It was great to get back to in-person events again and Derbyshire Open Arts was my most recent event- hopefully will become a calendar staple! I was based at the National Stone Centre in Wirksworth, sharing a marquee with 9 other makers. In my free time I explored a bit of the local area - whilst I was already fairly familiar with it, having lived (and got married) not a million miles away, I did find myself at the amazing Black Rocks at Cromford for the first time. Sales went well and I had some good chats, plus came away with a new stockist - the Studio, Wirksworth, a great venue for learning silversmithing (i.e. the bit I don't do!!)

Next up is Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Newcastle in a couple of weeks. GNCCF are an established fair organiser and have branched out to Newcastle this year. Whilst Manchester (Oct 2025) is nearer, I have quite a busy calendar at that point so thought I would apply for this instead. Happily I was selected and have spent a certain amount of time and effort getting my head around building and decorating a bespoke mdf stand (as this is not really a 'table top' event, but has a full shell scheme). DT was never my strong point... I won't mention the (heart)-breaking of my other jewellery cabinet's tempered glass front ...

After that, back to Stockton Health Festival (year 4 for me) and looking forwards to catching up with some folk. This is shortly followed by The Artisan Show at Arley Hall, Cheshire- a very nice venue!

Sadly I had to miss the FaMAS Open Studios this time round as I had an event clash :( But it will soon be October and we have one on Fri 10th-Sat 11th!