Coming soon - Festival of Quilts stand E16!
Oh yes, it is that time of year again as I gear up for Festival of Quilts. The show runs from Thursday 30th July to Sunday 2nd August at the NEC, Birmingham and is the biggest quilt show in Europe.
It is, by some distance, my biggest event of the year. I didn’t take a stand last year because of the house move. I took a stand this year because I expected the house move to be done. It isn’t but that is a whole depressing blog post that you don’t want me to write! So my stand this year is, along with the InStitches stand, adjacent to The Creative Textile Studio which Hazel, Terry and myself run. We’re really grateful to the show organisers for agreeing to put our stands next to the studio. It makes running the studio easier but, more importantly, it extends the demonstrating area as I will be breakdown printing on my stand for the full four days and Hazel / Terry will be using thermal screens and textile inks on theirs.
The most important thing that I’m working on right now is a new book ‘Breakdown Printing’ which I will launch at the show. Details to follow but I’m really excited about it!
Around the book work, I’m getting everything else ready which includes buying in more stock of dyes, chemicals, screens etc. and there have been a couple of changes. The big one, that actually makes me rather sad, is that the UK manufacturer of wood-framed screens that I’ve used for years has closed down. They were the last manufacturer in the UK but struggled with the double hit of increased costs and decreased demand as more schools and colleges replace screen printing with digital printing. The good news, I found a manufacturer in Spain who ships to the UK so I will have lots of screens to sell at Festival. The bad news - a price increase particularly on the smallest sized frame. I’ll set the exact price once they have been delivered and I know the customs / duty / admin fees but I have had quotes from UK manufacturers of metal-framed screens and wood is still cheaper. In the meantime I still have a handful of screens in my online shop from the old supplier………
A small change has been to Soda Ash. I buy all my dyes and chemicals from Kemtex and they have seen interruptions in supply so have had to find a new manufacturer of Soda Ash. The change - the new stuff is significantly denser so if you use by volume (as I do) you will need to reduce how much you use. I used to use 3 heaped tablespoons per litre of water when making soda solution - I now use 2 heaped tablespoons. I’ve added a label to the packets to explain. If you buy from another retailer and it looks different, this is probably why.
And then there are Wonky Print Inspiration Packs and Absolutely Darling Hand Dyed Packs to make, leaflets to get printed, signage to print and laminate, stand ‘stuff’ to check and pack, and a whole bunch of boxes to tick!
If you’re at the show, please stop buy and say hello! (And maybe buy the new book ….)