The Habulous Blog

The last few years have seen my pottery business Habulous grow substantially and many of you will have seen the expansion I have made to my studio too. Well, I’m now delighted that I have secured funding from the Government’s new Kickstart initiative to bring a new person into the business to work with me.

The scheme, launched in 2020, provides £2 billion funding for six-month work placements for young people – paying them the national minimum wage for 25 hours per week. It allows youngsters ordinarily reliant on Universal Credit to gain valuable work experience in the hope of securing future employment, while earning a wage.

When I heard about the Government scheme, it seemed like a perfect idea. It means that I can take on new commissions whilst providing employment to a young person in the area. I know from experience that many young people find it hard to get a job without in-depth experience and feel forgotten about, so this is an ideal opportunity for them, and me.

At Habulous ceramics I individually make by hand, wheel thrown stoneware pottery and ceramic jewellery. I make mugs, vases, storage containers, bird feeders, jugs and many other decorative and useful pieces for your home. I love what I do and my pieces of work all reflect the time, energy and skill that I put into them, no two pieces of my work will be the same, reflecting the individuals who use them. It means that a young person working within the business will gain the expert skills needed to work professionally both on business management and the pottery itself, whilst helping me to expand the business and keep up with the rising amount of interest in my work.

But it’s not just the hand-on pottery experience. It’s also marketing, promotion, photography and online sales. The young person will also be assisting with customer relations, preparing orders for the stores and online sales, stock taking duties and managing work flow. Administration duties are just as important including filing and invoicing, assisting with social media accounts, engaging with our followers and growing our social media presence.

The ideal candidate will have experience with ceramics ideally gained via a degree or other formal training.  Although a person with a creative ability and an interest in ceramics may be considered, if they have the right attitude and creative flair.

Prior to running my own business I worked within the recruitment industry so will be focused on ensuring the right individual develops good working practices to assist them in their future career. 

Anyone interested in applying for the position needs to contact their job mentor with job reference  KS4356966A

Wow, it’s been a rollercoaster of a week; I became addicted to watching the voting for the Muddy Stiletto’s awards, I stayed up until 1am every night and only one of these was for social reasons. Attended a little awards drink presentation.  Finished off my card designs, sent 68 artwork cards to the printers, trained a new member of our team and managed one social walk, one run, a picnic and a great day out at our local summer fair , I also gained 2LBS (just like Bridget Jones!!!).  I’m breaking into a sweat just reading about it!

Yay, we did it, we won The Muddy Stiletto’s award for “The Best Gift Shop” in Devon, I have to say a massive thank you to everyone who voted for our stores, it was really quite overwhelming receiving so much support and hearing from so many people about why they love our shops.  We now get to put a rather beautiful window sticker in our stores to let you all know how good we are!

So rather than write any more (I want to sleep) here are a few photo’s that sum up my week. 

A great event hosted by Muddy Stiletto's to get all the category winners together.  Top right is the winner of the best Yoga fitness teacher, I tried very hard to persuade her to start a wine and yoga class, but I'm not sure she took the bait.  Bottom Right is Muddy Stiletto's blogger Sharon and of course me pulling one of my many silly faces (I am not at all photogenic).

I have missed writing my blog; it’s like the old fashioned diary I kept as an angst teenager, although most of what I wrote then was a load of rubbish about my latest boyfriend/crush.  I don’t know why, but writing about snippets of my life has a really calming effect on me, it might just be the process, I have to slow down and take time out, to review what’s been going on in my busy life before putting pen to paper or rather fingers to keyboard.

Today I’m sitting at my desk about to start a major admin job (admin is most definitely not where my skills are based).  I look pretty bad, my eyelids are buffed up and feeling like lead, so much so, that I am contemplating using match sticks to keep them open; It’s all my own doing of course, I’ve been working till midnight or later every week night for the last few weeks.  I’ve become totally obsessed with designing for our card range and whilst the desire to draw and create is strong I feel I must make the most of it.

Our card samples arrived on Saturday, I was so excited about opening that envelope, pouring the contents onto the kitchen table and then spending the next hour contemplating which card stock to choose for the real print run.  Decisions are now made and by the end of next week all of our designs should be with the printers, so in a matter of months we should be well on the way to selling our very own range of cards!

I’ve had a very busy time socially, that’s the way I love to live, a little bit like burning the candle at both ends all though I think it’s one of those slow burn candles as I can’t maintain the pace I set in my twenties.  Also a difference in how I burn the candle, yes sometimes it does still involve lots of alcohol and music but equally the odd walk/run or book club natter has started to dominate my social calendar, is this middle age?  I have been to a few really good events so I think I’ll do a couple of separate blog posts on these as they are most definitely worth a read.

Hubby Paul and I have been really pleased to find out that our stores had been nominated for an award “The Best Gift Store in Devon” by award winning blog Muddy Stilettos (well worth reading).  So as well as all of those standard work things we do, we have spent some time harassing anyone who loves our stores to vote for us.  We are currently in second place, we appear to be yo-yoing with the leader (I am one of those annoyingly competitive people) so you know what I’m going to ask.  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, VOTE for us if you think we deserve to win this accolade (you could also encourage everyone you know, family, friends co-workers, pets, to do the same!!!) No I’m not obsessed......  click here to vote for Insideout in the Best Gift Store category.

Bye for now.  xxxxx

It's been a few weeks since my last blog, I have been quite lazy since my epic marathon run. I hardly moved the following week, every part of me hurt; I began to wish I lived in a bungalow, stairs equalled agony (and yes I have given birth, so I know what pain is). My body was trying to tell me not to move, it actually wanted to eat lots of chocolate and drink gin!  Incidentally I've established a new firm favourite on the gin front a Welsh number called Brecon, highly recommended to any gin swillers out there. With the help of this new gin and those marvellous juniper berries, I'm nearly fully restored (except for a wee back issue, but that is slowly healing). 

It's been a steady few weeks on the work front, my team and I have had our usual fun displaying our new stock, it’s one of my favourite jobs. I love merchandising, the process of putting different products together, to create an eye catching display. It's something we do really well, that might be because we have had lots of practice or just good old fashioned luck.

The real change in weather (excusing the downpour that’s currently going on outside my door) and the demand for our eco soy wax melts lead to a full week of melt making for me. It's now turned into one of those jobs my whole family are involved with, Ben and Ffion do all my packing. I'd love to tell you they rush in from school and get straight to work with a big smile on their face whilst we all merrily chat about our days; the reality is they slink in and hide upstairs until I twig that they are home and hunt them out, coaxing them down to help with various threats and promises!  The joys of being a family business, but on the plus side I do think it’s important that the kids are involved and understand what work is like. 

The weekend was a mixture of work and pleasure with yet another visit to London for a trades how and a catch up with some fantastic friends.  Saturday was fun filled with too many cocktails, lot of laughing and some excellent food.  We normally head towards Covent Garden but this time we stayed south of the river; starting near the Old Vic and heading to the Borough Market.  Like most of inner London, this area has seen lots of change over the last 10 years and now boasts some excellent places to eat, drink and shop.  As I have family close by, it has become one of my favourite haunts.  Our top places at the end of the day were “The Baltic” on Blackfriars road and the Oxo Tower although if you have more than one cocktail in the later, you may have to think of re-mortgaging your home (the views are well worth it!)  The Baltic is a polish restaurant with a very interesting menu and top notch cocktails.  If you’re a foodie Borough Market is a must, now London’s most renowned food and drink market with over 100 stalls to tantalise your taste buds. 

Sunday was all about work, checking out potential suppliers for our stores.  Pulse is a small but good tradeshow which tends to showcase new designer/makers as well as some of the more established companies.  I always feel very inspired by the work I see there and hope when it arrives in the shops my customers will too.

Before heading back to Devon on the Monday I managed a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I love spending time inside its walls.  Not only is it a building of true beauty but it is a great inspiration for my ceramics and just art and design in general. 

My weekend wouldn’t have been complete without a few minor mishaps, luckily nothing too drastic. I can only confess to conditioning my hair with moisturiser. This was an accident, I didn’t want my hair stuck to my head for the weekend honestly.  How did I do that you may wonder, well I have a habit of filling small bottles with my weekend supplies then forgetting what’s in what bottle.  I should have twigged when it didn’t want to come out of said bottle but no my brain did not work out what was wrong, so after 3 hair washes normality resumed.  On my train journey home, after making use of the facilities I was trying to get the tap to work to wash my hands, a sign indicated you pressed a button, I couldn’t find the button anywhere then suddenly I noticed it under the sink.  Strange place I know, pressing the button I then waited for the water to flow, instead my ears burned with a high pitched alarm, panic ensued. (I was in the disabled toilet).  I quickly made my exit red faced and feeling every single set of eyes on me in the rather packed carriage as I made my way back to my seat.......