“Each of my textile pieces is completely unique and all the parts that make up the whole are hand-made by me.
I am excited by the use of colour and the unexpected results that I get when hand-colouring fabrics. I use various colouring techniques which include break-down printing, mono printing, various discharge techiniques as well as block printing and shibori techniques. I then start to build up texture with the addition of felted fleece and hand and machine embroidery”.
Anne has had her shop open on etsy since 2009 and is based in Northampton, England.
Rachel is a ceramicist, potter, classically trained musician and master of steel pan playing. One of the reasons that she began learning and practicing with ceramics is because she gained a connection with it – Something she never really had with music. Music is a performance art whereas being able to create an object, you can play around with it until your happy with it and it is a lot less stressful. She has been working with ceramics for about 2 years and has been using various different aspects of life to inspire her.
Rachel often suffers from insomnia and it is during these times, when she is laying in bed or day dreaming, that she comes up with most of her ideas for pots. Coming up with ideas can be quite tricky as she really wanted to create things that nobody had done before.
My name is Kerry, I am happily married with three beautiful grown up children and I live in a beautiful coastal town in Dorset, UK. I am a crochet pattern designer and create crochet baby hats, crochet adult hats, crochet cowls, crochet blankets and all sorts of colourful patchwork and crochet patterns.
My patterns are unique. My passion is to design top quality and easy to follow crochet patterns, including lots of details and photo tutorials to show you exactly where to place your hook and change your colour. I also include a stitch guide to explain how to make any stitch used in the pattern. I grade most of my patterns as ‘Easy’ If you can make basic stitches you will be able to follow my patterns ?
I learned to crochet and knit when I was 12 years old by my grandmother and her sisters who all lived together. I loved going round to visit their cosy little house after school, to sit in front of the warm open coal fire, being spoilt by three little old ladies with hot chocolate, biscuits and my ‘crochet lessons’. I remember there was always little piles of tiny weeny baby cardigans and hats neatly piled on the arms of the chair, freshly knitted that day. I remember the sound of their needles clicking as they all worked and chattered away! ? They are very happy memories and perhaps thats why I still have the love and passion for it today.
I have always been a bit of a crafty girl, I can remember being taught to knit on big chunky wooden needles when I was about 6 and was the very proud owner of a vintage Singer Sewing machine at 9. I have always loved colour and turning old things into something new, long before up-cycling became the thing to do!!
When I had my little boy I decided I wanted to be a stay at home mum as didn’t want to miss a minute. When it came for me to have time to do something that fitted in with being a mummy I started a successful cake making business (Mummy Cupcakes) We then decided to move from Brighton along the south coast to Bournemouth. As we had a massive refurbishment project to do on the house I put Mummy Cupcakes on hold .
When we got to the point that the house was nearly finished I decided not to continue with cakes and try my hand at something different. I started making hand poured shaped crayons and designing colouring sheets using my own character’s which then turned into cards, prints……..and more. So that is how ‘Doodle Dot’ got to be part of the family.
At Doodle Dot as well as offering a design service for other small businesses we create fun and colourful gift and greetings cards. All of our range is handmade and packaged in the studio in our garden. We design all our own characters and use them across our range of cards, gifts and hand painted magical doors. We have lots of new ideas in the pipeline and would love for Doodle Dot to be a brand in its own right.
The Stitchery Dorset started in November 2015, and they are so pleased that there small business is growing from strength to strength. As the company name suggests they are a small sewing business run from there home in the lovely county of Dorset UK.
To provide quality, different home made items, take a walk away from the conventional and have some fun!
“Sarah (me/I) have been sewing for many years, my love for fabric and haberdashery is great. I am so lucky to have access to such beautiful fabrics, and I am always on the lookout for more … you can never have too much fabric. My partner Tim helps me with the cutting out, stock control and shipping, together with our lovely daughters we make a great family team.”
My interest in the Dorset Button industry was developed during my time as Chairman of two museums – Shaftesbury Abbey Museum & Garden and Gold Hill Museum.
Social history has always been an interest of mine and Dorset Buttons stemmed from this interest. Having read the available history on these small simple buttons, and seen them in museum collections, I realised how important they were in shaping the livelihoods of ordinary people living in East Dorset. This interest grew into a passion and I not only learnt how to make Dorset Buttons, but also researched their history and the impact of national events on this cottage industry.
Grazyna is not only a potter, but also a tutor, and she became interested in pottery whilst dabbling with many forms of art during a successful career as a qualified teacher of adults, early years and running the West Moors Pre-School. After attending pottery classes as a hobby for many years in Fordingbridge with Val Murphy, she decided to improve her skills in ceramics by concentrating on making pottery.
“I have been ‘playing with clay’ for about seven years during which time I’ve become really interested in pottery and ceramic sculpture. So back in 2008, I took the plunge and had a studio built in the garden by the amazing Terry Boyd whose purpose built design studio has been brilliant. Of course, garden studio sounds too posh so the family just refer to it endearingly as the “potting shed”.
You can “have a go” at a pottery experience day where you can try throwing and hand building, designing whatever you want. This day very fun and creative and aims to interest beginners and new comers in taking regular pottery sessions tailored to how and what you want to learn. Everything you need is included.
All Woodside pottery is handmade and unique and their is an online shop in which you can buy pottery items made by Grazyna or even better, come for the “have a go” day and try and make them yourself!
The studio is fairly small and provides an excellent space to learn pottery, but it is open on a bookings only basis. So please get in touch before you come to visit us.
