reetsweet sheffield: march 10th previews - new makers on the block!

There's always something new and exciting at every event we do, and March 10th in Sheffield is no exception...here's a run down of some exciting makers to keep your eyes peeled for that are either new to reetsweet, or have new work we just have to show you!

Regular Reetsweet maker Kim Lawler of Finest Imaginary has a stunning new range out, called 'The Great outdoors' inspired by the america wilderness, working in perspex and also now a lot more often in etched wood, her new work has me aching for a holiday in a log cabin somewhere:

(bear necklace by finest imaginary)

(feathers earrings by finest imaginary)

New to our events, we are also proud to be showcasing the work of Sarah Culleton - a truly original bag designer!

Sarah designs and makes limited runs of each of her bags, handmade from the finest fabrics, recycled materials and antique findings, everything we have seen in her collection is made to the highest standard with a strong emphasis on originality, quality craftsmanship and attention to detail. Sarah says her inspiration comes from 'childhood memories and my lifelong passion for fashion and textiles'.

(by sarah culleton)

(by sarah culleton)

Another designer/maker new to reetsweet is Holly Betton from 'Death by Tea' - excellent name don't you agree?

Holly studied textile design at Nottingham Trent, and specialised in print making, she makes, designs and sells a full range of cards, textiles, ceramics and original artworks and combines playful text with her naive and charming illustrations...

(death by tea)

(death by tea)

reetsweet sheffield: reetsweet's guide to sheffield!

(vertiline in love handmade @ the nichols building)

we are very excited about our next event on sat 10th march in sheffield, and especially since we have had time to see so much more of this wonderful city as we have been out and about promoting it!

so, the bessie and i have been looking around, finding the best places to see and want to give you a little guide to the steel city of chic!!

we started out near the train station, just 2 mins walk away is the showroom an independently run cinema set in an art deco building - the films they choose are far more interesting than your average multiplex and they have a lovely eatery and bar next door - well worth staying around in sheffield for after the shops have closed!

(the view from the town centre looking up to the
iconic and now reinvented park hill)

now... as you walk up the hill from the station there's obviously the millennium gallery, not only has it got some excellent exhibits on all year round, they have a great design shop - pop in there, then head on up into the winter gardens (basically a stunning indoor garden) and go to fancie in there to get a cake we recommend the snickerlicious!!

tip: as you walk through the city look out for lots of amazing street art hidden on the side of the buildings...

into the town centre, there's the usual spots such as topshop etc, but if you walk up into the student area (just past the civic hall) you'll find a great little street called devonshire street.

we especially liked freshman's vintage - just off devonshire st - it's the first right, it is run by a really friendly guy and has really good quality and fairly priced vintage - we got some short shorts for summer! saucy!

back on devonshire street, you'll find the forum which is a bit like afflecks in manchester (only nicer), it has a cafe bar which does nice tapas (or as i like to say tap-ass!) and just inside, after you've snacked there's a shopping bit with a tattoo place, a cool independent designer/maker shop called 'don't feed the bears' selling handmade hair accessories, and handprinted tees and wallets.

there's also 'syd and mallory' an excellent vintage shop in the forum too. what we liked about it was they had a really on trend selection of stock, and they were selling their own reworked vintage which included some lovely dresses and hand studded bags.

now you've been around the town, it's best you head out on any eighty numbered bus up to eccleshall road - ask the driver to drop you at the bit near sharrowvale rd - which runs parallel to eccleshall road. it's a little street lined with vintage, cakes, antique furniture, artisan breadmakers and best of all - loads of little galleries.

(cocoa wonderland on eccleshall rd)

once you've poked around there, make beeline back on to eccleshall road and go to 'cocoa wonderland' which is about half way down - the smell of this shop is so awesome - i thoroughly recommend the hot choc as it's thick and spanish style...mmmmmmmm! you can sit in the back and have cake and drinkies or take a bag of penny sweets away!

there's also a heap of very good quality charity shops down this street and a place called 'mookau' which has nice cards and had rob ryan crockery...i had to step away! now, all you have to do to get back to the city centre is bob back on any eighty numbered bus - voila!

last but not least, there is also a great place called 'the nichols building' on the edge of the town the other side of the city, which hosts a number of vintage furniture sellers and handmade shops such as 'moonko' (one of our reetsweet makers and sellers on march 10th) and 'vertiline in love' selling everything from hand embroidered knitwear to handprinted stationery...well worth a look - i found a vintage magazine rack for £5!

(vintage @ the nichols building)

so, even if you aren't from sheffield - why not take a day trip over on march 10th visit us, and visit this thriving and creative city! thanks to everyone that has been helping promote our next event and to the lovely people of sheffield who have made us feel so welcome, expecially the bus driver who helped me when i got lost!

(vintage @ the nichols building)

reetsweet sheffield: march 10th previews

I really do try to be like a mum and not have favourite reetsweeters (like not having favourite kids!) but sometimes, I just can't help telling you what my top picks of each fair are going to be...I have handpicked these two from the next Sheffield Fair for you to have a look at...

Beth Haudiquet this crafty vixen is an illustator and maker based in sheffield - working mainly illustrating cards and stationary and designing jewellery,sewn toys and accessories. She wowed us at the Corn Exchange event in Leeds last year!




Katrine Brosnan is a very original fine art graduate, she has been studying printmaking techniques over the last year and incorporates hand-drawn and hand-printed elements into her work, I got one of her pieces for christmas and was smitten!




Big love to all the makers - we will continue to preview the fair over the next two weeks leading up to the event so don't go away!



Catch them all from 11am to 5pm at The Millennium Gallery Sheffield on Sat 10th March, free entry - catch the best designer/maker fair in town!

reetsweet sheffield: march 10th previews

Hello again reetsweeters!

I always have time for jewellery, don't you? Even when things are tight, I can always spare a few pennies for some nice jewellery! Purveyor of some lovely vintage look pieces is Laura from 'Laura's Lockets' who will be appearing at the March 10th event. Here's a preview of her newest stock and a bit about her...



'My jewellery making started off as a hobby and my desire to make something to wear that no one else was wearing. I’m self taught (with a little help from a few websites and books to start me off!) and my love of charms and crafting has evolved into my business Laura’s Locket Jewellery.

I live and work in Sheffield and have been making jewellery for the last 6-7 years attending many of the Sheffield-based fairs and markets and selling through my website. This tends to keeps my craft addiction at bay but after moving into my first house I am feeling the need for everything to be handmade!'




'I aim to provide a range of pretty vintage inspired jewellery often with a bit of a quirky twist. I love hunting for unusual charms and try to keep ahead of the high street chains (which is certainly a huge challenge!). This usually means spending hours trawling the internet and bead shops and of course my range is full of lockets but I try and find lots of other lovely vintage charms too. My favourites at the moment are my printed lockets and animal charms but I continue to make some of my old favourites as well...'

reetsweet sheffield: march 10th previews

on wednesday me and the bessie went over to sheffield for a spot more of promoting the next event (march 10th - sheffield millennium gallery people!). we were utterly blown away by some of the hang out spots and shops we found, so much going on - a plethora of independents which is awesome to see. anyway, i'll be blogging about it as soon as the bessie gives me the photos back - and we'll give you a rundown of all the best spots to see when you are in town for our next fair!

I am delighted to present to you many new makers for the sheffield fair, including 'Darn it collective' (cool name yes?)....



'Needles and Pins at the ready DARN IT! are here to get your creative blood pumping, whether it's making baking or cheese caking we're taking craft to the next level. Hop on board...
Jen Hedley and Jilly Hargreaves formed Darn it! Collective in Newcastle in 2006 after coming together over a love of vintage fabrics, gem sweaters and mashed potato. Their craft is based around fun illustrations and textile design made to make people smile.
Jen studied Fine Art at Leeds and Barcelona and currently spends her days drawing, printing and sewing.



Jilly studied journalism at university and discovered her love of craft later in life designing clothes and homewares and coming up with mad ideas. The pair currently beaver away their hours at their sewing machines, running workshops and set designing for events and festivals...'

More to follow previewing this event - it's getting exciting!

hello sheffield! : reetsweet's spring spectacular!

it was nov we last came to sheffield, it was cold, it was windy, and it was bleak outside! but inside our fair which was just awesome, some of my personal favourites were there including this lady (I think I am almost her stalker) and some of the lovely people who ran craft candy...

fast forward to spring and we are back ladies and gents! we return to sheffield in style, at the prestigious millennium gallery on saturday 10th march, we are going to be trading from 11am to 5pm upstairs in the arundel room (don't worry the reetsweet team will be there to show you!) and will have a host of goodies for you.

as featured on the facebook page, this is the very first time we will have the lovely people from 'when the music's over'....







Using vintage vinyl this married team Bea and Philip have a totally original look the their work and I am really excited about having them on board -

'We are a married couple in our 40's living and working in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. After a very successful first year selling on Folksy where we have already become one of their top 250 best sellers we would now like the opportunity to exhibit at the Millenium Gallery after enjoying previous craft fairs there, we feel this would be the perfect place to showcase our contemporary range of products which include; Desk and mantle clocks, journals and notebooks, unique rings, earrings, hairclips and cuffs for her and keyrings, cufflinks and badges for him....'

I have my eye on a few pieces! Meet you there March 10th - free entry - as always!

LIVE BLOGGING: Today's Fair at Leeds Corn Exchange Continued...

(katie kitzpatrick's lasercuts)

One hour to go, catch us until 5pm at leeds corn exchange, then we return on sat 7th april...

(Kristyna Baczynski)

(fenton)

(alexia claire)

LIVE BLOGGING: Today's Fair at Leeds Corn Exchange Continued...

(et respice finem)

More of our favourites from the fair today - until 5pm at leeds corn exchange - it's free entry, and prices start at just £2....

(laura shelton)

(liu)

(zinc white)

(becky hodgson)

LIVE BLOGGING: Today's Fair at Leeds Corn Exchange

Morning Leeds!

Over 25 stalls of unique designer/maker stalls here today at the leeds corn exchange - until 5pm, here's a pick of the best so far:

(sophie wilson)

(finest imaginary)

(becky hodgson)

(jilmadethis)

reetsweet 2012: campaigning against crap craft

Okay, it's time to level with you all, we've all been there, we've been to shoddy shops selling badly crocheted hats, or gone to a craft fair that seems full to the brim of a load of badly stitched hair accessories, falling apart christmas tree decorations etc - at reetsweet we are campaigning this year against crap craft. (If you want inspiration for what we mean, have a look at regretsy, one of the funniest things I have read in ages and you'll catch my drift.)

There are many fairs cropping up, and lots of people jumping on the crafty bandwagon in mainstream shops, but at reetsweet we will continue to book only the brightest, and the best makers - and sift through the rubbish to bring you a fair that's really worth a free visit to! Giving a much needed platform for new designer/makers in your area.

Come and see us this saturday 11th feb from 10am to 5pm at the leeds corn exchange, just a 2minute walk from briggate...not in Leeds this weekend? Then come to Sheffield next month for our next event on March 10th at the Millenium Gallery - 2 minutes from the train station...you know it makes sense!

x
reetsweet

reetsweet's tour dates!

(alexia claire - leeds & sheffield event)

(when the music's over - sheffield event)

Well hello there reetsweeters!

We have two main dates we are promoting at the moment, firstly - Leeds date for your diary is next sat - feb 11th at Leeds Corn Exchange, and secondly, we are delighted to be returning to Sheffield on sat march 10th at The Millennium Gallery!

(fox bunting - sheffield and leeds events)

It's a good time to remind everyone that whilst we all know things are tight right now, our fairs are always free to attend, and prices start from just £2 - support handmade and have a great day out with us!

I am so excited about our makers at both of these events and can't wait to share them!

We at reetsweet would also like to pass on our support the the galleries in sheffield who have just had their funding slashed, please continue to visit them and show your love...