Tea & Chat with Fine Lines
Hello! Great to have you here, the kettle’s just boiled – what would you like to drink?
Mine’s a Redbush tea, with plenty of milk, please.
So, tell us a bit about yourself and your business.
I’ve been self-employed for too many years to count, and have done various creative things, including making bridal wear, dressmaking, curtain and blind-making, wedding cakes and card-making. I’m also been a solo soprano singer on occasion! My current business is called Fine Lines and I mainly produce hand-decorated wooden items, like boxes, miniature chests of drawers, bowls, trays and the like. The decoration is done with paper napkin decoupage, which involves a great deal of intricate cutting out by hand! I also stitch, making aprons, doorstops, bunting, applique, tea cosies….
What inspired you to start your creative business? How did it all begin?
I had a shoulder problem which required surgery, after 20 years of hand stitching, heaving heavy fabric around and so on when I had my curtain-making business. I realised I couldn’t carry on, so decided to launch full time with what I was already doing as a sideline.
How has your business changed and developed since it started?
I started with a lot more stitched stuff, but discovered that the decoupage was much more popular, so I major on that now. Having said that, I like to stitch, so every so often I come up with something a bit different to give me a change from paint, glue and varnish!
Where do you draw inspiration from for your designs and product range?
I’m limited in design by what paper napkins I can find, but I have an enormous number of different ones – lots of flowers, fruit and butterflies, as you’d expect, but more unusual ones too, like owls, birds, animals and seaside themes. I’m always looking out for new suppliers of wooden blanks, and I scour charity shops, eBay and boot fairs for secondhand fruit bowls, trays, vintage fabric and such. And, of course, I’m always looking for new napkin designs.
What are you working on at the moment? Anything new coming up to your on-line shop?
I’m working on name plaques for children’s rooms, or crafters’ studios etc. I’ve found some great heart-shaped chopping boards which look amazing once they’re painted, personalised and decoupaged!
So, where does all this takes place? What’s your workspace like?
I have an enviously wonderful converted loft room studio, lovely and big, with windows both sides, excellent for good light. My lovely husband made my workbench, which is divided into a space for stitching (padded and fabric covered so I can iron straight onto it) and a space for painting, glueing and varnishing, covered with plastic. My hubby also made me some shelf units which run along the walls, and hold undecorated stock, baskets of colour co-ordinated fabrics, paint, glue, buttons and so on (and on, and on…..)
What do you like most about running your own handmade business?
I don’t think I could survive if I didn’t create things a lot of the time! If I go a couple of days without making something, I start to get withdrawal symptoms…. So I love getting ideas and putting them into practice, seeing the finished product, taking a plain box or board or tray and seeing it transformed into something beautiful, personal and unusual. I also love interacting with customers at the craft fairs I sell at, and hearing from those customers about how pleased the recipients were with their gift! Mostly I cater for the gift market, and my biggest client group are grandparents.
What are your hopes, plans or ambitions for the future?
I’d like to expand a bit, maybe take on an employee (I do it all entirely on my own at the moment) but I’m very happy doing what I do, and if I ever have people working for me, I’ll still keep on doing the work myself. I don’t want to just manage the business – as I said, I’d go nuts if I didn’t have the opportunity to create the majority of the time!