Meet My Team

I have the privilege of working with a fantastic team of people. Keep reading to meet my team and find out why it’s so important to find the right people to work with. 

The feeling of Support

I’ve been working with stone for 14 years, but it’s only since 2019 that I have really been running my own business. In these last four years I have learnt so much about how to operate a small craft/art business.

My number one tip is to find the right people to work with. I spend most of my time happily carving on my own in my studio. However, I still feel like I have a team of people supporting me. Over the years I have tried working with people I didn’t click with, hoping it wouldn’t matter as it was just business. Believe me it really does matter!

So in this blog I wanted to introduce you to my team! Firstly, there’s my Mum and Dad, hugely supportive people who I have called on so much over the years to help. My mum is a retired teacher and a whiz with editing. Blogs, Newsletters, applications, website content, everything has been proofread by her! My Dad is wonderfully practical, he’s built wooden shipping crates for me, constructed display stands and made rope knots. However, the most valuable thing is him listening whilst I bounce all sorts of ideas off him. In fact, they are both great at listening.

Whilst trying to find a nice photo of my parents, I discovered that about 50% of the ones I have are of us eating Ice cream!

Mould Making and Casting Team

As my business started to grow and I got busier I struggled to know how to ease my work load. I wasn’t in a position to take on a team member, but equally I couldn’t keep up! 

One thing I could do was to outsource some of the work. Once I’ve carved my stone I take a mould of the carving, so that I can produce limited edition casts to sell. This is one of the ways of making a slow craft both more affordable to the buyer but also more viable as a business. 

Mould making is certainly not my area of expertise. I’m ok at it, but it was at this point that I realised it would be far better to pay someone else who knew exactly what they were doing. Having high standards for my carving also means that those high standards continued into the cast making, something which I was struggling to achieve myself!

After asking round a little I discovered Emma from Greenacre Studio ltd. Emma and her team are in Herefordshire and make my wonderful Jesmonite casts. I suspect what Emma doesn’t know about Jesmoite isn’t worth knowing.

Again, Emma is both supportive and dynamic, I can always rely on her to deliver a top-quality product but also to have the best advice. As a maker, I found it hard to begin with to relinquish the responsibility of creating and to trust in someone else. It turned out I just needed to find the right person! Emma always goes above and beyond to be helpful and steers me gently in the right direction.

Emma, hard at work making a Jesmonite cast for me

One of the beautiful Limited edition casts which Emma makes for me. Available to buy.

Printing

I use a great printing company called New Era Printing in Shropshire run by Chris Henderson who I’ve known since we met at the local rowing club where we were both members way back in 2003.

He and his team have been such a great help over the years. I recently got back in touch with them and they now print my Art prints. If I send them an email with the order, they also package them up and post them out for me too!

Chris has also been very supportive with advice and has guided me through a pricing structure for my prints. It really is so helpful when people generously share their expertise.

A framed print from Chis at New Era Printing

Shipping

Recently I realised that shipping is really key to running a good business particularly if it involves shipping stone which is tricky and expensive. I was finding the process very stressful until I started working with Ebiss

At Ebiss I often speak with the wonderful Rhonda who is brilliantly down to earth and always honest about timings and costs. In fact, all their staff are wonderful. Ebiss are not the cheapest option but they are a fantastically reliable company who really know what they’re doing; when it comes to shipping, reliability is exactly what you need. I now ship my work all over the world and although I still don’t understand all the post Brexit documentation I now have other people to understand that for me!

‘Hold’ fitting snugly inside the shipping crate made by Ebbis 

Photography

Onto Photography. There are two elements to photography. Firstly I would say I do most of my own photography on my iphone. For the day to day of Instagram and content for blogs this is perfect. However, I have also been really fortunate to have made friends with a couple of photographers over the years. Their photographs have made all the difference to how professional my website content is. Having great images is golden in the craft and art industry.

Tara Bradley-Birt has a great eye for detail, I especially love her portraits. As a great friend she is also incredibly helpful for nipping into my studio and snapping an amazing work in progress shot! Jamie Anderson, although not working as a photographer has all the kit and knows a thing or two about how to make a cracking video and take a stunning picture.

Recently I have had the pleasure of working with Julian Calder. Julians photography is stunning but he has also been incredibly helpful mentoring me through launching new high quality art prints.

Tara mid shot, taking a photo of one of my wall carvings lying flat on the floor

Quality Materials

Buying quality materials is a key aspect. I have a number of quarries I buy my stone from directly, who are all helpful, but I also use a mason’s yard as well. Farleigh Masonry Ltd supply my Portland stone and all my stone spheres too. They have a wonderful setup with big machines, and that can speed up my process hugely! I know I’m really small fry for them, but I always appreciate the time and help they give me.

The beautifully well organised yard at Farleigh Masonry

Never really a sole trader

I haven’t mentioned all the support I receive from tutors, fellow carvers and makers, or some of the tool suppliers who I have formed a lovely relationship with over the years. But whilst I am a sole trader and mostly work by myself, you can see there is a whole team of great people working with me. They all brighten my day and make me feel supported.