A self employed creative review

January 08, 2018

A self employed creative review

A review : 2017 has been a very busy year for me with my needle felting. I decided to give a lot more time to promoting my work, using social media as useful tool to highlight what I create and saying yes to exhibiting in new venues. Looking back at what you have achieved in a year as a maker can be quite daunting especially when you are tucked away alone in your studio (my dining room table) but at the same time it can be very rewarding.

One thing I have noticed this year was the increase in commissions, creating unique needle felted beloved pets. Promoting yourself is quite scary and this year I took the plunge to advertise, was this increase in commissions due to paying out for an advert in Country Homes & Interiors? Possibly not but stepping up the game and taking yourself and your work seriously reflects in how the public see your creations.

Another huge way of reflecting is to photograph my work during and after, this has always been a brilliant way of recording my creations. It has also revealed how over the years I have improved in my techniques, shown up areas that need improvement but mostly how darn cute some of the animals are, which explains how difficult I find it when wrapping them up gently and posting them off to their new owners!

Teaching has been another form of promoting my work and last year I didn't have as many workshops, something I would like to improve on. Im wondering if doing some corporate workshops might push me out of my comfort zone? I did get to give a talk to college students in 2017 which was interesting, perhaps that might be a different avenue?

Giving yourself time to review the past year is a good thing, reflecting, praising and giving yourself goals so don't be afraid as its all positive especially when you're the boss!

So here are just a few images of the animals I've created in 2017 whether it be in the brooch form or three dimensional models ...