Spotlight On The Seller... A Royal Fit

Once upon a time, not too long a go, a little Princess turned 1. Her loving Mummy wanted to create her something special to wear to celebrate and that she could keep forever. "A crown would be adorable!" exclaimed the Princess' Mummy and so, set to work at her sewing machine. A short time passed and a lovely little crown made from felt was created. This crown was worn at a the Princess' birthday party and then for the official first birthday photoshoot.

The Princess' Mummy shared this picture with her friends and family, and pretty soon was asked to make more special crowns for those closest to the family. This interest gave Mummy an idea... why not make this a business? Shortly after, test trading began.

By October, Mummy had people she'd never met before trying to order crowns for their little Princes and Princesses. Once it was proven that there was a business to grow, it all became official.

 
This little business is now known as A Royal Fit, run by Mummy, Sophie Ratchford. You can find crowns, bows, flowers and party hats in Fabrication or on Etsy and Facebook. You can also follow A Royal Fit on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Spotlight On The Seller... Lovely Cosmetics

Lovely is a natural skincare company based in Sheffield. Our skincare is natural, cruelty-free and just a little bit out of the ordinary. We got a bit fed up with natural skincare giving us the same old essential oil-based floral or herbal perfume blends, and decided to do something a bit different. 

Our range consists of body, face, hand and feet treatments, but the products that we love most are our lip balms. From deliciously edible vanilla & honey (our Honey Honey lip balm) to fresh and zesty gin & tonic (our Skin & Tonic lip balm), there's something for everyone. How about Peppermint Dream, a tingly peppermint lip repair formula? Avocado oil and beeswax repair the cracks and chaps in your lips. Or if you're craving happy hour, try I Should Coco, our coconut martini masterpiece. Vanilla and coconut extract will make you feel like you're on a caribbean beach! And last but not least there's Peanut Flutter peanut butter and vanilla lip balm, made with real peanut butter.

We also make three lip colours set in a moisturising avocado oil base, and flavoured with sweet orange essential oil, for colour that cares for your lips. Flamingo is a natural pink, Snow White is a muted rosebud red, or Volcanic is a fiery orangey red.

And if your lips need a little more attention, try Wicked, our chocolate fudge lip scrub. If you have any flaky skin on your lips, take a small amount of this cocoa and honey sugar scrub and buff it in, then lick it off (yes, really!), and pick any lip balm to follow.

Spotlight On The Seller... Twisted Earth Ceramics

 Richard is a local ceramic artist from Twisted Earth Ceramics. 

He creates a range of one off characterful animal sculptures, using a range of techniques to build his pieces, which are carefully detailed. The use of mixed medium which often includes metals, fibres & wood, compliment the often rustic and/or colourful glazes, that make every sculpture really stand out. 

Richard is taking commissions of his customers own pets, who want a sculpture of their best friend, that will last a lifetime. He has examples of various cats and dogs in particular, which can be viewed on his Facebook page, Twisted Earth Ceramics.

Spotlight On The Seller... Brownfish Designs

Hi there, my name is Jo Brown and I am based in my home town of Stocksbridge, North Sheffield.

Having always enjoyed painting, drawing and all things arty I dipped my toe into the world of beading and became totally hooked! Realising quite quickly that the constraints of following a set pattern were not for me, I began experimenting with silversmithing and metal jewellery design. I combine a wide range of techniques and materials to produce totally unique pieces.

My love of collecting and recycling ensures that no two items can ever be totally the same. Self taught and never planning, I simply go with the artistic flow.  My collections are guided by the treasures I find.

In addition to Fabrication, Leeds I also display at The Arthouse Deli and Gallery, Penistone, The Cooper Gallery, Barnsley and The House of Eccentricity, Holmfirth. My work is also available online at www.brownfishdesigns.co.uk

I sincerely hope that people take as much pleasure from wearing my jewellery as I do in creating it!

Fabrication Magazine SS15

 back in November I decided it would be really great to have an instore magazine, so here it is Fabrication magazine SS15

Spotlight On the Seller...Rachel Byass

I am based in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, where I have a Ceramic “Paint your own Pottery” studio that seats 28 people. My Love for Ceramics, Pottery and Art started at school where I did pottery and art as much as I could. I went on to study Horticulture, where my love for flower painting on any surface began as we had to draw/paint flowers in our coursework.

 I started doing my pottery as a hobby from a loft conversion where I made lots of styles of pottery for fun both on my own and with my son and other children, as then I was a child minder, and we all had fun. A friend of mine asked me what I did with all the pottery and she offered to hold a pottery party, getting my first shop order and some customers wanting to collect my pots and have a party in their own home and I have never looked back.

 I started my pottery business full time 30 years ago doing party planning and having a rep selling into shops. I loved it so much, mainly the surface designs and painting flowers and designs in underglazes, that I had others wanting to do it for fun. I decided to teach it and completed 8 certifications worldwide in Ceramics, pottery and decorative art, which then enabled me to teach others. I started evening classes and within weeks it went mad. I decided to get a 3000 sq feet warehouse and classroom area and ran night and day classes and manufactured pottery shapes, supplying other pottery’s with shapes to paint and teaching the Duncan certification for Duncan based in USA, After a few years I decided to run a high st shop “Posh pots”, in Pontefract, which I had for 4 years selling my pottery and running craft and pottery classes.

 I liked teaching the best so I eventually closed my high st shop and went on the road, travelling throughout the USA and Europe teaching all my techniques and writing books and articles on pottery. I did this for 8 years and became well known for teaching different techniques and working for a lot of the main pottery suppliers, developing tools and products for the industry.

After a few years I decided to stay home and go back to teaching from my old mill next to the house and go back into shops so I could get back to painting finished pottery. We decided to extend the studio which now has a lovely upstairs with a lot of glass which is great for the classes we do. 

  

One of the most rewarding things is passing on the skills I have to all ages as well as special needs, and seeing people self esteem grow. I go into schools, colleges and nursing homes teaching pottery, art and ceramics and its amazing to see what people can do. The studio has lots of fun events doing children's birthday parties, hen night's and ladies nights and they all go down well. There is an online shop as well as a gift shop in the studio where I sell my paintings, finished gift-ware pottery and paint your own pottery kits to take home.

Last year I did a lot of decorative art classes and had my own brush line made which has been an ambition of mine for a long time and they have gone down well. I hope to do classes in the fabrications at some point and also the baby prints.

I feel really lucky that I have a job that I love and still get exited every time I open the kiln.