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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 14, 2014 21:50:13 GMT
Teri, great observations. Listening and observation are great skills to apply to your marketing research. Do you take custom orders? Definitely keep track of those items people ask about and buy. Ooh, the monster hat sounds interesting. Can you post a picture? Thanks Marilyn, funny you should ask about custom orders, I have gone from never having done any to having 4 on the go at once And thinking about it, that is in part due to some accidental marketing.... I needed a guinea pig "client" to work with for my C&G course so put an advert up at work offering my services for the cost price of the materials, I was inundated with offers but limited myself to 2 clients for my course work but since then have accepted 2 more "proper" clients. I'm hoping that when people start wearing my scarves that will act as free advertising and the cycle will continue.... The monster hat is packed in a box somewhere but will try to remember to dig it out and photograph it tomorrow.
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 13, 2014 23:11:43 GMT
Thank you Marilyn for doing this, it is becoming clear that we all see marketing as this mythical beast that we feel we should be doing but have no idea how to go about it. I totally agree with all the questions asked already, there is a huge gap in our collective knowledge and I am strangely comforted that hardly anyone seems to know what marketing is or how to apply it to their work (I thought it was just me).
Zed, a friend offered a piece of advice about "market research" before my first craft fair that I think might help you too. As you say you can't really rely on truthful answers when you ask for feedback, even when you ask for constructive criticism, but noting which pieces people show the most interest in can be very revealing. Obviously, pieces that have sold I make more of, but interestingly, the piece most often picked up for me was a "monster" baby hat, I will be making plenty of those in larger sizes for my next fair! And sometimes they questions people ask, "do you have this in red" will give clues on what to try next...
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 13, 2014 22:51:03 GMT
Thank you all for your kind words. I like them both in different ways, the Gotland was a real surprise, I expected some migration but it almost consumed the merino. Is that to be expected from all course fibres?
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 13, 2014 22:45:21 GMT
I think there are a couple of things you could try:
Perhaps needle felting some more white roving over your white should help to brighten your colours again but you will get more white migrating through to other side, not sure if that will be an issue?
The other option is to create a mosaic/inlay design where you would create prefelts then cut the shapes of the white pieces out of the black, insert your white pieces into the holes, tack into place with a few stitches and felt, you might get a little bit of colour migration around the edges of the shapes but on the whole the colours should remain "clean".
Good luck!
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 11, 2014 0:06:36 GMT
oh, that does not bode well....
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 10, 2014 22:54:33 GMT
Ruth - yes, I'm toying with the idea of making a couple of bird nesting pods after our local squirrels destroyed one of our bird boxes this winter, not sure how to squirrel-proof felt though...any ideas?!! The resists were pieces of foam that you use for laying laminate flooring, the Gotland one I also stuffed with carrier bags and put in the washing machine to finish the fulling, hence it is much more lumpy and thicker than the merino pod. It is a very sturdy pod, I think I could sit on it and it would bounce right back ) Thanks Lyn (and thank you for the inspiration too).
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 10, 2014 20:36:34 GMT
I've been out of felting action for a couple of weeks and making these last weekend was a real treat.
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 10, 2014 20:04:26 GMT
Feeling inspired by Lyn's post on the Felting and Fiber blog I made a couple of pods of my own, this one using gotland, merino and a piece of dyed muslin: It is a very hairy beasty! And another using just different colours of merino and a handful of resists.... I've posted a few more pictures on my blog if you'd like to see some different angles... teriberrycreations.blogspot.co.uk/
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 24, 2014 21:43:46 GMT
I confess I have never used their wool but I have met Maggie and Gary a few times and they seem to be a lovely and sincere couple.
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 24, 2014 19:40:05 GMT
He's amazing, especially for only your second attempt... needle-felting is definitely a good match for you
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 24, 2014 19:38:22 GMT
I can't speak for Facebook (I deliberately avoid it) but if you are thinking of buying wholesale World of Wool offer free shipping if you buy 10kg or more of wool (that is one VERY big box of wool!)
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 23, 2014 21:43:21 GMT
Felting from bed, that sounds like perfection - you've just combined 2 of my favourite things, sleeping and felting. Not sure about the lying in wet sheets though...
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 23, 2014 16:43:23 GMT
Welcome Debbi, most of us on here started as you did, with a few small pieces of felt and now are totally addicted. It is such a versatile medium I'm sure you will find lots of great ways to use it. I'm with Zed and Luvswool - what is a flameworker? Are you able to post photos of your work or do you have a website/blog we can look at?
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 22, 2014 16:30:50 GMT
Wow - they are amazing Hayley, I used to think that I was pretty good a visualizing 3D forms but I'm shocked that just a simple straight cut between the "ears" is enough to produce the lift over the top of the foot and the rounded heal. Absolutely genius!
I've just bought myself some Gotland to try out your heart shaped slipper resist but now I'm dithering over whether to try this resist shape instead...?
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Post by Teri Berry on Feb 22, 2014 14:40:55 GMT
I find how wet the wool is dictates how easily I can squish the colour around - if it is dripping wet when you put it in the bag, it's a lot easier to blend and move the colour - maybe something to try next time? And possibly diluting your dyes with water before applying will give lighter shades too, although I personally like the vibrant shades?
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