We got blogged about!

Jenniffer wrote about us in her blog, http://www.homemag.co.za/content/?category_id=1&id=3557 . thank you so much for this, much appreciated!

lidded bowls

Africa lidded bowl

A new look for the shop!

Sadly our one partner choose to leave the shop yesterday, and removed all her stock and shop furniture. This caused quite a bit of late night work, and last night I completed new display units for the shop window. This morning poor Goldie walked into a shop still covered in wood dust, stock standing around and just general mayhem.

But within a few hours we were able to have the shop cleaned up and re-arranged displays to our satisfaction.

New stock received from friends found display space and suddenly our little shop looked brand new. I must admit that I am very happy and satisfied with the new look we created. Now I just need to get cracking with my studio area. It looks as if a bomb has exploded in it!

CCDI Core Product Exhibit

I just got a phone call to inform me that my black teapot was accepted for the Cape Craft and Design Core product line. This means that my work will be on a permanent exhibition for the next 12 months, travelling around the country and also abroad.

To say that I am ecstatic is an understatement. I have worked so hard for this recognition during the last 4 years.

Every time I had lit my torch it was with something like this in mind. Granted, 4 years ago I did not know about the CCDI, and the thought of doing anything ceramic related was not even entering my mind. But subconsciously I was working towards this goal. Perfecting my skill as a lampworker with each and every glass bead that I made. The hardships suffered because I was prepared to sacrifice a comfortable lifestyle for an urge to lit a torch every day.

I have been living in Cape Town for almost 3 years, and wow! It has really been a joy ride with all the ups and downs. What has stood out for me through out this journey was the goodness of people that I have come into contact with. Help and sharing of information was given without hesitation. Support offered freely. Thank you!

Good news!

I know that I have been in absentia for some time. Every now and then pangs of guilt ride me, but then work and general life takes over and demand even more time.

Ok, the good news is that I am busy preparing for a new tutorial. This one promises to be long, detailled and will cover stuff for a variety of experience levels. As with all my previous tuorials, it will be more a tecnique tutorial, rather than one with a design element to it. (At least that is how I see it ;-) )

I hope to have it ready by the end of the week.

The downside of this tutorial is that I am going to charge a small fee for it. I will cover 5 different types of the tecnique, and the time that I will have to invest in it, forces me give it away at a price.

Silent nights, busy days

I cannot believe that it is already Christmas Eve! I have been a bit quiet, but for a reason ...

We opened a shop!

I cannot believe it, I still have to pinch myself every now and then, but yea. A real brick and mortar shop. Let me give you a bit of back ground ...

A couple of weeks ago (roughly 5 or 6!) we were invited to a house party. At the party the host mentioned to me that he had a shop available in his business property, and would I be interested to have my own shop from which I could work, etc.? Truthfully, I pushed all thoughts about it into some nondescript file in my brain, as I thought the whole idea just not plausible. I mean - we are in the midst of a world wide economic recession, job losses everywhere, and people are down-sizing and no impulse spending is happening.

About a week later I got a phone call. "Please look at the shop. I get lots of phone calls daily about the shop, but I want you to have it." I cave in and drove to the city centre. Long Street is one of the busiest streets in our city. Bars, restaurants, backpackers and shops. Lots and lots of them in the aptly named street. On my way back to my studio I phoned a friend. Can I come and chat to her about an opportunity? I convinced her 50%. Promised to take her the next day to the shop so we could have a look-see. Am I mad, or is it a viable concept?

My concept: A shop that sells an eclectic mix of art and craft. Stuff not found elsewhere in the city. Stuff that we like.

But the place looked like a dump. Vertical potholes scattered the walls, stencilled graffiti littered everywhere, the roof a mix of dark blue with white streaks. The floor is covered with a hideous red and yellow patterned plastic.

After a few discussions with the landlord, we decided to renovate the shop ourselves. A 3rd partner joined the venture, and we set about the great clean-up. A handy-man painted the ceiling and repaired and painted the high walls for us, while us girls tackled the lower areas. 7 days later, too many pots of paint and a huge bag of filler we could finally remove the plastic that covered the terracotta tiled floor. I sighed in tiredness. More cleaning and scrubbing awaited us. While we renovated the shop, we slowly started to move furniture into it. The back of the shop would be my studio. Shelves and display units were painted a uniform white and everyone brought what he had from home. Finally we were able to install some lights, and suddenly we were ready to unpack our stock - a Hodge podge of art and craft work.

This is our 3rd week trading and the day before Christmas. With no budget, no loans from banks, Nada, we started slow. There is no money for marketing. We hoped that our location would bring feet into the shop. And it did. The week before we officially opened, frantically unpacking stock we had people begging to see the stuff. And we made sales!

Slowly sales increased every day. 'Window shoppers' came back a day or 2 later to purchase items that they saw, and I am slowly becoming less pessimistic about this folly. We made contact with our fellow shopkeepers in the street. The car guards knows us. The policing service that ensures safety in the street had meetings with us. Suddenly I am a Long Street regular. Even the 'Bergies' (homeless people) that frequent Long Street greets and chats to me as if I am an old timer.