4 minutes reading time
(738 words)
The art and craft fair in the United Reformed Church in Cockermouth
8.30am and the stall holders arrive and set up.
Today we have two jewellers, Christina and Alison. Christina uses beads, crystals, shell pearls and gem stones to make matching earrings and necklaces. Alison uses fine silver from silver clay. She makes colourful, dichroic jewellery. She has recently bought a kiln and now makes larger glass fused pieces, trinket bowls and tealight holders.
Joy of Butterfly flowers creates arrangements and wreaths using silk flowers. Although she creates seasonally they can be enjoyed all year round.
Susan of Sue's Coastal art creates pictures, keyrings, cards, jewellery and wind chimes using seaglass, pebbles and driftwood.
Carol and Bill from Fingland wood bears make delightful Teddy bears and cuddly bunnies. The bears are dressed and named and come with a backstory. Bill makes greeting slices, bookmarks and fairy doors from the trees that fall down in the forest where the bears live.
Our resident knitter, Susan makes baby cardigans, sleepsuits and adorable little hats that look like ice cream cornets.
Our two textile ladies are Elizabeth and Tanya. Elizabeth makes unique bags made of a patchwork of material. She makes bags from Harris tweed and cosy hats in Shetland wool. She also makes coasters of old maps and has a donation tin on her stall for Cockermouth Mountain Rescue and donates her proceeds to a number of charities.
Tanya from 'Annie Moon Makes' creates bags, cushions, bunting and other quirky vintage items.
Jill from Jill's Jams sells a range of tasty jams, marmalades and chutneys. Her zesty lemon curd is always available and at Christmas time the Rum butter and pickled onions will appear.
Today we have two new people. House of paper by Sara creates a range of decoupaged items, boxes, coasters and pictures. Star of the show is a floral, butler tray on a stand, painted with a crackle glaze finish to give an antique look.
Angela from Strange ceramics is another first timer in the United Reformed Church making raku and stoneware pottery using handmade glazes of Egremont red.
The door officially opens at 10am but occasionally a few early visitors drop by. There's a steady stream of customers today, couples on holiday, local Saturday morning shoppers and families. We are all hoping that people will connect with our products and buy. There are busy days and quiet days. Today is quite lively for a February, with a gentle hum of friendly chatter around the room. On exceptionally quiet days I paint but not today, far too many distractions to concentrate and quite a few friends have dropped by. Good to see Alyson and Mark. Thank you, Alyson's Dad for the sound advice, I'll give it a try and report back but I suspect that the other crafters will find me running round my table a bit strange.
I chose a bacon, brie and cranberry ciabata from the rendezvous cafe for lunch. Situated close to the church on Main Street, it was a hot and tasty take away.
I had a friend's sister dropping off a bag of maps for me to use in my map collages and a couple picking up a commission from me; a painting of their house. I always have some interesting conversations with holidaymakers. I'm pretty knowledgeable about the area and enjoy giving advice about what to see and do in the area, I am a daughter of a tourist information assistant, after all.
It's lovely to be recognised as The Woman who paints Whitehaven by people who come to the stall and recognise my work from Facebook.
Even if I don't make lots of sales on the day, I'm often making connections that lead to sales and it's always nice when young people tell me that my art is cool. It happened a number of times today.
The boiler in the kitchen is there for hot drinks all day and sometimes there is cake or a rather delicious Galloway ice cream in the Summer from the toy shop along the road. We are a friendly bunch and there are always a few laughs.
Good to see that our new recruits sold things today.
Next sale is on the 24th and 25th of March.
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