Getting There

A quick update on the workshop. The new flooring has gone down (less dust!), the blinds have been fitted (less sunburn!) and we actually have a ‘chevron wall’ (less rummaging in boxes!).

We’ve started some local advertising and we’ve seen a few new local customers walking in. All very welcome.

We’re working with a new local designer who is giving our marketing stuff a general going over. We’re very excited by his designs and hopefully we will soon see a new set of brochures and a very colourful van!

I know a lot of this is not the most exciting thing for our customers and those of you who read our blog, but as anyone who has run their own small business will know, these little advances are what can make the job (and the risks) a little more satisfying. Obviously a lot of customers paying lots of money can also make business satisfying, but hey . . . . . you can’t have everything.

It's a Record

Not the fact that Bristish Gas did finally connect the supply, nor the fact that BT (after many bodges)eventually installed the phone lines, but the fact that thanks to our kind customers we have had our busiest and biggest month ever. We’re so relieved that we moved just in time. There is no way we could have managed the volume of work from our old premises.

February came and went in a blur and I haven’t even managed a photo for this blog.  Our new workshops are proving fantastic and a really nice place to work from. Now that we're warm and connected to the world it's all good.  We’ve nearly finished all the work we wanted to do on it. Just a bit of flooring and some blinds to fit and then we’ll be very ready to welcome everybody. We may even have a opening party (which by putting it in this blog will make me get around to organising it!).

The various artists who we do work for seem busy and we’ve seen some very nice works coming through. I may start putting some images on the blog as they come in. There is so much nice stuff that never gets seen – I really must do something about it.  I'll add it to my list.

Up & Running ?

Far from finished, but at least we’re in production again. The printers are all printing (which is amazing considering one of them had to be turned on its end to get it down a flight of stairs), the underpinner is hissing away nicely, the large glass and board guillotine has been recalibrated (they don’t like being moved) and we’ve even taken delivery of our new and updated computerised mount cutter – and very nice it is too! The vacuum press is getting hot, sucking air and pressing things as it is supposed to and the trusty Morso moulding guillotine is chopping beautifully.

So all in all we’re back to work and the batches of orders have started to leave the building. It’s nice to see a few of our customers calling in to drop off or collect their work and we hope to see many more. All are welcome.

Next week we hope that BT will put us some phone lines in and get our broadband up and running. We currently feel a little incommunicado! And it would also be nice if British Gas could supply us some gas so that we could get warm!!!!! (I shall avoid the temptation to rant again).

Work in Progress

It’s now been 8 days since we heaved everything out of our previous workshop and studio and the new unit is starting to take shape. It’s basically a form of organised turmoil.
As ever we could do with about twice the amount of room that we have, but it’s certainly a massive improvement on our previous layout and it’s nice to get everything under one roof.

If British Gas had been more efficient than their current track record in making a complete pig’s ear of connecting us to the gas (it was only the 1st week in October when we tried to order it) then we’d even be warm as well !! As it is, we’re freezing. These big companies are truly useless. Which reminds me – BT can’t get us a phone or internet connection until February and their sale chap even said that it would probably be later than that because their “estimates are rubbish”. Let’s hope their Directors all get good bonuses.

Anyway, that’s enough moaning from me. The airlines are connected, the new tables have been made and the computerised cutting equipment is up and running again. It’ll be a couple more days before we know whether our wide format printer survived being turned on it’s end to get it down a flight of stairs (with the help of 4 big friends – thanks chaps).

On the Edge are On the Up

Well, after months of thinking about it we’ve finally signed the lease on a new workshop. The thought of having so much room is great. In reality we know it’ll end up filled to the brim and we’ll want something bigger, but for now it’s going to be fantastic.

Our workshops at home are crammed to overflowing and even the house has been used as a store room for all our customers’ lovely art, so to ‘get our house back’ is going to be a real boon.

It’s very near to the centre of Market Harborough, so for those customers who like to call on us we’ll no longer need to explain how to find the rural depths of Gumley.

All we’ve got to do now is move an awful lot of equipment, and stock . . . and get the gas connected, and get new phone lines . . . and move all the computers . . . and get a new phone system and . . . get a new phone number and . . . . . . Oh blimey, I better get on with it!

We Finally Did It !

Jules is Pleased

Having said that we were thinking about getting a Computerised Mount Cutter we’ve finally bitten the bullet and have had a nice shiny new machine whirring away in the studio for a couple of months now. Frighteningly (having just looked back at the previous blog) it was April when we were thinking about it and I said something’s got to go. Well something did go – my workbench! So Jules gets a new toy and I get crammed in the corner! Actually it all works quite well, but don’t let on !


Like most new bits of equipment we’ve bought over the years, Jules is adamant she doesn’t need it. Once installed however, woe betides anyone who tries to part her from it.

Jules Fathoming the Software

It’s a fab piece of equipment that saves us a huge amount of time. It arrived in the nick of time to help us through what has been a truly hectic and busy summer period (thank you to our customers who kept us busy). To date we’ve only used it for basic mounts, but it does have a whole host of tricks and features for cutting fantastically creative mount designs with ‘V’ grooves, multi apertures and embossing. So once we’ve had time to play with all these new features we’ll be able to offer even more exciting mounts to our customers.

Time & Size Keep Going

Blimey, where do these weeks go? I promised myself I’d keep our blog up to date, the next thing I know is that March disappeared and April is rapidly slipping away. I’m really glad to say that time is flying because we’re very very busy, so perhaps it’s not so bad that we spend all our time framing and printing rather than scribbling blogs.

Well these frames just keep getting bigger and we thought we ought to record this one. It’s actually for a rather large mirror. It’s always a relief when we get mirrors finished and delivered as handling, storing and transporting huge sheets of toughened mirror-glass is a nightmare. We’re always convinced we’re going to break it – which, of course, we never have!