Shed Stories #15 ‘Born to be Wild’
It has been an unbelievable couple of months. The story of Wild Folk has unfolded with twists and turns at every moment and, at times, I have felt as if I have been spun around blindfolded, unsure of where I will land.
The wonderful, fantastic news is that Wild Folk is here! And I am over the moon with how it looks and feels; it has a comforting weight in the hand and the design and image reproduction is all I could have wished for. And although we were kept on tenterhooks about the delivery of the books, they did, in fact, arrive the day before our book launch and we were able to collect them on the morning of the launch. I hope that, by now, everyone who pledged for the book has received their copy.
Crazily, we chose to launch the book where it was first born, on the wilds of Exmoor, so we were absolutely delighted with the number of people who turned up to celebrate with us, some from as far away as Canada! And I was really happy to have my family to support me and help with the preview drinks!
I had spent months leading and cementing all the stained glass illustrations in preparation for the exhibition and Seven Fables did an incredible job of displaying them. It was quite overwhelming to see two years of work hanging in a beautiful old schoolhouse at Simonsbath and to meet so many lovely people. It all seems like a dream already.
The weekend was wrapped up with a change in the weather and a wet walk to a standing stone on the nearby Westermill Farm (a wonderful place to stay). Stupidly I wasn’t prepared for rain but I did have a linen coat and a kind person lent me a flat cap, so I ended up looking like a dodgy horse dealer—but I think it all added to the fun.
(Photo credit Reuben Jelley)
Since then Jackie and I have done a book signing at Tinsmiths in Ledbury, and I also presently have an exhibition of glass and prints at Tinsmiths https://www.tinsmiths.co.uk/
I have also painted a shop window – the first one I have ever done – at Mr B’s Emporium bookshop in Bath. Another full day rounded off with our first big-screen event organized by Mr B’s at the Elim Church, Bath. It was a beautiful venue and virtually sold out. What a signing queue we had!!
This past week has also been a whirlwind. Jackie and I travelled to London for an event with The Stone Club in the ultra-cool venue of ‘The Social’ London. It was an underground, grimy, cellar-like place—the kind of venue that I might have frequented in my teenage years, rammed full of leather-jacketed punks with a band hidden to me behind everyone’s tall hair!
Our second venue was more genteel and rather beautiful, but perhaps radical in its own way. We were hosted by FarmEd, in conjunction with Jaffe and Neale Books, Chipping Norton, at the beautiful regenerative and educational farm in the Cotswold Hills. Our talk and readings are developing and changing as we go. We try to learn from each event but also like to change things around a little each time so that we don’t become too stale. This was certainly a very enjoyable evening, and we were also serenaded by a beautiful duo called Silver…..
We also managed to fit in an incredible day visiting the glass blower, Elliot Walker, at Stourbridge. He and his assistant, Ryan Ashcroft, were mouth-blowing cylinders to later transform into sheet glass. He is working together with glass artists like myself to make bespoke sheets. This is such an exciting development for stained glass and it is an honour to be collaborating with such an incredible craftsman.
Since then, our second publisher Boundless has gone into administration and the rights for Wild Folk have been reverted to Jackie and myself. Interesting times lie ahead, but please, please continue to buy Wild Folk from independent bookshops in the UK, as we will now be selling the remaining stock ourselves (to bookshops) and may finally see some of the money that we were never paid.
Meanwhile, I have an exhibition with Tinsmiths and a forthcoming exhibition with Haymakers Gallery, Hay-on-Wye, and over the next few weeks Dougal and I will be looking at designing next year’s calendar.
Thank you again for all your continued support. These are strange and difficult times and it means so much knowing that you are there.