Tag: scottish makers

Thank you!

Hooperhart

Well, that’s the busy season over for me for another year and I have to say it was rather frantic, but in a good way! Coming into it I was quite concerned about how it was going to go, particularly as online sales in 2022 had taken a worrying nose-dive even before the harsh reality of the Cost of Living Crisis started to kick in. However I’m pleased and relieved to report that I was very pleasantly surprised (on some occasions completely gobsmacked!) at just how many people turned out to support local events and small creative businesses. Maybe this year folk are really considering carefully how they spend their money and who they spend it with, possibly buying less but buying thoughtfully…I don’t know but whatever it is I am extremely grateful!

There is no doubt that many challenges lie ahead for most of us financially in 2023; the price of everything is rising and there can’t be a single small business in the UK who will not be affected by this. For myself, production costs have already increased substantially over the past few months…this plus a countrywide shortage of my main material (plywood) has been preying on my mind, and I know that at some point soon I will have to sit down and seriously consider how I can make changes in order to continue doing what I love and what I have worked so hard to develop over the past six years. Looking on the bright side, reflection and re-evaluation are not usually a bad thing, so I’m hopeful I can up with a workable plan!

Whatever happens I will be back next year with news of what I’m up to…in the meantime check out the sale in my Folksy shop – starting on Boxing Day!

I’ll take my leave with a massive THANK YOU to everyone who supported my artistic endeavours this year…I wish you happiness and good health this festive season!

The Yard Dundee

Hooperhart

I’m trying to be more consistent/frequent with my blog posts so here’s another one!

I’m just back from a lovely break away on the Isle of Bute to celebrate a Big Birthday which was just idyllic. The sun was out so we were mostly beach-based, and I even went swimming IN THE SEA! Twice! At the beginning of this year I didn’t think that was ever going to be possible due to an ongoing health issue, so I was over the moon to be feeling physically able to do it. I was rewarded with sight of four seals popping up to see what all the splashing about was! All in all the perfect end to the summer.

Anyway, it’s back to business this week, particularly with the start of the busy season just around the corner. The calendar is filling up with markets and fairs so I thought this would be a good time to mention that the first one is coming up soon:

The Yard, 71 Brewing, Dundee

You can find me (as Rudy and the Rowan Tree) at the Yard @ 71 Brewing, Ure Street, Dundee from 11-4 on Saturday, October 1st – there will be loads of fellow creatives, guest food traders and DJs, plus it’s a really cool venue with great beer if that’s your thing!

Hope to see you there!

Autumn Almanac

Hooperhart

Another summer of record-breaking temperatures comes to an end…spectacularly in Perthshire with torrential rain and flooding replacing scorched earth and water shortages.

As we move into September, I’m trying not to focus on the implications of these extremes in the weather and staving off the melancholic thoughts by looking forward to my birthday (it’s a big one!), enjoying the changing colours on my daily walks, and planning the rest of the year’s making.

Wooden Autumn Decorations by HooperHart on Folksy
Fox Brooches by HooperHart on Folksy
Starlit Fox mini framed diorama by HooperHart on Folksy

The calendar is filling up with festive events and it’s looking like I’ll be a bit busier with these than last year, now that things have returned to normal (whatever that is!). Keep checking my ‘SHOP’ page for details of where you can find me in person this winter. See you soon 🙂

Tea Green Marketplace Month

Hooperhart

Just a quickie to let you know that there’s a month of online events starting on July 1st organised by the brilliant Tea Green Events There will be three weekends of online markets (I’ll be taking part in the first one on July 3rd & 4th), an exclusive online shop, virtual open studios, online workshops and even a real life treasure hunt!

There will be hundreds of amazingly talented Scotland-based artists, designers and makers involved, and I’ll also have a special offer available for the entire month, so follow Tea Green on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with all the events.

Hope to see you there!

Tea Green Marketplace

Hooperhart

☆ THIS WEEKEND! ☆
Super excited to be taking part in Tea Green Marketplace, the first of my online markets this winter! There’s an amazing array of Scotland-based makers, artists and designers lined up so it should be ace! Join us from 10am on Oct 31st & Nov 1st, either on Facebook or Instagram or head to www.teagreen.co.uk

☆ I’ll be offering 10% off all my work for the duration of the market so keep your eyes peeled this Saturday and Sunday 👀

Festive Fairs 2019

Hooperhart

Well, it’s nearing the end of October (in my last post I was bemoaning the fact it was nearing the end of July!) so I should quickly draw your attention to all the festive fairs I have coming up over the next 6 weeks or so.

First up we have Tea Green Events’ contemporary craft market at Bowhouse in St Monans – I’ll be there on Sunday 10th November:

The following weekend I’ll be back with Tea Green at Glasgow’s Kibble Palace for a full weekend of fun!

On Saturday November 23rd you can find me in Perth for Perthshire Creates Design Market at Civic Hall

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I’ll be staying in Perthshire for the Dunning Craft Fair at Dunning Village Hall on Sunday November 24th:

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On Saturday November 30th I’ll be back in Glasgow for Etsy Made Local at the Briggait

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The following day, December 1st, I’ll be at the Engine Works with Super Market Christmas 

And for my final fair of the season I will be back with Tea Green at Kibble Palace on December 7th & 8th.

Also, I’m very happy to have had a framed diorama accepted for the annual Edinburgh MacMillan Art Show raising funds for MacMillan Cancer Care,  which you can catch from 7th – 10th November at The Apex Waterloo

As always, you can check the shop page for dates and details.

I’ll be back soon with some pictures of what I’ve been making recently but until then I look forward to seeing you at a market soon!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Rudy And The Rowan Tree

Hooperhart

July is almost over (how did that happen?!) and things have been on the quiet side regarding Hooperhart; July is always a slow sales month what with summer holidays etc, so I’ve been trying to get as much stock made in advance of the autumn/winter season as possible to avoid panic stations later on. I’ve also been somewhat distracted by our purchase of a campervan at the start of the month – a 27 year old Talbot Rambler called Tallulah complete with cooker, fridge, loo, shower, a full set of crockery, and most importantly, a wine rack!

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I’d been hankering for another campervan since our beloved Bridget (aka the smallest camper in the world ever) had to be retired from service four years ago; having the freedom to head off whenever you fancy (and in Scotland whenever the weather allows) has such a strong appeal. The thought of being on the road, heading to a remote beach or catching a ferry to an island for a few days is always in the back of my mind, so I was pretty happy to find a suitable replacement in Tallulah.

Anyway, besides tootling along the B-roads of Scotland, I’ve also started making little houses from reclaimed wood under the name Rudy and the Rowan Tree:

Rudy and the Rowan Tree

When I’m making my dioramas it’s quite a precise process – there’s a lot of design and planning involved to make sure the finished piece physically and aesthetically fits together. As the work has developed I’ve moved further and further away from the printed pattern aspect (which is where it all began really). So I thought it would be nice to return to that again –  and to make something which was quite free and celebrated the random patterns created by screenprinting layers onto a surface, without planning how the finished piece will look. This, along with the fact I had built up a fine collection of random bits of wood in the outhouse (as you do) let me to making these pocket-sized house-shaped works of art.

I’d long admired other makers’ little houses on Instagram and Pinterest, be they ceramic, glass, concrete or wood (and had bought a few too!). So this is my own individual take on the miniature house. Each one is completely unique, and the nice thing about them is they are small, affordable and very collectible. You can build a street or even a whole village!

If you like the look of these wee cuties I’ve opened a separate Rudy And The Rowan Tree Folksy shop which currently has free UK shipping over £30, so feel free to have a little browse. I’m also going to be debuting them in the flesh at Southside Artist and Makers Market on August 30th so if you’re in the Glasgow area pop along. More details on this to follow so keep an eye on my SHOP page 🙂

Well, got to go now as it’s time to feed the dog (the original Rudy)

Thanks for reading!

Northern Lights

Hooperhart

Our unusually long heatwave seems to have come to end today – for the first time in about a month I did the dog walk wearing a cagoule this morning! However, the fact that it’s grey and cloudy outside means it’s perfect blog-writing conditions, and I really want to tell you about my recent trip to Aberdeen 🙂 Back in January I was invited by a lovely wee establishment called Teasel and Tweed to be their June Maker of the Month; an absolute treasure trove stocking a huge variety of beautiful art and craft (all made in Scotland), Teasel and Tweed seemed like a good place to showcase my work so I jumped at the chance.

All my dioramas feel like my ‘babies’ and a lot of time and care goes into making each one, which makes me nervous about sending them out in the wild indefinitely on a sale or return basis! This is why the Maker of the Month is the perfect concept for someone like me who has a relatively small output of limited edition work – it’s like having a mini solo exhibition, and it gave me something to work towards especially at a quieter time of year when it can be easy to lose focus a little bit. Check out the Teasel and Tweed website and blog for more pictures and info here

It’s been a long time (20 years!) since I visited Aberdeen; I actually lived there for a couple of years once upon a time between school and college (for the first couple of months in a caravan park on the outskirts of the city which was fun as it was the summertime – we moved into a flat before the North East winter hit). My dad came from Aberdeen and my sister attended art school there so there were always connections. Having grown up in bang in the middle of Central Scotland it was a novelty living in a city by the sea, and I remember one summer evening a group of us decided to go to the beach to watch the sun come up…turned out not to be like in the movies as being on the North Sea coast we near froze to death!

While there recently I took a walk along the beach, stopped at one of the beach cafés for lunch, and continued on to Footdee at the south end of beach by the harbour.

If you’ve never been to Footdee (Fittie to the locals) it’s a very cute little enclave made up of squares of terraced houses with quirky sheds and huts in the middle of each square. Originally a fishing village, it gained conservation status in the 1960s and it has now become one of the most expensive areas of Aberdeen to buy property – changed days from when I lived in the city in the 1990s! Nestled beside the busy and very industrial working harbour, it wasn’t seen as hugely desirable back then, but then you could buy a flat in Aberdeen for about £20,000 so…anyway, definitely worth a visit.

Well it’s now lunchtime and the sun has come out (yay!), which means it’s time to round up the terriers for their walk round the park. Thanks for reading and remember to check out Teasel and Tweed online and in the flesh if you can!