13 August 2013

Folksy Rules OK!


This week started off with a bang! I had such a productive day yesterday, which I put down to feeling inspired and refreshed after spending the weekend in some woods in Yorkshire with 200 lovely designer makers at the Folksy Summer School.

I gave a talk on Crafting Your Blog, which was great fun, alongside an amazing line up that included Doug Richard of Dragon's Den fame, Sinead from Crafty Fox (who has an exciting guest post coming up on this blog), Emma Jones from Enterprise Nation and lots of other awesome peops. It was such a wonderful atmosphere of makers supporting other makers, sharing tips and tricks over halloumi burgers and ice lollies. I got to hang out with the Mollie Makes team, learnt to crochet with Frank & Olive Crochet, met lots of lovely readers of this here blog (hi!), including one pair who'd come all the way from Denmark, and I even spotted a Mathilde Blouse on Sarah! I left buzzing with ideas and aglow from new friendships made.



A few cool things I discovered over the weekend that you may be interested in, whether you're a maker, blogger or run your own craft business:

- Pick up some tips on product photography at Lyndsey James' workshops
- Step back in time at The Button Tin, a vintage sewing wonderland run by the lovely Gemma
- Discover beautiful knitting patterns by Jess Biscoe aka Jessica Joy
- Get marketing help for your craft business from the awesome Claire and Polly at Handmade Horizons
- And general props to Camilla from Butterscotch and Beesting, Andy from vinegar & brown paper and John from Smithery.

Oh and not forgetting Folksy, the online marketplace for modern British craft! We're already pestering James the CEO (or "Captain" as he prefers to be called) to start organising next year's Summer School...

Were you there? Did you have a good time? Hope to see you next time!

[Soundtrack: 'By Your Side' by CocoRosie]