6 April 2011

BCTF

What a week it has been! Before I knew it, spring has come, summer time has started and British Craft Trade Fair has been and gone! It’s been crazy busy but all in good cause. 
Before I share about BCTF, I just wanted to say a huge thank you for everyone, for your support on HELP JAPAN 1000 Birds Project. Thank you so much for spreading the word. It all started with the first batch of 100 birds on Sunday before and since it opened I had received enormous orders from all over the world! My first batch of 100 birds has immediately gone on the day one, so I was actually back-logged with orders. Thank you for being patient with me and the process being slow. I have been working sock off since, making more birds and catching up with mid-night administration. I am doing this in my spear time in between my work and degree study, so I could physically built certain amount at night, then it takes a week to complete. I don’t send you a payment request until I have actual stock here, so please do not panic if you haven’t received it yet. I am checking email orders and log in everyday. So far, I have received over 100 on line orders including from affected country Japan, and nearly 300 birds have already flown to new homes. Of course more to fly, just waiting in a kiln in my studio. I am on 600th birds at the moment. (They could be yours soon :) I will post more details of the donation on next post, so please do pop back. 
me glazing more birds, making more birds, talking to more birds than to my husband lately....
If you are local or wondering what you can do during the Easter holiday, why not visiting us in a beautiful historic town in North Yorkshire? My birds will be available directly from Knaresborough Easter Fayre on Saturday 23rd April.
More details will be posted soon so please stay tuned. 

Right, back to BCTF. I have missed out showing the preparation process, so here it was. Making display boxes was fun! I used all recycled and found items to put them together. Soldered my logo and a bit of DIY. Combined with my screen prints of Rakugaki on the back drop. Hope you like them. 
A series of Hanetsubo gold and Rakugaki went on the display. The show went very lively and I have met many nice people. (Very nice meeting you Adam, Catherine and Corinne!) I have also received some positive feedback from galleries luckily so must follow up with them. Hopefully a chance for some orders? Fingers crossed! 
Good news! Those Hanetsubo and Rakugaki will be showcasing on the opening exhibition at Rapture Galley from 15th April. The gallery will be holding some batch of my birds too! How exciting! More news to follow so see you here again soon. xm 

13 comments:

  1. The display boxes are a brilliant idea, so happy about the success of the birds.
    Best
    julie

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  2. I love the simplicity of the display and well done with the birds.
    Mary

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  3. Hi Maki,

    My birds arrived today; they are lovely and I will enjoy having them so much!

    Best of luck at the fair.

    Nice seeing photos of your work at the gallery;
    thanks for posting.

    xo,
    Virginia

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  4. Thanks for the update & pics of the 1000 birds project. Maybe you've read Kenji and I received 1000 cranes (origami) ourselves? All the more reason to wait for your beautiful birds to join them.
    And congratulations on being contracted by a gallery! That was only a matter of time of course ;-)

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  5. I received one of your lovely birds yesterday :-) It now has a new home on my kitchen windowsill, perched at the side of a cactus looking out to the garden.

    Keeping going, 600 birds is fantastic!

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  6. Well done with all of this Maki - the show looks great, so glad to hear that the birds are doing brilliantly - keep up the good work!!!!

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  7. Oh, Maki, I'm so happy for you!
    And I love your lovely birds, I received them yesterday. Great, that your project is so well accepted!

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  8. Maki - You're doing a fabulous job with those birds!
    The work for BCTF looks great! Love those pieces with the gold embellishment. Have you considered selling online too? x

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  9. Your work looks absolutely lovely. I received my beautiful birds and I'm totally in love with them :)

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  10. What an amazing and wonderful project the 1000 birds is, wow Maki..congrats and I am so so glad they are selling out.

    I am feeling the same way about my honey, ha ha. I ve been preparing for a solo gallery exhibition for over 2 months now and feel like I am ignoring my sweet man.

    Your displays look fabulous...and once again your work so so lovely.

    Hope you have a great week and that the show goes well. I'll be thinking of you and wishing you good luck

    XO Mandy

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  11. Congratulations on the sucesses! I had to laugh when you said you've spoken to more birds than your husband lately...the things we do for our passions!

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  12. Dearest sweet maki, it's wonderful to get back in the swinnot being able to visit anytime soon so sorry for not being able to visit sonner. So many wonderful exciting things are going on around you and i am so happy for you.

    Your display boxes are awesome!! I love them so much! And i adore the way you set up all your displays. Very clearn and gorgeous. Your little birds are soo adorable and im so happy that orders are filling in! COngratz sweet friend on all your success!!

    Have a lovely merry happy weekend and love to you!

    ps: i'm gonna check out more on the 1000 birds project. :)

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  13. Really beautiful work! Thanks for looking and commenting on my Flickr stream. Nice to meet you.

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