Friday 23 December 2011

Festive greetings

Oooh dear - my blogging has slipped a little of late.  Last post 31st October???!!

Since the middle of November I've been super-busy making stock, doing markets and filling orders, but now I can relax (is 4.45pm too early for a glass of wine?) and wish you all a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

Shark Alley has had an amazing year and the response from all you lovely lot has been very much appreciated.  Onwards and upwards for 2012!

Monday 31 October 2011

Otters - Where Are They Now?

And more importantly WHAT ARE THEY DOING?!  Are they being naughty?

I am extending an invitation to all Shark Alley Otter Owners to keep us posted on the activities of their little charges once they have left the cosy Shark Alley den.

Here's the sort of mayhem that has been occurring so far.



Hazel went to live with Poppy in London, where they discovered a shared love of dried apricots.



She's in safe hands as she enjoys a bit of dashboard surfing






Otis, Gourmand and Aristotle all went to live in France with BĂ©atrice, which is terribly exciting as they went there in a plane.  They are now sleek, well-fed Parisian Otters who get to do a lot of travelling and fine dining.


Fish not good enough for you anymore, Otis?



Fuzzy #3 lives in Brighton and spent one summery evening enjoying a barbecue on the beach.
WOT NO FISH?


 He also got to witness a baptism!


28/12/11 Fuzzy#2 went to live in a wonderful old farmhouse in deepest Devon with Mary and Joe.  
Here he is engaging in some quality Christmas posing and sporting a particularly jolly festive bow.



May I be so bold as to suggest that you are looking a little portly, Fuzzy?  
Have you been at the mince pies?


1/1/12 This is Othello.  Here he is hanging out on New Year's Day with his friend Larry the lemur, who looks like a very splendid sort of chap.  Thanks to Steven Ball for this great shot.




25/5/12  I've just been sent some most excellent pictures of Charlton the otter, who's clearly been having a very exciting time.  Big thanks to Laura Miles who sent these in - they're absolutely brilliant.





Charlton saying farewell to his friends at Bellis Gallery, Brighton.


Charlton at Heathrow - I wonder where's he headed?  That's a big bag, Charlton.  I hope you have packed your travel pillow and a good magazine.






    Here he is enjoying a heritage tourism trail in the heart of Melbourne city centre.  It's winter in Australia so he's been looking for some woolly gloves to keep his paws warm.  Charlton likes staying close to the trendy spots on the waterfront and boasting about his travels to the local possums and echidnas.
More Shark Alley otter adventures are documented on Fuzzy Otter's very own blog here

 AWWW!
So if you want to send in some pictures of the things your otter is getting up to, the places where they like to spend time or even a cute little portrait of you and your otter just hanging out, we'd really, really love to see them!  (If you'd like to welcome one of the lovely little critters into your life, click here!)

Just post your pics on the Shark Alley Facebook page or go to the contact page on the Shark Alley website and email them over and I'll pop the best ones up on here.

Monday 24 October 2011

The 'C' Word

It has started, hasn't it?  Creeping into shop displays and TV ads . . . ugh.  It takes all the fun and excitement away when it starts so soon.

Anyway, I have to bow to commercial pressure and get with it, especially as I have Christmas markets looming on the horizon.  To this end, I've been making these little tree decs.


 If you want to get your little mitts on one or more to dangle festively from your tree (or even door handles or bed frames to get year-round maximum use!), contact me via my website OR come and find me at one of the following events:

Stand 13 at SPARKLE Craft and Gourmet Food Fair, Landmark Arts Centre, Ferry Road, London TW11 9NN
6.00-8.30pm Friday 18th November and 10am-5pm Saturday 19th/Sunday 20th November
AND
The very fabulous CRAFTAGANZA, Fabrica Gallery, 40 Duke Street, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1AG
11am-5pm  Saturday10th December
AND
MAKERS BOUTIQUE, Unitarian Church, New Road Brighton, BN1 1UF
SPECIAL LATE NIGHT SHOPPING EVENT 5.30-10.30 pm Thursday 8th December
11am-5pm Saturday 17th December.

More details nearer the time.



I've also been working on festive textile designs, which has been a bit like pulling teeth as I'm so out of practice, but they worked out OK in the end. My agent likes them too!  There's been interest from clients so fingers crossed for an actual sale soon.

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Thames Festival pt II

Here are some pics from the Thames Festival.


It was extremely well attended and I met lots of lovely people, traders and customers alike.  Despite a few showers and the odd gust of wind, the weather behaved itself and it was fun to have a proper stall with a roof - like camping! 

Nocturnal Shark Alley.  Otters, isn't it past your bedtime?

Art shot
Big shout out to Mary and Julie of We Make London for making it all so easy, Louise Brooker of Edwyn UK for being a fab stall chum (and doing all those tea-runs!) and Paula Eastman of Feather Fancies and Michelle (and friend whose name I've forgotten - sorry!!) of Isolyn for being lovely neighbours.  Plus all the other super friendly and talented stall holders I met on the day, including Molly Moo & Jessica Too and Bumble & Earwig - LOVE those big animal heads!

Monday 5 September 2011

THAMES FESTIVAL

I'm very excited to be part of the Craft Trail at this weekend's Thames Festival (10th-11th September 12pm -10pm).  It is London’s largest outdoor arts festival - a spectacular FREE event, which brings together Londoners of all ages and from all communities to celebrate their city and the River Thames.


I shall be having a stall as part of We Make London - there are quite a few crafty collectives taking part.  We shall be outside Southwark Crown Court near HMS Belfast - nice and handy for London Bridge Station direct from Brighton so I won't have to negotiate the Underground.  Yaaay!


Here are some links:
http://www.crafttrail.co.uk/
http://networkedblogs.com/msLve?ref=nf

And a map!




Tuesday 16 August 2011

I'm quitting my jibber-jabber . . . and just posting some pics

Rare sunlit table

'Sew your own' kits

The bunting!  The bunting!

Shark Alley makes a rare foray outdoors

Hot diggety, that bunting sure looks groovy

Friday 12 August 2011

Mar-kits

Two markets in two days this weekend!

On Saturday, it's Twist & Make at the Phoenix Gallery, Brighton (as mentioned in the latest edition of Mollie Makes - an excellent crafty lifestyle magazine) and then on Sunday, Always Uncommon at The Green Door, Brighton.  It's also Gay Pride here in Brighton this weekend!


I've also been hard at work making kits - sew your own bird and sew your own bear, based on the owl and otter keyrings I've made recently, so they will have their debut this weekend.



Thursday 4 August 2011

FREE POSTAGE!



To celebrate launching the new hand stitched page, Shark Alley is offering FREE POSTAGE on ALL items for four weeks from 4th August to 1st September inclusive (this applies to 1st class UK postage and standard Air Mail only). Wooo wooo!

See the brand new page here - and you can also check out necklaces, earrings and accessories.


Saturday 30 July 2011

Fun with Bunting


Some time spent with the family finally gave me the opportunity to make the Shark Alley bunting for my stall.  What a palaver - I started it on Sunday evening and finished it on Wednesday morning!  I probably made it more time consuming than it needed to be, but I was making it up as I went along and I wanted it to be super-perfect.  So there was cutting of templates, then selecting, reselecting, arranging and rearranging fabrics, buying more fabric, trying to work my Mum's sewing machine, cutting out letters and hand sewing them on, realising one long strand wasn't going to work and trying to find more tape for the 'string', then dealing with floppy triangles . . . . it was never-ending!  The latter problem was solved by spray-on starch - appearing in the form of this can from the 1970s! Amazing!  The contents are probably completely toxic by now, but still working nevertheless.

This was followed by visit to Wisley RHS Gardens - a beautiful and inspirational riot of colour and pattern that should hopefully go some way to inspiring some long overdue textile designs.
 


Friday 22 July 2011

And The Winner is . . .

I am so overwhelmed by the response to the otter naming competition!  

Such a big thank you to all who entered and to those who helped to promote it and 'liked' it on Facebook - what lovely, lovely people you are.

So as I sit here with my cuppa I am forced to decide on a winner and it's SO HARD as they are all so brilliant.  I didn't envisage this when I started and now I feel a bit sad.  So to make myself feel a tiny bit less cruel and beastly I am going to have an overall winner and two runners up, who will win otter keyrings, each featuring one of their chosen names and hobbies.

RUNNERS UP (in no particular order)
A cheeky little otter keyring is on its way to:
BECCA  - as your hobbies were all so brilliant (stamp- collecting and torches!) and
KEEPER - as I just howled with laughter at yours - 'at his happiest when viewing exposed piping' and Wellington's 'little otter brain' will have me chuckling for hours.

But the WINNER for the sheer depth and magnitude of her descriptions and because they made me laugh AND cry is:
LOULOUTE & BÉATRICE - who named them specifically in the order they appeared and gave so much information - what an imagination! 

They are so poetic and imaginative but quite detailed, so I can only include one otter here:

Olga : She’s the descendant of the Romanoffs and her grandfather came to
France during WW 1 after the Soviet Revolution and, after the war, he settled
in London where he married an English noblewoman.

Olga’s mother was prima ballerina at Covent Garden where she excelled
performing the dying otter in the tragic ballet “The Otters’ Lake”. Olga grew
up among many artistic Russian otters and she’s just unbeatable at quotations
of 19th century’s Russian writers. She tried to write a novel herself about the
migration of Russian otters but she finally founded a ballet school since she
wasn’t as talented as her mother. She’s very efficient though, preparing young
awkward otter pups to the opera ballet or to dance in British and American
films. One of her most famous pupils was the actor of Billy Otter.

She’s quite severe but she’s romantic and fascinated by her task. She’s very
quick and agile and of course playful like all otters. Her fur is particularly
brilliant and smooth. She’s nostalgic of Russian moors and snowy winters and
she’s still waiting for a Russian Snow Prince who’ll come and take her away on
his sledge.

If you feel you could be her Snow Prince, even if you’re not a Russian otter, so,
please, pester your keeper he’ll adopt her and let you have many little, squeaky
cubs !


Aristotle will be winging his way to you on Monday - he's terribly excited.

Can you email me your addresses so I can send you your little treasures? sarah@sharkalley.co.uk

Thanks again to everyone who entered - they were all fab, and it was a nightmare to choose! 
Yaaaay - we all have names! Gourmand, Hazel & Olga

If you would like to own a standy-up otter like Aristotle (and indeed like Gourmand, Hazel and Olga) they are currently available to buy from my Etsy shop and will soon be featured on my website 
along with other felty things that I have been stitching away at. I shall let you know when they're on there and it should be quite soon, as Phil is hard at work!  Please pop by for a visit any time.

They will also be on sale at the Makers Boutique event tomorrow in Brighton


So come and say 'hi' if you're passing - there'll be loads of great stuff there.

At this point, I'd like to say that 10% of the money I receive from the sale of all otters will be donated to the very wonderful Otters & Butterflies sanctuary in Devon to help them in their work looking after and rehabilitating orphaned and endangered otters.  They also need £90,000 to build a new feeding station, and keeper Matt Heaton is doing all sorts of sponsored things to help raise this.

Here is Matt being greeted (eated?!) by Asian Short-Clawed otters Paprika and Nutmeg


x x x x

Monday 18 July 2011

RAISING ARISTOTLE

Lovely people!

I just feel so utterly silly at the moment that I have devised a little competition for you.

Here's your chance to be the lucky winner of the delightful Aristotle Otter and then you could be the one RAISING ARISTOTLE (and he's really no trouble at all -  I was exaggerating in the last post).

With apologies to the Coen brothers

ABOUT ARISTOTLE
Aristotle Otter is about 19cm high and has a very cute face.  He and his chums are part of Shark Alley's new hand-stitched range - entirely hand made by me on my sofa (probably whilst watching the Mad Men box sets).  He is made from brown and white felt, is stuffed with hollow-fibre polyester and has sequins for his shiny little eyes.  I would probably not recommend him for children under three, as they do love to put things in their mouths and may accidentally chew off his ears or something.
Aristotle Otter - a magnificent and noble beast

Aristotle comes from a large (and ever-growing) family and I'm struggling to name them all.



 So here's what you can do to help and be in with a chance to adopt Aristotle:

HOW TO ENTER
Think of THREE OTTER NAMES along with their pastimes/hobbies/likes (along the lines of the ones shown below for the otter keyrings - but better!)


You can post them on the comments section here on this blog OR go to Shark Alley's Facebook page (and please feel free to 'Like' it while you're there, if you haven't already!) and post them there BEFORE 1pm (BST) on FRIDAY 22nd JULY.  If you feel shy, you can email them to me at sarah@sharkalley.co.uk

I will agonise over all the suggestions over lunch, have a nice cup of tea and then choose Aristotle's lucky new parent.

The winning names and descriptions will be proudly adopted by these little critters in time for the Makers' Boutique market the next day on Saturday 23rd July.

We haven't got names - awwwww


 Thank you and good luck!

PS If you want to get your hands on your very own otter, go here. Free postage until 1st September!

Terms & Conditions
This is a fun competition - so let's all play nicely!
The three names and hobbies will be selected at lunchtime on Friday 22nd July and the lucky genius will be notified that afternoon and announced on here and on Shark Alley's Facebook page (if you would rather not be named, please let me know). As soon as you provide me with your postal address, I will post Aristotle to you 1st Class Royal Mail, or Air Mail if you are not a UK resident. Shark Alley promises not to use your suggested names and hobbies if you don't win, use or share any of your details or bombard you with spam (Aristotle hates spam).


Wednesday 13 July 2011

SO CUTE, IT'S A FREAKIN' CRIME

WARNING!

Shark Alley's new range of hand stitched standy-up otters is to be launched on an unsuspecting general public at Makers' Boutique on Saturday 23rd July (Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton 11am-5pm).

These otters are so cute, it's a crime.  They need to be put under house arrest immediately, and I shall be relying on you to help out.

Keep an eye out for these reprobates;




PLUS! 
A standy-up otter has been spotted on CCTV quite clearly being cute in a built-up area



They may also be operating in the vicinity of Oak Studio, Perrin's Court, Hampstead some time early next week, when they are thought to be launching the London phase of their terrifying campaign of cuteness.

FOR DETAILS OF HOW TO WIN ONE OF THESE CRITTERS IN AN AUDACIOUS SORT OF COMPETITION THING, STAY ALERT!   

Details to follow next week.

PS If you want to get your hands on your very own otter, go here. Free postage until 1st September!