April was a quiet month on the communication front as we were busy getting together lots of ideas that we are wanting to shout about in May and preparing for our first London event in over 2 years! More on that shortly...
While we weren't in touch as often, we did have a successful Yarn Sale where you lovely people helped support Ukrainian refugees with your 10% donation to the International Red Cross. We have sent off that donation and you can feel all warm and fuzzy for your contribution and helping those in need. THANK YOU.
We also updated hundreds of images on our website to include better photography (with more to come!) and names of the colours on our yarn photos so you no longer have to search for the right one. How do you like them? Are they helpful? Send feedback to info@oxfordweavingstudio.com.
With so much is happening around the world, prices are increasing and businesses are struggling to transition from a Covid-centric world to the new normal, the month of April was a month of reflection, where we have been taking stock of what direction we want to take The Oxford Weaving Studio. This has always been an organic process as needs changed (Covid!), but the mission to help people in our community to learn to weave, discover their weaving style and potential while delivering the resources they needed to succeed has always been the main focus.
Whilst we have identified a number of ways we can do better (the list is long!), we have enlisted the help and support of another talented designer to add to our tiny team of 2 (me + Ellen, my PT studio assistant) to work on a PT basis, helping to move us forward in terms of the look, feel and design of our printed materials. This includes better instructions for our kits and clearer designs for our packaging that will enable us to roll out all those ideas that have been blocking up my brain for the last 18 months!
While this is in progress, we are also wanting to share more behind the scenes of what is going on in our studio, how we are trying to build our community and help support you in your journey. To do this, we will be ASKING FOR YOUR HELP. There are so many new members (yay!) with diverse needs (yay again!) and we want to be helping you in the ways that matter most. So, we will be asking for your feedback and working towards getting this more aligned in the coming months. Stay tuned!
Finally, I am looking for some accountability by writing this Blog Post and saying that I plan on showing up here on a more regular basis! Writing has never been my strength (too.many.words.to.write) and YouTube videos seemed far easier (until editing became a thing), but I want to try and keep you all in the loop! So, there will likely be a bit more of both going forward and if not, I’m hoping you’ll all remind me what I’ve put in writing! =)
Last month some of you may have been hearing me hint on social media that I have some news to share about The Oxford Frame Loom. This past year I have continued to be on the lookout for a new supplier to help build my looms and after months of dedicating myself to researching manufacturers and speaking to just about everyone I know about how to move forward with the production of my looms, I may have found a wonderful woodworker to continue where I left off last June!
We have been working together to source the right material, tweak the design to get even more accuracy and we are working on building that first prototype. Although we haven't received one yet, we have been crunching the numbers and for full transparency, there will be a definite price increase. With the inflation of materials costs, the war in Ukraine and more accurate supplier pricing, the looms will now be priced more competitively.
For those of you early adopters, it seems you have been given the steal of century! But the good news for those of you new to The Oxford Frame Loom is that we will be running a pre-order when I am satisfied with the quality of craftsmanship. You will be getting the best price when I re-launch the loom! And all you must do is stay tuned to my emails as I always let my subscribers know first when the big news happens. =)
An appeal for help improving delivery of The Oxford Frame Loom
While those of you who already own The Oxford Frame Loom have videos to help you get started, my plans to develop this further is still a work in progress. And so please stay tuned as I will be asking for your help on how best to do this! This will be your opportunity to share your knowledge, ask questions and give feedback to help me to devise the best way to deliver a better product and the follow up help you need. Stay tuned!
In May we have 2 events kicking off the month! We have been invited to participate in London Craft Week at the Maker's Market held at The Royal Exchange in London and we have joined forces with other Makespace residents to create a group exhibition for Oxfordshire Artweeks. While these two events are overlapping slightly, I will be bringing along all my beautiful handwoven designs and sharing more about all the products, workshops and courses I have for you to take part in.
London Craft Week @ The Royal Exchange, Maker’s Market, London
May 10th – 13th
11:00 – 18:00
8 established Makers/ Craftspeople have been invited to participate in this event, showcasing their work and the complexities of their chosen craft. Workshops are being held throughout the week (bookings essential), so there is still plenty of variety for you to come along and take part in or to browse and shop the work on display.
Oxfordshire Artweeks @ Makespace Oxford, Oxford
May 13th – 15th
11:00 – 17:00
6 of the makers & artists based at Makespace Oxford have come together to showcase their latest work and collections at this annual Oxfordshire event. With work available to purchase across textiles, ceramics, painting, print and drawing, there is much to see at this lively exhibit! Stop by my studio on the weekend and I’ll be there to show you the looms at work!
New workshops and products for May!
We have also been promising you a new workshop for the Textile Arts Club for kids! We are trying to find a date for half term at the end of May, so stay tuned for when this workshop goes live. It'll be a fun one! =)
Finally, we have new yarns and packs to share with you... shhhhh! These unique yarns will be dropping some time mid-May as the web updates are happening this week... we are actually ahead of the game this time!
So if any or all of this sounds exciting, please make sure you are signed up for our newsletter so that you are the first to have advanced notice and when things go live!
Happy Weaving!
Cass
We know that many of you over the last few years have already purchased our existing OWS frame looms individually or as part of a weaving workshop. So we thought how you might be able to upgrade your loom too, to take advantage of The Oxford Frame Loom design.
]]>Today we celebrate International Woman's Day. As a woman owned and operated small business, I know only too well the hurdles and challenges that women face in the world of business. From the 20% pay gap to the juggling of home and work responsibilities, there is still more we can do to level the playing field for all woman to grow, develop and succeed in life. This may come in the form of encouragement for our female peers or giving the time, energy or resources to enabling them to make it happen for themselves.
Which is why I have always been proud to promote and work alongside other women at OWS. Many of you may have already met Tanya and Ellen at one of our events, during our workshops or teaching at our Textile Arts Club. These two young women who have been supporting me in the studio over the last 18 months, sharing their energy and enthusiasm in helping a small business grow. In return, I have been helping guide them in their weaving journey and (hopefully!) inspiring them to discover their own voice in the fibre arts.
(Images from left to right: Tanya's first weaving project at OWS, Ellen helping out in the studio, finished cushion Laraine Jones our Cushion Weaving Project, weaving workshop at Daylesford Farm, Cushion Weaving workshop, Intro to Weaving Workshop)
I have also been passionate about sharing this inspiration in our weaving workshops. It won't come as a surprise to many of you that women young and young at heart, dominate my workshops. There is something special about the fibre arts that resonates with women and it is wonderful to see the talent that lies hidden behind the female scientist, doctor, teacher, therapist and nurse.
(Images from left to right: Intro to Weaving Workshop, 1st, 2nd and 3rd images, cushion woven by Helen Gardener in our Cushion Weaving Workshop, Intermediate Weaving Workshop)
Some are at a pivotal time in their life or looking for a career change and it has been humbling to learn about their journey and discovery of weaving. Which is why this post is a celebration of the women I have been privileged to meet, teach, inspire or encourage along the way.
Happy International Women's Day!
Cassandra
]]>It has been a busy week here in the studio where I have been taking part in a number of speaking events!
On Monday this week I have been sharing my experiences as a mid-career creative. If you've missed it, you can listen to the Creativity Found podcast hosted by Claire Waite Brown of Open Stage Arts where I share my journey into a creative career.
On Tuesday I joined David Onaolapo, CEO DaffDuff Studios (@daffduff_art), Brookes Alumni and Spark winner and Ed Rosser, Founder and Creative Director of NX Magazine during the Oxford Brookes University Thrive Festival, talking about running a creative business. Listen to our discussion here.
Today I was lucky enough to be invited to have a quick chat with Michelle Jordan over on BBC Radio Oxford about the studio on her 'Find It or Forfeit' morning show! You can listen to that in the last 10 minutes of the show here.
Phew! These were my first forays into speaking events and despite the fact that I have been recording lots of videos over on my YouTube channel and for my new weaving kits, there is nothing like a live performance to get the adrenaline going! Oh, and please be kind! I do like a good chat, but lockdown has turned me into an extrovert at the far end of the spectrum!
Happy listening!
Cass =)
]]>Now I’m no expert in this area, but I have witnessed how mental illness and struggles with mental health have affected friends and family over the years. Each situation was different, but I did find that there was one recurring element in the recovery of each person. Craft. From woodworking to cooking, knitting to gardening, I have experienced first-hand how people can recover by finding a creative pursuit where they can focus their time and energy.
Craft has long been seen as a positive route to recovery for mental and occupational health. After the WW2, many soldiers suffering from PTSD or personal injury would be enouraged to use different forms of craft to aid recovery. Today, some of you may have read that the NHS subscribe craft as a treatment for patients suffering with mental anxiety and mindfulness for adults and children is the modern coping mechanism that links mental fortitude with craft.
In the Spring and Summer I was following the Crafts Council and reading how they were supporting creatives and artists through the most challenging period of lockdown and I came across an interesting article about why craft is good for your mental health. They came up with 4 strong reasons:
I encourage you to read the full article as it really resonated with me and I’m sure it will with many of you. https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/stories/4-reasons-craft-good-your-mental-health
As weaver, I can totally relate to all of these through personal experience and friends and family around me. When I need personal headspace, feel stressed or need companionship, I reach for a loom, pull out the dye pots, wind skeins or dust of my spinning wheel. And if I’m really trying to find distance from work, I bake, build Lego with my kids or grab some colouring pencils and doodle. All of these creative outlets are my go-to ways of finding balance in my life.
So even though you may have missed that World Mental Health Day was yesterday, it really is world mental health day every day. We all need checks and balances for keeping us happy and healthy. I encourage you all to find an outlet for remaining creative even in the toughest of times and if I can help in any way as a life-long creative, give me a shout!
]]>In case you missed it, we held our Fresh Start studio tour last weekend and it was a real success! Many of you joined us in the studio using our new Booking Calendar, while others joined us live on Instagram and waved hello. Thanks so much for seeing me through this milestone and for your words of encouragement! This was the first Instagram Live event we held and with a few technical challenges at the beginning, I think we got through it OK.
In this video I covered ALOT. I gave you a tour of our new working and teaching environment which was re-organised to allow for better flow of visitors. We also removed a large loom so that we can move tables around the studio to accommodate a full weaving workshop of 5 people to adhere to the ever-changing social distancing rules.
I also introduced you to my two studio assistants Tanya and Ellen. Tanya is a Drawing graduate and has been helping me in the studio on a weekly basis for over a year now. Many of you who have visited our studio have already met her. And those of you who plan to visit our Yarn Shop on Saturdays in the future will get a chance to meet her as she will be working many of these afternoons.
Ellen is a weaving graduate and has been with us for about 10 months. She helps out once a fortnight and it is likely that she has set up your hand loom if you visited us for one of our Creative Weaving Sessions.
During lockdown those of you who follow me on Instagram or Facebook will have seen that I have been working on a new body of work. This new collection, which I have shamelessly called the Corona Collection features a number of circular woven pieces that have been woven using my own hand-dyed yarns. I have also been exploring macrame and knotting techniques which I have incorporated into woven designs on my floor loom. These will soon have a proper introduction of their own.
One of the main reasons I was hosting this Fresh Start event is that during lockdown I made the decision to change my business model to offer customers more from my online shop. As many who have visited my website before will have found, I catered mainly to a local market for those wishing to purchase my handwoven designs or for those wanting to learn weaving and attend a weaving workshop in person.
With the uncertainty of Covid, I made the decision to future-proof my business and begin the arduous task of taking inventory of all my products and slowly (very slowly as it turns out) photographing, pricing and updating each and every product I have in the studio and adding these to my online shop. No easy feat when you're just one person with a few hours a week of help.
So those of you who have been frequenting my online shop from overseas (thank you to all of you fellow North Americans!), you can now feel confident to know that I have been working very hard behind the scenes to make sure that I am able to deliver all of our quality products to you (safely and quickly) so that you can weave from the comfort of your sunny Californian homes!
I also discussed a little about our Creative Weaving Sessions which have resumed on Fridays and Saturdays in the studio. These weaving experiences are short bursts of fun, broken down into 1-2 hours of supervised weaving on our table looms. With our studio re-organised we can now move our 3 table looms around the studio to accommodate everyone safely in the studio so that you can experiment with weaving without the trouble of setting up the loom! One of my favourite things to do... when there is time! =)
Finally, I talk a bit more about our new Rainbow Collection of weaving looms, tools and Yarn Starter Packs. Each element of this new collection was intended to offer weavers a bright and colourful alternative to our Classic Collection of solid beech weaving frame looms, tools and Yarn Starter Packs. Not only are the Rainbow Looms smaller but they are made of laser-cut acrylic which is the perfect Covid-friendly alternative as they can be washed and shared more readily within a household.
Well, I hope this gives you a briefer (maybe?!) version of our video and also gives you further insight into what I do and how I do it! If you have questions, get in touch as I love to hear what people think. And if you still have time and want to watch the video in all its un-edited glory, grab a coffee, hide from the kids or colleagues and pop your headset on to meet me in person... sort of!
Happy weaving!
Cass
Fresh Start (Behind-the-Scenes) Weaving Studio Tour
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You have heard it before. Small businesses are struggling to deal with the new normal are looking for new ways to adapt in these trying times.
So here is my take on it.
It has taken me months to adapt to the effects of the Coronavirus and the disruption to my business. With 95% of my business originating from our popular in-studio weaving workshops and weaving experiences, The Oxford Weaving Studio needed to find ways to adapt or become redundant in these trying times.
Now I wish I could have said that I did so quickly, but with home-schooling and managing a household of 5 (my mother-in-law was in lockdown with us) and my studio space locked down, I was struggling for space (both literal and figurative).
So I did the best that I could. I dragged as much stuff as I could into 3 car-loads (big looms, little looms, ALOT of my yarn, tools and notes) and set up in a room at home. Now in fairness, this room isn’t that small. But when you’ve become accustomed to a nice space and have everything to hand, working in a small, overloaded space is not great for creativity. But I managed, as this was where I escaped from the craziness of the real world.
And so I taught myself macrame techniques, experimented on a new loom I had wanted to try for 2 years to create new work, learned how to film and edit videos of me weaving and teaching and re-kindled my love of yarn dyeing as I finally prioritised creativity over running a business. I like to think this intense period was actually a return to who I am as a designer, so I reflect on this time fondly (and quickly forget the days where a G&T might have solved most problems).
Now this doesn’t feel like much, but most of this happened in a 6-week period of isolation. The rest of the time was spent sticking my head in the sand about how to react. But thankfully I am not really one to dwell on the negative stuff. In truth, I quite like a challenge. So in between the home stuff and the creative stuff, I did find time for the business stuff. Which brings us to where I am now.
This Saturday I am finally shouting out about the culmination of all the soul-searching during lockdown and the hard work through the summer months where I moved my studio from home, started again and learned how to adapt my business.
Thankfully the message hasn’t changed. I am still really passionate about weaving and helping others to learn too. So all the changes I’ve put in place in the studio and online are about helping others to access the tools they need to learn. From kits with clearer instructions (working on that one), weaving videos (more in progress), looms, tools and yarns that are easier to purchase and actually in stock, new dates for in-studio workshops and a whole host of new products in the pipeline, I feel like I have finally gotten back on track.
Although I still have a long way to go, I am celebrating this weekend with the launch of my new Saturday Shop, as I am now opening my doors to the public every Saturday from 12-5pm. This new retail experience will also be following online as I update my website weekly with the new products and try to clarify my message (a website re-design is also actually in progress, but these things take time!).
So if you’re into celebrating, please join me in the studio this Saturday (at a safe distance, with masks on and a glass of prosecco) or online at 2pm via Instagram Live (@oxfordweavingstudio) to clink glasses. I think this is a fitting victory for another small business and a story I hope to keep re-writing.
Cass
PS. If you want to come along on Saturday, book your visit here. Can't wait to see you!
]]>We are delighted to announce that we will be participating in Wool Week again this year! Organised annually by the Campaign for Wool, this event celebrates wool’s natural performance qualities and ecological benefits. Campaign for Wool supporters and retail/brand partners across the UK will engage in a range of window displays and in-store events, inviting consumers to ‘Make a Difference’ and to ‘Check it’s Wool’ ahead of purchase in a drive to reduce plastic and micro-fibre pollution to the earth.
As advocates of wool and natural materials being used in our weaving and workshops, we will be supporting the campaign again this year by holding a special series of workshops and events from October 7th - 20th. Stay tuned for more news and how you might get involved!
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Drawing on the success of Art in Action, a well-known art festival held annually at Waterperry Gardens, Oxfordshire, the Handmade Oxford Contemporary Arts Festival was a resounding success! Featuring 2 large marquees of high end art and craft and 2 smaller marquees of demonstrators, this event covered a range of disciplines such as ceramics, jewellery, textiles, fine art and photography. Visitors were delighted to have a contemporary craft buying and demonstration event return to Oxfordshire after Art in Action held its last event in 2016.
The Oxford Weaving Studio was delighted to be involved by showcasing our beautifully designed frame looms and tools, our new shades of Yarn Starter Packs and also by demonstrating weaving on one of our many table looms. We met many weaving, spinning and yarn dying enthusiasts as well as a whole host of newcomers to this craft, who were amazed at what could be achieved with a loom.
If you would like to learn more about what we do at The Oxford Weaving Studio, follow us on the socials @oxfordweavingstudio or visit our website oxfordweavingstudio.com. If you would like to see more highlights of Handmade Oxford, then you can follow them on @handmadebritain or visit their website handmadeinbritain.co.uk .
]]>Please help us by completing a short, 3-minute survey to understand what you want from a weaving studio membership and we will say thank you by offering you a 10% discount on all our products and workshops for one week only!
Since The Oxford Weaving Studio began in August of last year, we have taught dozens of students to weave. At the end of each weaving workshop we were repeatedly asked if we would be offering follow up workshops, tips and tricks on weaving or if we rented out our looms so that students were able to continue progressing their weaving. So it was only natural for us to explore this idea and ask those who would benefit most!
Please click Survey and help now.
We really appreciate your help in answering 10 questions on how, why and when you might use a studio membership at The Oxford Weaving Studio and from your answers we will do our utmost to provide a membership that will suit your interests, so please get involved!
Yours gratefully,
The team at The Oxford Weaving Studio
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