craft
Birthday number 3
It’s my third birthday in the studio / shop at Manchester Craft and Design Centre and I still love it like it’s day one.
I am so appreciative of all the lovely customers I’ve had over those years and all the appreciation, feedback, encouragement and odd conversations, I’ve had a few good odd ones! It’s great to see how people react to the work and the unexpected ways that links them to it. It’s been great to develop collage commissions with people, assembling and archiving their treasured paper memories. And it’s been brilliant to make bespoke jewellery, tailored to people’s wants, tastes and budgets!
Thank you everyone who has stepped into my little space and enjoyed being there! Your support means I can keep doing what I was made to do! Thank you x
Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fair
Come and join me at the next show I will be exhibiting at, The Little Northern, sister to the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in October, is a lovely one-day event. I will be exhibiting both my jewellery and cards along side around 40 carefully selected designer-makers and artists, taking high quality contemporary craft into the suburbs of South Manchester and Cheshire
Sunday 7 May 2017
Altrincham Town Hall
10.30am to 4.30pm
March Meet The Maker 2017
So I took part in #MarchMeetTheMaker on Instagram again this year and I thought I’d share a selection here . . .
Can’t live without . . .
My riveting tool.
Apart from my family, my fella, the support of customers and admirers, my hands, my daydreaming , etc etc! Thought I’d keep this one basic! I do love that tool and have been using it for 20 years now!
I discovered recently I have an ancestor, in one census he was a riveters helper, in the next a riveter, yes!
Me. . .
… this is me! At my bench. A place I love to be.
Favourite to make . . .
New things! Shouldn’t be showing this really as I haven’t got far with it at all. Currently playing with stone setting, which has been on my list for years, some of these stones I’ve had since I was studying! My vision is greater than the results so far, so much more to do. Eek!!
Workspace . . .
We have pretty small workspaces at the craft centre to give room for shop area, so it has to be well organised to make the most of it and i have to say it does work perfectly, it’s my favourite studio of all the studios I’ve had.
Organised . . .
A bit of the organisation I mentioned above. I (conveniently!) love drawers, boxes, tins!
Inspiration . . .
History / People / Stories
Old buildings & Details
Found things
Paper Books & Documents
Non precious becoming precious
Beautiful mysteries
Sketchbook . . .
I don’t get much time to work in a sketchbook these days but since I graduated I’ve maintained a collection of soft back a4 with cartridge paper (same paper as I roll print with). They’re a mix of workings out, off cuts, repeated drawn shapes, scribbles and lots of designs I’ve scribbled onto the nearest bit of file paper then masking taped into the book!
Work clothes . . .
I can wear whatever I want for work. It’s often grey with stripes or holes, as long as it’s warm, I’ve had lots of studios over time and they have all been cold, some really cold!
Brand image. . .
My logo which is simply my name handwritten and a rather large pile of postcards with their lovely layered old edges, which isn’t technically my branding, but it is very relevant!
Where . . .
For the last year and a half I have been making and selling from my lovely studio / shop upstairs at Manchester Craft & Design Centre, and it is perfect, I really feel my years of being a jeweller makes sense working in this way.
How it’s made . . .
I do plenty roll printing, everything gets roll printed with cartridge paper to give a warm texture referring to the postcards and the paper with these unique prints are then used in my collages.
Feedback . . .
I spent many years in a studio making and sending my work out with no feedback and it took me a while to pick up courage to take my work to fairs, I was not confident in my work for years. Now I find myself in a studio that’s also a shop. We all get to hear, quite a lot! I am developing a thick skin! Some don’t say anything, that’s fine. Some make comments that are really useful or interesting, and some are . . . ! I also get such treats like people coming with a box of perfect ephemera they want to give me, amazing! And some are gorgeous people like the couple who recently bought a necklace and then came back the next day and left with a collage, (My favourite too!) and I’m so chuffed it now lives with them in their lovely home in Germany. They even took the time to send me this photo of it amongst some lovely intriguing other works. Thank you! This kindness keeps me (us?) going. Our work doesn’t end when you wrap it up for someone, it starts its journey.
You’re invited!
MCDC Christmas Event
We launch Christmas at MCDC on Saturday 19th November and we would love you all to come along!
We will then be open 7 days a week until Christmas, our last day is Christmas Eve when we close at 3pm
MCDC Christmas Event
Saturday 19th November 2016
Live festive music between 2 – 5 pm (we are open 10 – 5.30pm)
#MemoriesAreMadeHere
You can follow me on:
Instagram @clarehillerby
Facebook @clarehillerbyjewellery
Twitter @clarehillerby
. . . for new pieces being created for my studio / shop along the way to Christmas #inmycabinets
Buy Art Fair down and done
Buy Art Fair finished last night and it has all come down and done for another year now. So just a few details of some collages made for Buy Art Fair and the stand itself. I’ve more new collages in the shop, hanging them today, so come and have a look!
HAND
“Ideas travel, and HAND.01, a packable, refillable, paper-topped modular table from emergent British design studio HAND and paper pioneers G.F Smith, has been designed to ensure that inspiration is captured wherever it strikes.
Manchester Craft & Design Centre has joined forces with HAND Srudio to capture the creativity of the Centre’s Resident Makers and other creatives from across Manchester, and to celebrate craft, collaboration and the heritage of MCDC.
A total of 49 artists have used HAND.01 to create 49 customised pieces of work which, when collated, will form a large mural representing an iconic section of MCDC.”
HAND CRAFT
08.09.16 – 30.10.16
#HandCraftMcr
