Shop Number 2, Clandestine plans In The Making (Shhh!) and New Works In Progress Too!

Where does the time go?

Artwork By Paula Harris - March 2013. 

We have been ultra busy in the Amethyst Studio this last fortnight. We have been busily creating new items for our summer collection, working on new canvasses and drawings for the original art works, and we have found a second online outlet for our wares.
Our work will now be available through our MISI store, you can see some of the items we have listed here on the widget at the side of this blog page (although please bear with us, the stock available on there is limited at the moment)

There are some exciting prospects in the pipeline for us and some of our fellow artists and crafty types over the next 12 months - we will be expanding the empire and edging ever closer toward world domination, although we can't go into too much detail about that right now,because the plans are all very hush-hush and secret so we'll keep it just between you and me for now, okay? :)
We will  however, be looking to include here some guest blogs and interviews from some of our friends who's work we know and love - so keep an eye out for that coming soon...

In the mean time, here are just some of the new works in progress and pieces we will be working on over the next few months

We have been racking our little designers brains to come up with some items that are more appealing to those who like accessories, but don't want anything too girly or bling. So, we are looking at designing a range around Hematite, Wood, Obsidian etc - incorporating a more masculine feel and hopefully appealing to a broader audience

Paula Harris - 2013

Like everyone else, we are sick of the cold dreary days and are all looking forward to the summer. Our thoughts have turned to warm beaches and relaxing in the sunshine. This bracelet is made using elastic so that it will fit larger wrists, and is easy to get on and off. It is great for beach wear and would look great on tanned skin.....

Paula Harris - 2013

Continuing the summer theme we are looking at using warm colours along side cooler silver and chrome tones. This wire wrapped piece will look great with a Maxi dress or gypsy top and is the epitome of boho style.

The copper coil necklace is evolving, we think that the addition of the focal piece has made this piece really pretty, again this style of necklace will complement practically any outfit and will look great against a tan. 

Sara and I have also been working our little socks making arrangements and new pieces for the summer events which are coming our way - the stock is growing daily! some of our new art pieces ( shown below) are already attracting attention on Facebook and Twitter, so we hope that when they are finished they will be sold in no time. 

This beautiful lady is going metallic! Best viewed in person, you can see the gold and silver high lights in her hair and the metallic purple background sets the whole thing off. She is set to be finished before the next blog so we should have a finished product to show you by then. 

Sara Young - 2013

This canvass is started with an acrylic swirl background - some have suggested that the foreground needs to be a TARDIS - let us know what you think......

Paula Harris - 2013

Paula Harris - 2013

I have been playing with some sketches  and stencils (exploring a street art theme - watch this space for more on that!) and have framed some older pieces to bring them a little more up to date 

Paula Harris - 2013

  

Paula Harris 2013

This is a small clue to the next piece that I will be creating, again - keep an eye on the blog for updates and new work.

Paula Harris - 2013

Along with all of this, we are including some fabric crafts in to our repertoire, but that is a whole other blog topic...

New Events, New Toys, New Items And A Give Away In The Folksy Store!!

Things are moving very quickly for us all at the Amethyst Studio's this year, and this week has been no exception. Not only do we have the fabulous Summer on the lawn event at Bletchley Park to look forward to, we have also been invited to take part in two more craft events - both being held at Milton Keynes Museum.

So to celebrate our progress, we have decided to have a little give-away at the Folksy shop! www.folksy.com/shops/AmethystSky
The first 5 people to 'favourite' our shop will receive this lovely Tree of Life pendant as a thank you gift.

All you have to do is follow the link above to our shop, click 'Favourite' and then send us a message through the store (There is an option to contact the seller on the side of the page) either giving us your address to send the pendant to, or an email address where we can contact you for further details. 

Good luck! x

In June this year the museum will be hosting a Country Fair, which will incorporate lots of different types of crafts, including ours, and we will also be attending the Victorian Christmas Market again in December. We couldn't be more excited!

If you would like to keep up to date with the museum and it's events do have a look at their face book page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Milton-Keynes-Museum

There are several new art works in progress too (which I will be updating the blog with later in the week) and Sara has been playing with a new little anvil, which was kindly made for her by Nicholas Packham who's work and art you can find here: http://www.ngp-artist-and-blacksmith.co.uk/

We recently acquired some copper wire and Sara has been working on some prototype designs and learning how to work with the metal and the hammers to produce more stunning pieces to add to our collection.
Below is an example of one of these prototypes -

I personally think that their addition to our collection will be amazingly popular - I love them already!

Exciting News From The Amethyst Sky Studio.

Today, we are excited to be able to announce the latest news from the Amethyst Sky studio.

This coming year we will be involved in several fabulous Arts, Craft, Vintage and Handmade fairs, not least of which will be the 'Summer On The Lawn' event, which is taking place at Bletchley Park on 3rd and 4th of August 2013!

We have been excitedly (and a little nervously) taking stock of all of the items that we have - both those for sale and those currently in production - and talking with our sister company Cerulean Sky Ltd (who are helping to organise the event!) about the marketing side of things.

The last fair we took part in was held at Milton Keynes Museum and covered 3 weekends in the run up to Christmas 2012. This event was a great success and, as you can probably imagine, the amount of visitors that the location attracted also brought many people to our stall.

The Christmas Craft Fair which is held there each year offers unique, handmade Christmas gift ideas for anyone looking for that special something that is a 'little bit different'. It seems though that last year, due to increased promotion of the event, the expected footfall at the venue was slightly underestimated, which was great!

However, this event seriously depleted our stock to the point where demand almost outstripped our supply.
This is an enviable position to be in to say the least, and we were astonished by the amount of sales we were making. Luckily, we were able to create more pieces during the event as we had already decided to make this event our priority for these 3 weeks, and had no other clients work or commission pieces booked in.

Having discussed the upcoming Bletchley Park event with our marketing team, it has come to light that the expected footfall at Summer On The Lawn  is expected to be somewhere in the region of 2.5 to 3 thousand people over the whole weekend.

This is fantastic, and not entirely unexpected since the venue is so fabulous and attracts many visitors, for varying reasons, all year round. However, this has presented us with a few small - and lovely - problems. How much stock do we need? and, how much should we take with us?

As a result, we are furiously working on new pieces to add to our summer collection, and putting extra effort in to completing works currently in progress. We have given ourselves some quite ambitious deadlines and goals for the next couple of months.This is so much easier cope with when you are as filled with excited anticipation as we are, and love to engage in the work that you do!

Cerulean Sky Ltd have also informed us that, along side the Arts, Crafts and Handmade goods on sale at the event, there will also be a farmers market, children's entertainment, re-enactors and demonstrations of Heritage artisan crafts by local practitioners. So if you are looking for a great family day out in the summer holidays, look no further!

One of the other participants this year will be Nick Packham, a local Smithy who is well know to us at the Amethyst studio. He will be demonstrating his blacksmithing skills for visitors and will be selling some of his fabulous sculptural work  - you can see some of his pieces here: http://www.ngp-artist-and-blacksmith.co.uk
(Nick is also an assistant curator of the Tecton Gallery in Milton Keynes - go check it out if you can, you won't regret it!) http://www.tectongallery.com

If you are interested in booking a stall at the event, either for your own crafts or for your produce, get in touch with our marketing team at:
http://www.cerulean-sky.co.uk - they will be able to send you more information and an application form to book yourself a stall!

You can follow us on twitter via @AmethystSkyArts, where we will also be posting updates and promoting our new pieces whenever possible.

Look our for updates and more information about the event on the Bletchley Park website too:
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/calendar/event_detail.rhtm?cat=special&recID=680644

Most importantly - if you can - do come long to the event, we would love to meet you.

P
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