A New Chapter for Fused Glass by Claire Harris: From Shop to Shedio
After six incredible years of running my shop in St Austell's Market House, I've made a big change, I've moved my studio back home to my garden shed, affectionately nicknamed the Shedio. It's a shift that's been both bittersweet and exciting, and I wanted to take a moment to share why I made this decision, what's next for my fused glass business, and what this means for you, my lovely customers.
Why I Closed the Shop:
Running a shop in St Austell has been an amazing experience. I've loved meeting customers face-to-face, sharing my passion for fused glass, and being part of a wonderful community of fellow traders. Some of my favorite memories come from the special events, live music, extra market stalls, and the bustling energy that made Market House come alive. The camaraderie among traders was something truly special; we always had each other's backs, and I've made lifelong friends through it.
But as much as I loved my time there, the reality of running a retail shop had become more challenging. Footfall in the town has been steadily declining over the past decade, making it harder to sustain a physical shop. On top of that, last year brought some personal health challenges that required frequent hospital and doctor visits. Closing the shop for appointments was inconvenient for customers and added extra stress to an already demanding schedule.
So, after much thought, I decided it was time for a new chapter, one that allows me more flexibility, creativity, and balance while still continuing to do what I love.
Introducing: The Shedio
My morning commute now consists of a five-meter walk down the garden path, a definite perk! Plus, my cat is absolutely delighted to have me around all day.
The biggest difference I've noticed since moving to the Shedio is the natural light and the connection to the outside world. Market House is a beautiful historic building, but my shop was tucked away at the back with no outside windows. Winters could feel quite stark, so being able to see the seasons change, hear the birds, and take a proper lunch break (something I never quite managed in the shop) has been a refreshing change.
The Shedio is a private workspace, so it wont be open to the public, but I'm looking into alternative venues where I can hold workshops again and meet clients over coffee to discuss commissions. More on that soon!
What's Next?
Now that I'm no longer tied to a physical shop, I'm focusing on online sales and stocking other galleries around the UK. Here's what you can expect moving forward:
- My Shopify website will be the main place to buy my fused glass pieces, including my limited-edition designs.
- I still have an Etsy shop, but I'm keeping exclusive collections on my own site.
- Stockists across the UK, You can find my work in various art galleries, mostly in Cornwall, but also in the Outer Hebrides and, later this year, Lindisfarne.
- Commissions are still open! As long as workload allows, I'll continue creating custom pieces. If you have a special project in mind, get in touch!
- Workshops will return, I'm currently looking for the perfect venue to restart my fused glass workshops. If you're interested, keep an eye out for updates.
A Big Thank You
I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported my business over the years, whether you've visited my shop, bought a piece of my work, taken a workshop, or simply followed along on social media. Your encouragement means the world to me, and I can't wait to continue sharing my work with you in this new way.
So here's to more creativity, flexibility, and exciting new designs coming from the Shedio! Keep an eye on my website for new pieces, and if you have any questions about commissions, stockists, or workshops, feel free to reach out.
Claire
Fused Glass by Claire Harris
I remember as a child being completely clueless about how adults know what to do in work. Seriously…….they just seem to know what needs doing next! They don’t always have another adultier adult telling them to do individual tasks, they just seem to be able to figure it out. I’m not going to lie, there are still days now when I don’t feel grown up enough to be running a business and being responsible for all of decisions both big and small.
Daily routine
My day starts with a little walk into town, it’s a good way of getting my steps in and apart from when the rain is heavy enough to soak through my coat (um 90% of this year so far lol), I enjoy my morning stomp. My favourite part is going over the green railway bridge in St Austell, there is a fabulous view across the town and the sea mist can make it look ethereal!
First task once I’m inside is to get the kettle on to brew some coffee….nothing productive happens if the morning coffee is missed!
Once my bloodstream is suitably caffeinated, I start unloading the kiln from the previous days firing, I have one kiln to do the initial tac firing and another one set on a slump schedule.
The items which have been tac fused get cleaned and any sharp edges filed before loading them into the smaller kiln for slumping. Slumping is a process where the glass is heated enough for gravity to be able to push the glass into the shape of the slumping mould. It isnt hot enough to affect the texture on the top of the fused glass.
Some of the items don’t require slumping, these will be cleaned up and either have string added or be framed, depending on the final product.
The items which have been slumped into waves and dishes get a good clean and checked over for any sharp bits, they then get organised onto the stock shelf.
Whilst I am organising the kilns, Emma arrives and starts to pull the sales from the previous day. I sell via Etsy and Folksy but obviously prefer it when orders come direct to my own website as the fees for other platforms are staggering. Mondays are always our busiest day for online orders, Emma always aims to get orders out within 24hrs after they are received, not to blow our own trumpet but we’ve beaten a certain online ordering giant before with our despatch speed!
Emma then relists everything that was despatched back onto all of the online platforms.
My shop also stocks a fabulous range of locally produced items from jewellery and paintings to handmade candles and pottery.
Monthly routine
As well as the usual day to day tasks of running a shop and making stock, we also have the regular jobs associated with a business. Accountancy is my absolute nemesis……I procrastinate like an Olympic procrastinator. However, both Emma and I love doing the social media posts, especially when we have enough time to play around with reels. Luckily, we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
When I first started my business, I worked from home and attended many craft markets and shows. This all changed 5 years ago when I took over my shop, I spent all of my time in the studio, recently I have been missing the interaction with all of you guys so I have signed up for fortnightly craft markets in Truro for the whole of the summer – I am so excited to be able to get out and about again, please come along and say hi!
Ordering supplies is another regular task. Not only do I need to source the raw materials for my artwork, I also need to make sure we never run out of packing materials, tape, printer ink etc and obviously coffee!
Another regular job is keeping my website up to date, it really is outside of my comfort zone but I keep pushing away the fear to make it as user friendly and findable as possible……..who ever thought that long chained keywords would be in my vocabulary! Emma does the majority of the photography for the socials and website; she has a photography degree so clearly more qualified than me. We like to play around with the photography for the social sites, using the natural sunlight which streams through the front windows of the Market House is a firm favourite.
Product development
The best bit of my routine is when there is enough time to play around with new designs. This really makes my heart sing when I can get creative. Keeping up with regular orders means that this is not as frequent as I’d like so it’s a real treat when I find the time. This year I have been working on 2 new designs, the first one is the hanging jellyfish. The jellyfish are made in 2 sections, the body is cast and the tentacles are cut from sheet glass. After I drill a hole in the top of the body, I then wire wrap the tentacles and body together.
The second new design this year is my take on Kynance Cove, it is one of the most beautiful places in Cornwall but is a much more intricate design than my usual beach scenes due to the number of rocks and cliff formations. I start by gathering source material (in an ideal world a visit to the site is fantastic but not always possible) lots of photos and a mind map. I then start to sketch out ideas and run little trial firings of each section of the design to make sure each component works before I build the final piece of artwork. I always have a couple of trial errors which give me a chance to tweek and improve. It took a while, but the final product is proving very popular.
So, to sum up, some days I feel as though I’m playing at being a business woman but I love the continual learning and the challenges that this way of life poses and I’m still here so must be doing something right. I love the interactions with my customers and the challenges that they set for me and would like to say a huge thank you for the continued support which allows me to keep growing and developing my business.
Signs of spring are popping up all around us this month. I have been cold water swimming at my local Cornish beaches throughout the winter, which has been exhilarating, but I am definitely looking forward to a bit more sunshine and the warmth and comfort it provides us. My glass kilns are the only thing keeping me warm at the moment.
As a Cornish glass artist, my local beaches are my greatest inspiration for my glass artwork and my very first designs out of the kiln thirteen years ago were of Cornwall’s stunning beaches and crashing waves. One of the things I love about Cornwall is the huge variation in the beaches, I can walk barefoot along the soft golden sand on Porthminster beach at St Ives, with Mediterranean beating turquoise blue sea lapping gently at my toes or I can stomp a coastal path, bedecked in boots and coat to watch the grand swell of white horses and breakers crashing over the cliffs below. It’s so enthralling and my favourite place to be.
One of the projects I have been working on over the winter months is casting glass to create circular bases for my artwork. This has been a fun and inventive way of utilising the smaller pieces of sheet glass left over from my larger designs. Bullseye glass is far too precious a commodity to dispose of, even the tiniest of pieces.
I have created hanging discs and incorporated my biggest inspiration, the beach! It’s a fiddly job, first chipping all of the sheet glass into manageable sized pieces, preparing the moulds and then carefully placing each chip of glass so that when the glass is heated and turns to liquid, it flows to fill the gaps and yet still creates the desired image. There is a huge propensity for mistakes.
Once the base has been fired I am able to drill a hole in the top to allow twine to be added. This is done underwater (not me with a snorkel…..just the glass and drill tip is underwater) the water acts as a coolant to stop the glass from cracking.
The discs are finished with their final artwork before being fired in the kiln for a second time. The beaches are my favourite but I have also been working with adding the little seal heads which had proved so popular last year. When I swim at Porthpean Beach in St Austell, we are often accompanied by our local seal. He is very curious and likes to pop up about 5-10 metres away from swimmers, there is rarely any interaction, he is just checking us out but I always feel that slight frisson of nervousness.
This new design works very well alongside the existing beach scenes which I have been creating for many years. My studio in St Austell Market House now has a lovely display of the new and existing designs for those close enough to visit.
After five years of neglect, my website and online presence is also having some ‘new year, new me’ treatment.
Being a creative person but running a business often means having to step outside of your own comfort zone, to achieve tasks and use skills which don’t come naturally. I’m taking on a challenge!
My new disc hangers will be joining the rest of my beach inspired glass artwork in the ‘Beach’ collection so that you are able to order a reminder of our serene Cornish beaches wherever you are in the country.
As many of you know, anything IT scares the pants off me so I’m getting some grown up help from The Ocean Agency. Using a well respected, small local business is very important to me. It is planned to be a year long project and it’s very exciting…….watch this space as my knowledge blooms like the flowers of spring.
