Lately when I have been siting at my workbench in my little kitchen my mind has been completely blank so when my Mum asked if I wanted to go to the SECC in Glasgow for the Hobby Craft show with her i thought OK what the hell maybe get some ideas to get me out of this blank hole i am in. Two hours on the bus there & back were defiantly worth it, not only have I seen some beautiful work, met some amazing artists, got some great ideas & decided to broaden my crafts, I am now completely skint, But it was worth it all. I have also found a few sites where i can buy new supplies, I have been using knitted wire that i had got when i was studding jewellery design & have never found anywhere that had a big selection on colours & widths. Plus i was running low so i was over the moon when i saw The Crazy Wire Company with there huge selection of different wires & great ideas to use there products. Will defiantly be a returning costumer. this is where you can find there products http://www.crazywireco.co.uk/ Another of my favorite stalls had to be Homespun Hearts which has loads of primitive style bits & pieces like rusty cutout hearts, stars & willow shapes that I did have to buy. You will fall in love with their products here http://www.homespunhearts.com/ Other than these 2 great stalls were http://www.thesouthamptonbeadshop.co.uk/where everyone who is a bead addict should defiantly pop in & have a look at their fabulous collection of beads. I met a fantastic woman called Ewa Kuniczak who is a textile artist who also had a stall their. Ewa like myself works from her kitchen I was surprised at everything she has managed to do in a tiny little space like that so that has defiantly inspired me to be more adventurous with my felt. The art work Ewa has produced over her years is amazing, she has also writing books on felt making, holds work shops & has exhibitions ongoing & upcoming, truly a amazing artist. Eva also sells these fantastic dry felting needles which are the BEST i have used i can go through at least 2 needles a night especially if i am tired which is often, i tried theses ones out over a solid 4 hours last night & never broke 1 so that is a record for me. Eva is the only outlet in the UK that sells the "Super" needle so defiantly a place to visit is http://www.feltheadtotoe.co.uk/ to find out more about this wonder woman, have a look at her work find out about her workshops, buy felting kits & of course buy the Super felting needle. I hope some of these links will be handy for someone now I am away back to my new project.
