Sorry for the silence!

It's been one of those weeks (and a bit). Facebook (business) pages is really messing up - I posted thank you's to you all for tuning in and the post has disappeared. I made another posting - nope, gone and then I've had a week where I couldn't actually type anything in. I've also got a thing showing that there is a message on the business page - but can I find it? Nope. Nowhere to be seen. If you have tried to message, best to send it through email, or try again. So, that has been quite a pain to say the least.

We have been busy packing of course, all show orders got out well within the time, including the delayed dispatch items - so thank you again. Our next show isn't until July 24 - giving us some vital catch up time. 

I've been suffering quite badly with my sinuses recently (not anything new particularly) and am now waiting to get back to see the ENT as my usual tricks aren't clearing them up this time. This has meant time in front of a screen is limited, as my eyes don't do so well and I've had a bad earache. Not helpful when it is book keeping time haha. It has also meant the intros to my video can't really be filmed - I look so bleary eyed :) Guess I am more vain than I thought! 

I also have suspected Plantar fasciitis. Again, waiting to see a specialist, as over the counter insoles have not helped (and possible made the problem worse). I now cannot stand for very long at all and walking is incredibly painful. So, by the time we've packed orders I'm sitting down with my foot up trying not to feel lazy.

However - I have been working on an exciting project which involves sitting comfortably, making, and taking lots of step-by-step photos.....

So all in all I hope to be a bit caught up next week and back to making videos.

In other news - this year I joined the National Button Society. I am already a member of the British Button Society, but joining the American one seemed a wise move. Especially as this year their convention is online, so I will be able to attend (ok, some of the things I want to attend will mean some very late nights, but I'll figure it out). But, even more exciting, the Americans do competition "trays". 

It isn't something done here, and it is something I've always been intrigued by. Well, this year one of the categories is fabric buttons. And of course, being virtual, entry is by emailed image. Probably the first and only time I will be able to take part (no way I would post my button collection), so I am really looking forward to having a day or so going through those tins above (and a fair few others) and finding the right vintage and antique buttons to make up the tray. I am sure I won't "win" (there's no prize this year) as there are a lot of rules to follow as to buttons and types and so on and newbies never get it right as I understand, but I am going to enjoy the process!

Stay well and warm everyone, and I hope you are all keeping well yourselves

 

Happy birthday Anne!

A little different for today's blog - wishing our design team member Anne a wonderful birthday!

When I first came into the industry, I was quite confused about the term DT member. While it stands for design team, it isn't people who design products (well, it can be, but that's different again), but rather a person who takes the products or kits and makes samples for TV and other publicity. 

In other words, someone quite invaluable!

I'm really lucky to have some lovely ladies on my team, all with a different style, you can see just a bit of Anne's work below.

You can follow Anne on her blog and her Facebook page, as well as seeing creations in our Gina-B Silkworks Group.

 

Right, back to prepping for tonight's shows! 

A bit of sunshine!

 

As I write, there's a bit of sunshine trying to brighten the day. Which is needed! I know it's only February, but the winter has seemed long this year. Probably a result of lockdown.

We are still busy getting ready for our Hochanda shows of course. (Feb 25th at 5pm and 9pm). On our 9pm show the focus will be ganutell, and a new kit highlighting a different ganutell technique. By twisting thread and wire together you can make more unusual - and robust - shapes. All with a bit of sparkle! Ganutell mean winding a lot of wire into kit-ready coils. As you can imagine, this isn't the most favourite of my jobs :)

I hope that you all get a bit of sunshine this week! 

Filming... or not!

 

Today I've been doing a little bit of filming and editing - getting a new button tutorial ready for YouTube. Turns out that I hadn't turned on the camera for part of the video - so when I turned it off, I was turning it on - and filming an empty table... 

We've also decided to start re-filming all of the button DVDs, to make them online content. So many people no longer have DVDs, and to be fair, our equipment is so much better. Not to mention the fact that I've learnt a lot since 2011 (when we released the first DVDs) and now work the odd button in an entirely different way.

But, in between this rather mammoth task, I do want to film the odd little thing for either YouTube, or perhaps other courses. If there's something you'd like to see a video tutorial of, please let me know. I can't guarantee I will be able to do everything on the list, but it would be nice to know what you would like.

Keep safe and well everyone x

The travelling buttons

Last weekend saw me rushing to get the above buttons sent over to Paris for the Au Ver a Soie exhibition by courier in the week. In the end, it was too painful for me to actually make any new buttons. It was not worth risking longer term damage. I had some in my samples made with their silk, and decided after much deliberation, to send others that made up part of my One Button a Day challenge in 2016. 

This was a big thing for me. I've cut them from their tags to mount them here, and there is always the very real possibility that they will go missing - either on the way out, or the way back to me. 

They've arrived safely in Paris, so stage one complete. 

Except the exhibition has now been cancelled until June, as the French government has banned gathering of over 200 people until then. 

So, I will get to stress for half the year. And, I could possibly have made new, different ones in a month or so, and would not have needed to take from the set. 

If anyone is interested, the mount for these was printed from our Button Backing Cards & Mounts CD - I printed it onto printable fabric, left the backing paper in place to stitch through. I think that by printing on the fabric the background better suits the fine silk of the buttons.

And so on to other news....

I have managed to complete the first slideshow of this year's buttons and have popped it over onto YouTube. I hope to have the second one completed this weekend. 

Planning and working

I don't know about you, but January is one of my least favourite months. It's always dull, cold and then there's the paperwork and tax returns and all this with a long month! 

Still, there's only a week to go!

At the moment we are busy working on new products, it is going to be an exciting year if they work out!

Our next Hochanda shows - and firsts of the year - are on Feb 4th at 3pm and 7pm - we'll be buttoning (a new journal kit I think you'll like) and ribbonwork in the evening with two new Flowercomb sets. So, there is a lot of work to do to get everything packed and ready.

And this weekend I intend to have the first workshop dates online. They will be button making courses, always popular - have any of you who might come (we are in Grantham) have any requests for other workshops? If we get enough of a subject I'd be happy to plan one. It's worth noting that I can also do specialised or one-to-one workshops.