Christmas making and first fair

It has been a very busy making time this last few weeks culminating in my first craft fair at the Colosseum in Watford.  Many thanks to Carolyn of Aspen Stained Glass for inviting me to share a pitch.  It was certainly a real treat to actually meet people, talk about my work and answer queries about the way in which things were made. 

Lots of people asked about these blue and white decorations, it was so positive to see that while I really enjoy making them, customers liked them too and were interested in how they were made.

Lots of interest again in the painted panels with lots of people asking to see the new singing bird panel.  It is still available at the moment since lots of people wanted it for themselves but were supposed to be Christmas shopping to buy for other people.

Hopefully, I will be planning to attend some more fairs in 2013 but for now, I'm happy to have got some feedback and some time to think of some more new designs.

Refreshing the RedHenGlass website

Well, it's that time of year when I take some time away from making and try to remember just how to edit and upload some new pages and images for my website www.redhenglass.co.uk Feeling inspired, I played around with matching the page backgrounds to the glass images and while this was a lot of fun, you might agree that it is all a bit too bright and difficult to read. Do please let me know if you think otherwise, but have to say, while it was enjoyable, I may return to something a little more sober even if it is to make the pictures show up more strongly. But for perhaps a limited period only, here is the rather bright website.

Autumn Trees and Singing Birds

That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture! 

(Robert Browning extract from Home thoughts from abroad)

So the air has subtly changed, although the sun has shone warmly over the last couple of days, the stars are very crisp and bright at night.  There is a slight chill in the evening and on a very early train journey to Birmingham the other morning, I watched the fields around Northamptonshire and all the way to Coventry softened by mist as a low golden light lifted over the newly harvested fields.  The swallows have gathered on the telephone wires chattering about their miraculous journey that many have already thrown themselves into.

I have posted some pictures of these new pieces before, there is one hanging in my shed ready for a new home. The colours seemed to capture the season and late afternoon light and I couldn't help taking some more photos and including a couple of variations of the design.