Happy New Year!  I know, we’re already nearly a week in, so I am a little bit late with my good wishes – but I mean it all the same!

It ended up being a crazy busy last few weeks of the 2018; it’s been a pretty good one for me (okay, that’s an understatement, it’s been a great year).  But it was also deeply tinged with sadness as I had to have my beloved cat, Clover, put to sleep about ten days before Christmas.  Not really how I wanted to begin a new year…

So I don’t get all maudlin, because I do miss her terribly, I am keeping this post brief, and just remembering her with love.

And it was love that inspired this piece I made to commission just before the holidays.  The idea came from a very lovely gentleman I have known for years (we happen to be related too!); together we developed it into this piece. I was thrilled with the results.

So, if you didn’t already know I took commissions, you do now.  Using these techniques, I can put pretty much any wording on, and colours of both glass and lettering, and font, can all be tailored to your needs.  Wouldn’t this make a fantastic wedding or special anniversary gift, or commemorate a special occasion?

I’ve been offering gift certificates of selected values towards workshops for quite some time now, and these have been very popular.

Because I can now offer bespoke workshop options where I can tailor the class to suit you, I am offering gift vouchers which can be used either as a deposit or full payments for a workshop, or towards to costs of buying or commissioning a piece of glass art from me.  All you need to do is select the amount you want to pay.

Please provide the email that you wish to send the voucher to, plus the name of who it is for – this will be linked to the voucher number for my records. Gift certificates will be valid for one year.

Once you’ve entered this information, click the ‘Pay Now’ and it will allow you to enter the value you wish to pay – it will default to a quantity of one, but you can, for example purchase one voucher for £50, or two vouchers for £25 and once you click continue, the amount will be for the total payable.  You don’t need to have a Paypal account, you can check out as a guest and enter your card details if you wish.

Well, I guess you could actually say these are not so little… but some new studio furniture might seem the most exciting of things to some!  For me though, it’s been something I have been looking forward to for quite some time.

When I first moved to Shed 2 Studios, eight years ago now, I made do with a lot of gifted items – old desks, spare cabinets, things salvaged from scrap piles – like a lot of people starting out, I guess.

Classes have proved successful for me, growing year on year, and my studio wasn’t the best layout – improved greatly by new shelving and worktops last year, but this week, I finally got my new mobile units – two different height tables, and a trolley designed specifically for glass storage.  I’ve been a happy bunny this week, even though it means a good sort out!  The tables can be placed in different formations which will make the space a lot more flexible.

The advantages of sharing a studio space with other makers – access to people with the skills to make furniture that is perfect for my needs!  Thanks Travis of Evolution Revolution Workshops – the cakes are on me!