Photos from Ely Cathedral Fair

Well locations for a Christmas Food & Craft Fair can't get more spectacular than Ely Cathedral.  We spend a magical three days there, setting up on Thursday 13th November, with a preview that evening.  A full day on Friday, with a break for evensong from 4:30 - 6:30pm.  This gave us a chance to go out for dinner with some fellow stall holders.  The show continued on Saturday with huge numbers of visitors.

My best sellers were the new 'Cat in the Meadow coasters' and new Boats tea towels.  The Penguin cards also went down really well and I am busy making more Red Birdy decorations in time for Cambridge Christmas on Monday 24th November.

Our neighbouring stall was Slate & Nature run by the charming Jeanette and Gerard who'd come all the way from Northumberland for the show.  They sold wonderful reclaimed slate bird feeders, candle holders, garden ornaments and such like.  We swapped a few tea towels for a couple of bird feeders which are really beautifully designed.

Another favourite purchase was from the Ely Gin Company - a lovely selection of little bottles of flavoured gin.  Had to buy it for the packaging alone.

Penguins

For the last few years the Christmas advert from John Lewis always becomes a big talking point and this year is no exception.  It features a very cute penguin called Monty.  So I thought given the surge in interest of all things 'penguin' I would design some new hand-printed cards for my forthcoming Christmas shows.

Twitter

I'm not quite sure what to do with it, but I now have twitter @AlisonHullyer.  I'm sure it will be a great marketing tool as well as a huge time waster, so we shall see how it goes!

Etsy Shop now open

This is something I've been meaning to do for ages and have finally found the time to set up my own Etsy shop for my tea towels.  You can still buy them from my online shop but I know some people prefer to use Etsy.  I may add other items at a later date.  Happy shopping.

NEW Boats & Beach Huts Tea Towels

I was hoping to have these in stock at the beginning of the summer, but better late than never!  I'm really pleased with how they have turned out.  The nautical navy and red design is available from my online shop in unbleached 100% cotton or bright white cotton.  They are machine washable and can be tumble dried, priced at £9 plus p+p.

Drypoint Demonstration

Here I am at the Cambridge Original Printmakers show, doing my best to explain how I make and print my drypoint plates, made from perspex and cardboard.  There was a lovely group of interested people gathered round and I hope I managed to show how it's done.  My top tip was using a piece of chalk to wipe around the edge of the plate to remove any traces on ink, for a clean print.

Cambridge Original Printmakers

The show is going really well so far, with 1000's of people through the door, after our hugely successful preview evening on Friday night. The photo below shows visitors looking at Geri Waddington's wood engravings.

 

Jo Tunmer, Anthony Hopkinson and Sue Jones have done an amazing job organising 40 printmakers, as well as finding time to produce their own fantastic work.  I couldn't resist this solar-plate print 'Standing Proud' by Jo.

This is the display of artists cards and prints on the wall by Clare Crouchman and Tania Scott Durrant.  Plus one of the eye catching posters I designed on the iconic Cambridge railings.

I will be demonstrating my perspex and drypoint printmaking techniques tomorrow lunchtime, so if you would like to see how I finish off making these plates and how I print from them, it would be lovely to see you there.  Entry is free.  The show continues until Sunday 5th October.