Saturday 26 March 2016

Bye Bye Owls

For the last four years my logo has been these two lovely little owls, I am really emotionally attatched to them. I never dreamt that Moby and Puddle would one day become my full time job and that these little owls would come to mean such a lot to me.

However, I am starting a new chapter in my life and a new adventure for Moby and Puddle, so the decision has been made to rebrand my business and to have a logo that is more representative of my brand and my new shop too. I have sketched and sketched and sketched to get a design that I can get excited about and I have finally found designed one that I love ...

... I hope that you will love it as much as I do. It is hard to see them go but bye bye owls xxx

Wednesday 23 March 2016

An Exciting New Adventure


I have very exciting news ...

On the 8th March I put a deposit on a real bricks and mortar shop. I have dreamt of having my own little shop for so long and with dwindling views on social media making my online sales drop, I think that a new adventure is exactly what Moby and Puddle needs. I aim to blog my journey as I go!

I was not looking for a shop really but a friend posted a link from gumtree on Facebook. I have been a big fan of The House That Jack Built since my first trip to the Barbican around 10 years ago. They have a walkway with a magic tree, a dragon, elves and a fountain etc, could you imagine a more perfect place for Moby and Puddle? I had to try and get the shop of my dreams.

We are not well off, I'm not sure you can be when you have two children and a Lego addicted husband but we scraped the deposit together, applied and I was delighted when I heard back from the landlady to talk about my work and my plans for the shop.

I have to say a massive thank you to Lizzie from Make@140 Vauxhall Street who I have had the pleasure of knowing for many years now thanks to my daughters love of buttons and our trips to the fantastic Funky Poppy. Lizzie encouraged me to go for the shop and not to hesitate if it was what I really wanted, she answered a tonne of questions for me and helped make the decision easier. Lizzie you are fantastic!

I visited the space and had a very warm welcome from the existing tenants Pinnacle Arts And Crafts who showed me around, gave me loads of helpful tips and information. I fell in love with the space and could already start imagining how it would look! I put the deposit down then and there.

I plan to exhibit not only my own creations but handmade whimsical and fantastic makes from artists all over the UK too. It will be a great little place to come and forget the darkness in the world if only for a little while. 

I will get the keys soon and start moving in, ready for the grand opening on 1st May 2016.

I am so excited and will have lots of updates in the weeks ahead including new branding for Moby and Puddle. I hope that you will enjoy the journey with me and that I see lots of you in my new shop too xxx

Monday 21 March 2016

Hobbycraft Make & Bake Clay Review


I was given a packet of Hobbycraft Make and Bake Clay in a very beautiful bright pink colour. I am very much a Fimo girl but I thought that I would give it a try and see how it went. This is just a quick review of my own experience with it and my own opinions only. As I have already said the colour is absolutely gorgeous!

The packaging was a nightmare to get off, I rarely use more than a little bit of clay at one time and always rewrap in the original packaging before storing in bags, there was no way to open this plastic without ripping it unfortunately.
I ripped off a chunk and it was very crumbly considering how soft the clay was. It had a very playdoughy texture rather than polymer clay.
It has an oily feeling to it but this made it very easily mouldable and it needed very little conditioning to get it into a small ball.
It worked really great with cutters, they came out very clean cut around the edges. However it was more difficult to sculpt anything with my hands, it was very soft and picked up every little print.
I managed to combine the hearts into one and the clay blends really well, possibly because of the oily texture too. It is more shiny than matte and feels sticky to the touch even when left for a little while.
Putting a head pin into the unbaked clay was difficult, it went through the clay easily, maybe a little too easy though because it distorted the bottom of the heart where it was pushed in and I had to resculpt the shape a little.
I baked as per the instructions and this little heart charm is the end result. Once baked the clay still has a shine without having any varnish on it at all. It seems very hard and would be hard wearing too. I am impressed with the final result.

I don't think that I would be happy to use this full time for my orders because it is too soft to be able to sculpt any significant details into and I was not fond of the slippery, oily texture of the unbaked clay. However for little charms like this I think that it is a great price per packet and I would definitely buy it for my children to save my Fimo clay for my work. It comes out in a beautiful finish which is essentially the most important thing. I am now hoping that I can store it in my poly bags without it affecting the clay since the original packaging had to be binned.

I hope that this has been informative. If you would like to buy some Hobbycraft Make and Bake Clay follow this link ... Hobbycraft xxx