Hello there!

It’s been a bit of a slow ole week here at Frog & Pencil HQ. My lovely hubby has been poorly for most of it (he’s now on the mend) and in turn, I feel a little out of sync. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to produce much work aside from a few sketches, and I’ve also come to realise that not having a place to make work is frustrating me. I have bits and pieces all over our apartment, which doesn’t help when it comes to having some focus. I’ve eyed up a comfy spot in our lounge where I can set up shop and I’m on the hunt for a new desk to create my mini studio…I’ll keep you posted!

On the flip side I’ve been getting to grips with Twitter. I’ve worked with it for previous jobs but I never quite knew what to do with it personally, I’ve always been more of a Facebook kinda girl. However, I understand how Twitter can benefit Frog & Pencil so I’ve been trying to get involved where I can and have been pleasantly surprised. I started by following lots of people, particularly in the wedding and craft industry which led me to Folksy. This is an online shop where you can buy and sell lovely handcrafted work from UK designers and the Folksy community is very prominent on Twitter.

On Tuesday, I stumbled across #folksyhour and between 8pm – 9pm, like-minded people get together on Folksy’s Twitter feed for a live chat on a particular topic; this week was all about product photography. I thought this would be super helpful for me and I tweeted that I’d be checking in for handy tips. 8pm came, I was at my computer excited and raring to go, albeit a little clueless at how to find the #folksyhour discussion! Once there, it took me a while to fully follow the live stream conversation but it was worth it. Plenty of people were participating who were friendly, knowledgable and helpful, and I picked up some great advice on how to photograph my work, the main key is having LIGHT! The best nugget I took away from Tuesday’s #folksyhour was to recognise that marketing and editing work takes time and that time should be paid for. So, when it comes to pricing up my work, I must remember to take into consideration the whole process.

The hour flew by and thankfully useful links to further reading materials on the topic were posted. I also discovered that Folksy have a blog and forums which is excellent news for me and I’ll certainly be dipping into this resource for future information. Not only did I gain advice, I also picked up some lovely followers by taking part. It feels like they have built an engaging community with a wealth of knowledge and I look forward to being involved in future #folksyhour’s.

Norfolk is known for its arts and I do hope to find a fellow local community to meet like-minded people, it would be incredibly beneficial. There are always plenty of craft fairs taking place around Norwich & Norfolk, in fact I’m planning on visiting one tomorrow. Made In Norfolk is being held at the fabulous Norwich Castle from 10am – 4pm, and I’m looking forward to seeing what delightful creations are to be found. I’m also hoping to chat with some of the crafters and designers to see if they have any advice for starting up a craft business…perhaps this will be the beginning of finding a community that I can belong to; I’ll let you know how it goes.

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