Lakeland Loom started as my way to escape to The Lakes. I was living in a Home Counties commuter hotspot, but my heart was 300 miles away…in the Lake District.
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| Working as a temp, picking a postcard order for Bowness shop Peter Rabbit & Friends |
In need of a way to relax after work, I dug out my old wooden loom and rocaille beads. But what to make? I loved beadwoven bracelets, but felt there was much more potential to looming. What theme could my designs take? I toyed with the idea of owls, but owl jewellery was everywhere at the time - I wanted to be different. I spent my morning commutes dreaming of the possibilities.
One evening, my creativity powered by a glass of red wine, inspiration struck! If I couldn't be in The Lakes, I would bring The Lakes to me! Grabbing my squared paper, Derwent colour pencils, and a book about the Windermere 'steamers', I designed into the small hours. The result was a vintage railway travel poster style scene of MV Teal arriving at Lakeside pier.
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| My original graph paper pattern for MV Teal © Lakeland Loom 2013 |
I now knew what I wanted to do - create beaded tapestries of Lake District scenes and landmarks, along with smaller pendant sized versions.
Many late nights were spent with graph paper, building up a folder of patterns until I discovered a computer program called BeadTool4 which enabled me to design loomwork on my laptop!
By the end of my temp contract I had a fair bit of money saved - not bad! I also had a portfolio of designs and an idea for a business.
Fast forward to now and I'm delighted to say I am living the Lake District dream for real. Spending my days designing and making in my cosy studio, surrounded by my looms and jars of seed beads - I can even see the Lake Windermere 'steamers' from my window.
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Lakeland Loom can help you escape to The Lakes too!
