My First Wedding Fayre

Tabley House

Last Sunday, I finally went to my first wedding fayre at Tabley House, Knutsford. I'd spent that long preparing for it that it seemed strange when the day finally came. My husband and sister volunteered to come along and help me out. It is a good job they did. When we finally found the carpark, it's not that well signposted once you enter the property, we found that the entrance was a lot further away than 50 yards. This meant that I could not carry a lot of my items in, because I'm not supposed to lift heavy objects.

Tabley House again

Tabley House is beautiful, and would be well worth a day out to look around the house. I was pleased when I found out that the majority of the wedding fayre would be held in the library. A stunning room that seemed to fit the day. I managed to get a good spot, and set up.

The day was worthwhile to network with other wedding providers and find out information from them. 'Hi' to those I spoke to, you'll find my twitter link in one of the tabs.

Lots of the brides where still at the beginning of their wedding planning journey. Some did not have a colour scheme yet, whereas others weren't sure about a date. It makes sense that a fayre will help them with ideas. Their excitement was contagious, and I enjoyed talking to everyone of them. There were more grooms around than I had expected, and obviously the brides would not look at my stall when he was with them.

I gave out lots of leaflets and buisness cards. The idea of recycling the wedding tiara into jewellery seemed to go down well, everybody liked the idea.

I believe that as a first wedding fayre for both me and Tabley House,  it was a success. Though I did not make any sales on the day, I am hopeful that those who I chatted to will contact me at a later date.

I've now booked a pre-prom pamper session in May, I've obviously got the fayre bug now.

 

 

 

Old Tiaras into New Jewellery



BEFORE - my wedding tiara

 

This week in preparation for Sunday, the wedding fayre at Tabley House, Knutsford, 12pm - 4pm, I have demolished my own wedding tiara. The thought came to me that you can spend an awful lot of money on something you will only really wear once. It's the kind of thing that you don't want to throw out because of the emotional attachment but its just taking up space.

I've decided to offer a service to make your old tiara into beautiful jewellery. It will cost approx. £10 for silver plated copper jewellery, more if sterling silver is required. I would have to see a photograph of your tiara to see if I can recycle the beads on it. Obviously, any bought from me can be recycled.


AFTER - a pretty necklace




AFTER: an elegant pair of earrings





I think they both turned out really well, and I can now wear something that does mean a lot to me. Though it felt a shame to take the tiara apart, it was definately worth it.



New Website and Steampunk

This week I to finish building my bridal accessories website. It took a long time to get it exactfinally managed ly how I wanted it. I've put a link to the website in my tabs at the top of this blog, or you can click here to access it.

I wanted it to be clear and simple to follow. I have divided the accessories by colour because when I was a bride I just wanted to find red accessories. I have also added a prom section, for the more unusual colours. A sterling silver section with gemstones seemed appropriate too.

It was suggested that I make some steampunk wedding items on #wedchat on Twitter. You may ask what is steampunk? Think Victorians having our modern technology but their technology is run using clockwork and steam engines. It started as a fiction genre and now is a big design trend. I had planned to make some, but not quite this soon. I researched what else was around and realised that there's not that many pretty steampunk items out there. The first thing I made was a hair comb, I decided on a valve motif to be a bit different.

I then decided to do a tiara with the same look. It turned out a lot prettier than I expected it too.



I thought I may as well do an entire set, so made a cute pair of valve earrings to go with the tiara and hair comb.

 

 

I am happy with the way they all turned out.

 

In other news, the first items that I  made back in October 2012 have now run out on Etsy. I have decided that any jewellery that runs out on Etsy will now be put on Folksy. The good thing about Folksy is that you don't have to register to buy anything on there. So far, some mobile phone charms and necklaces have been added to Folksy. I suspect the list will grow every week.

 



Bridal items

This week, I've mostly been concentrating on Bridal Jewellery and Tiaras. I've booked my first Wedding Fayre. It's on March 17th at Tabley House in Knutsford. This is apparantly a really nice old fashioned mansion type house that hosts weddings. Looks very pretty from the photos, and I am looking forward to it.

So I designed two new tiaras this week. The first was supposed to be a 1920s flapper style, but kind of morphed into a vintage Victorian style tiara. It still looks very pretty though, and I am really pleased with how it turned out. Especially seen as I was really worried halfway though making it because it was not 20s enough, just goes to show that you should always finish a piece you start as you may be pleasantly surprised.



 

The 2nd tiara I created used a variety of green beads, and I twirled the twisted wire to give a slightly different look. Instead of using beads on the headband, to finish I used a zig zag piece of silver plated green wire to give the tiara a modern look. I think it worked quite nicely. I call it a green and white tiara, because it is an uncomplicated style.

 

The jewellery I made speaks for itself really. See below for photographs of them.

 

Rainbow Moonstone and White Cultured Pearl Necklace

Rainbow Moonstone and White Cultured Pearl Sterling Silver Earrings

 

Peach Cultured Pearl Gold Plated Sterling Silver Earrings



 

Tiaras and Wirework

It's been a busy week, and I feel that I've been productive.

Yes, I'm now supporting this great charity. It makes dream weddings happen for those with terminal illnesses. A very worthwhile charity, and if my tiaras can help make that happen all the better.

I've made 2 tiaras this week. The first was made because I  wanted to use the roses I've had in my stash for a while and I was very pleased with the result. It looks quite impressive, as you can see.

The 2nd was prompted by a question from a potential customer. Do I do simple headbands? So, I rose to the challenge, and the result is very pretty. I've decided to offer it in any colour that a bride could want, another bespoke headband/tiara. I think it might also work for a prom, or any posh night out.

 

My next challenge was to make a wirework necklace. Previous blogs have shown my first attempts at wire wrapping, and I wanted to learn how to use my jig. I chose flowers because I thought it would look pretty. It was a learning curve, never use 0.6mm wire to do connectors because the item just falls apart. Below is the result, and I've already had a customer express interest in buying it.

 

 

That's all for this week, except we really enjoyed the snow here, it was very pretty.



Getting Romantic

I went to the job centre, and just needed to fill out a form to declare that I am now trading. So that meant I could make more jewellery without worrying about how it would affect me.

My first make this week is a 'Pink and white heart tiara'.I just thought that the colours looked that pretty together that it would be a shame not to make  something with them. It's my 2nd wedding anniversary on Friday, so my thoughts have turned more romantic recently. This meant that the first thing I thought of making was bridal wear. It is really pretty, and the photo does not do it justice. I decided to have a low price because I now how expensive weddings can be. A bargain at £22 plus p&p. I paid a whole lot more for mine, that was shop bought, and not as intricate! If only I knew then how to make my own tiara.