You saw right! Not 1, not 2, but 3 sketchbooks could be in your hands to fill with all your artsy creativity, business plans and doodles galore! We would love to build our email list so you can receive all the latest content from our blog as it happens.

What must you do to get this? Look to your right in the side bar and below the Search box and wordpress button, above our Instagram feed, there is a box where you can sign up with your email address to our blog. Once you have hit the sign up button, you will receive an email confirming you have entered our random draw to win 3 glorious Pink Pig sketchbooks.

The 3 sketchbooks are a large A3, an A4 and a landscape stretched A5. The winner will be drawn from our email list on Saturday March 4th at random, you will then have 3 options, either posted, dropoff within 3 mile radius of central Barnsley or collection from near town centre.

So get your email address in that box to the right!

 

On Monday 20th Feb, we had our second Barnsley Fashion Creatives project with Something New Wedding Specialists who creates beautiful bridesmaid dresses, flower girls, wedding decor and more. The location of the shoot was at The Priory Barn & Cottages just outside of Wetherby, it was so beautiful but we landed on a rather windy day. Nonetheless everyone pulled together to make a great photoshoot. Here is the team:



Something New Wedding Specialists, owned by Laura (pictured in the brown coat) creates gorgeous dresses for bridesmaids and flower girls, as well as wedding decor. Visit her website here: www.somethingnew-theweddingspecialists.com and Facebook www.facebook.com/SomethingNewWeddingSpecialists



Collette of Picture Perfect Photography was our photographer for the day. Primarily a wedding photographer but also does a range of other projects. See the website www.picture-perfect-photo.co.uk



Our make-up artist and hair stylist Nicola helped us out once again, as she also helped us on the last photoshoot. Take a look at her portfolio's here mua-nicky.wixsite.com/freelance-mua

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Our beautiful models, Ava & Mya were posing as flower girls. Samirah & Karina were the bridesmaids for the day. Samirah has a modelling facebook page, see here www.facebook.com/SamirahAModel



We also had these gorgeous foam flower bouquets, provided by local business Crystal Foam Wedding flowers, see their facebook page here www.facebook.com/CrystalFoamFlowers.

We have more behind-the-scenes and videos to show you, all coming soon.

The Civic in the town centre have a great fashion exhibition currently on show. It is based around the First World War and how fashion has changed in both women's work and lives. All pieces have been commissioned by 1418-NOW and has come from the Manchester Gallery, all the way to Barnsley. They are a range of both designer pieces, such as Vivienne Westwood and Roksanda, and also university graduate pieces from Westminister, Salford and more. Some had a more literal sense of the theme whilst others had a more deeper meaning and focused more into one aspect. I really recommend visiting the exhibition to make your own opinions on it, but there's no doubt it's an extremely interesting visit.

You can find out more about the exhibition here.

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Cottonarts is a local business that creates gorgeous leather accessories such as clutch bags, backpacks, coin purses, wallets and more. Cottonarts is based inside the quirky boutique, Junction 36 at Hoyland Common along with other handmade local businesses providing all your fashion needs. Their new Spring Collection of travel wallets have these funky fruits in an applique technique, bringing a colourful edge to your travelling needs. You can follow them on their facebook here and visit the website here.

Here we interviewed Jilly of Cottonarts about their new collection of travel wallets and tips on how you can make your small themed ranges of products.

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BFC: Why did you decide to introduce travel wallets in the beginning?

I was creating a bespoke request for a wallet to accommodate holiday documents, the response to my finish design was unbelievable! I found a way to make something really practical that was also desirable & fashionable. The inside is very organised, it holds passports, boarding passes, money, bank cards, health cards & more! It even has a clear plastic section for you to put a photograph or your ID card. The original Travel wallet is a Stripe detail with buttons, you choose two colours and the colour way is reversed on the inside. From then on the options have developed & I now do various designs including Fruit appliqués.

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BFC: What inspired you to do a fruity motif range of them?

I absolutely LOVE colour! I get the most excited when I am challenged with piecing many colours together and there’s nothing more colourful & fun than summer fruits! I fancied a burst of colour, I know it seems a little early in the year but I work with colour all year round. I often find myself late to the party when it comes to fashion, so this year I have told myself I need to be on top of trends & try to learn about what people want to see. I plan to ask my wonderful customers what they would like to see next…

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BFC: Do you have any other themed ranges planned?

I am currently working on a Sunflower, So I guess I would like to do a Flower Power collection? I have a bespoke service & my customers allow me to be very experimental, so sometimes they determine my next move.



BFC: What tips would you give to others that were wanting to do themes ranges with their products?

I think I am still learning this one myself, try to ask your customers what they want to see & don’t feel too disheartened if you make a few bum choices along the way, because in the creative world I think you learn from your mistakes. Just make sure you enjoy what you are making because I always believe this shows in your makes.

 

Are you planning a limited edition range or new collection? Let us know what your plans are and we could feature you here.

You saw right! Not 1, not 2, but 3 sketchbooks could be in your hands to fill with all your artsy creativity, business plans and doodles galore! We would love to build our email list so you can receive all the latest content from our blog as it happens.

What must you do to get this? Look to your right in the side bar and below the Search box and wordpress button, above our Instagram feed, there is a box where you can sign up with your email address to our blog. Once you have hit the sign up button, you will receive an email confirming you have entered our random draw to win 3 glorious Pink Pig sketchbooks.

The 3 sketchbooks are a large A3, an A4 and a landscape stretched A5. The winner will be drawn from our email list on Saturday March 4th at random, you will then have 3 options, either posted, dropoff within 3 mile radius of central Barnsley or collection from near town centre.

So get your email address in that box to the right!

 

The Civic in the town center has a few fashion related exhibitions coming this weekend and all are a must-see! The first being 'Fashion & Freedom', based around the first world war as inspiration to leading fashion designers to create contemporary pieces. The second 'VS David Bowie' is about a local Illustrator who has challenged nearby designers and artists to colour in images of David Bowie drawings, as well as a Life Size Paper Doll workshop inspired by them. There will also be a Pop-Up Print Showcase from Barnsley College students.

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From Saturday 11th February, the exhibition 'Fashion & Freedom' will be showcasing fashion items from designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Holly Fulton, Roksanda, Emilia Wickstead and more. All inspired by how the First World War has impacted women's life and work and how fashion changed to accomodate that. This exhibition that was commissioned by 14-18 NOW has come from Manchester Art Gallery and is here until April 8th.

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'VS David Bowie' is an exhibition celebrating local Illustrator and Adult Colouring Book designer, Mel Elliot. One of her bestselling books was based on David Bowie images and The Civic has asked numerous local artists, designers, illustrators and creatives to 'colour-in' one of her many images in their own way. This exhibit is on 11th Febraury to 8th of April.



To go alongside both of the above exhibitions, there will be a life sized paper doll workshop on 22nd February & 15th February to create your own designs and have the fun of modelling them on the runway. You can book onto the workshops here www.barnsleycivic.co.uk/events/lifesize-paper-doll-workshop



In light of The Civic's upcoming Print Fair in July, they are showcasing some of Barnsley College's students print work from textiles, to lino prints, etching, screen printing and digital prints. Available for viewing from February 8th also.

Let us know what you think to all the exhibitions when you go and visit this weekend!

All photos belong to The Civic.

 

The project 'Better Barnsley' has released some updates about the town centre's refurbishments. As you'll most likely be aware that already there has been numerous demolishes and rebuilds in aid of improving the town's appearance . The latest update talks about the new library work commencing, a new cinema and plans for a new gym. A large new shopping centre is to be built called 'The Glassworks' with a total of 26 units, 11 of them are to be restaurants and cafes.

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Whilst they currently don't have any retailers signed up for the new shopping boulevard, the council has released a wishlist of the sorts of shops they'd like to see. This comprises of H&M, River Island, Dr Martens, Jack And Jones, Foot Asyslum as well as other non-fashion stores such as Lush and HMV. They'd also love to see restaurants like Nando's, TGI Friday's, Five Guys and more.



Alongside this new shopping boulevard, there are also plans to have a 14 screen cinema with restaurants beneath, a brand new gym, especially with a DW Sports store being on their wishlist of retailers and a bowling alley.

What are your views on the town's redevelopment? I personally think it's great that we are having these aspirations and wanting better for our town. I'm just not so sure that all these will come to fruition, but nonetheless I hope I'm proved wrong as it will make Barnsley a better place to visit.