Discombobulation is my word for the week, it has been a topsy turvy one.
I thought I could feel that energy rising up from the ground, those magical little bulbs starting to burst through the mulch. Just when I thought I could reach out and touch spring, I was reminded that we are not quite there yet. A forecast of snow for Thursday and by Saturday I was soaking in some sunshine on a beach…
It has been a strange week for me, starting with a trip to Spring Fair at the NEC with my good friend Ebony from Dotty Black and ending with a very brief hop across the sea to the Isle of Man to visit family - I just managed to squeeze a tiny bit of clay in mid week.
I’ll start with Spring Fair - for those who don’t know it is “the UK’s number 1 gift & home trade event”. Ebony was going along to see some of her greetings cards displayed by a client she has worked with, plus have a nosey round at what is on offer and to look at trends etc so I decided to tag along as I’ve never been before.
Things I learnt at Spring fair
The short version of this is that although I had a great time away with my friend and got inspired by a bunch of incredible small businesses doing cool things (Hello elephant dung greetings cards), I was left with a sense of horror at the scale of rampant consumerism that is clearly continuing while I’m blissfully unaware in my little wholesome echo chamber. It is so crucial to me to help people understand how their choices are important, that the source of products that they buy makes a difference and to care about buying better. To find the nicest spin I can on this - I feel it is my duty to inform shoppers about the raw materials I use and where they come from, my planet friendly process and production and to get you asking questions about the source of the things you buy.
I could go on (and on and on and on) about this but I’ll park that for now…
Fast forward from Spring Fair to the middle of the week where I briefly got stuck into some clay and actually made some things.
To get me warmed up, I have been trying to get ahead on stock of pin badges / stud earrings before I go back to my seasonal job so there were lots of mushrooms, frogs, forget me nots and buttercups made.
This video will show you a bit of the process (please enjoy my voiceover - I cannot convey the quantity of cringe involved in creating this).
You can find the pin badge shown in the video here.
Sadly, one of my little worm pals didn’t make it through the first part of the process but he will go back into the splodge of recycled clay and live on as something else…
If you would like to ask me anything about this process, please feel free to leave a comment with your question.
After the brief session of clay mid week, I took a little last minute trip to the Isle of Man. For anyone who knows me well, you will have probably heard me get evangelical about how incredible this little island is. I’ve spent many holidays and high days there and it is genuinely one of the most beautiful places I’ve had the pleasure to go to. It isn’t hard to see why it was designated as a UNESCO biosphere in 2016.
Some snippets here from my quick trip - I left home in snow and arrived in gale force winds and left on a stunningly still day…
Video content: Thursday arriving at Ronaldsway airport in 50mph winds, then driving along the coast at Port St Mary, Friday in Douglas where the car park was getting sea weed thrown across it by the choppy sea, Saturday morning in Peel bay overlooking the castle and the aquamarine sea and smashed scallop shell shingle at Fennela beach, Saturday afternoon in Port Erin.
PS. I used the Buyerarchy of Needs image created by Sarah Lazarovic after seeing it on Pinterest - only to discover they have a substack too called Minimum Viable Planet which you can read here.