How resin is fast becoming a versatile, inexpensive craft material of choice

What comes to mind when you think of a cottage industry? Maybe it’s a gentle-faced woman, hands rough through many years of hard work, spinning peacefully and quietly in a small nook of her overcrowded home. Maybe a group of similarly clad women might come to your thoughts, chatting and sharing their joys and worries as they dextrously manipulate their lace bobbins. Or maybe it’s more up to date; a friend of yours whose online handmade soap and bath bomb business started at her kitchen table. Or a potter with a kiln in the back garden, decorating a set of crockery before the next craft fair. The great news is that all manner of cottage industries have survived and thrived throughout the ages and with the ever-expanding range of textiles, tools and raw materials which can be used in our homes, they are set to continue to be an income of choice for many.

One material that is becoming an increasingly popular choice for crafters is resin. Natural resin is not a new substance; it can be found in the bark of trees, in herbal flowers and the buds of some shrubs. The ancient Greeks used it for oral hygiene, chewing it for its antibacterial properties. Other ancient civilisations used it as a fixative for weapons. However, it was not until the 1930s that resin composites were discovered and their commercialisation began. Since then, we’ve seen it used in a vast array of products, from aeronautical and marine components, and industrial and electronic applications, to the everyday adhesives and coatings we find in our homes. While it is utilised extensively in industrial settings, it can also be used in non-factory locations and thus lends itself to the cottage industry of the twenty-first century.

There are numerous types of resin composite, but epoxy resin, used initially for dental and industrial purposes, became popular within the art community in the 1940s and 1950s. Whereas plastic requires heat to fashion it into the required shape, the resin can simply be poured into a mould and left to harden; a chemical reaction, rather than heat, causes this to happen. One niche market that has made excellent use of this is the miniature reproduction model industry. Cast your mind back for a minute to the last time you saw a model railway. Focus on the tiny, perfectly constructed houses, complete with fine detail brickwork, roofing tiles, vintage features and roses around the door. It is the resin that allows for such keen attention to detail. Resin miniatures are also essential now in the world of fantasy or historical modelling, an area in which there has been a resurgence since the rise in popularity of games such as War Hammer. Dungeons and Dragons has also undergone a resurgence in the number of young players, and while many play online, there are in-person games too. Part of the delight of these is the huge range of exquisitely detailed miniatures available.

Away from the gaming and miniature modelling world, the use of resin in creating handmade jewellery in the UK has opened up a wonderful plethora of creative opportunities. With the addition of powders and colours, glitter and botanicals, the sky’s the limit when it comes to creating a unique range of jewellery. If you are new to resin and considering stepping out and starting your own business selling handmade jewellery in the UK, there are a plethora of tutorials and blogs online to inform and encourage you. While resin is generally easy to source and use, you will need to become familiar with the different types of composite and which ones are needed for a particular use or product. For example, a casting resin, used to pour into a mould to create a ring or pendant is different to a resin used to coat a surface with a glossy finish. If you have not experimented already, have a go and have some fun!

Another advantage of building a resin-based business is that it requires relatively low start-up costs. You will need some basic resin supplies and a few tools, but this really can fit around your budget, meaning you can start with what you can afford. Much of your initial promotion and selling can be done online at minimal cost to yourself. You will need to ensure that you have the correct craft insurance in place, both for selling online and if and when you branch out into craft fairs and markets. As a family business ourselves, specialising in craft insurance for several decades, we have learnt from those who have gone before us and are continually listening to and learning from our customers. As such, we are confident that we can talk you through the insurance needs of your business and offer you a package suited to your unique circumstances. Pick up the phone or drop us a line; we look forward to hearing from you.

As we continue to look towards times of financial squeezing, many are looking for ways to supplement their income. Customers are also looking for gifts within a tighter budget. Using resin to create stunning and unique handmade jewellery could tick both boxes. As we have recognised in previous blogs, the handmade jewellery UK market is fairly full, but given the small financial investment required, it is something to consider. Have a go at designing something unique … take a look at what is already out there and go for something different. Develop your range of products. With Christmas not too far away, gorgeous jewellery that won’t break the bank may well be the answer for many a shopper.

We’ve only touched here on a few of the multitude of uses for resin. It is an amazingly adaptable and versatile substance and in the hands of a creative and resourceful individual could prove the foundation for a flourishing cottage industry whose products will delight many.

Social media plays a huge part in most of our lives and the majority of us are aware of Facebook and LinkedIn. However, those of us who hail from the older generations might not be quite as conversant with new players on the social media block. One such player, it would be fair to say, has shaken up everything in its field (and in the world of crafting too) becoming a major player on the social media scene. I am of course referring to TikTok.

The rise of TikTok

The reason why TikTok has become so popular is that it works purely on a short-form video format. In other words, you don’t need to write anything to get your point across, you can just make a video about it. This has meant that there is a whole new audience out there to reach and also to view. Initially, people used TikTok to put out amusing videos about aspects of their lives or even their pets’ lives. This has given rise to an army of content creators who are all vying for the attention of the public and an ocean of entertainment for young people to dive into, only to surface at mealtimes!

However, this social aspect has started to run alongside the business applications of the app as well.  Goods and services can easily be promoted through TikTok without the need to spend any larger amount of money on advertising and marketing. The question of Where to sell handmade crafts UK-wide or anywhere else for that matter has another answer: it can be sold on the internet via a TikTok account.

What is TikTok exactly and how can it help you?

It was created in September 2016 by a Chinese company called Bytedance and allows users to make and share videos over a short period. The average length of these videos is anywhere between 15 to 60 seconds, which might be a contributory factor to short attention spans.  There is also the option to discover new videos as well as make them, enabling people to spend entire evenings watching short TikTok videos instead of regular television. TikTok has captured the younger market initially as it seemed like a good alternative to Facebook which had become dominated by older generations. However, the same situation (the encroachment of savvy oldies) has begun to occur with TikTok and a more mature audience is beginning to understand the technology and use it to its advantage.  As with any social media, the algorithms behind the app begin to sense what the viewer likes to watch.  Every time that someone is on the app it registers what they have seen and begins to offer these as a preference later on. Therefore, if you produce a video based around your crafting there is an excellent chance that people who have already viewed it once or viewed similar content will be directed to you again.  This means that the question of where to sell handmade crafts in the UK, or internationally, becomes considerably easier as you will be reaching your target audience without even having to look for them. If you can produce a TikTok video of you making something, rather than having to reach out to your existing and potential customers, there’s a good chance that they will come to you.

The advantage of TikTok is that it features a particularly user-friendly interface so that it is simple to pick up quickly and use effectively. It also has a wide back catalogue of visual and sound effects that you can utilise and, if your video is picked up by a considerable amount of people, it offers the chance for an idea to become viral quickly and reach huge numbers, globally, in a relatively short space of time.

This gives the crafter an immense opportunity to be able to sell and exhibit their wear without even having to leave their crafting studio.  We have already talked about the advantages of having an online shop for your products, but this is one way to enhance sales dramatically.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be able to take people through your process? Many people ask if they can see how you create your work. It’s not the case of revealing secrets, but simply showing people how you can achieve the wonderfully artistic results that you do. With TikTok, you can begin to show people how you produce a piece of work and if you have already sold something you can review the stages of the commission to your customer as you go through.

TikTok acts as a marketing tool so people can see the amount of work, effort, skill and love that you put into everything that you produce. This will convince them that your product is worth purchasing because it has so much credibility behind it. The premise would be that you would release a short video at each stage of your production or produce a longer video and fast-forward the process with additional captions to show where you are in the making of the product. Given TikTok’s global reach, the possibility of being able to show your work to people outside of the UK and beyond becomes an actual reality. It also allows you to be able to communicate with people who are doing similar work in our country and beyond.

If you can follow the principles of using TikTok and make sure that you consistently put out videos with content, you will begin to gain a following. People will want to know where your products are, so knowing where to sell handmade crafts (UK) becomes a much easier prospect. Watching the platform will also allow you to understand what trends are out there and what your contemporaries are creating so that you can adapt or follow suit.

Using TikTok will allow you to be able to become part of a much wider community and also allow you to influence others in what they make and produce. The short videos will also bring authenticity to your work that simply inviting someone around your workshop or merely talking about at a craft fair could never hope to reach in the numbers that this platform can.

Imagine for a moment…an autumnal afternoon is drawing to a close; dusk is gently falling and the skies are changing from a clear blue to a soft grey. Outside you can hear the chatter of children as they head back home after an afternoon of sport or playing in the park, soaking in the last rays of warm sunshine before the winter sets in. You make a steaming mug of tea and sink into your favourite old, comfortable, overstuffed armchair. Maybe you pull a throw around you as you settle into down-filled cushions. The chair enfolds you. Peace permeates your soul. This is your small space of comfort and restoration.

Many of us have a favourite chair. When we are invited into a friend’s home, we may well ask where we should sit, conscious that some chairs may be inhabited by particular family members. We may have childhood memories of curling up in a specific chair, reading, listening to stories or sitting on a parent’s knee. Or we may have memories of rocking or cuddling our babies or small children in a special chair. We might welcome a new foster or adopted child into our family by placing a small chair in their bedroom, a safe space that is just for them. At the other end of life’s rich spectrum, Granny and Grandad will almost always have their chair, complete with an ideally sized cushion and a small table at hand on which to place drinks, books, a crossword or whatever else will minimise the amount of walking required. Most of us will have fond memories of grandparents in their chairs. Whatever our own stories, chairs will often be woven into our history.

Upholstery in our modern era can be traced back to Elizabethan times when wealthier families began to have cushions stuffed with natural products such as hay or feathers which were laid upon a wooden chair and roughly tacked into place. It wasn’t until the seventeenth century that stitched edging appeared. This paved the way for the beginning of upholstery as we know it today with some elaborate and ornate designs, maybe as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation. Since then, we have followed a continuous and fascinating thread of fashion in furniture and upholstery design.

Much more recently, the concept of upcycling has become popular; not only making use of and recycling otherwise obsolete items but also increasing their value. The skillful craft of upholstery lends itself particularly well to upcycling and it’s an area where the concept is not new. Over the last couple of decades, as we have become more aware of our responsibility to walk more lightly on our beautiful earth, upcycling upholstery has seen a resurgence in popularity. It is also a way to breathe a new lease of life into items of much-loved family furniture, and to bring objects of charm into our homes; beautifully handmade in the United Kingdom.

What starts with a skill may turn into a passion and from there into a flourishing business. If you are considering this pathway for yourself, there are a few basic questions that might help to set you off in the best direction for your unique skill set, personality and location. Maybe the first consideration might be whether you want to market your skills per se or start your own upcycling business. If the former, you may think about offering a restoration service to places such as the National Trust, stately homes or antique dealers. If this sounds like a good fit for you, the next step could be to do some research; and find out what other upholstery restoration services are in your area and what prices they charge. Then make contact with some antique dealers, auction houses or organisations that take care of antique furniture.

Another avenue would be to start your own business to upcycle furniture; either items belonging to your clients or items you have bought, re-upholster and then sell on. There are various blogs and websites out there giving detailed instructions on how to go about setting up your own crafting business, but here are a few basic tips. Firstly, you don’t need your separate workspace; many businesses selling unique handmade products in the United Kingdom have grown from the humble kitchen table. You will need a basic set of tools and sources of fabrics, wax finishes, paints etc., so it is worth researching these to ensure you invest wisely. Check out what other upholstery businesses are in your area, what services they offer and their pricing.

Write down your vision. It is always good to have something to aim for and even though your business will inevitably change and adapt over time, having a written vision statement to look back on when you meet those “crossroads moments” can be very helpful.

You will need to set your new upholstery enterprise on a secure business footing, and part of this is ensuring you have the correct insurance. As a family-run business ourselves, we understand both the unique opportunities and challenges of small businesses and would love to hear about your business and talk you through the best policies for your requirements. Pick up the phone or send us a message and we’ll take it from there.

Maybe you already have a flourishing upholstery enterprise and are ready to expand your boundaries. It could be the time for a website and social media update. Be confident in what you do. You will be bringing life back into items of furniture that may otherwise have been cast aside; make sure your sustainability credentials are prominent on your site. Reach out to customers who might be looking to have some of their own family favourites reupholstered; if you take on commissions in this way, it’s a good idea to send photos and updates of progress. Finally, don’t forget to extravagantly populate your website with amazing photos of your stunning upcycled upholstery. Be bold as you promote your work, part of our ever-growing and spectacular lineup of handmade products from the United Kingdom.

Autumn brings with it a subtle change in the air; blue-skied mornings with a distinct chill that hits us as we walk out of our homes and embrace a new day. Autumn is traditionally the season of abundance, where hedgerows are laden, cottage gardens overflow with prolific produce and fields bear the satisfying stubble of recently harvested grain or hay. Early autumn brings a riot of colour to our flower beds, as purple and blue Michaelmas daisies stand tall amidst gaudy red and orange nasturtiums, deep pink sedum attracts a continuous bevvy of butterflies and late roses add their more gentle scent and colour tones.

Woodland walks are a forager’s joy, with nuts, berries and many other nutritious and delicious finds. It is the season for mushrooms and the variety of colour, texture and shape of these are a constant source of wonder. Orchards are laden with apples, again of infinite colour tones and variety. For those living near the sea, autumn tides and stronger winds add to the seasonal interest and constantly changing seascape. Autumnal walks are a delight for both young and old. For children, our wayside lanes, canal paths and woodlands are a natural playground, with blackberry-stained hands and mouths, and pockets filled with conkers bringing joy to modern-day children just as they have throughout the centuries.

Autumn is also a season of preparation, both in the animal kingdom where we may spy squirrels hiding away their secret stores of nuts or notice winter plumage fluffing up our garden birds. For centuries it has also been a busy time of preparation for our ancestors, too. When supermarkets could not be relied upon for a year-round supply of food, extended families and communities would work together to bring in and store the harvest, ready to keep them through the long winter months. This may sound idyllic now, but it was arduous work as men and boys laboured long hours in the fields and women and girls bottled fruit, made chutneys and jams, salted meat, spun honey and made cold storage clamps for root vegetables alongside all their other work. It is no wonder that the village harvest festivals were such a time of celebration.

While many of these skills are not practised regularly anymore, they are not lost completely and as we are arguably living in an increasingly unstable world, it may be that there is a resurgence in these homesteading skills. Alongside this, there does seem to be a desire to reconnect with the natural seasons and to build up community networks. From city dwellers to those living in the remote Isles of northern Scotland, we can all be a part of this gradual movement towards self-reliance, home and local community.

Also nationwide, autumn is the time we shift our focus from summer outdoor living into our homes, with cosy fireside or candle-lit evenings, mugs of tea and hot crumpets around the kitchen table and the warmth of friendship. And crafters yet again are placed at the vanguard of this shift. Crafters not only have the skills to provide products beautifully handmade in the UK with which to adorn our homes, but we can also provide the community networks to gather in. And, we can teach and inspire others as resourceful and resilient small business owners.

The abundance and variety of autumn has always been an inspiration for the cfreative crafting community. Whether it’s autumn-inspired front door wreaths, bursting either with finds directly from outside such as pine cones, dried fruit, flowers and berries, or with knitted or crocheted leaves, acorns and pumpkins. Using similar materials, mobiles are a beautiful addition not only to a child’s room but to anywhere in a home.

For those of us who work with ceramics, autumn inspires candle lanterns or holders that are rich in colour and texture? These are guaranteed to bring a warm and inviting atmosphere to our lengthening evenings. 

It can be fun to add an autumn theme to our home decor, and this can be done by pulling out rugs to sling on the back of chairs, inviting a guest to curl up and enjoy a cosy evening of company and chatter. The colour and texture palette of blankets inspired by nature offer infinite variety and appeal and will bring delight to your customers. Cushions too can be a delightful addition to a living room, bringing accents of the outdoors inside. Children as well as adults will enjoy the rhythm of pulling out a seasonal cushion of two; something to consider when making whatever textiles you work with.

For customers with a smaller budget, fun mushroom or pumpkin-shaped pincushions are a tempting buy, to encourage them in their autumn crafting. And as our focus shifts more to evenings spent indoors, maybe you could put together some craft kits to encourage your customers to learn or practise a crafting skill at home. For complete novices or those who want to refresh their skills, you could think about offering workshops alongside this.

With cooler, darker evenings, a warm bath may be very inviting and what better way to enhance this indulgence than with some handmade soap or beautifully scented bath bombs? Autumn scents and colours lend themselves to these, with rich pumpkin spice and cinnamon to add fragrance and star anise or fallen leaves to decorate. To continue this theme, handmade beeswax candles are a must during our autumnal evenings, enticing in both colour and aroma.

As well as adorning our homes with some autumnal accents, your customers too will need to dress for the cooler weather, and what better way to slip into this than with a few gorgeously coloured and textured seasonal items? Brown acorns, deep red berries, golden leaves, and orange pumpkins can all inspire an infinite variety of fun and elegant earrings. For those with knitting or crocheting businesses, shawls, jumpers and socks in autumnal shades are guaranteed to tempt and inspire.

So, amidst your busy lives, try to find time to get outdoors and be inspired by the stunning autumn landscape, ready to create your beautifully handmade UK products.