Inverness courier

I am loving this wide web world.

I love blogging and reading everyone elses blogs.

I particularly love and adore Jenne’s   http://feltworks.wordpress.com/.  I enjoy reading about small creative businesses from a personal angle. Her felt is wonderful  harlequinfeltworks.

But today I am particularly thrilled.

Russell Turner at the Inverness Courier added me to the  papers list of local bloggers.  I hope where ever you are in the world you will go have a little look and learn a little about life in the Highlands.

Now on to world domination.

Well actually I’m off to felt, but you knew that right?

Inverness

We have been having fantastic weather, which for me means fantastic walks with my dogs and often people too.

There are some amazing places in the Highlands and Inverness to walk dogs. We really are spoilt.

The places to rest are pretty good too. You can see more images in dog walks

Grrrrrrrrrrrr

I have spent the morning trying to put out my posters. No where takes them any more. 

In the centre of Inverness there used to be a public notice board, it was there last week as I check it regularly. It was brilliant for bands, whats on at……… etc.  A real hub of the highland arts scene.  Now gone to make way for our new streetscape .

I went to Starbucks @ borders where I always go to look for info on artists, yoga and events as the notice board there was amazing. All gone. Well except for a spiritualist poster. They wont take anything that isn’t for charity. Unsure how the spiritualists was for charity, but…

In fact after an exhaustive search I only put out 4 posters.  No wonder people do that awful thing with placards at the side of the road.

I did get my listings on hi-arts which is brilliant.

Distractions distractions

Well as you can guess by the title I didn’t get to the studio or make my sample hats yesterday.  The weather was glorious ( which is really unusual for Inverness) so you might think I chose to enjoy the amazing weather while I could?

No.  I have to get my marketing materials out for my May/june workshops and so spent the day at the computer. 

This is my finished leaflet. I chose to go with clean and uncluttered. I used pearlised paper which looks wonderful, but the ink can’t soak in and so I had to lay them all out to dry. So time consuming, but I love the end result.

Today is another scorcher. I will take the dogs for a walk and then to the studio.

I forgot - I can’t believe that I forgot to mention this………………………………

MY ROLLING MACHINE CAME.   It arrived in a big crate and is waiting to go to the studio in the back of our van. 

The here and now

Today I am working on hats as samples for a workshop I am taking with Highland guild of Weavers, spinners and dyers.  I am really looking forward to it as they are a great bunch. Very creative and open minded. They have a wonderful understanding of colour and texture. It makes teaching a joy.

We will be covering several hat making styles, some are a little quirky and I am hoping that some of the participants will go crazy and create whimsical, outragous hats.  I will keep you posted.

 

Studio

I will post picture ( when I get to grips with how)

My studio is great. It is only 5m x 5m but its big enough and most importantly all the space is mine. I don’t have to put it all away.  I painted everything white as once the fleece is out it is a colour riot also it makes it so peachful.

The light is good and it is quiet without having to worry when I do want to turn up the radio.

It is in the centre of Inverness, beside great cafes and a small supermarket. It couldn’t be better ( well other than the cute, artsy dream I had previously) There is parking relatively close and my neighbours are barely there.

My partner gave me a studio warming gift of a DAB radio which I adore. Radio four is my best mate now.

I had to find tables. So?  Well if you live in the highlands you will know that we have an extra tax for just living here- extra post costs. It makes me crazy and infact I could write a whole blog just on this. If I send an item to London it might cost me say £10, yet if someone in London sends me an item they will add an extra amount which can be DOUBLE the original cost on top!!! Yet everytime I check there is exactly the same distance between Inverness and London as London and Inverness. It is outragous.

Sorry. Got a grip.

The tables needed to be folding and waterproof. They are quite pricy and so I had to look around. Prices ranged from £70 to £120. I needed four and so hoped to find them cheaper. I eventually got four from one place on ebay and in Glasgow so no highlander posttax.  I got all for and post for under £100. I was delighted.

So my studio is looking great.

Studio

I used to work from home, but found I did everything but work. The dishes, washing and toilet cleaning constantly got in the way. I am one of those people who can’t work in a mess and I can’t concentrate if I have not cleared my feet.

It was also a problem for my family. Every surface was often covered in various projects in progress and the floor was the only large surface I had. Wet felt often hung dripping on heaters, I personally love the slight smell of wet dog, but I understand it is not for everyone.

So something had to give.

I had a really romantic image of what I wanted and wasted months trying to find something lived up to my dream and was within my budget. There is no such thing. When I finally came to my senses and realised I just needed space, I started to look at offices in the centre of Inverness. I was lucky to find a relatively cheap space which I turned into small studio where I work and give workshops. Everytime I am there I can’t believe how lucky I am. It is so peaceful that I loose track of time and don’t want to stop.

Felt and me

My favourite thing.

I could read about felt, look at other peoples felt, talk about felt and teach felt until the sheep come home.

I eat, sleep, breathe felt.

Don’t get me wrong I love all arts and crafts. I practice a diverse array of arts and crafts. Stain glass making, Fimo, batik and silk painting, ceramics, knitting and on and on….

But I am totally addicted to Felting. Everything about it works for me. Its fast, you get results straight away. I need that.

My name is Joni Phippin and I am a felt addict.