Wednesday 6 June 2012

Handmade Arcade 3… Summer Rain and Success Stories!

Hope you’ve all had a restorative longer than usual long weekend....
We’ve had a wonderful time in the midst of all the jubilee madness, in the haven that is McCoy’s Arcade, with this month’s selection of wonderful local creative types! There was such a marvellous mix on offer at Handmade Arcade from fields nearby as well as a few of our favourite illustrators from Plymouth whose work will soon be feautured in some great new NOBROW books. Pop into the No Guts No Glory shop to see our own selection as well as a few Handmade
treats from IsaacLenkiewitz, Laura Jayne Weeks and Benjamin Wright! At this month's Handmade Arcade they were joined by the lovely Ben Challen, Kelly Walton and Lize Meddings.


Exeter this weekend was jam-packed with so many different flavours of entertainment – with the Exeter Respect Festival, Crikey Queenie it’s Vintage fair and countless other Jubilee inspired celebrations going on – expectedly the arcade was quieter than usual! That being said, there were definitely a few success stories from our day at Handmade Arcade!
Common Goals – No Guts No Glorys sister project set up by Jack Hyde and Nathan Blaker launched at Handmade Arcade and had a great response! Sorcha had an ingenious idea to turn their stall into a subbeteo pitch! Sorcha and Jack managed to sell an astounding thirteen tees - with proceeds going to the bands selected charitable projects! If you missed the tees today check out their website and keep an eye out for appearances at the cavern as well as other shows around the UK. All the tees are screen-printed on Organic cotton and are designed exclusively for Common Goals by the band members!

Another first appearance was seen by The Quixotic press – a brilliant new zine working with up and coming illustrators from the area! Pop into the shop to have a browse through this full colour zine and pick up your own copy for just £3.50!
Autumn Jitters aka the lovely Gemma, had a fantastic day with her ever so popular cards, illustrations, mirrors and badges! We loved them so much we decided to get some for ourselves! Look out for her brilliant super-bird cards in the NGNG shop soon!

Our knitting inspired corner was warmly welcomed as the day got a little cooler and Ollies mum is now a commissioned jumper designer! Picking up a mighty 8 jumpers to knit in time for chillier climes! If you have an idea of something you’d like to see on a jumper email us and we’ll put you in touch with the lady who can J


Heather from Little Owl Crafts had some very unusual and wonderful creations available – and even did some spinning on site! You’ll be able to pick up her hand dyed and spun wool created in Crediton from Heavenly Yarns on Fore Street in the very near future!

We took some snaps of the wonderful selection of things to be found at the warm, friendly Handmade Arcade – if you missed this one be sure to pop down to the next one on the 7th July! (which is already being honed into possibly the best selection yet!)
We managed to get some making of our own done with the skilled help of Bunyip Beads and Buttons and some fabric donations from The Real McCoy, we made heaps of colourful bunting and flags! Not wanting to waste any, we covered Nathan's bike with the scraps and most of the lamposts on Fore Street :)
Badgers Choice had an amazing array of badges!
Nina Kleinzeller had a wonderful selection of wooden handpainted badges as well as some beautiful handpainted and created wooden collages - look out for her new range of cards and prints soon.
Music from the Exeter Ukelele group were there to shake a leg or two, with some jolly tunes!
Heidi from Feltfaces had such a truly impressive selection of felted bits n bobs, I was especially fond of a little felted Bee badge, Heidi is a truly skilled lady and full of great information on living more sustainably
Ben Wrights Pokemon badges were pretty rad, all handpainted and cut by lazor!
It was a marvelous day and it was great to meet such a fantastic bunch! We were happy to see Elena and a wonderful selection of pottery and jewellery from Unearthed as well as some fantastic headwear with ears from the lovely Amy from Meers Ears!
There is talk of many new exciting projects in the hood that is the West Quarter, it really feels like a great time to be in Exeter. The summer holds many promises and lends its hand to blossoming ideas eager to bear fruit! Independent projects cropping up here and there representing the power of people coming together for the right reasons! Not for commerce or promotion or even ego – but just to have a jolly doing the things they love surrounded by the support of creative minds and hearts!
Many thanks to everyone who has supported the Handmade Arcade project and took the time to come and see us in the Arcade, like the rain today it’s so refreshing that the project is different each time and constantly growing in surprising directions! If you get the time please share this blog and help us to grow.
More to come soon on skill-sharing in the arcade and other exciting projects in the very near future…
If you have any ideas or want to volunteer at the next Handmade Arcade please contact us! We’re always happy for a few helping hands!
As always get in touch if you wish to play, or apply for a stall!

Hayley

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