02-02T14:54:00.000Z

Invitation to Have Your Say

Are you a visual artist, designer, digital and media artist, maker, professional or keen amateur?
Do you live in the Aire Valley between Shipley and Skipton or the Worth Valley?

The Aire Valley Consortium for the Arts (a working title!) would like to invite you to a consultation about Arts in the Aire and Worth Valleys on Wednesday 29 February from 5.30pm at Small World, 20 Russell Street, Keighley BD21 3JP

This is YOUR opportunity to have your say about the provision of support for artists and the arts. Your contribution will be presented to Bradford Council and will help us, Aire Valley Consortium, to focus on the needs of local arts practitioners. There will be refreshments and the consultation begins at 6pm

About AVC: we are an arts collective from Kirkgate Studios and Small World whose manifesto is to champion creativity, culture and learning and to promote and improve the cultural life of the Aire Valley area.

Felted Cloth at Central Hall

2012-01-15T21:45:00.001Z

The next Artists in Business exhibition at Central Hall is Felted Cloth from Monday 27 February to Friday 6 April 2012.

Naomi Southon

Felted Cloth is an exhibition of three textile artists who turn fleece into fabric to create tactile art.

Clare Ashton

Central Hall is open to the public from 8.30am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm on Saturdays. Central Hall is on Alice Street, Keighley West Yorkshire BD21 3JD

Lucy Bowring

printmaking at Central Hall

2011-11-06T18:42:00.000Z

Our next exhibition at Central Hall will be a feast of printmaking including Letterpress, Lino Print and Collograph.

Letterpress by Jacqui Sharples

Printmaking at Central Hall, Alice Street, Keighley starts on Monday 21 November at Cafe Central and is a joint show with printmakers Jacqui Sharples, Emily Harvey and Alison Deegan. Each printmaker is a master of her craft and has a distinctive style.

Collograph by Emily Harvey

We will be posting updates and artists' statements here to accompany the exhibition which is at Central Hall until Friday 6 January 2012. Meanwhile, if you would like to find out more about printmaking workshops in Keighley please call Jo Whitehead on 01535 608471 or email Jo.artsbiz@gmail.com

Lino print by Alison Deegan

Award Winning Photographer

2011-09-09T21:40:00.000+01:00

Kath Williamson

One of our photographers, Kath Williamson, has won an award at the Sheffield Art in the Garden event!

Here she is accepting her award from local artist Joe Scarborough. Come and see Kath's beautifully dreamy images at our exhibition, Photography @ Central Hall, Alice Street, Keighley.

Latest Exhibition in Keighley

2011-09-06T19:13:00.000+01:00

Central Hall Cafe

Photography @ Central Hall is now open to the public until Friday 14 October 2011.
Photographers Steve Rayner and Kath Williamson showcase their images in the exhibition area in Cafe Central. Central Hall is now open on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm as well as Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Look out for our next exhibition - Printmaking @ Central Hall from Monday 21 November 2011 to Friday 6 January 2012

Photographer Steve Rayner @ Central Hall

2011-08-26T14:39:00.000+01:00

Balcony by Steve Rayner

Innovative photographer Steve Rayner is a professional whose client base includes wedding and event photography and product photography. He talks about his artistic work here.

"For some time my method of working has been to familiarise myself with an area over a period of time – days, weeks, possibly even years - and then to start to capture elements of that environment that seem important. This is usually done all at once, when the light is just right. As the images are recorded, I’m visualising how they will interact with each other or combine to form an impression or a feeling rather than a literal representation. Sometimes they work out as composites, occasionally as individual images".

Hirst Wood

To see Steve's work please visit his latest exhibition, Photography @ Central Hall from Monday September 5 Friday 2011. Find out more HERE.

Photography @ Central Hall

2011-08-13T22:30:00.001+01:00

Add caption

Photography @ Central Hall opens to the public on Monday 5 September at Central Hall, Alice Street, Keighley. Admission to the show is free and this exciting exhibition show cases the work of two Yorkshire photographers, Kath Williamson and Steve Rayner. Here is some more information about Sheffield photographer Kath Williamson.

This series of images has been produced by Sheffield-based art photographer Kath Williamson. She has always felt particularly drawn to neglected gardens and allotments, as well as to those small and often overlooked corners in the city where nature is asserting itself. Seeming to tread a line between painting and photograph, her images reflect the transience, fragility and beauty of these wild places.

“All is process. That is to say, there is ‘no thing’ in the universe.

Things, objects, entities, are abstractions of what is relatively constant from a process of movement and transformation.

They are like the shapes that children like to see in clouds..”

(David Bohm, Physicist, 1917 –1992)

Visit Kath's website by clicking HERE
The exhibition is open until Friday 14 October 2011.

Keep In Touch

2011-07-31T20:14:00.001+01:00

We like to keep in touch with everyone through Facebook and Twitter. If you use these social networking sites and like a chat please follow us. "Liking" us on Facebook doesn't mean that you have to be our friend - and you will find out our latest news too.

Photography @ Central Hall

2011-07-15T21:11:00.000+01:00

Grass Verge by Kath Williamson

Since our first exhibition of Yorkshire Artists at Central Hall in April this year, Artists in Business has been commissioned to curate four more exhibitions in Keighley, West Yorkshire.
Photography @ Central Hall will be an exhibition of two Yorkshire photographers, Kath Williamson and Steve Rayner, from Monday 5 September to Friday 4 October 2011.
Open times: Mon - Fri. Central Hall is sometimes open at weekends, please check out their website for details.
www.central-hall.org.uk
Central Hall is on Alice Street, Keighley BD21 3JD and has a lovely cafe where you can enjoy a good lunch.

Millennium Square, Leeds by Steve Rayner

Ceramic Workshops in Yorkshire

2011-06-09T18:40:00.000+01:00

Raku Workshops at Shibden Hall, Halifax

These two day workshops are available to everyone, from beginners to professional ceramic artists. Day 1 is a half day session to create two pieces of work for firing. Day 2 is a full day session to glaze and fire your work in the Stable Yard at Shibden Hall.
Dates: Saturday July 2 and July 9 or Saturday 27 August and 3 September 2011
Costs: £70 for both days, including materials
About the venue: Shibden Hall is a 15th century timber framed manor house set in 37 hectares of park land. Once the home of Anne Lister, Shibden Hall is now owned by Calderdale Council and is a public museum.
Contact: Deborah Comy-Platt, Shibden Hall Estate Manager
01422 352446

Fusions Firing Festival

Dates for this years festival July 15th-17th 2011

A weekend of experimental art and performance firings set in fabulous surroundings in a quiet corner of the Yorkshire Dales. Join in our raku firing, fuming and smoke firing workshops delivered by experienced leaders and be part of the alchemical process that creates exciting and unpredictable pottery.
All workshops take place on Saturday, take part in as many or as few as you like. You can even grab one of our printed local maps and enjoy a walk in stunning scenery direct from the campsite or just take off your shoes and socks and cool off with a paddle in the beck. The evening is rounded off with barbeques, bonfires and a firing extravaganza!
A great weekend for all the family, social and friendly and you go home with a fabulous creation.
No experience necessary. Small groups to ensure plenty of help and advice. To purchase tickets

visit Yolasite.com

Death of an Icon

2011-05-27T18:24:00.000+01:00

It's with sadness that we heard about the death of Leonora Carrington, a female surrealist artist in a male dominated world. Carrington's work had a dream-like quality with both real and imagined animals featuring regularly in her paintings, many of which have a strong narrative theme.

Carrington was largely ignored in Britain and, after her meeting with the surreal artist Max Ernst, became his muse. Living in Paris, Carrington suffered many trials including the internment of Ernst by the nazis and a breakdown and admission to a hospital in Spain. Eventually Carrington ended up in Mexico where she lived until the end of her life, appreciated for the fine artist that she was.

But it's the storytelling element of her work that appeals to me with a combination of folk art and wild fantasy. Carrington didn't like to explain her art which is fine by me as it makes the interpretation more interesting and much more bizarre too.

Review of the BCTF

2011-05-22T20:47:00.002+01:00

Leigh Shepherd Designs

Last month saw the annual British Craft Trade Fair at Harrogate, a three day event attracting more than 500 designers and artists and over 5000 visitors. This has to be the most exciting event in the designer-maker trade show calendar with buyers from galleries, department stores, gift shops, boutiques and garden centres all looking for the next big thing.

Because of the economic climate and the demise of many handmade outlets in the UK, the past two years have been particularly tough for the creative industry so it was inspiring to see so many buyers at this year’s event and to hear so much excited and positive feedback from the traders there. Four people who caught our eye were artist Julie Bell of SiaArt, semi-precious jeweller Rachel Lucie, glass artist Genevieve Thompson of Wicked Gen Crafts and contemporary jeweller Leigh Shepherd.

Rachel Lucie Designs

Competition is fierce at the BCTF with traders vying to make their product stand out. Simplicity is the key to success with most traders opting for simple white displays that complement their work and show off their key pieces. Here you can see how Leigh Shepherd used two plain display shelves mounted onto white cabinets to show her vibrant paper and scrabble tile jewellery to its best advantage. Both Leigh and Rachel Lucie were in the Newcomers Gallery but both designers made their displays look totally professional. I really liked Rachel’s use of enlarged images of her key pieces.

Wicked Gen Crafts

But before you even consider taking a stand at the BCTF you need to be absolutely sure about your product. Because of the cost of exhibiting there it is not the venue for test trading to see if your work is saleable. You need total confidence in your work and be positive that there is a market for your designs. Genevieve of Wicked Gen Crafts has a large repertoire of glass designs but she was extremely selective in what she brought with her. Her latest glass hearts have a unique appeal and she chose pieces that both complement and describe her style. She also chose pieces that she loves to make knowing, that if she landed a large order, she would have to make the same design many times over.

SiaArt

Over-stocking a display is detrimental to the look of a trade stand. Although buyers may order multiples of one item, showing the same item as a multiple makes that display look more like a shop and not a trade stand. Artist Julie Bell of SiaArt kept her display to a minimum, her work shows her artistic style and stands out brightly against the stark white display stand. Julie knows that selling her art is about selling a life style and appealing to interior designers.

But, like most shows, the BTCF has its winners and its losers – designers who could not pick up a single enquiry and designers who were overwhelmed with orders. Disciplines such as jewellery and glass are highly competitive and oversubscribed. But the most likely measure of success at the BCTF is a long term one – and that is securing a REPEAT order.

Furoshiki Workshop

2011-05-17T10:45:00.003+01:00

Artists in Business will be holding a Furoshiki dyeing workshop on Saturday 18 June 10am to 12 noon at All Saints Church House, Church Street, Ilkley

This workshop will enable you to make two beautiful silk Japanese wrapping cloths using resist and dyes. Furoshiki is an eco-friendly cloth that can be used as a bag or for wrapping gifts. We will be looking at Japanese designs such as carp, sakura and repeat patterns. This workshop is tailored for both textile designers and beginners alike.

Costs: £15 + £5 materials charge.

To book your place on this exciting workshop please email: Jo.artsbiz@gmail.com

To buy cotton Furoshiki visit My Furoshiki on Etsy and Folksy.

Spare Place

2011-05-12T21:32:00.005+01:00

Further to my March blog post about pop-up galleries, A Future for Empty Shops, it's now easier to find out where those empty shops are in the UK.

Spare Place is a map of spaces across the UK which can be used for temporary and pop-up projects: it includes empty shops, church halls, fields, shopping precincts and old offices. All spaces can be legally occupied by agreement with the owner. Find out where those vacant premises are or add your own empty space to the website.

If you would like to find out how to set up a pop up gallery please contact Artists in Business and we will send you a free PDF instruction leaflet.

British Craft and Design Month

2011-05-09T21:29:00.001+01:00

It's here! British Craft and Design Month is sponsored by Craft and Design Magazine to support designer-makers and inform the public of craft and design events in the UK. Follow the events on the blog or add your own event to the website.

SEW PAINT MAKE

2011-04-25T22:09:00.001+01:00

SEW MAKE PAINT is a new programme of textile art workshops for anyone wanting to learn a new craft, improve their skills or just have a jolly good time. The first workshop of the programme is Wax Batik on Saturday 21 May 10am to 12 noon at All Saints Church House, Church Street, Ilkley

Cost: £15 + £5 for materials

Create a beautiful piece of printed art on paper and silk with the ancient craft of wax batik. Using tjaps and tjantings, you can make repeat print patterns, abstracts or realistic artworks.

Skill level: all levels from beginner to experienced

STOP PRESS: sign up for our Silk Shibori Workshop on Saturday 23 July and get another workshop for free. Book your place on our one day Shibori Workshop and you can join another workshop in this programme for free. Just tell us your preference when booking.

To book your place or find out more please contact Jo.artsbiz@gmail.com or Tel: 01535 654026

Cutting Edge - Designer Katie Heeks

2011-04-15T09:56:00.002+01:00

Rainforest Garden

Katie Heeks is a designer-maker from The Wirral who recently graduated from Derby University. She specialises in laser cut birchwood designs to create lighting, mirrors and dioramas.

Katie's dioramas depict flora and fauna silhouettes cut from birch and laminated with textiles. The attention to detail is wonderful and each piece is individually made. Here's what Katie says about her work.

"My work is.....a little world dedicated to people's interests and passions, whether it's animals, music or even gardening, almost anything can be incorporated into these magical worlds".

Find out more about Katie's work and where she will be exhibiting by visiting her website Katieheeksdesigns.com

Art@Central Hall

2011-04-03T10:00:00.007+01:00

Central Hall, Keighley's newest Community Resource Centre, will be hosting its first art exhibition, showcasing six local artists.

Displayed in Cafe Central, the exhibition includes paintings, photographs, mixed media and printmaking.

Littondale - Sunshine and Shadow by Martin Williamson

Exhibition starts on Monday 18 April to Friday 6 May
ENTRANCE FREE
Central Hall Opening times: 9am to 4pm

Monday - Friday
Alice Street, Keighley BD21 3JD

Contact Central Hall: 01535 612500

View from Pen-y-ghent by Martin Priestley

Exhibiting Artists are Martin Priestley (photographer) Farooq Rehmat (fine artist) June Russell (printmaker) Nicola Smith (illustrator) Kath Tarpy (fine artist) and Martin Williamson (painter)

Black Prince by Kath Tarpy

Farooq Rehmat

What else does Central Hall offer? Meeting rooms and conference room for hire, free wifi and Cafe Central. To find out more contact us 01535 612500 or visit Central-hall.com

Free Bird by Nicola Smith

Hedgerows at Cowgill by June Russell

British Craft Trade Fair

2011-03-25T21:09:00.004Z

The biggest event in the handmade designer-maker’s Spring calendar has to be the British Craft Trade Fair.

Leigh Shepherd Designs

When: Sunday 3^rd, Monday 4^th and Tuesday 5^th April 2011 Sunday 10am to 6pm, Monday and Tuesday 10am to 5pm

Where: Hall 1, The Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG2 8PW

What is it? The BTCF is a trade fair and a brilliant opportunity for designer-makers to showcase their new designs and meet potential buyers from galleries and boutiques, jewellery shops and garden centres. Every designer is British and there is a happy mix of newcomers and returning exhibitors for those important buyers to select from.

Why should you go? If you are an emerging designer then attending the BTCF will help you to decide whether your product is ready for the retail market. You will be able to see how others display their work and enjoy the buzz of a trade fair. You will also get a good understanding of how a trade fair works before you commit yourself to next year’s event.

What you shouldn’t do. The designers cannot sell their work direct to the public at the BTCF so please don’t ask them. The designers are a friendly bunch and are generally happy to give you advice about showing your work but please don’t take up their time if there are buyers present. Oh, and don’t help yourself to their precious marketing leaflets and brochures, these are for potential buyers.

Although the public cannot buy directly from the designer at the BTCF it is a wonderful chance for British designers to make those all-important contacts with galleries and shops, sell their work by consignment and pick up repeat orders. It’s also a fabulous way for buyers to find out what the latest trends in handmade are and a way to keep their customers buying British.

http://www.bctf.co.uk/news.php

Wicked Gen Crafts

LEEDS BOOK FAIR

2011-03-14T18:40:00.001Z

Come and meet Artists in Business at Leeds Book Fair

and pick up a bargain.

We have over 500 second hand art and craft books for sale and we will be at Leeds Book Fair on Sunday 27 March from 9.30am to 4pm. Our prices range from 50p to £6 with titles on art theory, art history, artists, photography, glass, pottery, printmaking and furniture.

We have books on illustration, design, graphics, soft toy making,

basketry, embroidery and weaving.

Where: St Margaret's Hall, Church Road, Horsforth, Leeds LS18 5LQ

Pop Up Galleries - a future for empty shops

2011-03-02T22:42:00.002Z

The "Love Keighley" Gallery was an empty shop project devised by the Arts Factory working in partnership with The Keighley Town Centre Association.

14.7% of the retail units in the UK are lying empty and Keighley is no exception. Stepping out of the bus station, visitors are immediately faced with a row of empty shops and feel they could be in any town. The pop up gallery tapped into the Love Keighley initiative with the window vinyls, posters and publicity mirroring the branding. The Airedale Shopping Centre's offer of an empty shop made the ideal gallery for the annual Open Art exhibition.

The Yorkshire Open is a showcase of visual art held annually at The Arts Factory. By moving the exhibition to an empty shop visitor numbers increased by a staggering 751 with just under 1000 people entering the gallery. 200 free promotional bags were given away and £130.60 raised on behalf of Manorlands, a local hospice. But it wasn't all plain sailing....

Setting up a pop up gallery entails a lot of hard work, planning and can sometimes be frustrating. It was freezing, particularly when it snowed (!) and there was no water so no toilet or cups of tea.

But it was extremely effective for marketing the Arts Factory and raising awareness of what the gallery does. Visitors ranged from pensioners to unemployed teenagers, artists to shoppers and everyone had a favourite picture. The gallery was alive with colour and displaying the sheep from the Shorn Keighley Project drew the public to the windows.

Displaying the art brought its own problems - I panicked that we would have too much work and not enough wall space. Luckily, this was not the case because we hung the show to look more like the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition with less white wall space than we are used to.

A total of 40 Yorkshire artists displayed 93 pieces of work between them, ranging from traditional to contemporary, textiles to photographs. Visitors came from Hull, Sheffield, York and Leeds but mostly Keighley and Bradford. The gallery was open six days a week for three weeks and 16 volunteers covered 32 of the total 76 hours that we were open. Would I do it again? I can't wait!

If you would like to find out how to set up a pop up gallery please contact Artists in Business and we will send you a free PDF instruction leaflet.

Showcasing Illustration at its Best

2011-02-25T20:49:00.001Z

High brow, low brow, check out

An independent publishing platform for emerging graphic and illustration artists, Nobrow has the most delightful prints and fascinating publications - printed on quality paper. If you are keen to get into print you can send your submissions to Nobrow at nobrowsubs@gmail.com

Take a look at the Dicephaly Brothers by Ben Newman. Love it!

Setting up a creative business from your kitchen table

2011-02-18T14:09:00.000Z

Did you know that, in the USA, women who stay at home and look after the kids are called SAHMs? (stay at home mums) and that women who work from home are called WAHMs? Personally, I can't see the difference - whether its child rearing or paid employment, they are both "work" in my opinion.
Whether you are a SAHM or a DAHM (more dads are staying home to look after the kids these days) or neither, you might be considering starting a creative business from home. I have always been inspired by Laura Ashley, who started her famous homewares business making screen printed tea towels from her kitchen table. But there's so much more to setting up a creative business from your kitchen table than just making lovely things. You will need to have (or learn) a multitude of skills - most of which you will already have - even if you didn't know it.

But, before you start sending out press releases for the launch of your new cottage industry, take a few minutes to consider if you have what it takes to run a small business. What do you want from your creative business?
a) You enjoy making and want to earn enough money to pay for a few treats
b) You need to make some money in the short term until you start a job
c) You want to work for yourself and you want to make a success of selling your creative products.

Follow this Link to find out If You Have What It Takes (but don't forget to come back to read the rest of this post).

So, what are these additional skills that you need to acquire to start your business from the kitchen table?
Manufacturer - you are making your product therefore you are a manufacturer.
Accountant - you already manage your domestic finances. It's basically the same thing, money goes out and, hopefully, more money comes in.
Trader - you have to sell your product to your customer.
Marketer - you know how great your product is - how do you tell others?
Designer - you need to develop your product in order to attract more sales.

Your Start Up Business Tool Kit
Here is a list of the basics you will need at the start of your new enterprise.
1. Office equipment - two vital bits of office equipment that you will need are: a computer and a phone. You probably already own both but spend wisely on equipment - do you really need that photocopying and laminating machine? Anything else is a luxury - only to be purchased when you are making a profit.

2. Keeping accounts - start as you mean to go on by setting up a simple spreadsheet and logging all money going out and all money coming in. You don't need a separate bank account but you do need evidence of your business finances.

3. Stationery - letterheaded paper will not only make your business look professional but many companies will not pay an invoice that isn't on letter headed paper. Business cards tell everyone who you are and enables them to contact you at a later date.

4. Website/blog/Facebook page - having just one of these will help you to market your product. Rather than spend all your money on a super slick website, blogging is free and you can design your blog to have all the features of a reasonable website. Facebook is also free and you don't have to make "friends" to attract people to your FB page.

5. Training - invest in your business by getting yourself onto some basic business workshops such as: book keeping, taxation and national insurance, marketing, costing and cashflow, legal framework for the self employed. Look around for workshops that are directed at creatives.

Recommended reading for the creative entrepeneur - Business as Unusual by Anita Roddick
Finally, do you have something to say? why not write for Artists in Business? We will post your stories, experiences and advice about your art business in Artists in Business. Just send us an email HERE.

Where have we been???

2011-02-13T15:26:00.000Z

Artists in Business is back in business.
We have been so busy with our day jobs we haven't had a chance to keep up with the blog! Well, we made a New Year resolution to try harder and publish helpful and informative business posts for artists in business.

Look out for the following coming soon:
Working as a Community Artist - one artist shares her experiences
Setting up a creative business from your kitchen table - or anywhere else in the house (but possibly not the bathroom)?
pop up galleries and empty shop studios

We will also be giving away a free gift each month to one of our newsletter subscribers. If you would like to subscribe to our newsletter please use the contact box on the top right hand side of the page.

Finally, do you have something to say? why not write for Artists in Business? We will post your stories, experiences and advice about your art business in Artists in Business. Just send us an email HERE

COMMENT

2010-04-09T20:33:00.002+01:00

My apologies to everyone who has been following the posts about writing a business plan - it's been year-end for us. That means tidying up accounts, writing reports (bleugh) and looking at possible funding streams. I'll be back on with business plans this week (promise).
So, as we head toward May 6 (here in the UK) we wonder what the future holds for artists and art businesses. The recession's over, right? The economy's picking up, right? Everyone's just waiting until after the general election before they release their funding opportunities, spend their cash, commission new art? Wrong.
Those dependable funding streams that provide new opportunities for emerging artists and new arts businesses just aren't going to be there. Whichever political party is elected, they all have one thing in common - there's going to be no new spending. Just think how much potential arts funding has already been swallowed up by the cash-hungry Olympics monster (and it's still devouring money) And as for the banks - they will be too busy buying the government's gilts to want to invest in art. And don't even ASK the Arts Council...
So what shall we do? Shall we all go down the pub for a pint and a moan? Abandon our creativity until things pick up? Keep calm and carry on regardless?
No, we shall diversify. We will look outside our "comfort zone" for new and innovative projects that will generate income (eventually) whilst satisfying our creative needs. We will support our fellow artists, buy hand made whenever possible, take part in guerilla art events and support pop-up shops. Are you all behind me? (Where have you all gone)?

So, if you ever needed a business plan you need one now!

My Creative Space - Little Red

2010-03-08T19:51:00.001Z

April Mawhinney of Little Red tells us about her creative space and her residency at The Arches.

"I design and make leather accessories and bags under the name of Little Red. When I first started, I was working out of an open plan one bedroom flat which I shared with my boyfriend. The flat was just too small to cope with my growing stash of fabrics, leather, zips, buttons and thread. Also the endless noise of the sewing machine in such a small flat turned home space into industrial space; so it really wasn’t a situation that could last forever.

"A friend told me about the Arches studios in Southampton which gives creative graduates residencies to start and launch their own creative endeavours. It is an amazing space, located under a bridge in the city centre with spaces for approximately 20 artists/craftspeople. I applied and gained the residency in 2006 and I am now just entering my fourth year.

"I have my own individual space within the Arches and 24/7 access. It is a wonderfully vibrant environment to work in; allowing me to develop my own practise while interacting with the other artists in the studio which is both inspirational and supportive. My studio is painted white and I try to keep it clean and practical. My cutting table takes up most of the space along with my ironing board and sewing machines.

"My creative practise has definitely grown as a result of having this studio space away from my home. It has allowed me to experiment with my materials, the size and scale of my work but most importantly it has given me a chance to work free of the distractions which I would suffer in my own house, such as house work.

"I have just been accepted for a two year extension on my residency at the Arches. I am really looking forward to pushing forward my design and making practise with a view to eventually spreading my Little Red wings and entering the big wide world with my own studio and boutique."

April Mawhinney.

Catch up with April on her blog Little Red Designs and follow her on Facebook too.

Business Plans for Art Businesses Part 2

2010-03-04T15:44:00.003Z

Further to my previous post "Business Planning for Art Businesses" I gave an overview of the business plan and WHY it is important to write one. In this post I will show you the kind of information your plan should include.

Your business plan should be concise and easy to read. Not everyone who picks up your business plan will want to read the entire document through, particularly if they have 20+ other business plans to consider (usually funders or banks). The business plan should always start with an "Executive Summary" - a short list of key points taken from the entire business plan. The Executive Summary will show the key features of your business, giving the reader an overview of what you do. The reader should know, from the Exec Summary, exactly what you do and what you want, without all the dressing.
When do you write the executive summary? Although this is the first part of the Business Plan it needs to be the part you write last so that you can pick out those key points from the rest of the document.
Start with an opening sentence that tells the reader what the exec summary will show, for example:
"This business plan will show that (name of business) is a viable business and that it can develop successfully".

Now you need to list those key points of
1. What you are doing successfully now and
2. what you will be doing to take your business forward.
You will take these from the remainder of your business plan, which is why you write the executive summary last.

You can also include a separate list of key points showing the reasons that you can run a successful business. For example:
"(Name of Business) will be a successful arts enterprise because..." then list the opportunities that will arise in the future.
At the end of your Exec Summary the reader should know exactly what you do without being bored with the detail. In fact, the reader should be interested enough to want to read the rest of your report.

Also, as part of your Exec Summary, the bank, funder or backer will want to see an overview of your figures over the next three years. You will need to show the following overall figures in the Exec Summary: Income, Expenditure, Outcome. List these in a grid and calculate them over the next three years. Forecasting your finances for the next three years isn't going to be an exact science so increase your first year's calculations by a reasonable percentage but be realistic. This is called a "Summatitive Table of Costs".

Income: how much money is coming into your business (sales, funding, loans, teaching workshops, services)

Expenditure:how much money has come out of your business (purchases, overheads, costs, travel, materials)

Net Income: how much is left after you have taken all your costs out of your gross income(profit)

On the same page as your Summatitive Table you will need to indicate to the reader that there is a comprehensive breakdown of costs at the end of the report. This will be in the form of an appendix.

Setting out the Summatitive Table.

You can set your costs out in two sections: CURRENT and PREDICTED. They should be listed in columns so that they can be read across from left to right.

The first column shows your business activity (such as sales, workshops, craft fairs, design services, commissions, paid employment, exhibitions etc)broken down into headings.

The next column should show a breakdown of the income for each activity.

The third column should show your expenditure.

The fourth column should show your net income.

If you are applying for a bank loan or funding don't be concerned that your Net income is 0. If you can prove that you understand your finances and that all money has been ploughed back into the business you should look, on paper, like a viable investment. However, if you are spending more than you are making or using your own cash "invisible money" to fund your business you will look like an amateur and not worth investing in.

In my next post we will look at your business products and services and your future vision for your business.

Sign up for the Newsletter and...

2010-03-01T17:27:00.002Z

Sign up to our March Newsletter before 5 March 2010 and you will be entered into a free draw to win these beautiful dangly earrings made by jeweller Ruby Spirit Designs.

About our newsletter: there are articles about arts business, features on different artists, updates and useful links too. The next newsletter will be "MUD" the Ceramics edition with information for ceramic artists and potters.

And the winner is.....

The winner of the illustrated magnets by artist

Lauren Alexander was Barbara of Earthy Elegance.

Business Plans for Art Businesses Part 1

2010-02-26T21:47:00.000Z

"Fail to Plan
Plan to Fail"

In a previous post I said that I would be blogging about Business Plans and how to write one. Well, true to my word, here is the first of 3 posts on the subject. I have broken it up into sections to make a tedious task more palatable - after all, who writes business plans for fun?

Why write a Business Plan?
A business plan is a vital tool for any business, whether you are a new arts business or an exisiting business. There are two reasons why you should do this:

to show potential funders, financial institutions, backers or partners that you have a viable business that is worth investing in

as an exercise in analysing your business potential, finances, measure your current performance against future performance and, most importantly, high light any flaws or gaps in your business.

Your plan should show the Who, What, Where, How and Why of your business. WHO is involved (you, other businesses, customers/clients) WHAT you are doing and going to do in the future, WHERE you do it, HOW it operates and WHY you do it(and why people need it).
Your Business Plan will consist of information in each of the following headings:

The Executive Summary (we'll deal with this in the last post)
A description of your business (the easy part)
Your Marketing Strategy (the fun part)
Your team (only relevant if you are not a sole trader)
Your Operations (where you do it and how you do it)
Your Financial Forecast (the difficult part).

In my next post I shall be talking about how to write a description of your business - what it should include and how the layout of the business plan should look.

Normal Service Will Be Resumed ....

2010-02-17T09:29:00.004Z

as soon as my computer is fixed! Terry the Trouble Shooter is coming today to look at the "patient" and the new post "Business Planning" should be ready by the weekend.
Meanwhile - I'll make a start on the ironing.

I did it myself!

2010-02-05T12:21:00.002Z

Following on from Branding Your Arts Business we continue to explore the world of marketing and branding your business with a book review. And the book is.....
D.I.Y. Design It Yourself.

Described as a manual for anyone wanting to design their own branding and publicity materials, Design It Yourself covers a wide range of different visual media and packaging ideas. The book is a collaborative project by post graduate students from the Maryland Institute College of Fine Arts and edited by graphic designer and author Ellen Lupton. This is a soft back book bursting with graphic design ideas from Books to Zines, Blogs to Websites and everything else in between.
Who is this book for? This book is aimed at anyone who is not a graphics or design graduate but has basic idea of design and layout. Primarily, it is a book about IDEAS and is written in a style that makes the reader think "yeah - I can do that".
What about the content? The first three chapters: Why D.I.Y? D.I.Y Theory and Basic Design are a Must-Read as they delve into the Why Who and How of design - why we need design to get our "message" out, who we are targetting with our message and how we are going to create a strategy to get that message to those people. The subsequent chapters are alphabetical from Blogs through to Zines. Design It Yourself covers media design and old fashioned illustration with great promotional ideas such as making books, printing on textiles, designing logos and my favourite, making and decorating envelopes.
The layout of the book is clean and clear (which you would expect from a book created by design students) with great images and photographs. It is not a book to copy designs from - you can buy books and CDs for this from Dover Bookshop - but a book about cultivating your own design ideas and creating your own branding and marketing campaign.
So, is this a great book? Not exactly. Some of the chapters are too basic - these are the ones about on-line tools such as blogging, web design and, most disappointingly, Presentations. The ideas and advice were fairly sketchy and, if you are a total novice, you would be better advised just to follow the templates direct from the blog site or use a website package such as Websites for Artists. Plus the examples of websites, blogs and presentations weren't particularly inspiring. However, the chapters on Press Kits, Postcards, Logos and Books had plenty of information and great ideas to start the reader thinking about how they can stamp their own design style onto these promotional tools.
Oh, and check out the chapter on Brands. Mike Weikert takes the reader through the processes of branding and brand identity, using his company, Small Roar, as the example. A whole book of different companies talking about branding and marketing of their products would make a great read.
Am I glad I bought it? Yes, as a book on design and style it sits alongside The Laura Ashley Book of Home Decorating and my Habitat catalogues from the seventies and eighties, although Design It Yourself is not a design classic (and didn't set out to be one). This book was first published in 2006 and, with all books covering technology and design, will date fairly quickly. Design is about selling a life style and addressing how people aspire to live and current design trends lean more toward the hand made and vintage rather than slick design and CAD.
Jo Whitehead

The opinions and views in this book review are solely that of the author and not the general opinion of Artists in Business. Neither the author or AIB has received any payment or sponsorship in exchange for the review nor has the content of this review been influencedby any third party.

10 Tips for a Successful Arts Business

2010-02-02T10:02:00.003Z

All self help books have magic number tips such as 10 good tips, 7 bad tips (how not to do something) and 3 rules to live by! So, in the spirit of the self help book here are my top 10 tips to starting a successful arts business.

Pinback Button by Button Empire

1. Carpe diem! In the words of Los Campesinos, If it seems like a good idea then it IS a good idea. Start researching how you can turn your art into a business. Get some good business advice from your local Business Link or visit a business consultant.

2. Be honest with yourself. Do you have a product that people will want to buy or are you making art for yourself? a lot of people say they love your work but would they be willing to part with their money to prove this?

3. Be willing to put in the hours. Being self employed is great, you can work when you want and there's no-one else to tell you what to do. Actually, being self employed can be very lonely and more demanding than working 9 to 5. Are you willing to stay late, burning the midnight oil when everyone else is at the pub?

4. Know your sums. Calculate the cost of everything you make, including your hourly rate and then work out your profit. Don't forget to work out your overheads and running costs. Keep accurate records and, if you are not hot with figures, go on a book keeping course. Try and live by the expression "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves"

5. Know Your Competition. Find out what everyone else is doing - look at their strengths and weaknesses, find out how they market their art, compare their pricing and look at how you can improve your business on THEIR performance.

6. Know Your Customer. Who will your potential customers be? Who will you appeal to? Where do they buy their art? What kinds of galleries/shops do they go to? What are they willing to pay?

7. Have a sure-fire Business Plan. Business plans are boring but, if you need to borrow money or to further your business, then you will need one. And you should WANT one too - a business plan can help you plan for the future, work out the direction you want to take your business in and identify all your strengths and weaknesses. (I will be blogging about business plans soon).

8. Organize. This means sort out your studio and make it an efficient place to work. Sort out your schedule - learn to prioritise your time so that you are not wasting time gazing at art on the internet instead of making it.

9. Networking. It's all very romantic starving in a garret but sometimes you have to come out and meet people. You can network with Twitter and Facebook (easy) but you also need to talk to real people about your work. Visiting galleries and exhibitions is a great way to network - you are your art's ambassador.

10. My Year in Lists. Make lists. Set targets. Stick to them. Lists give you a raison d'etre, goals to work toward. Lists include Your Strengths/Weaknesses, Mailing Lists, List of Tasks, Shopping Lists.

In The Studio (Part 7)

2010-01-20T09:31:00.002Z

Any space can become studio - all you need is some time, energy and a little imagination. Each month we feature Artist's Studios to inspire and encourage your creativity. If you would like your special space be featured in Artists in Business please contact us using the Kontactr Box at the bottom of the blog.

Collage Artist Emma Strangelord
"For the past few years I’ve been OBSESSED with collage, making use of the hoards of junk I’ve gradually accumulated from childhood to, erm, the twilight of my twenties.
The faded grandeur of a Victorian terrace in a Northern industrial town, is where we set our scene. Thanks to a very accommodating landlord my studio space tends to be all over the house, whenever I’m overcome with inspiration!
The bulk of my supplies and my mini-gallery of completed pieces have taken up residence in the back bedroom, whilst I dream of the days when I have my own place, a real studio, a walk-in wardrobe AND I’ve won the Turner Prize (that will definitely happen).
I’ve recently dared to dabble in painting again (I’ve hardly picked up brushes since I finished my degree in 2003) feeling encouraged when, over the summer, a family friend bought an old piece which I’d hung on my wall for years. My painted images have tended to focus on the same sorts of themes as my collages – juxtaposition of sinister and sweet. A recent visit to the ‘Pop Life’ exhibition at Tate Modern, particularly the Takashi Murakami room, has gotten the creative juices flowing.
I’m also falling back in love with working in sketch books. I filled page after page whilst at art college and I love the personal, private feel of a book format - like a secret diary. And far more organised than scribbling down ideas on scraps of paper. This need for order and control manifests itself in the way I agonise for hours over collaged pieces, ensuring everything is perfectly in place before sticking down. Perhaps it’s a way of maintaining some sort of stability in an often chaotic life!
My friends and family are very much part of my creative endeavours. They are my biggest patrons and collectors. They offer support and encouragement and are always on the lookout for images and objects I could utilise. It seems my biggest fan is Mr. Casper Disaster, one of my two cats a foundling, infatuated with his mummy, and far from camera shy. Often he feels he has better ideas about how a collage should be arranged, or prefers the paint when it’s on the floor and in paw prints. This rarely goes down well..."

Strangelord on Folksy
I’m also showing work in an exhibition at Gallery 12A in Doncaster until 31st January 2010

Kathryn Abrahams - Glass Artist, Lazy Daisy Glass

"I have worked from home for only a couple of years, my previous career had always been in administration. However, like many others, I have always enjoyed crafting - whether it be cardmaking, glass painting or knitting. But found myself taking over the house with all sorts of crafts - it drove my hubby mad!
I first started working with stained glass as a hobby six years ago, but found less and less people were buying it. When I became pregnant I gave up the 'office job' to become a full-time mother. I received my maternity money and decided to invest it in my first kiln. I bought a book, some materials and started experimenting. I soon out grew my hobby room with all my bits and pieces. As soon as I decided fused glass was what I wanted to do I talked to hubby about the old outbuilding and what could be done with it. So hubby went about building me a new studio (it helps have a carpenter/builder in the family - he's done a stupendous job). He's an artist in his own right!
My studio used to be the old school outside toilet block and dates back about 100 years. The project has been ongoing for about 18 months. It's not aesthetically pleasing on the outside, as the inside was more important to finish. Working in the house was also a problem as I had to clear up/take out whenever I wanted to work, but with my own studio space I can go in with a clear head and leave it all behind.
I'm also a full-time mother to a 2.5 year old, so working with glass in the home can be a hazard.
My hubby fitted the space out with open kitchen units and worktops. There is now plenty of storage units and work surface. I have one long worktop purely for cutting and shaping my glass work and on the other side of the studio is my cold working area - which is for drilling, polishing and grinding. I recently bought a pillar drill and have been having great fun drilling holes. However, my new kiln is my pride and joy. It's taken a lot of work to get it, but thoroughly enjoying the endless possibilities.
My studio is at the bottom of our garden and as we live in a rural hamlet, it's very peaceful and surrounded by rolling countryside - a very inspirational place to be and work!

Lazy Daisy Glass

Lazy Daisy Blog

Lazy Daisy Facebook

Branding Your Arts Business

2010-01-15T14:27:00.001Z

Any good business knows how important branding is to a marketing strategy and we can even recognise some brands without seeing their name (Nike is a good example). Identifying your unique selling point can help you develop your brand and make your on-line arts business instantly recognisable.

Aleximo Croissant

One way to get noticed is to have a recognisable Banner or Heading displayed on your website or on-line "shop". You can also add an avatar to represent your business and reproduce it on all your marketing materials such as: business cards, compliments slips, letter heads, invoices, postcards and shipping labels.

But if, like me, you are clueless about computer design, help is at hand. Rather than displaying a badly designed, graphically messy banner, with blurry images and poor colour, you can now buy a banner or entire marketing package on-line.

Rufflemedia

What are you looking for in Branding Design? Well it all depends what you want. Retro? Vintage? Hand made? Slick? There's a design for everyone. It is cheaper to buy an off-the-peg design rather than custom made but, with custom made you can include images of your work. You can also go back to the designer and request changes until you are happy with the results.

Busy Bree

Working with a designer. If you are going to purchase a custom made design you should be clear about your requirements before you purchase. I usually approach the designer with a few questions before I buy such as, how long will it take to design? How many changes can I request? (3 is a reasonable number) and can I see examples of the designer's work?
It's quite difficult for a designer to visualise something that's in your head and you are describing with words. It's a good idea to send a link of your website and/or some images of your work. I also give a description of the kind of customer I am trying to attract which helps the designer pin-point exactly what you want from the design. Remember - a designer won't want to invest time and energy trying to create the perfect image just to have the customer renege on the deal.

Jennitoo

Don't buy and complain afterwards. If you are not satisfied with the designer's work then walk away but don't mess them around - be honest. You get what you pay for - so if you are looking for the perfect marketing material don't expect miracles with an off-the-peg image. And finally ... copyright. The designer owns that design, even after purchase. You do not have the right to use the test or rejected designs that you did not purchase and you cannot credit the design as your own.

In this post I have shown the work of four designers. They are just my personal taste and not a representation of all graphic design that can be purchased on-line.

Magnet Giveaway

2010-01-12T16:17:00.003Z

Sign up to our February Newsletter before 5 February 2010 and you will be entered into a free draw to win these gorgeous magnets created by artist and illustrator Lauren Alexander (I really want to keep these for myself).

About our newsletter: there are articles about arts business, features on different artists, updates and useful links too. The next newsletter will be "SPARKLE" the Jewellery edition with information for jewellers and silversmiths.

And the winner is.....
Jane of Hooked Yarn has won a bubbly fused glass dish created from the studio of Glassprimitif.

Design Social

2010-01-08T16:52:00.003Z

DesignSocial >> 52 Projects >>52 Weeks

"Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and the pupil are the same individual" - Arthur Koestler

I am Andrea Eaton, a twenty-something South African creative based in London. DesignSocial is my creative project for 2010.
Over the next year I plan to complete 52 separate creative projects in 52 weeks. DesignSocial was inspired by a 2009/2010 course offered at Central Saint Martins “100 Design Projects” and, from what I understand, its core concept is exercising and diversifying creativity. I have morphed this idea into a project of my own which I hope will also help to broaden my own creative horizons.
I have invited friends, family, colleagues and creative peers to submit briefs from which I will select projects for each week of the year to follow. Each effected project will be displayed on the DesignSocial blog alongside its original brief and notes on how I devised each concept.The project is intended to be social and fun, with 'pretend' briefs that may or may not include real companies/events/situations etc. As a freelancer, it’s not in my interest to do 'real work' for free through the DesignSocial challenge, but my aims here are to learn, to inspire, and to share my findings along the way. I try to encourage other creatives to submit ideas for projects that they themselves would love to work on.
Having received some interesting and challenging briefs so far, I am still hoping for more submissions during early January 2010, after which I hope to have at least secured a schedule for the first few months of the year.

Support the DesignSocial challenge by submitting your own creative brief! I also encourage anyone who is keen, to join me in tackling these briefs - I will gladly display any creative work submissions alongside my own - I think it would be great to share ideas and outcomes!

In the words of the late, great Paul Arden, "Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know and more will come back to you".

For more information please visit the DesignSocial website: www.designsocial.co.uk , or email Andrea on: emaildesignsocial@gmail.com
Follow DesignSocial on Twitter: @DesignSocial52 and join the DesignSocial Facebook group.

Know Your Competition

2010-01-03T14:40:00.002Z

Many artists and artisans sell on social selling sites such as Folksy and Etsy. These sites are great way to showcase your work but it is also quite difficult to get noticed amongst the plethora of other on-line shops. But you can use your competition to your advantage by doing some research on them and using this information to help you to devise your on-line strategy.

Firstly, do you know who your competition is? If you create a totally unique craft (such as My Furoshiki for example) it may not be obvious at first. If you are selling a popular item then you will find this type of research easier. I’m going to take myself as an example.

My direct competition comes in 4 categories:

1. Hand made fused glass, stained glass, blown glass and lampwork beads

2. Faux glass such as glass tile pendants and imported fake “murano” and foiled glass from China

3. Jewellery, including resin jewellery

4. Gifts ranging in price from £5 - £20.
Hand made glass is easy to identify as competition – we come in the same categories on Folksy and Etsy – and this also applies to jewellery. The competition I don’t like is the nasty mass produced foiled glass from China (BTW – if you buy it – the glass hasn’t been annealed in the kiln and can fracture at any time). It’s cheap, it’s nasty, it’s not durable and some people can be duped into thinking it’s hand made. Grrr! (Don’t get me started).

The most difficult to identify is the competition from similar priced items.

There’s that expression – “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” but your competitors aren’t necessarily your enemies, they can be really useful friends instead. I belong to a glass team on Etsy, the CGGE, and it has been one of the most useful things I have done there. We exchange ideas, learn from each other and promote each other too (treasuries, Etsy-minis, challenges and competitions).

So what information do you need to know from your competitors? Here’s a little exercise.

Select 3 shops that sell the same/similar products to you and look at:

Their pricing

Their descriptions

How many sales they make

How they market their craft

Which other sites they sell on

Their strengths

Their weaknesses

What makes them better than you.
You should be able to use this information to help you to identify any weaknesses in your business. You should NOT use this information to mimic your competitor or infringe their copyright or poach their customers.

What are you going to do with all this information?

Looking at your competitors can really focus your mind on what your shop is all about. It can help you to see how you can improve your product/presentation/shop by comparison.

Pricing – does your competitor sell their stuff for more than you/less than you/the same as you? Undercutting your competitor may be a bad move because you could be underselling yourself, cutting your profit margin or devaluing your work.

Now is the time to go back and think about the kind of customer you want to attract. Think about whether you are trying to attract the hand made buyer or the bargain hunter. (When I realised that I couldn’t compete with a lot of Etsy glass sellers on price I increased my prices by 10% and my sales increased).

Descriptions – how effective are their descriptions? Are they interesting to read, light hearted, straight to the point or basic? Re-assess your own descriptions but remember, original thought will attract more sales than copying – copying will attract bad feeling.

Sales – how many sales a month is each competitor making? Compare these with your own. You can match the number of sales to the quality of their craft/price of their craft and this will help you to anticipate the number of sales you should be striving to make. Working out basic averages can be useful here.

Marketing – how much marketing does your competition carry out on on-line? Where else do they market? How often does their name pop up on a Google search? Are they hanging out in the forums? What devices do they foster for customer loyalty? (Sales, BOGOFs, special offers, freebies).

Strengths and Weaknesses – your competitor may be strong in one area and weak in another. It may be that their product isn’t very good but their prices are competitive. They may create lovely crafts but not know how to promote themselves.
What makes them better than you? Find it out and fix it!

If you can’t beat ‘em… Competition is great – it keeps us on our toes and helps us to evaluate what we are doing. It also helps us to move away from a saturated market or spot a gap in the market too. By getting together with your competition you can support each other, promote, share ideas and compare. Creating a team on Folksy Teams or Indiepublic is a great way to start.

But if you want to beat the competition too take time to do thorough research, identify the information that’s relevant and apply it to your business. I hope you noticed that I didn’t once ask you to analyse their actual product. You don’t need to copy your competitors’ items to be a successful seller.

Glassprimitif

Wishing All Our Followers....

2009-12-23T08:25:00.002Z

Enjoy the holidays - take a break from your work and put your feet up! Thank you all for your support of Artists in Business - more arts business posts, articles and features to come in 2010!

In the Studio (Part 6)

2009-12-20T15:08:00.000Z

Any space can become studio - all you need is some time, energy and a little imagination. Each month we feature Artist's Studios to inspire and encourage your creativity. If you would like your special space be featured in Artists in Business please contact us using the Kontactr Box at the bottom of the blog.

The Dots and Spots Studio
Dubbed the igloo in winter and the sauna in summer, a conservatory attached to the side of the family home serves as the studio for Becky, the artist behind dots and spots. “Having my own space to work is really important to me” she says “but as my range has grown, I could now do with it being twice the size!” Being glass, the space is infused with light, giving an airy feel that belies its size and Becky’s organised nature means that every nook and cranny sports a unique storage solution for the paper, ribbon, buttons and other bits and bobs that she uses to build up her vibrant – and spotty! – pieces of collage art.
The studio looks out onto the back garden and then, across a cycle path, to the trees of a local park. “It was whilst staring idly out of my studio onto the washing blowing in the breeze that I got the inspiration for my ‘Washing Line of Love’ range that is proving to be particularly popular.” Becky has recently given up her teaching career to concentrate full time on her business designing and producing cards, prints and art in her own unique style: “I’m so glad I’ve taken the plunge and am finally pursuing a life-long dream to work as an independent artist. The only thing I miss is the camaraderie of the staff-room. Sometimes working all day in your studio can be a little lonely, but now I’ve discovered Twitter I’m able to have a natter with fellow artists and crafters around the country, all from the comfort of my very own studio!”

Dots and Spots Shop
Dots and Spots Blog

Textile Artist Deborah Good
"I've worked from home making bespoke soft furnishings, home accessories and gifts for about 10 years now. I started in the dining room and, when I needed more space, progressed to the conservatory. Three years ago, when we could no longer find a path through all my materials to the door, we decided it really was time to build in the garden!
"The fantastic workshop is 10 metres long and 3 wide - I have two thirds of it, my husband has the rest. My part is self contained, cosy and insulated. (I covet my husband's bit too - would love to knock through and use it to store my fabrics tidily!)
I have a huge fabric stash on shelves (now sagging quite badly under the weight) along the back wall, an 8 x 4 foot table with rolls of fabric underneath and ample storage. All my craft fair/Folksy stock is stored on shelves and in baskets; there's a bookshelf full of crafting, sewing and interior books, patterns and cuttings; a rescued war time Utility cupboard hoards my threads, tools and other equipment and my daughter's empty and redundant doll's house is useful for stashing away paperwork. I use a 15 year old Pfaff machine and a slightly older overlocker, but also have an ancient Pfaff on an industrial bed, which is useful but very temperamental!
I'm working in my workshop most days, either on a soft furnishing commission, a re-upholstery project or my stock for Folksy.
I'm one lucky lady - I love my sanctuary!

Pretty Goods on Folksy

Ceramic Artist Charlotte Hupfield
"My passion for ceramics started from an early age, and it was at university where my skills, techniques, understanding and creativity developed. After graduating in 2008 I have continued to develop my ceramics over the past 18 months. I began by working from home which wasn't ideal as it got rather messy and storage space was limited. When everything took off 6 months ago I decided it was time to have my own creative space to produce work.
My workshop in the garden has been a life-saver and I don't know what I would do without it now. It's nice to sit out there at my leisure with a cup of tea. It's also great to have so much natural light coming in through the windows. I have the occasional friends that sometimes come to say hello, such as the robin who watches me through the window, and the squirrel who jumps about on the roof! There is a big Christmas tree right outside the window, so I'm looking forward to the sight of it decorated nearer to Christmas.
I enjoy cleaning, tidying and organising my workshop every now and then but it soon gets untidy again! I made my own ceramic plaque which hangs on the outside next to the door. My plaques have been quite popular this year and I've made several for other peoples' craft cabins and studios.
It gets a bit stuffy in the summer but it's nice to have the door open with fresh air coming in. On the other hand, I'm just starting to experience the winter weather! I'm lucky to have a hallogen heater which heats up the small space and soon makes it feel warm and cosy.
My current work ranges from handmade items inspired by the natural world such as vases, bowls, sculptural vessels, coasters, plaques, clocks, letter racks, candle shaders, as well as smaller items including magnets, keyrings and brooches. I'm looking forward to lots of future design and creativity in my workshop."

http://www.charlottehupfieldceramics.com/
http://www.charlottehupfieldceramics.blogspot.com/
www.folksy.com/shops/charlottehupfieldceramics

Liberty Best of British

2009-12-13T15:35:00.003Z

Our sponsors, Liberty of London, are seeking applications from British Designers who would like to see their designs and ideas realised as products in the Liberty Store.
Liberty has a history of recognising and supporting new and emerging British design talent and designers are welcome to apply to pitch their ideas to a panel of experts. The best design ideas will have chance to showcase their products in the store. To register visit the Liberty website and find out more.

If you have never visited Liberty of London - get there soon! This beautiful timbered building on Regent Street, London is packed with lovely treasures including silk scarves, printed fabric, the most wonderful smelling toiletries and many more delights. (I used to dodge school just to visit). Look out for William Morris printed textiles and the famous Liberty peacock print.

Your Chance to Win...

2009-12-09T19:11:00.006Z

Sign up to our January Newsletter before 5 January 2010 and you will be entered into a free draw to win this beautiful blue bubble dish from Glassprimitif.

About our newsletter: there are articles about arts business, features on different artists, updates and useful links too.
The next newsletter will be "SHOWCASE" the gallery edition with information for artists wanting to exhibit in a bricks and mortar gallery.

And the winner is.....

Glitterysah has won the selection of glass christmas decorations. Congratulations, Sarah.

Mini Masterpieces

2009-12-06T22:18:00.000Z

These days it’s something of a cliché to look at a piece of contemporary art and think that it’s no better than the work of your 3 year old, but what do you do with the latest masterpiece that said 3 year old has just produced? Stick it on the fridge door, file it away for posterity, or even put it in the bin after a decent interval? Artful Kids is a newly established business which seeks to present a child’s artwork at its very best, so that it can take pride of place on a living-room wall, or make a lasting, personal and unusual gift.
The person behind it all is Jude Drever, who was originally trained as an artist, but spent many years working in museums and galleries before having a family and being inspired by the artwork of her small children to try and liberate kids drawing and painting from the fridge door or kitchen drawer.
A range of different styles are available, but one of the most popular so far, has proved to be the Gallery Style Posters shown here, where a child’s artwork is presented as a poster advertising an artist’s exhibition. Professionally framed, and available in a range of sizes, this displays a child’s name prominently, and yet does not look out of place on the wall of a smart interior. A careful editing process takes place to ensure that the original artwork is presented at its best.

To find out more, or see some of the other styles offered, visit the Artful Kids website Or visit the company blog, Artful Adventures for a range of features dedicated to children’s art, including tutorials, featured artists, news and longer articles.

Zur Designs

2009-11-27T16:52:00.002Z

Our previous guest writer is from Zur Designs. Here's a little bit about her.

"I have always wanted to design jewelry, learn metal fabrication, and work with gems and semi precious stones. I started with beads and then went to wire sculpture and chain and now am learning how to work in silver and gold. I live in one of the most beautiful places in the country, the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Nestled in these mountains through all the seasons of the year, inspires me to create pieces that I hope all of you can enjoy. I love, love, love Swarovski Crystals. They add a touch of elegance to any piece. I also like the rough natural stones, and nothing adds a touch a class more than some beautiful potato pearls in any color!"

Find Zur Design on Etsy and Facebook.

Enhancing the Value of Your Facebook Fan Page

2009-11-20T16:09:00.007Z

Deb Hall of Zur Designs has written this extremely useful article about Facebook. (We met on Twitter - proving that, as a networking tool, Twitter works)!

"The overall goal of a Facebook Fan Page should be to provide added value to your fans. Not only will this ensure that existing fans are active and engaged, it also gives prospective fans a reason for joining your page at a good level of involvement. The level of fan interaction enhances the overall viral nature of your page and ultimately increases your validity as a Facebook user (sometimes defined as social proof). Facebook gives the handmade indie artisan/business owner a chance to be up close and personal to those people interested in their work and to attract new customers as well…it’s word of mouth at the speed of light!

"There are many ways to provide added value for your fans. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
Offer discounts specifically for Facebook Fans only use the “Send An Update to Fans” feature to broadcast your specials
Set up questions under Discussion Tab for instance, I have places where people can post their Etsy shop URL, their blog web address, their Twitter Channel, and the Facebook Fan Page. It helps fans that are also handmade artisans gain fans and followers and it helps potential customers find a group of very fine merchants to buy quality handmade products
Post your blog entries to your Facebook Fan Page I do this automatically with an application within Facebook called Networked Blogs. This application syncs with my blog and automatically posts to my Facebook Fan Page each time I write a blog post. It’s a real time-saver!
Cross-promote your Facebook Fans who are fellow artisans by either sharing something from your page to your Facebook Profile Wall or sending a favorite item from Etsy to Facebook. Commenting on their posts and clicking the “like” link also helps and makes their fan pages more interactive as well
When you post a new item or make any kind of post to your fan page, try to put it in a form of a question such as “This is a new design I listed today on Etsy, how do you like the color or photo or name of the item?”

"Facebook offers you an unparalleled opportunity to connect with your fans and
consumers. By maintaining a Facebook Fan Page and using all the available features, you can interact with consumers the same way they interact with friends and colleagues. Maybe some of your friends have already told a couple of their friends about your business but with Facebook they can tell all their friends instantaneously and those friends tell their friends…hence the phrase viral marketing.
"Keys to Successfully Using Your Facebook Fan Page
Personalize Your Business People ordinarily use Facebook to share personal information with friends. The more you accentuate the personal aspects of your business, your products or your designs and the person behind them, the stronger impact they will have on those who view it.
Update Your Fan Page Frequently Facebook is designed around providing new information and updates. So the more frequently you post fresh content, the more often people will return to your fan page.
Utilize the Dynamic Features of the Wall Tab The News Feed on the Wall notifies users what their friends are up to. When someone joins your fan page, News Feed informs their friends and invites them to become fans as well. This is key to spreading the message of your business virally. Additionally, there is a new flexibility on the Wall Tab to show a variety of information on your Wall. You can choose between News Feed and Live Feed Additionally, on the far left of the Wall there is a series of choices: News Feed, Status Updates, Pages, Photos, etc. By clicking the link “More” you can move any of these choices to the top and change the view of your Wall to view any one of these categories. This is a really neat feature!
Enhance Your Page With Applications There are thousands of applications designed by Facebook that you can add to your Page in order to tailor it to your business and industry. For instance if you have an Etsy Shop, you can add the Etsy Shop application. Just click on the button that says “Go To Application”. For those people who use ArtFire, there is a Fan Page that leads you to the application in the same way. Once you become accustomed to Facebook and the applications available, you will find all sorts of fun things you can add to your page! If you have expertise as a developer, you can even create your own!
Consider Using Facebook Ads To Target Your Audience These ads can be targeted to reach the exact audience you want and can be socialized so that users interactions with what they see can be seen by their friends and become as viral as the rest of the elements of the Facebook page. The key to Facebook ads is that you need to be willing to experiment a bit and rely on a solid base of users to give you feedback to formulate your advertising strategy.

One of the greatest reasons to have a Facebook Fan Page is that it is searchable by Facebook and non-Facebook users, much like a traditional website. Personal profiles are not (mainly for your own privacy). Other great reasons are: you can have an unlimited number of fans, it can increase your visibility, and help with branding your business. And let’s face it…in the end it’s all about getting your work seen and your page will be an integral part of your strategy to drive traffic to your site to see your handmade products.

If you are still unsure of how to get started created a fan page, here is a list of some resources that may help you in the process:
Socialbees
Rants and Raves of a New Age Chick
Etsy Storque
Tutorial Blog
Web Upd8
My Facebook Fan Page is: Zur Designs…when yours is up and running and personalized in your own very special way…stop by my page and tell me about it! Good luck! "
Deb.

THe AIB Newsletter

2009-11-19T17:35:00.006Z

After a lot of faffing about and a steep learning curve (hey, who said we were good at everything)? Artists in Business has launched our Newsletter.

What's in it then? Well, we're glad you asked. There will be articles about arts business (naturally), features on different artists, updates and useful links AND if you sign up before December 1 2009 you will be entered into a free draw.

What's the prize? A selection of fused glass christmas decorations courtesy of Glassprimitif will be sent out to one lucky winner.

What's the catch? There is none. We will not send you spam or sell your details onto a third party. You can unsubscribe at any time (but we hope you won't.

How do I sign up? Just type your email address into the box on the right hand side of the page here and wait for the confirmation email. We will send you regular emails (but not too regular - we don't want to be a pest)!

In The Studio (Part 5)

2009-11-12T07:58:00.012Z

Each month we feature artists' studios on the blog to inspire others to create their own creative space. What makes a studio? It can be a kitchen table, a spare room or a purpose built space. Sheds, garages and attics make wonderful studios.

Kerry of Penny Dog Jewellery
"I moved into a listed farmhouse in May this year and this room was designated as a craft room because it was big enough to use as a room for teaching workshops too. It's all fair though because my partner has a den which has its own staircase leading up to it where he keeps his guitars and guns! He is still jealous of my fireplace though.
I plan to open it up to allow other people to learn different crafts under the name Rothley Craft Farm on 1st November. It's ideal as if you enter the house through the front door it opens into a gallery/shop space and then into this room, which is separate from the main house. For now it is my retreat for making my resin jewellery and homewares. I love being able to print, photograph, cast, sand and store everything in one room, in our last house we had to move as I'd taken over every room except the bathroom."

Penny Dog website
Penny Dog Blog
Penny Dog Folksy
Penny Dog Etsy
Penny Dog Flickr

Illustrator and Textile artist Soozie Bee
"My workspace/studio, up until last summer was the oil shed, wood store and general home for everything we couldn’t fit in the house. Originally a pigsty, it was renovated by a good friend of ours in 2008 and was utterly transformed, from a dark damp space full of a lot of junk, into a light, airy and inspiring space where I now do my art work two days a week.

"My favourite things about my workspace are my Paul Klee Print: Two Dromedaries and a Donkey: This print was bought from IKEA and it has travelled with me from my last two houses. I love the autumnal shades and colours and the striking use of bold shapes. I just LOVE this picture. They are just ‘my colours’. My three inspiraton/mood boards: I got the idea for these from my sister, and I generally use them for current projects, ideas development and just storing bits of things I find interesting and useful for my work. My chocolate brown sofa bed: I know this sounds a bit of a contradiction for a workspace but this piece of furniture was a must for me, being a bit of a comfort loving girl. We bought this so I had somewhere comfortable to sit and sketch, because sometimes sitting at a desk can be a bit too regimented and stuffy! You can find me, more often than not, curled up here with my fleecy blanket and my dog, enjoying the tranquility of my workspace. Plus we have the added benefit that it also doubles up as an extra bed so we can use this room as a functional space when we have guests to stay.
My HUGE storage cupboard: We bought this on ebay last year from a guy in Leicester. We live in an 200 year old cottage so have a love of antique/old furniture that has a bit of history about it. Stupidly when we bought the cupboard, I didn’t think about measurements, (I just fell in love with it and assumed it would fit!!) and when we eventually got it home it was just a little too tall for the studio! So, we had to make a few modifications and it now fits in rather snugly into the studio. It houses all of my materials, paints, inks, crayons, threads, buttons etc, my art and craft books and my ever increasing array of sketchbooks.
My I-pod docking station and radio: I love listening to music when I am working so I had to make sure that this was top priority, whatever mood I’m in, there’s always something good to listen or sing along to.
The light: When the studio was just the plain old shed at the top of the garden it was really dark due to the solid wooden doors. When we had the renovations done we decided to go for light oak French doors so, even though it is north facing, the light pours in, making it a great place to work.

"Location, Location, Location: yes, its at the top of the garden, so not far to travel, and the view down the garden and across the fields in the distance makes it a great place to work. I just wish I got to spend more time in there! Under floor heating: A last minute, and rather luxurious addition to the studio, but I’m so pleased that we did it. Its comfortable all year round, and the feeling of warm tiles under your feet… mmmmm!

"I’m very lucky to have this space at the top of my garden and I just love spending as much time in there as I can".

Soozie Bee Folksy
Soozie Bee Etsy
Soozie Bee Blog

Making Twitter Work for You

2009-11-05T17:53:00.008Z

Twitter is pointless - or so it seems. Thousands of people typing 140 character messages about everything and anything. And who WANTS to read about someone-you-have-never-met's allergies, what their cute pet did today or how much they hate (insert politician's name here)? BUT like all social networking tools you CAN make Twitter work for you. The secret to using Twitter to promote your art is Quality not Quantity.

Firstly, are you following a gazillion people but, in comparison, only being followed by a fraction of that number?
Secondly, do you ever get a direct response to anything you say on Twitter or does your message get lost in the river of everyone else's tweets?
Thirdly, are you reading other people's tweets and thinking "well why do I care?"

It's time to organise your Twitter.
Firstly, you need to do some weeding out and stop following people who are not following you. Personally, I only follow four famous people - they are never going to read my tweets anyway. Unfollow all those people whose tweets you are reading but are not reading yours. They probably won't notice anyway.
Secondly, remove all those people who are following you that you probably wouldn't really want a relationship with such as people who bombard you with links with every tweet, people who make political statements that you don't agree with (block those) and people who offer to increase your followers if you sign up to their sites.*

*Once you sign up with this type of site you will be unwittingly displaying their promotional tweets too.

How do you do sort through all these people quickly and efficiently? Friend or Follow.com Type in your Twitter name and go to Following. Click on each avatar and start unfollowing.

Thirdly, sort through your Fans on the Friend or Follow site. These are people who are following you but you are not following them. Click on each avatar and decide "Do I want to follow this person"? If not you have a choice - ignore them or block them. If you DO want to follow them click Follow (duh) and send them a Direct Message.

Now you have given your Twitter account a spring clean it's time to start afresh. Direct Messaging (DM) is your opportunity to send a personal message to your followers and begin a personal relationship with potential customers or like-minded people. for every new person who follows you send them a Thankyou and Welcome to... message. If they send you a similar kind of message respond with a simple message back.

Your Twitter Homepage Have you added your own personal background? Does it reflect you or what you do? If you make art then set your images as wallpaper or create a logo or a cartoon. Update your Bio with a direct profile about what you do and add a link to your website, blog or shop.

Sorting out your Followers It would be very short sighted of you to only accept followers who are artists. Everyone is a potential customer/friend/collaborator unless they are "hard sell" merchants (people who bombard you with links but don't actually interact on Twitter). But let's say you have something of interest that only a proportion of your followers would be interested in, for example - a local event? Well clever Twitter has now added a new tool for you to use - the List. Sort your followers into lists and use your list to DM them (after all, if you have 22,330 followers, like Green Day * has, you can't physically DM all of them at once).

*I'm not jealous...

Tweeting Think about the types of tweets you are posting - are you just continually sending out links (look at me! look at me!) or do your tweets have a more human aspect to them? Nobody wants to click on a link and see EVERY piece of art you have ever made - although they will look from time to time - but they do enjoy a humorous tweet. Keep your tweets friendly and imagine you are talking personally to a real person. Each message is only 140 characters long but don't let that limit you in what you want to say. You can post several tweets in a row to keep the story going and say exactly what you want to say. If your website address take up too much space in your tweet then go to TinyURL.com and reduce the size of the URL.

Links to your Twitter So, in conclusion, there is only one purpose to Twitter which, like all social networking, is to drive traffic to your website, blog or shop. This means you should add a link to your Twitter on your Facebook page, Facebook Group, blog, website, on-line shop and anywhere else you can think of.

If you have found this blog post useful please follow me on Twitter and tweet about it too!

Graphics Fairy - Shameless Promotion

2009-10-30T08:20:00.000Z

The Graphics Fairy has an image to suit your every need.
"The Graphics Fairy is an Angel Company. You are free to use all clip art and photos, with the exception of the banner, in any of your projects created for resale or pleasure. Please do not use more than 4 of the graphic images within any one project, or withing a single page of a blog or website. A link to the Graphics Fairy is very much appreciated, when including clipart on your blog or website."

Visit The Background Fairy Here

Visit Fleurish here

Graphics Fairy on Etsy

Copyright Free

2009-10-26T08:52:00.003Z

The law regarding copyright of images is simple - don't copy! However, some businesses do offer copyright-free images for either personal or business use. Dover Bookshop is a good example of this. A really good on-line resource for vintage images is The Graphics Fairy. Here Karen tells us about her blog and the images.

"I started my blog in the Fall of 2007. I initially came up with the idea after my hard drive crashed twice, the year before and I lost all of my favorite images on my computer, both times! (and no nothing was backed up). I thought storing my images online would be a safer option and then I came up with the idea of sharing them. At the time nobody was really doing this, many were selling the images but they were not offered for free. (Not that there's anything wrong with selling them!)
I already had a blog for my shop Fleurish so, it was a natural progression to add a second blog. That's how the Graphics Fairy began. Too date, I have over 800 images that my readers can use in their artwork or on their blogs. They are all free and can be used in projects for resale as well, providing that no more than 4 images are used in any one project or web/blog page. I've been an antique dealer for over 18 years and have always loved old paper items. I have loads of paper in my collection and I'm always out looking for more images. Many of my friends are in the antique business as well and they often lend me pieces to add to my site. You'll find a variety of graphics on my blog including, antique postcards, early sheet music, old ephemera, antique flourishes from early Spencerian pages, old children's book illustrations etc. I offer a combination of color and black and white pieces. I try very hard to only include pieces that fall under "Public Domain" laws and as far as I know all of my images are safe to use.
It's an absolute joy for me to see how my readers reinterpret these images into their artwork. I have seen my graphics used in jewelry design, card making, web design, decoupage, home decor items, even quilts!"

On Vacation.....

2009-10-18T11:57:00.002+01:00

Back on 26th October with a new post about Copyright Free Images. Don't miss it!

In the Studio (Part 4)

2009-10-15T12:19:00.002+01:00

"In the Studio" is a regular feature showing artists' studios. Whether you work in a purpose-built studio, a shed, an attic or at the kitchen table, we are interested in seeing where you create your art. If you would like to be featured "In the Studio" contact Artists in Business via the email link at the bottom of the page and prepare a short write up and four jpegs too.

Danni of Nelli D

"Well, here we have it, my humble little studio, at the bottom of the garden with the birds and the bees! Stuffed full to the brim, with supplies, boxes of fabric and spiders, I just love it. Everything has its place and is relatively organised, well I know where it all is anyway! I'd like to give the inside a lick of paint but so far I haven't had a spare minute so it will have to wait for now.
I intended to do everything on the big table, but I just cant help myself...I have things drying here there and everywhere and I always end up doing my sewing on a tiny little tv table that is just about big enough ....oh well it works for me. I love the idea of it being like an old sweetshop/antiques shop. I am a bit of an old romantic at heart and being squirrelled away at the bottom of the garden inspires my creations. It is especially great when it is raining because it is amazingly warm in there. I keep all of my beads in recycled jam jars and I am obsessed with old suitcases which I fill with different craft bits and bobs. I recently found a lovely old wooden tool box at a car boot sale for £1 which is totally gorgeous, which is now home to lots of beads.
When I am working I have a trusty side kick...Bub who always agrees that my creations are lovely. She is a lovely old dog who enjoys nothing more than just being with you. So that's it, the nelli D hub!"

Nelli D on Folksy

Leigh Shepherd Designs.

"Both my husband and I work from home so our living space has to be multifunctional and with two small children in the mix its a busy place! I have appropriated part of our dining room as a workspace. It is a light airy room with doors onto the garden making it ideal for working in
and its easy to move outside when I need to prepare wood for my Tiny Tile Paintings. As my
business is growing I find that I need more and more storage space. My craft fair gear takes up a lot of room, I keep it packed up in the corner ready for the next event. I use a thrifted display cabinet as a packaging station, this allows me to keep everything to hand. The cabinet also houses my resins, glues, varnishes, and larger tools.
The resin I use on my paintings is too hazardous to pour in the house so I do this in the garage. I have an old bakery bread tray to keep the work contained and I cover it with a sheet of cardboard to protect from dust as the tiles dry. My set up is fairly basic but it suits me just fine!"

Leigh Shepherd Blog

Made -IT (Shameless Promotion)

2009-10-13T08:34:00.000+01:00

"Our aim is to bring craft fairs up to date, making them appeal to everyone of all ages.
We feature a fabulous selection of modern craft, made by hand and sold by the maker. We offer a wide range of beautiful and original gifts for you, your friends and your home to suit all budgets. To our stallholders we want to offer a good deal. We will try our very best to advertise widely, have great venues and offer some exclusivity. So whether you are a customer or a stallholder, we promise a warm welcome and hopefully many successful craft fairs."

Autumn/winter programme of events:
Wetherby Town Hall, Wetherby, West Yorkshire 17 October 2009 10am - 4.30pm
Wesley Chapel, Harrogate, North Yorkshire 14 November 10am - 4.30pm
Wetherby Town Hall, Wetherby, West Yorkshire 21 November 2009 10am - 4.30pm
Wetherby Town Hall, Wetherby, West Yorkshire 5 December 2009 10am - 4.30pm
Wesley Chapel, Harrogate, North Yorkshire 11 December 2009 10am - 4.30pm
Wesley Chapel, Harrogate, North Yorkshire 12 December 2009 10am - 4.30pm

Contact Made - it for further details.

Craft Fairs and Arts Markets

2009-10-10T11:00:00.008+01:00

One of the most satisfying ways to sell your art is direct to the public and the most popular way is through craft fairs and art markets. Craft fair organiser Deborah de Brunner shares some details of her life as a promoter of artists and artisans in Yorkshire, UK.

"What is better than making something you dreamt up and someone wants to buy it? Or you see someone in the street carrying your handbag, the one made with your own fair hands? I have only been doing it a year and hope that that thrill won’t go away. But of course if you make things you need somewhere to sell them so you can start all over again.

"I enthusiastically turned up at my first craft fair, spent ages arranging and pricing and finally looked around to see mass-produced goods and some handmade things but handmade in the Philippines! I was so disappointed and that led to a discussion with a friend, which led to us setting up our craft fair business “made-it”.

"Our philosophy is to run “real” craft fairs strictly with only handmade goods which are sold by the maker. We also aim to look after our stallholders by offering friendly, efficient service with some level of exclusivity (who wants to turn up and find 5 similar stalls?). The quality of goods on sale and a good mix of stalls are important to us. We also make coffees, carry bags and do whatever we can to make it an enjoyable day. We even put ourselves on to the streets with a sign to drum up trade and put up with the same jokes and occasional rude comments from passers by. How devoted to our stallholders are we?!

"If I had to give advice to exhibitors I would say to really consider the presentation of their goods, use different heights, lighting, a good background cloth and make their prices obvious. People wander by and need something attractive to make them stop. Notice where people tend to look first and put your strongest product there or even a product that makes people smile and can lead to conversation. I would also exhibit at the same venue a few times to build up relationships with regular customers and to get a feel for what sells best there. The strongest advice though is to “sell” your things…our stallholders who put in the most usually gain the most. It can make you feel a bit self-conscious at first but you’ll soon enjoy it. Smile, chat and be enthusiastic about your craft.

"At the moment we are doing fairs in Harrogate and Wetherby but hope to spread our wings further a field soon. You can find out more about us or contact us at Made-it".

Taking a Pound of Flesh....

2009-10-05T10:04:00.001+01:00

In my previous post Artist/Gallery Agreements I talked about the gallery precentage on sales. This can vary from 20% to above 50%. How does this affect you as the artist?

Whoever sells your work for you deserves to get paid for doing it. Whether they are acting as an agent or a bricks and mortar gallery/shop they will need to be recompensed for their services. This usually takes the form of a percentage of the sales cost. Percentages can vary wildly and you may feel a bit shocked at the gallery who adds 60% onto your wholesale price. This may take your £25 print up to a whopping £ !

Is this fair? well yes and no (but mostly yes)
Forget about the percentage at the moment. If you are selling your work through a gallery you need to sell it at the right price - enough to cover your materials, overheads and make a small profit - enough to make it worth the gallery adding a percentage without overpricing the item. If a gallery asks you to reduce your costs so that they can add their % and still be able to sell the item then this is not the gallery for you. (Pricing your work is a subject that will be discussed in the future).

So, you are happy to sell your hand pressed lino prints at £80 a print and the gallery is adding 50% to the price - retailing your print at £160.
If your reaction to this is "I could sell this for that price myself!" then the bald answer is "Go on then - why are you wasting the gallery's time?"
If your reaction to this is "that's way overpriced, they'll never sell it!" you need to ask the gallery the following:

Does the gallery think that this is a competitive price for your print?
What type of customer buys this style of art?
Are they confident that they can help you to raise your profile as an artist and bring sales?

It's not in the interest of a gallery to make the work overpriced and unsaleable. They know their customers and their tastes, they know the value of art and they are not in the busoiness of ripping people off.

Why take a percentage? Everyone has to eat. Galleries have their own overheads, publicity costs, staff wages and maintenance charges to pay.

When taking a percentage doesn't work.

When your work is selling at another local gallery for a lower price. Undercutting a gallery that could possibly bring you more sales is like shooting yourself in the foot. Better to choose WHICH of the galleries you would prefer to sell through.
When you agree to sell your art to someone who has seen it in the gallery but doesn't want to pay the percentage, thus depriving the gallery of the opportunity to broker a sale and, consequently their fee. You have had their services of displaying your work in their gallery for free and they didn't get any payment for it.

If you are unhappy with a gallery because they can't sell your work at their retail price then don't do business with them. Simple As.

Artist/Gallery Agreements

2009-09-28T09:01:00.008+01:00

If you submit your work to a commercial gallery then some time in your life you will need to sign an agreement.

What is an agreement?
It's an undertaking between you and another party - possibly a gallery, shop or someone who contracts your services as an artist. The purpose of the document is to agree to certain obligations by both parties, to decide who is responsible for what and to set out exactly what is expected from both sides. It is wise to set out an agreement before you commit yourself (or sell your soul)!

Who will write the agreement?
Usually it's the person/gallery who will be selling the artist's work or employing their services but, if one is not forthcoming you can always devise your own. It's fairly easy but you will need to make sure all eventualities have been covered.

Here's a scenario. You are taking your work to a commercial gallery and they have agreed to display your work, sale or return, for 3 months. Think about what you would like to see in an agreement by looking at the following questions.
Who owns the work?
What do you want them to do for you?
What should YOU agree to?
What are the hidden costs will you anticipate and who will pay them?
What percentage of sale should you agree?
How and when will you be paid?
Who will terminate the contract if it's not working?

Before writing or signing an agreement consider these three things.
Be Fair: gallery agreements are a two way street. Don't make unreasonable demands of them.
Protect Yourself: Make sure you know exactly what they expect from you. Write a contract where they can't make unreasonable demands of you.
Make it Harmonious: you want to keep up a good working relationship with the gallery. You both want the same thing - to sell your work.

Here is a list of what a good agreement should contain. Let's unpick them as we go along.

Sale or Return. Most galleries don't buy your work outright but will sell on your behalf. Any unsold work must be returned after the end of the agreement.
Gallery percentage. Galleries need to be paid for selling you work and will claim their fee by taking a percentage. This is usually between 20 - 50%.
Payment. Some galleries will pay you by cheque, some by BACS. Make sure the agreement states whether you will be paid monthly or when the total sales has reached a certain figure.
Ownership of work. You own the work the entire time it is in the gallery. The gallery may ask if they can photograph the work for publicity purposes. It's good to add something about copyright into the contract.
Costs. The agreement needs to be specific about who pays for costs including postage and delivery, return of your work, insurance and transportation.
Packaging. who is supplying this?
Damage. Faulty art work must be either replaced or the customer refunded. Some galleries will have a time scale that customers can return faulty goods. (Returns might not apply to earrings).
Commissions. Galleries may agree to pass customers direct to you or liaise with you regarding commissioned work.
Time Scale. Agreeing a length of time that the gallery will display your work. (4 weeks, 3 months, 6 months).
Publicity and Display. Gallery agrees to keep your work visible for the entire time of the agreement. Gallery will publicise your work as much as is reasonably possible.
Delivery/collection of your work. If you are not bringing the work yourself then you need to agree how it will be posted/ delivered and who will bear the costs.

When you sign an agreement you are agreeing to certain terms that you shouldn't break. Trying to "bend the rules" can be really irritating, not to mention unprofessional. For example:
Racing into the gallery on a busy day asking to take the stock for a craft fair that weekend (but I'll bring it back on Monday, honest)!
Calling to say you have had a better offer from a nearby gallery so you will be collecting your work before the end of the contracted date.
Agreeing to commissioned work, brokered by the gallery, and not telling the gallery so that they lose their % on the sale.
Complaining about the % taken - you agreed to it!
Criticizing the way your work has been displayed.
Complaining that the metal looks tarnished - you are quite welcome to come in and polish it yourself.
Making sub-standard work and then feeling aggrieved when the gallery calls to say that your necklace fell apart in the customer's hands.
Asking why the gallery hasn't advertised your work in a magazine or gallery catalogue. They will do it if you pay the costs!

The agreement should be signed by both parties and dated. Both parties need an original signed document to keep. If you are not happy with the terms of the agreement then DON'T SIGN IT! Instead try to negotiate with the gallery. The best way to keep a harmonoius relationship with a gallery is to talk to them and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Soon I will be posting about Exhibition Contracts which are slightly different and writing about how and why galleries take a percentage of sales.

In the Studio (Part 3)

2009-09-25T21:51:00.009+01:00

Each month we feature artist's studios on the blog to inspire others to create their own creative space. What makes a studio? It can be a kitchen table, a spare room or a purpose built space. Sheds, garages and attics make wonderful studios.

Lauren Alexander Illustrator

"I started illustration and painting work in 2002. I used to paint on my apartment floor or on my bed or where ever I could fit in. Since business has grown a little since I started painting my husband and I turned our dining room into our studio. I paint and he writes. It works out pretty well, as long as we have no use for a dining room. Most of my paintings are pretty small so the little fold up table I work on is perfect. I love to have books, movies and other inspiring things around my work space to help give me ideas or to assist with the perfect title. I mostly paint abstracted animals and forms from nature so it fits that my workspace faces right out onto our patio where my dog keeps watch over the birds, squirrels, and the occasional stray cat or two. I love working with color so having natural light around really helps. I look forward to paintings to come and hope to be doing what I love for a long time!"

Lauren Alexander Blog

Rachel Lucie Jeweller Rachel Lucie Designs

"After what seems like many months (because it was) my workroom/office/hideaway-from-the-kids is finished! By finished I mean finished decorating, and I am in.For anyone familiar with the Julia Donaldson book 'A squash and a squeeze', let me just say, that old man was right. Take everything out of one stacked-high room, stash it round you whole (small) house, for months on end, and when you take it out, your house is MASSIVE! Months and months of sorting will now follow as me and the other half finally look in all those boxes we have had stowed away for over 10 years, but that's another story.The main news here is I'm in, and I LOVE IT! Come in and have a cup of tea, and a biscuit....
You will notice 3 things immediately, which I will discuss below:
1) Let's just start with this one, you all saw it - half of it is orange.Suspiciously like 'etsy' orange. Let me explain, I am not THAT addicted to etsy, honest. It's paint by Fired Earth that we bought 10years ago to paint our kitchen, called 'Brussels Orange'. It never got used, so hey, why not. It's only on the 2 walls you can't see from the landing, so it's sort of a secret (or it was). The other 2 walls are plain white and filled with Ikea furniture.
What can I say, I love Ikea, and the white really helps to brighten up my north-facing room. Specially in the winter, as the sun doesn't rise about the hill on my side of the valley. I live on what is colloquially known as 'the dark side'!
2) It's very small, or 'compact and bijou' as I like to call it, Mostin (do you remember that advert?).
3) It's pretty messy. What can I say, I work in mess, it's how I am. I have found that clever use of tools like a 'bead amnesty pot' pot helps immensely with all the stragglers left lying around. And I generally have a desk clear every couple of days, mainly because I can't find a pen anywhere.

"But just look at my view!
I love Hebden Bridge, right outside my window you have the most amazing Yorkshire gritstone houses perched on the Birchcliffe hill on the other side of the valley. I am actually quite high up, and you can't see down into the bottom of the valley from here. Those woods are called 'Machpelah' and the ever-changing trees reflect the seasons."

Rachel Lucie on Etsy
Rachel Lucie on Coriandr
Rachel Lucie on Notonthehighstreet

If you would like to be featured "In the Studio" contact Artists in Business via the email link at the bottom of the page and prepare a short write up and four jpegs too.

Opportunity for Illustrators & Designers

2009-09-22T16:49:00.005+01:00

Your Special Delivery is a brand spanking new site where artists can sell their art work and crafters can buy the images direct.

The concept is that designers have a personal page where they can display and sell their work and all work must be produced in a way that it can be sent electronically to the buyer. As the site hosts space for other designers it is a hub for different styles and therefore having something for everyone.

The site currently has two resident designers, Gina Rahman and Jenni Hamilton , and shows the two different spaces available to designers, a single shop page or a multiple category list.
Designers list items for 20p per item and if they want a multiple category shop this can be purchased for £5.00 (sterling). Each designers page has their own paypal button which means all sales go direct and not through the site owner.

For crafters it is a great place to find digital stamps, decoupage sheets, backing papers, templates and much more at affordable prices. There is no minimum spend and the item can be with you within 48 hours at the latest. As payments are taken through paypal its a secure and trusted method.

A freebie page that changes each week is also a feature that will entice people to visit and to then discover more about the designer who offers a taste of his/her work.

There is a great gallery where you can view all the artwork and even a Forum where you can chat about designs, crafts or anything at all.

So why not give it a go? Visit Your Special Delivery and see for yourself.

Partnerships - Made in Heaven?

2009-09-15T10:38:00.003+01:00

In my post, Do YOU Have What It Takes?, I stated that I would be talking about Business Partnerships in a future post. Well, that time has come!

Why should you start a partnership? What should you look for in a partnership? Who is the ideal partner? How do you sever a partnership?

There have been many successful business partnerships (just think of Marks & Spencer) and being in a partnership has its advantages:
differing strengths and skills
spreading the financial burden
spreading the risks
moral support
stronger business "clout"
but sometimes partnerships can go wrong for a whole host of reasons so, if you are embarking on a partnership, think about it very carefully.

Most sole trader partnerships start through friendship or a common interest. It could be that you were at art school together, you are related, she/he's your best friend - but, quite frankly, this is not the best reason to go into partnership and can end in tears (yours probably). After the initial euphoria of "Yay! We're going to make lots of money and be a success" then cracks in friendships and relationships begin to show. Most reasons are:
one of you is doing all the work
you both have very different ideas of how the business should be run
you share the same strengths and the same weaknesses
you are sick of seeing each other
you are too competitive with each other

"My first business partnership was with my next door neighbour - we made salt dough and had "parties" a friends' houses, selling wall plaques and christmas decorations. Our biggest seller was our 'bride and groom' wall plaque which we made to order, copying the outfits that the couple wore on their big day. It was fun making the salt dough and selling it and, although we were only making pin money, it gave us something else to talk about rather than just the kids.
"We had a break from salt dough but then a huge christmas fair was looming and our stocks had dwindled. My partner/neighbour reminded me of this but I was pig-sick of making Little Bo-Peeps and Three Little Pigs and my response was "I NEVER want to see another piece of salt dough again"! Fortunately, she felt exactly the same so we called it a day very amicably". Janet.

That was a easy enough arrangement to get out of. The partners hadn't made any huge financial or emotional commitment, one wasn't more successful than the other, there was no resentment built up in the relationship. But, if you are already committed to starting a partnership with a friend or relation does it stand up to the following checklist?
You both have the same vision or goals
you both put in the same commitment in time
you both have defined roles
your partner will bring different strengths to the partnership
you have worked out the financial commitment of each partner
you have regular meetings to plan and catch-up
you have agreed time apart.

The best arrangement is the water tight arrangement or partnership agreement. This document, drawn up together, will iron out some of the issues/problems that will rear their heads at crucial moments. Your agreement should include the following:
Defined roles and reponsibilities
Record of accounts and financial input
Profit sharing
Tax commitments
Liability
Reporting Back
Dispute Resolution
Termination of Partnership
It all sounds rather complicated - after all, you were only planning on making and selling your art together. Why should you bother with all this? Well let me break it down.
Roles and Responsibilities.
Write a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Who's the financial wizard? Who has the interpersonal skills? Who is the computer whizz-kid? Who has the most "connections"? You might both be really good at something and not at something else. How will you plug that skills gap?
Recording Accounts and Financial Input.
Who has overall responsibility for balancing the books? You can agree to keep your accounts separately or one person keeps them or one does the petty cash and one the budget.
Profit sharing.
Whether you are both putting up 50% of the money into your business or a 30% - 70% split you will need to agree the financial split of profits. Let's say, for example, you are both printing hand made scarves and bags using your screen printing equipment in your studio - you would not expect to share the profits on sales 50-50. You need to agree the share of profits, in writing, before you go into production.
Tax Commitments.
We all need to pay them. Make sure you have both registered with the tax office before you embark on your partnership. State in the Partnership Agreement that you are responsible for YOU OWN tax debt and not your partner's.
Liability.
In the UK creditors can claim your personal assets if your partner runs up any debts - even if you didn't know about them. You both have equal responsibility to the debt, no matter how unequal your financial contribution has been. (Don't go into partnership with a bankrupt or someone who has known debts, no matter how much you like them).
Reporting Back.
Agree to regular meetings in your Partnership Agreement. Whether this is monthly or weekly, make a commitment to meet up on paper. You can agree to have two kinds of meeting: a Planning Meeting and a Financial Update Meeting. The Planning Meeting to discuss what you are going to achieve in the following week/month/year, what needs doing, what problems you have had, whether you are meeting your achievements or goals. The Financial Meeting is so that you both know what your financial situation is, what you have spent, what you need to spend, profit/loss. Even if only one of you is keeping the accounts you both need to understand them and share this information. If the tax man comes calling ignorance is no defence.
Dispute Resolution.
Those niggling little tensions are building - they need to be resolved BEFORE they become a torrent of accusations adn recriminations "you ALWAYS do so and so" or "you NEVER do so and so". By writing a Dispute Resolution you are stating that every effort will be made to resolve conflicts within the partnership.
Termination of Partnership.
Before you even start a partnership you need to decide how it will end. you might agree that a partnership can be wound up at any time and that either party can terminate the agreement. Or you may need to set out a timetable of, say, a month or after all financial commitments have ben paid back.

Once you have drafted the partnership agreement find someone to check it for you. This may be a solicitor or business adviser, either at your bank or at your local small business centre. Then you both need to sign and date it and keep a copy each.

"I was selling art at local shows and fairs when I met another artist who I got on really well with. Her work was very similar to mine and we decided to exhibit together and run workshops too.
"The partnership worked well at the beginning. I learned a lot about selling from her (she could sell snow to eskimos) and she was very ambitious with her business - she made anything seem possible. But there were niggling irritations on both sides - I sometimes resented her success and how she "took over", she resented my children coming to shows and that family life stopped me from committing fully to our partnership.
"I am not a risk taker nor will I borrow money I haven't got - she was both of these. She had a real entrepeneur spirit and was always buying the latest gadget or tool that she saw as an "investment". I'm so glad that we didn't pool our finances and kept our business interests separate as this made it easier to part company. I later found out that she had huge debts which I could have easily been liable for.
"Since then our artistic lives have both taken different routes - I sometimes read about her new ventures in the press and she appears to have made a success in her chosen field. I'm so grateful that she taught me how to be customer-friendly and how to promote myself but I wouldn't choose to go into a partnership with a friend again". Rachel.

This post has been about partnerships on a small scale but there are also partnerships with banks, other businesses and sponsors that hasn't been discussed. We will be returning to the subject of partnerships in the next post.

Selling Art/Selling a lifestyle

2009-09-13T15:54:00.005+01:00

One of the most effective ways of viral marketing is the blog and I have talked about how to be an active blogger in a previous post.

An advantage of using Blogger is that you can "follow" blogs that interest you and also be visible on the blog you are following as long as they are using the FOLLOW widget (and they don't have hundreds of followers - or you become a face in the crowd). But the most popular blogs tend to fall into three categories:
resource blogs
funny blogs
lifestyle blogs.
resource blogs are the kind you follow to keep up to date with the latest art trends, markets and business (like AIB). Here are some more:
The Grap hics Fairy

Art N ews

Funny blogs have a cult following. Who can predict that they are going to be successful? Here's my favourite:
F U Penguin

and life style blogs are very popular with women. I believe this is because we would like to subscribe to the life that's being portrayed. More women buy lifestyle magazines than men - particularly interior design and gardening. Look at the popularity of Martha Stewart and designer Kath Kidston. I have been looking through my favourite blogs list and I really enjoy reading about people who have orchards, grow vegetables, own french ateliers and live in rural places that I may never visit. Here's some of my favourites:
Blueberry Park
Pamel Angus
Patchwork Butterfly

So how can you use this type of viral marketing to sell your art? By combining the three popular blog categories into one blog you are satisfying a wider audience than you would if you concentrated on one style of blog. You may already have a website selling your art and your blog can complement this by showing your more "human" side as an artist. You can also blog about the area where you live, the things that inspire you and your daily life. Selling the "life style" is more about the types of images you show such as your garden, your home, your pets (if they are cute) and, by combining this with stories about making art you have a great piece of viral markting.

And finally, just a personal gripe of mine. I don't like blogs that regurgitate the latest images from home style magazines or crafts magazines just to group them into "themes". This is lazy and unoriginal blogging (but that's just my opinion). Enjoy!

2009-09-12T16:19:00.000+01:00

Find Anna and Widget on the following sites:

Artist's Bio: Welcome to my sunny meadow, full of lovely things for you and the people that you know and love.
Here you will find funky wooden fish, hearts and lizards hand-painted in unique and vibrant designs. Organic hag stone wreaths, wooden stencil kits and adorable sock bunnies. All designed, handmade and painted by me. Also to be discovered are toys for children that you won't see anywhere else, including fascinating paper party favours, little suitcase houses and more. All designed, handmade or sourced to bring you something truly different.

2009-09-08T16:59:00.007+01:00

How much effort will you put into on-line promoting? This week Anna, the person behind Widget the Sock Bunny, shares some of her tips for successful viral marketing. It's well worth the read!

"Viruses are big in the news at the moment and spreading his own online version is Widget Sockbunny – a fuzzy bunny-shaped infection travelling with growing speed around the world.

"You will have heard the term ‘Viral Marketing’, it sounds technical but really the concept is a simple one. Viruses spread rapidly from one person to the next, the more people who ‘catch it’, the more people it will spread to. To sell online you need to put out little feelers wherever you can, forever spreading, trying to ‘infect’ as many people as possible, trying to be remembered and talked about, or, if you prefer, catching a vibe of something being passed around.The easiest way to illustrate it is to tell you how I sell my sock bunnies online – using a bunny named Widget.
"Widget did not exist until I discovered a 365 project on Flickr.com. One object, one picture a day for one whole year. I was already selling the sock bunnies online and building up recognition in the craft forums such as Folksy, so I grabbed this marketing opportunity and chose a bunny. I named him Widget and began to take pictures. When I post the days’ images in the photo pool people see them. If they like what they see they can see all my other pictures too. In my profile are links to everything I do including diary blog for these Widget photos – Widget’s Year - and another blog for the other bunnies living at The Warren. I created an environmental concept for them, a warren, nestling in a sunny corner of my original company Half an Acre. Luckily it all seemed to fit! People liked reading about this little world and kept coming back to ‘check in’ on what was going on. Global Bunny travels around the world with her little suitcase sending back news and images, Geocache Bunny comes out on walks with me and my family (geocaching.com). All these pictures are posted into the appropriate Flickr group pools for more and more people to see. Widget even collects ‘sea glass’ so I can add pictures of him with his collection to the Sea glass Lovers group pool! All this is blogged about too. When blogging it is vital to post as often as you can, at least 3 times a week, to generate a ‘happening’ feel.

"When anyone buys a bunny they receive a printed card inviting them to send in stories and pictures to this blog. This makes the blog interesting and tempts the readers to want have their own bunny. Flickr is vital. I get on average around 120 views of my photostream each day. Being ‘seen’ is essential too. I looked for all the groups dealing with socks, bunnies, sewing, rainbows (for Rainbow Bun!), anything vaguely applicable, and joined them. Spreading pictures of Widget and his friends anywhere and everywhere. It is important not to spam. It has to be relevant or you will annoy the very people you want to draw to your shop.
"I gave Widget his own Facebook profile and, ignoring the fact that you need to be a ‘real’ person to register, I then set about ‘friending’ people! I already knew a load from promoting Half an Acre and I sent friend invitations to ‘friends of friends’. I found out that people give pets their own pages and that meant bunnies! I also sent requests to any other ‘sock toys’ out there. To date Widget has just over 300 friends – generated in around 5 months. Every time I post it shows up in the news feeds of all those 300. I made a ‘Send-a-Bunny’ application using pictures of Widget and his pals and send them out to all my new ‘friends’. The whole of Facebook can use that application and therefore see from where it originates. Widget has joined Postcrossing.com. He has his own postcards, with a cute picture on the front and subtle blog link on the back. Next on the list is The Toy Society where I’ll be leaving bunnies in bags around the place with a big label saying ‘Take me home’. Reaching more people and drawing them in to the whole concept. Everything leads back to one central point - my shop on Folksy.

"Give people inspiration, a new idea, something to talk about, smile about and eventually news will spread, the virus feeding itself as it travels. It takes lots of time and dedication but it does work. The bunnies are spreading like ….. bunnies!"

Making a Statement

2009-09-04T10:23:00.003+01:00

How do you start to write an Artist's Statement? What should it include? What shouldn't it include? The artist’s statement is subjective and, in this post, we will not be telling you YOU ARE WRONG – instead we will give you OUR perspective on the subject and help you to write a compelling and interesting statement.

We have hosted a lot of fabulous shows over the past ten years at Keighley Arts Factory and every artist has submitted a statement to accompany their art. We have read statements that tell us about techniques, inspiration, concepts, study and, occasionally, stuff we just didn't understand.

Why do you need to write an artist’s statement?
"I am an artist, not an author – my art is visual and should speak for itself. Why can’t people take away their own experience?"
Well, I sort of agree with this - art should speak for itself but there are other reasons for the Artist's Statement.

Your statement is a vital selling tool, use it to promote yourself as an artist to buyers, curators, critics and fellow artists.

Here is an example of an artist's statement.
"My work is created to depict a sense of self and how we perceive space. We are able to project and construct space within our own experience and knowledge. I create environments that take the viewer on a journey and makes that person redfine their preconceptions of spatial dynamism. The viewer is encouraged to interact with the work via their navigation of the space and the juxtaposition of other viewers around them. Creating my work is an intense process that, through its construct, takes me to another artistic plane and helps to redfine the meaning of space. I challenge the viewer to decide whether the transfomration is real or illusionary -my work is a mere suggestion that grows organically".

What kind of art does this artist make?*
What are his/her influences?
How much did you learn about the processes of making art?
Does this statement make you want to see the art?

*If you want to know what the art is, send me a message using the contact box below and I will respond.

So, what would you like to put in your Artist's Statement? Here's a couple of short exercises that will "limber you up" before you embark on writing your actual statement.

Find a fellow artist or like-minded person to work with and take a few minutes describing your art to them. Whilst you are describing ask that person to jot down the "key" or important words you have used. After a short time reverse the process and ask your partner to describe his/her work to you. When you have finished this exercise ask your partner to describe, in his/her own words, what you do. Now do the same for that person.

Did your partner have a clear idea of what your work is about?

Did they decribe something about your art that surprised you?

Did you discover anything new about yourslef or your art whilst you were describing it?

Here's another short exercise for you to try.

On a piece of paper write one short sentence in response to the following questions:

What is your favourite tool and why?
What is your favourite material and why?
What do you like best about what you do?
What do you mean when you say that your work has turned out well?
How does it make you feel when it goes well?
Do you use colour in your work? If so, what is your favourite colour and why?
What do you do differently from the way you were taught?
What do you want people to see/think/feel when they view your work?

Hopefully you now have enough basic information about your work and your creative process to start to write your statement. Before you do here are some tips about the actual writing.

Write in the present tense.

Say nice things about your work.

Include a quote or two - either ones that are relevant to your work or nice things people have said about you.

Watch out for paragraphs and sentences. The average paragraph should be five sentences or more and you should have a minimum of 3 paragraphs. It is tiring for the reader to plough through one long unbroken statement or to read one-sentence paragraphs.

first person or thrid person? There's a bit of a debate about this. It's about friendliness versus formality. I prefer to write in the first person as I feel a bit pretentious writing about myself in the third person but it's all a matter of taste.

Do you know what you want to say but are having trouble organising it all on the page?

It will be easier if you write three paragraphs in the following order.

Paragraph 1 About your work, your goals, your aspirations.

Paragraph 2 How you make your art, materials, tools, way of working.

Paragraph3 How your work has evolved and what you are working on at the moment or how you see your work developing.

Read you statement back to yourself. How does it scan?

When you have finely tuned your statement find someone to read it to. Ideally it should be someone who has never seen your art so that they can answer those questions that are at the top of this post.

And, by the way, Here are some of my pet-hate words:

juxtaposition, fragmentation, redefinition, encountering, interaction, durational, amalgamation, transformation

2009-09-02T15:33:00.001+01:00

Lynn Fraser - Artists and Illustrator

Artist Bio - "My name is Lynn Fraser and I am an artist based in Liverpool. I have always been interested in drawing and painting but work life took over. I went to night school to reawaken my desire to draw. I paint in acrylic on canvas and am trying to keep original art affordable. My artwork is eclectic varying from black and white icons to the Harajuku girls of Japan."

Lynn Fraser.co.uk

Lynn Fraser on Folksy

Lynn Fraser on Etsy

2009-08-31T15:07:00.001+01:00

Illustrator Lynn Fraser blogs about her work and gives some useful tips for the struggling artist.

"I have always enjoyed drawing and painting. I have no formal qualifications but decided to reawaken my desire to draw by going to night school to learn to work with soft pastels. After leaving work in a fashion buying office several years ago I was able to spend more time with my art and decide which direction I wanted to go.
"I settled with acrylic on canvas.I love the near instant effect and fast drying time. My inspiration comes a lot from fashion and style. I also like to paint in a folkart inspired way with angels, fairies and cute comic images. I sell art through my website
Lost heARTS and I also have Folksy and Etsy shops. I show my work at exhibitons throughout the year and have just started doing craft and design fairs".

"Tips for other artists - Stick with it! I'm sure anyone who is involved with art in anyway does it for love not money. If you are going to show in craft and design shows have smaller paintings, prints, bags, badges etc which people are more likely to impulse buy and will draw them to your stall. You can hand them a business card so they can check you out later on the web which will hopefully result in extra sales. Folksy forums are also a great help. If you have any questions there is always someone to point you in the right direction. I found a great badge supplier from advice on the forum. The advice helped me choose the right one for me and knowing that a few others approved them made it easier than going in blind".

Know Your Customer

2009-08-28T12:37:00.005+01:00

Do you know who your customer is? Do you know their tastes and shopping preferences? Do you know when and where they like to shop? Being able to identify who, and identify with, your customer will help you to plan an effective marketing strategy.

There are six types of potential customer who browse the hand made selling internet sites.
The “buying only” customer
The “relationship” customer
The impulse buyer (that’s me)!
The collector
The bargain hunter
The Hand Made supporter

Let’s look at these customers more closely. (Please note that these are generalisations – there’s always potential customers who don’t fit the profile).
1. The Buying Only customer doesn’t have a shop of their own. They may not make regular purchases on hand made sites and probably don’t frequent the forums often either.
Positive point: they are here because they like to shop.
Negative point: it is difficult to build an on-line relationship with this customer.

2. The customer that you have a relationship with (by that I mean you are on chatting terms) is usually a seller too. This customer may be a familiar name in the forums and on other promo sites.
Positive point: this customer is easy to reach through forums, chat rooms and promotions.
Negative point: selling may be more of a priority with this customer than buying.

3. The Impulse Buyer may be shopping for a variety of reasons: boredom, the urge to spend money, saw it – liked it, chatted with you and liked you.
Positive point: anything might catch their eye, your item could be in the right place at the right time.
Negative point: they don’t linger long and rarely make a repeat purchase from the same shop.

4. The Collector is looking for something specific – it may be a particular style or craft.
Positive point: If you have what the collector is looking for then you have found the perfect customer.
Negative point: collectors avoid consumables such as soap, food and clothing.

5. The Bargain Hunter is looking for – yes, you guessed it – a bargain. Sales items, novelties, low cost jewellery are attractive to this customer.
Positive point: good news if you make very affordable items.
Negative point: bad news if you are a high-spec artisan.

6. Have you taken the “hand made pledge”? This customer has and will buy because they support hand made.
Positive point: if you are an applied artist making hand crafted items it’s all good.
Negative point: if you are selling vintage or supplies this is not your customer.

Of course, your customers will be a mixture of all of these. How many of these profiles do you fit into? I am no’s 2, 3, 4 and 6.

Here's a short exercise for you to do: Take a couple of minutes to visualise the type of person who might buy your craft. It’s easy to say, EVERYONE but that doesn’t help to define your market/target audience. Think about their age, sex, ethnicity, social class and background. Do you think your customer is just like you? Are they the people you WANT to sell to? Are there other types of people you would like to reach?
Now think about the types of people who wouldn’t buy your craft and the reasons WHY they don’t buy your craft. It doesn’t matter if you are making assumptions, you won’t offend anyone if you keep this in your head!

Researching your existing customers. OK. This is going to take a bit longer than the previous exercise. Take a look at your existing customers and try to find out the following about them (without behaving like a stalker):
What else have they bought from other sellers?*
Is there a pattern to their buying habits? Do they have certain tastes?
Are they social networkers?
Have they bought from you before?
What do they do socially? (gigs, theatre, pub, sport, high street shopping)
You can find out an awful lot about your potential customers by talking to them. We social networkers love to talk – that’s why we are on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, chat rooms and forums. Just by talking we can share ideas, tastes, trends and predictions.

* I’ve just realised that, unlike Etsy, we cannot track the buying profile of buyers on Folksy who are not sellers too – rats!

Market Research can work. I always thought that market research and customer questionnaires were a pointless pain in the *rse until I started working in a gallery. A carefully worded questionnaire can give valuable insight into the profile of your customer and help you to plan your Marketing Strategy. Of course, we have to be careful on Folksy not to spam customers or badger them with lengthy customer feedback forms but, invariably, the Feedback we receive via folksy is inadequate and doesn’t really tell us what we want to know. Potential customers, and also buying customers may, however, be willing to answer one or two questions that can really help you to understand how to market your craft. You might contact the customer after a sale or ask in the forums. Remember, open questions give you so much more information than closed questions.
Here are a few examples:
Where did you find out about my shop?
Is your purchase for you or is it a gift?
Do you regularly buy X?
How does this item compare to the high street?
What other crafts do you like to buy on-line?
What comments would you make about my customer service?
Would you shop here again and, if not, why?
It’s fairly easy to build a profile of your potential customer (you can also research strategies to attract buyers who don’t fit the profile) and it can be fun finding out too. In a future post I will be talking about marketing yourself using the research that you have found. It would be great if you could comment on this blog post with more insights, advice and ideas on customer profiling.
Thanks for reading.

In The Studio (Part 2)

2009-08-24T18:37:00.003+01:00

"Well you're in your little room
and you're working on something good
but if it's really good
you're gonna need a bigger room
and when you're in the bigger room you might not know what to do
you might have to think of how you got started in your little room"
Jack White

Wesley Perriman Steam Punk Artist (artist can be contacted via this blog)

"My Main studio/workshop is based in Cononley, North Yorkshire at my House and is generally a mess. At the moment it houses the frame work for The Tranzient Gallery which is undergoing major renovation work. I am also producing Steampunk jewellery and pewter castings for Medieval re-enactment.
"The Tranzient Gallery is basically a “Wunder Kammer” or Curiosity cabinet which has been mounted on to the rear or a specially built tricycle. After it was put in to storage for 3 years it suffered badly from the damp which caused the wood panelling to warp out of shape. Currently I have stripped it back to the basic frame so I can repair certain things and put in some new modifications in. My main problem has been finding new rear wheels as the old ones are not in fantastic state.
"So with work on the gallery going slow I have been concentrating on building up my stock for it. I am at the moment working on a range of Steampunk Jewellery that is being built from a large assortment of clock parts I was given, these are taking the forms of cufflinks, brooches, rings and pendants.
"The other things I produce a lot of are reproduction pewter pilgrimage and livery badges based on examples dating from the 13th-15th century. To make these I hand carve out the reverse image of the badge in to soapstone and when this is completed I cast the final badge in pewter. During the summer I take part in living history displays where I demonstrate this process for the members of the public.
"Other than my little home studio I can also be found working on projects Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in the Carriage restoration shed at Oxenhope. At the moment I am in the process of hand painting destination boards for the sides of carriages."

Phil White, Fine Artist Phil White Paintings

"Since relocating to West Yorkshire in December 2008 from Cheshire, I needed a place to work, leaving a large studio space in Cheshire was going to be difficult to replace as it was unique in it's location. I moved to West Yorkshire with my wife and daughter due to my wife's job moving to Leeds. We needed to choose a property to buy that would accommodate guests and a place for myself to paint, this was difficult on the budget we had, the best option was to use a concrete sectional garage.
"After settling into our new surroundings I decided to clear out the garage, make it water tight, also installing a new chipboard floor with damp membrane and insulation, this made a huge difference to the working environment. I was due to start insulating the walls in the same way as the floor until I discovered a product on the internet that you add to paint, this product turns the paint into an insulating coat, seems to work a treat. After completing all the necessary works to the garage, storage, floor insulating etc, I needed to create an area for my three and a half year old daughter to draw, chalk and paint, she loves to be creative, especially painting. The area I created for her is a small section at the rear of the garage, i installed mdf to the wall of the garage, painted it with blackboard paint, the painting area was done in a similar fashion with adjustable brackets on the wall and mdf was used to create her easel.
"We now have a very modest place to work, it may be modest but it is very functional and works for me and my daughter, I am producing lots of new work now i have completed the studio space, with plans for exhibiting in the near future, hopefully Grace will benefit from what has been created for her."

Sharon Shoemake Glass Artist, Glass Fancy

"My studio is nothing fancy but it is functional and I know where everything is. It seems I always have more than one project going at once. Having a large work table comes in handy for that reason. All my supplies and tools are right there when I need them. I recycle old butter tubs and coffee cans for mixing grout or storage of glass scraps and other supplies. My space takes up half of the laundry/storage room in our basement. When we finished out the room, we added built in shelving, commercial vinyl tile flooring, acoustic ceiling tiles and a laundry sink. I have clamp on task lighting and another table for my glass scraps. If I have a window that is too large for my work table, I build it on the pool table, in the rec room.
"I can really get into my zone in my studio. It is isolated and out of the way. I am known to work well after midnight, but I don't bother anyone sleeping upstairs even if I crank up my music and grinder."

Shasglasscrafts

Glass Gardens Whatnot

Jennifer Beaudet, Fine Artist Beaudetart

"I've been an artist for as long as I can remember. I've been painting for too many years to mention but recently started using oils. I love everything about them, but the smell can get pretty overwhelming in our living room! Yes, that's where my studio is: not some hip, urban loft in the city, just my boring, old, messy living room. I have a corner all to myself where I can paint anytime I want. My other part of my studio (yes, I get two rooms!) is our computer room, where I do all of my photoshop work for my fine art photographs.
"I'm new to the photography business but have always had a love for it. I got my first polaroid for my 10th birthday and was hooked! It wasn't until my birthday this year that I got my first dslr and am having so much fun! My photoshop skills come from many years of working in a fine art printing studio.
"So this is where it all happens. Probably not what you'd expect but that just the way it is, for now. Until I get "discovered" and can get that hip loft in the city this will do just fine."

jbeaudet.etsy.com

"In the Studio" is a regular feature showing artists' studios. Whether you work in a purpose-built studio, a shed, an attic or at the kitchen table, we are interested in seeing where you create your art. If you would like to be featured "In the Studio" contact Artists in Business via the email link at the bottom of the page and prepare a short write up and four jpegs too.

2009-08-21T16:48:00.002+01:00

Find Claire's textiles on Folksy

Artist's Bio - "I have always dabbled with making things for friends and family and for my home but have never really explored my creativity to its full potential before. However that has now changed and I have been surprising myself! Everything starts as an inspiration and ends up making me feel very pleased. Each item is different and either one of a kind or one of very few, so you are guaranteed a very individual item".

Blue Stripes

2009-08-20T16:13:00.006+01:00

This week we are talking to textile artist Claire Finch whose on-line business is Blue Stripes.

"I have always had some sort of creative ability but never really explored it past necessities such as taking up curtains or mending things. After my Mum died in January I needed something to occupy me and help me through my grieving. As we had not long moved to our new house I was decorating my girls’ bedrooms and as we had found a sewing machine in a charity shop I decided to make them some window cushions. These turned into 3 different beautiful patchwork cushions and three pretty cushions with 3D hearts appliquéd on. I was quite thrilled with what I had made and then experimented with making them some bunting, some padded hearts and some teddies for them too! My mother-in-law suggested I designed and made some bags and with a few pointers from her I was off. We did have to upgrade the sewing machine though…Finding this hidden skill at this hard time in my life has helped me so much. I just wish my Mum had been here to see me do it, especially as she was so creative herself and would have joined me. So if you own one of my items it has a lot of emotion in it!

I love cottons, linens and denim. Of course I also have a fetish for buttons….
As the busy mother of two children my life is very hectic! I end up sewing before they are up, after they have gone to school and in between doing the housework and washing the amazing quantity of clothing they seem to get through in a day. Then if I’m being really productive I will sew for a little bit in the evening. I am very lucky to have a very supportive partner who is always kind and doesn’t mind going shopping for more fabric. My girls are amazing too. My eldest, Connie, has a fantastic eye for colour and I have her involved with my work quite often-be it that she decides on a button for me or that she is sat next to me sewing her own things, she just loves it. Sophie, my youngest is always amazed and quite often says to me,’did you make it Mummy?’

Cornwall is beautiful and my home. I hated it when we moved away from here to Norfolk- it was positively the worst thing I had ever done and I pined for the rugged landscape and beautiful yellow coastlines. As soon as we returned both my partner and I were happy again. The only other place I have come across that is as beautiful was when we went to the Isle of Arran in Scotland. There is something about Cornwall that gets under your skin and holds you captivated. Cornwall also has some of the best foods available- pasties, clotted cream and heavenly fudge. Cornwall has never really been an affluent area so I often have in my life here found people who can make do and mend and who can also be self-sufficient with their veggie gardens and cottage industry. I think the economic climate has caused a fair few problems though. House prices have dropped and people are selling, but not many people can afford their own home here still.
The rural community that I am part of though are strong and we even have a bit of trade going on-James and I are quite good at trading jams, cakes and bags for haircuts, grass cutting and a good pint and a half! I think if that sort of help stays then people can weather the storm. We just find it hard when the car decides to break down…

When I think of my business in 5 years time I have a lot to consider, such as how long will the economic downturn last? When it passes will everyone be desperate to spend their hard earned cash on throw away society items again and ignore handmade? But my real focus is to strive to design and create more things, to find my feet within my creative skills too (as I have only been designing and making for 3 months!) and really go for it. I have a lot of work to do but I do perceive, based on the success I have already had in such a short space of time, that I will still have a business and that it will have increased in strength and presence alongside other crafters, artists and designers who deserve recognition for not mass producing.
I love handmade and always try to support it as often as I can. When you support handmade in your local area you are supporting your local community and their growth and success. If we keep supporting our local crafts-people their success will be our success and the quality of goods we use will improve. Support Local, Support Handmade!
Blue Stripes