Original subtitles

Our country is full of incredible makers dreaming of turning their talent into

money -making careers.

It would mean everything to be able to do this full -time.

So, with a team of fantastic professional mentors... I know your

know what you're capable of doing.

I run a one -of -a -kind bootcamp, showing them how to do just that.

Perfect. My Travis moment, I'll just share that. Yes.

Now I'm on my way to catch up with those who have made their dreams come true.

Hello. There he is. Hello, mate.

I'll be hearing about their amazing achievement.

I've been able to put down a deposit on a house.

This is my full -time job.

And finding out how much money they're making.

I took £20 ,000.

In one month? In one month. About £35 ,000 this year.

So join me and meet the fabulous makers who have transformed their lives and

made it at market.

You can kind of say I'm living the dream.

I think that's fair to say.

Whether they're practising endangered crafts or using

the latest technology to create their work, We see every type of maker at my

bootcamp, and they're all trying to build successful businesses from their

skills.

Today, we'll be checking in on the progress of two with very different

In a short while, we'll be visiting woodturner Shannon, who's turned her

into a paying profession.

I've always had this dream of being where I am today. To be able to have an

actual career in heritage craft, it's incredible.

Before that, I'll be catching up with shop assistant, artist and digital

illustrator, Tasia from London.

She came to my bootcamp in the spring of 2022 and job one was finding out

exactly what stage she was at commercially with her art.

How is the business side of things working out for you? Are you selling

Yes, so at the end of my graduation, I was contacted by an art house.

And they wanted me to sell some prints with them, so I've been selling through

them. Storybook?

Yeah, children's books as well. I did one the other day, and it was about a

in a forest, which I love. It was literally like, that is me.

So, yeah, things like that. What are you hoping your mentor is able to do for

you? I need help on the business side. I feel as though I've definitely found my

style and my brand, and you can definitely see parts of me in my prints.

But what I don't know is the business side of it.

To help Tasia build a business from her skills, I asked her to make three

different pieces to work out which of them were most likely to sell.

First up was a volume piece and she created an illustration of a woman's

using digital art priced at £120.

This was art which was produced on a tablet or computer with specialist

software.

I'm at the sketching part now.

So I've got the figure walking into her bedroom with the picture frames all on

her walls and she's holding plants and the story would be her coming into her

room and just adding to her plant collection.

Deja spent two hours sketching, which gave her a rough draft of her

illustration. She then refined it and added colour.

I usually start with a black colour and then add on with shadowing, so maybe

brighter colours on top of darks

textures textures of color on top of it so you've got the full scope of the

illustration as she created the pieces i challenged her to produce tasia was

guided by professional artist sharon walters sharon's fantastic paper cuts

mixed media collages have brought her critical and commercial success having

built her own art practice from scratch she was the perfect person to help tasia

take her work to the next level

Tell me a bit about the colours you've chosen.

Yes, so I always go with the same sort of theme in colouring. So a lot of

pinks, reds, oranges and yellows. And you'll see that in a lot of my work. But

do also like the muted kind of colours and then like a hint of bright colours.

I love Teja's work in terms of its storytelling, but I think she can expand

use of colour.

She's really keen and she's really developing her own voice, which is

to see. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how this develops.

With Tasia making good progress with her digital illustration, I wanted to take

a look at her second item.

Before she came to my boot camp, I asked her to produce a high -end piece,

something she could charge a top price for.

She decided to create an oil -on -canvas painting called Drowning on a Summer's

Eve. Painted over four months, it was priced at £700.

And I wanted to know if Sharon thought it was a business builder.

Yeah, I think it's a really interesting painting. It carries through some of the

storytelling of her more illustrative works. But I think it could be pushed a

little bit further.

Tayshia's hoping to get £700 for that painting.

She doesn't create many paintings, so they are quite unique.

Could possibly ask for more, but if she's happy with that amount of money

currently, I think that's what we should go for, definitely.

Back in the artist's corner, Tasia was continuing to work on her more

piece, the digital illustration of a woman's bedroom.

I'm zooming in, cleaning up edges, adding detailing to the posters and

to the pillows.

I'm not particularly nervous about working quickly because editorial

usually want the piece within a day or maybe two days.

Hi, Tasia. Hi. Hi. How's it going? Going well, yeah. I'm just colouring the

leaves. It's looking really good.

So your work is generally sold through prints?

Yes, that's the majority, yeah. Also commissioned base as well, I would say.

Yeah, so you don't sell your originals at all?

I do sell my original paintings and then I'll have editions of the prints, maybe

10 or 15, and then I intend to frame it. So you provide the prints?

already framed yeah always i wouldn't want to see my print stuck on walls with

blue tacks to finish tasia added her signature swirls twists

and turns before printing and framing the piece her digital print took her

hours to produce and had a price tag of 120 pounds

The speed at which you were able to turn this around was unbelievable.

I think it's brilliant for a high -volume piece because it shows that

able to create maybe a couple within a day, which is brilliant.

How about the price?

I don't think the price is the problem. I just need you to ensure that you're

purchasing a good frame if you are purchasing a frame. But selling with a

different print, it's really important to have a certificate of authenticity to

also ensure that you've numbered the pieces, maybe look at embossing as well.

really adds to the quality of the work.

Is that helpful?

Very.

With plenty of business building potential in her first two items.

For Tasia's final task, I asked her to make her favourite piece, to see if that

could also be a hit with customers.

She decided to put her tablet away and produce a nature -inspired acrylic

painting of a woman surrounded by flowers, priced at £450.

It was a detailed piece of work, and she'd created the base of it before

arriving at the boot camp.

Tasia, you OK?

Hi, yeah, I'm doing good. So nice to see you with your brushes out.

Yeah, it's a lot different than the... Than your tablet? Than the tablet, yeah.

What do you prefer?

I do find this quite therapeutic and because I'm surrounded by leaves and

flowers and things like that, I'm really enjoying it.

Yeah, very fitting painting.

Yeah, I'm about halfway now. Okay. So what I'm doing is I'm kind of blocking

the colours so you can see like the yellows here next to the pinks and how

that's like working with the green. So I'm just doing a bit of the tonal work.

Amazing. Well, I won't distract you anymore.

Thank you.

I've kind of mapped out where I want everything to be. And what I'm doing now

I'm going in with just a little bit more detail, fine -tuning the shapes and

going in with colour on the leaves as well.

Tasia's painting was progressing well, but Sharon wanted to talk to her about

developing her skills further.

I really like the use of the body. Have you actually been doing life drawing

classes? I touched on it a few years ago, maybe when I was

18.

I think I managed to do four classes, and I actually enjoyed it, and my art

teacher really liked what I created.

And if it's something you'd consider doing again, just picking it back up,

just thinking in terms of your skill set and developing your practice, if it's

something you'd consider doing.

I haven't considered it yet.

But I think if I'm going to continue to do bodies, it would be something that I

should probably do.

Yeah.

Tasia's acrylic painting was a vibrant and striking piece of work.

It took her eight hours to produce and had a price tag of £450.

It's a really lovely painting. I like the way that it just feels so relaxing.

And the use of colour, it's so vibrant.

Yeah, a real celebration of nature, which I love. What about the price?

I think that's a reasonable price. I don't feel as though you've overpriced

at all. It took you quite some time to do and it's a unique one -off piece.

It would be great if you worked on a theme in your work. In like a

Yeah, so create a collection where you have a theme that you're working on. It

will allow you to work on something over and over and try different things and

really experiment.

I think I'll do my favourite piece of the collection, actually, because I

enjoyed doing that. That's nice. I think that would work really, really well.

Tasia was a multi -talented artist, willing to explore new ideas, and we

an action plan to help turn that undoubted talent into a business.

First, we wanted her to add a touch of luxury to her packaging and a

of authenticity for each print she sold.

Next, she needed to get some life -drawing practice.

Finally, we wanted her to produce a themed collection to help her become

experimental with her work.

For the next two months, Tasia continued to be guided by Sharon as she worked

through the advice we'd given her, beginning with making the packaging of

prints more luxurious.

I think this week I'm going to be focusing on my certificate of

I think I want them to be hand -signed.

something that's a little bit more personal to my customers.

And I'm also going to be working on my shipping as well because I have a few

prints to be shipped and just working out packaging and things like that. So

that's what I'll be doing this week.

She also got some advice from Sharon about how to juggle her art with her

-time job.

After my chat with Sharon...

I think I might have to create the floral collection in my living room just

because I don't have enough time to go back and forth from the studio. So I'll

be creating a floral collection here.

I also have a commission for an editorial magazine, a podcast and

musical theatre.

So I'm doing that all alongside creating paintings, which is getting me really

stressed out. But I have to do it.

Sharon kind of taught me through the processes of pacing yourself and

making sure that you're not doing things that are too overwhelming. Initially, I

wanted to do five paintings, but I think I'll only do maybe three, and

I'll just see how I get on.

For eight weeks, Tasia worked hard at putting all of our advice into practice,

and she came back to see us with the most amazing news.

Overall, I've made £6 ,000 in commissions and selling prints, so it's

really busy, but really good. That's incredible. You must be absolutely over

moon. Yeah.

Huge congratulations, because I know that you've got the added pressure of

working part -time as well. You've done an outstanding job. Well done.

Sharon was bang on, even after taking off the costs from her incredible sales.

Tasia was well on her way to building a successful full -time business.

It's now over three and a half years since I first met her. And with her

business going from strength to strength, I've come to London to Tasia's

studio to find out exactly what she's achieved.

Hi. Hello.

Come on in. Thank you so much. It's been a while.

Tasia's studio is light, bright, and really impressive.

the place of an artist who's clearly on the up this place is brilliant thank you

what a space you've got to work in i think this studio is the best i've had

i'm really i'm really grateful um that i was able to get the space and work it

it quite motivates me to come in and get the work done talking of getting work

done how is business looking Really good. Yeah, I've been working on

I'm doing a lot of children's book covers and illustrations. So that could

anywhere from 900 to 4 ,000, depending on if it's just a cover or if it's

illustrations throughout the entire book. 4 ,000 pounds.

a huge amount of money, but I guess a lot of work if it's a big book. It's a

of work, yeah. What about your beautiful paintings?

Are you selling any of these?

I am. I have an artist agent now and I sell a lot of things.

Yes, thank you.

It's amazing to be able to have someone who's rooting for me and my paintings

and murals.

murals as well yeah tell me about those i love creating large scale and i've

been able to do murals in different communities around london what sort of

are you doing then is this murals on building walls or yeah um it could range

from anywhere from schools uh communities uh wall cafes anywhere

that needs a new bit of life some color that's wildly different from doing the

small intricate delicate illustration work yes it's a painting large scale

in a public space yeah what's driving the growth of your business the most is

murals illustration or the paintings right now i would say murals uh i'm

uh driving my business as well as my illustrations it's great to hear that

tasia is selling her paintings which are priced at 150 pounds for small ones up

to 3 000 pounds for larger pieces

I love that she's branched out into large -scale work, though, and as her

are now bringing the most money into her business, we've travelled half an hour

away to a community arts centre so she can show me how she creates them.

She's painting a nature -inspired mural on the wall of the centre's reception,

featuring flowers, leaves and greenery.

Wow, this is not what I was expecting. Oh, goodness me!

It's called the squiggle method.

And what it is, it's just a bunch of random letters, numbers and symbols that

use and mark on the wall. I take a photo on my phone and then I take my artwork

that I've already sketched before and place it on top of the

letters. Which is the coloured sections.

Yeah. OK.

And essentially what I need to do now is block in the colours and add details.

Okay, I think I understand. So all of these letters and numbers and symbols in

the dark colour are actually almost like a grid.

It's just giving you reference locations.

Yes, to make sure that things are in proportion and everything's in the right

place and it looks good on the wall. That is so clever. When I first walked

I was slightly terrified, but I can see it now. I can see what we're trying to

do. Yeah. I guess it's time to get the paint out. Absolutely.

We're going to get messy, aren't we? Very. Yeah.

Very messy.

Okay.

I'm not new to painting big spaces, but Tasia's squiggle method is something

I've not seen before.

OK, I think you can start here.

So if we look at the reference, you can see these two yellow bits. Yeah. And we

just need to fill this shape in blue.

The letters, numbers and symbols on the wall give us reference points and help

to break down such a large piece of work into manageable and understandable

sections.

You're actually doing a really good job. Thank you.

Good technique.

Have you painted a mural before?

Back in my set design days, I'd be quite often painting big walls and things,

but never with this grid technique, this numbers and patterns technique. I'm

fascinated by that. It would have been very handy.

Tasia's design combines flowers, leaves and shapes in six different colours.

This is quite a luxury being indoors in a nice warm room.

Are you used to working on such big scale like this indoors?

Most of them are outside, usually on fences or brick fences. Big walls and

things. Own challenges.

Yeah, the texture and, you know, it probably needs a few more coats than

Yeah. That sort of thing. It doesn't help when it rains either. I bet.

This is definitely the surface that I like to paint on. Yes, yes. And

projects like this are going to make...

an impact on so many people for a long time hundreds of people are going to see

this and smile yeah you do good if we get it finished come on let's carry on

depending on the size of her client's budget the price of tasia's murals range

from 2 000 to 8 000 pounds and the more we paint the more i'm appreciating how

the numbers letters and symbols she uses to guide her designs take away a lot of

the stress of creating such large -scale work allowing her to concentrate on the

details and colors she's using i think pink might be the best color it's really

opaque oh nice yeah god how bright that is yeah goes on really nicely oh wow i

like that yeah i really like it after three hours of painting the mural has

first coat of paint nicely done thank you

The following day, Tasia returned to finish her mural, and it's a real

to see that the bold colors and natural themes she used at the boot camp are

fueling the success of her business on such large -scale work.

Since I last saw her, she's taken massive strides forwards, and as well as

creating themed collections of paintings, I'm keen to find out how the

gave her three and a half years ago has contributed to her success, and how much

she's earning from her art now.

When you came to my boot camp, we gave you an action plan to help boost your

business. One of the pointers that we wanted you to look into was perhaps

thinking about going to life drawing classes.

Have you done that? I did. I tried. And I wanted to focus on something that I

was more interested in. And that was the florals.

Drawing people were just not for you. I think it helped with proportions,

which... helped for my illustration but in terms of my painting and my style and

who and what i want to continue doing it isn't really bodies it's forms another

thing that we wanted you to explore was to try and elevate the presentation of

your prints you know maybe think of certificates of authenticity signatures

they i've got to say they are looking beautiful now Yeah, I really took on

Sharon said about the luxury element. So now I'm more printing on giclee prints

and I'm signing and they are limited edition.

And has that made a difference? I think it has. People like when there's limited

editions.

I've noticed that quite a few of my buyers are art collectors as well. So

really helps push it.

Tasia's action plan has helped her to develop her business, and it's time to

find out exactly how successful she's become.

Do you mind if we talk numbers, as this is a business after all? Yeah. Once

you've taken out your costs, how much have you earned?

Around 50, 50 ,000. 50? Yeah.

A year? Yeah.

Wow.

I'm not surprised you're smiling.

That is incredible.

Thank you.

Tasia enjoys the social part of her job in retail, and on average she's still

doing a couple of days a week. But there's some news on the horizon that

mean she takes the leap into becoming a full -time artist.

I have hopefully a big commission coming soon, which would be my biggest project

ever of 50 ,000.

For one mural? For one mural.

It must be a big one, I'm sure.

It's huge, yes.

Wow. If you need a hand, let me know.

I'll let you know.

Tasia's come an awfully long way since she was at the boot camp, and it sounds

as though she's about to take another massive leap forward.

Branching out into murals has turbocharged her business, and she

ounce of the success she's having.

I think my achievement has really boosted my confidence.

Three years ago, I was sort of teetering on being an artist. I didn't really

know who I was or what I was doing.

And it was because of that reflection I'm able to be here today and say that I

am now a professional artist.

The second maker we'll be catching up with today is community gardener and

woodturner Shannon from Northumberland.

She also came to my boot camp three and a half years ago, hoping we could help

her to make money from a rare skill of turning wood on a foot -powered pole

lathe. I come from a long line of woodworkers. My father is a carpenter by

and he learned from his father, so my grandfather.

I'm definitely ready to start my business. I feel like I've been working

it for quite a while.

What is holding me back and one of my largest barriers is my anxiety of just

putting myself out there.

For her volume piece, Shannon decided to make a porringer -style bowl.

This was a bowl she turned from birch wood with two handles, priced at £20.

Her first job was to split a piece of green wood, which is wood that has just

been cut and not dried out.

Depending on how straight the grain is, with the first initial cut it could

split off, so what I'm looking for is two half pieces so that it can be

divided and made into two bowls that are similar.

After using an axe to create a rough round bowl shape, Shannon's set to work

turning it on her foot -powered lathe.

As I push down, I make a cut using a small part of the hook tool.

And when I push up, it oscillates back away from me so I stop the cut.

And that's in a rhythmical fashion.

So I'm generally keeping a steady pace and it just gently

creates a new line around the bowl.

To help Shannon as she strived to make money from her work, she was supported

woodworker and furniture maker Alice Blog.

Over the past 16 years, Alice has collaborated with a number of leading

organizations and high street brands from her Dorset studio, which made her a

fantastic person to guide Shannon.

Something that's really special about you, Shannon, is that you're you. You're

using this pole lathe, which not everyone uses to make products out of. I

in a business sense, we can use you as something that markets, this pole lathe

as something that markets, and really put your confidence into selling your

work, which also is marketable too.

That sounds great.

As Shannon got back to making her Porringer -style bowl, I sat down with

to discuss her second challenge, her high -end piece.

Shannon had turned another two -handled bowl, this time from Sycamore.

It was larger than her volume piece, so it took longer to turn, and she priced

it at £60.

It's beautiful. It's got Scandinavian style.

I think she needs to work on her signature detailing of it. Maybe some

maybe some stain or a little bit of carving.

Ooh. Yeah, just a little je ne sais quoi.

A little bit of, yeah, nice. I like it. A little bit of ping.

So you've got Shannon's character, Shannon's work, and that little Shannon

little detail in it.

Well, she's hoping to get £60 for it.

Would you pay £60 for a bowl like that? Oh, I'd definitely pay £60 for a Shannon

bowl, yeah.

Yeah.

Back in the timber yard, Shannon had made good progress with her volume

I have finished the back of the bowl, turned it round, and I've hollowed out

inside of the bowl. And what I'm feeling for is the thickness of the walls and

the depth of the cuts that I'm making.

As she powered the lathe with her foot, Shannon kept her upper body as still as

possible to control the hook she was using to carve her bowl.

It was a physically demanding job that also required total concentration.

OK, that'll do.

So, across the grain, it's just going to go...

..and pop like that.

That's when it flies off. So we've got a lovely little bowl, and that's where

it's come from.

With the bowl off the lathe, the next job was carving the handles.

Small pencil stencil line so that I can cut up to that line.

And then I'll take out the scars with a hook knife.

And we're pretty much at the final stages now.

The handles on Shannon's bowl were both carefully hand carved.

To finish, she needed the bowl to dry before adding a food grade oil to make

usable and bring out the beautiful colour and detail in the wood.

I feel excited about showing Dom and Alice my bowl.

I'm open to criticism on my pieces. I think it's really interesting to see the

observations of others.

Shannon's bowl took her three hours to turn and finish, and she gave it a

competitive price tag of £20.

There's more value in your work, you just don't realise it.

You need your name on it. People want to buy you.

So you need to carve into it or milk paint or scorch it in some way. This is

going to make people want a Shannon piece and come back for more and signify

that it's you that made it. We don't want people to just buy one of your

We want people to come back and buy the whole set and have cupboards full of

them. Yeah, more and more and more.

That sounds amazing.

It was fantastic to see someone keeping a heritage craft alive and there was

definitely more value in Shannon's work than she realised.

To think that I'm a selling point of my business, I'm completely flattered that

Dom and Alice was able to portray that to me through seeing my little volume

piece. I think that's great.

For her final challenge, I asked Shannon to make her favourite piece to see if

the item she was most passionate about could also bring in big profits.

She decided to turn a 6 -inch bowl from English Alderwood, priced at £40.

It was one of the first bowls she successfully produced when she began

woodturning. And with no handles, it was the simplest of the three bowls she

created for us.

So what I'm going to do is use the circle mark to identify where

to take these edges off.

I'm just lining it up so that I don't get it too close to the line.

That was close.

Now that I've got it close to the edge, I'm going to flatten the back

so that I've got another reference point.

I've flattened off the back.

which means I can draw a centre point and use my compass to draw another

for the foot.

And then using a systematic approach, create facets down each corner and then

just chase it round until it becomes a circular bowl blank.

After the bowl had been shaped on the pole lathe, the wood needed to be

to dry out for up to a couple of days and then oiled.

What I'm going to do now is use the oil that I've poured inside to rub around

with my fingers and get around the entirety of the bowl, making sure that I

don't leave any marks or spots without the oil.

Shannon's six -inch bowl made from English alderwood was larger and took

to turn than the Porringer -style bowl she made for her volume piece, and she

priced it at £40.

well they're practical things i guess you need to think um about the end user

about what they're going to buy it to use exactly do you have a use in mind so

Even though it's six inch and it's quite small, I use it mainly so that I can go

up for seconds and thirds.

I appreciate that not everyone likes to get up from the table once they've sat

down. So I think maybe for that size, it's a good price.

But maybe if you wanted to sell a few more to people who may not want to go

seconds and thirds, then maybe a bigger piece.

Shannon made all of her products with enthusiasm and real skill, but she

to turn that into money.

To help her, we drew up an action plan for her to take back to Northumberland.

First, we wanted her to find a signature style by adding colour or distinctive

features like scorching or unique carving to her work.

Next, she needed to start selling herself, because customers buy into

and she had a fantastic story to tell.

She could do this at markets or online through her website.

For the next two months, with Alice's support, Shannon set to work building

business. And job one was developing a signature style for her bowls.

I create nature -based inks. They're ranging from anything using acorns or

elderberries from last year. And I'm experimenting in using them to dye the

of my bowls.

She also worked on her website to boost her online presence and wanted to get

mentor Alice's thoughts.

So homepage, nice that there'll be a video. Have you thought about what that

I love the idea of just having a loop of just a few cuts.

I think that's such a simple and really effective idea.

Yeah,

I think there was a photo you took in the barn or somewhere with that nice

floor. Yeah, yeah.

That is such nice light in there.

I think I want to take all my product shots in there. If I go in in the

you get the back lighting from the door. And if I go in in the evening, you get

a soft light from a yellow, like, from a top lighting.

So I can play around with that.

In the eight weeks after my boot camp, Shannon made huge steps forward,

her business from scratch.

And when she came to report back, she had positive news.

I've made about £300 in the past eight weeks.

Really? Yeah.

How does that compare to before this experience?

Well, I had only ever given my bowls as gifts to friends and family.

I know, right? It's amazing. And now you've made hundreds of pounds from

it. Well, when you say it like that, it sounds very impressive.

It is.

It is.

It feels like a start, at least.

Shannon was right.

Selling your work is a very big first step to take. And having done that, she

went from strength to strength.

Three and a half years after I first met her, I've asked Alice to drop in on her

to find out more about what she's achieved and things have changed.

Hi!

Shannon has diversified her business.

She's also left Northumberland and moved hundreds of miles south to Somerset and

is meeting Alice in a friend's workshop.

Love the space, Shannon. So tell me more about how you ended up here.

Around 18 months ago, I lost my base up in Northumberland and my workshop.

So I moved down south, being a little bit closer to my family.

Since we met at boot camp, I have moved primarily from polo training into being

more primarily basketry based.

So this practice has got far less kit, which means that I can be much more

mobile and it means that I can create pretty much anywhere on the go.

Your pole lathe is brilliant, but there's a lot of people doing it now,

lovely for the endangered craft.

But it seems like your basketry, there's not as many people doing it. So it's a

USP. It's your selling point.

Well, yeah, in my basketry, I use critically endangered techniques.

So the skein or skein willow is something that is currently potentially

become extinct.

teach nationally and provide opportunities for people to learn these

they can remain living.

April through to about September, I'm able to go to craft fairs, different

greenwood festivals and different events where I can either demonstrate or

connect with people and teach these skills.

Skeen willow is willow that has been turned from round rods into thin, flat

flexible ribbons that are used for intricate weaving.

which Shannon teaches in her summer basketry workshops.

She holds them once or twice a week for 8 to 10 people per class and charges

£100 to £150 per person.

During the winter months, she boosts her income by working in the forestry

industry and selling her pieces.

When we first met at boot camp, you didn't even have a website, so tell me

about how you're selling your products.

The main place that I sell is online.

My biggest sellers are still my bowls. That's still what I'm primarily known

for. And they list from around £40 to £350.

The commissions that I get usually come in at the higher figures as well, as

they're usually a piece for maybe a big celebratory birthday or a wedding

anniversary or something like that. Whereas my baskets are catching up.

listed from around £85 to around £500.

It's good to hear Shannon does still sell her bowls, but with the basketry

becoming a growing driver of her business, she's going to show Alice one

split willow and hazelwood umbra baskets, which she sells for £290.

She begins by cutting rods of hazelwood lengthways, then shaves them to create

flexible strips.

Working from the middle.

Down through the length.

These will eventually become the frame of my basket.

You can see it's going softer now.

Yeah.

So you can kind of feel the flex.

Yeah, wow.

You can really feel it go. You can feel the middle as well, because it's not as

thin. I really enjoy this bit.

The shape of the shavings always bring me a little bit of joy.

With the hazelwood rods ready to create the frame, Shannon moves on to the

strips of willow that will be woven between the rods, also known as the ribs

the basket.

This splitting the willow is part of the basketry that

has the critically endangered technique in it.

And what we do is use one willow stem and a

splitter.

And you split it three ways.

This creates the inner material. This is one of the things that you need to make

sure that you're thinking with your hands instead of your mind.

You can hear the crackle.

The centre of the rod or the stem is along all three. So that's what we're

to be dressing down and making into a thinner strip.

To make the strips of willow narrower, Shannon passes them through a vertical

shaver, which can give her different widths of willow.

She also passes them through a horizontal shaver to give her the

thinness she's looking for.

We're just going to make it sure the same width as the other one, same width

the other one.

I always do the same width for a whole basket.

So I'll do smaller pieces for the start of the weave.

Yeah. Because it's tighter spaces between the ribs.

Yeah. And then as the weave gets wider, I can use wider pieces of willow. Yeah.

So you can make them really thin.

With her willow prepared, Shannon begins weaving on a hazelwood frame she

prepared before Alice arrived.

Always twice around the top.

Yeah. Just locks it in a bit tighter.

Now you've moved from Paul Aiding into your basketry, how are you telling

about this?

I have lots of different forums, social media and places online.

However, mainly it's my newsletter.

It's located at the end of every page of my website and I've now got up to a

thousand people that I'm able to have a bit more of a personal connection with.

and let them know about what I've been up to, big projects.

They'll be the first to know when any shop is updated on my seasonal releases.

To keep her strips of willow soft and flexible, Shannon keeps them in a bucket

of water.

And after around five hours of weaving, she reaches the final stages of creating

her basket.

That should be my last piece.

Stay with me, little one.

I'm taking a terrace nap.

Including drying time for the split hazelwood, Shannon's Umbra basket takes

around two to two and a half days to make.

It has material costs of £20 to £30 and a price tag of £290 for a brown basket

and £340 for an ebonised one.

Well done!

Thanks. Dunning!

It's clear that diversifying her business has been a big success for

But I'm keen to know if the advice we gave her three and a half years ago has

also played a role in the growth of her business.

When you came to boot camp, we asked you to find your signature style by adding

colour or distinctive features such as scorching.

Do you think you found this?

What I've been using is the charcoal dyes on the bottom of my bowls and

ebonising strips of willow to go through the basket. So when someone sees a

product like that, they know it's made by me.

Something else we wanted you to do was to sell yourself because people really

buy into craftspeople via markets, online.

I still feel quite uncomfortable about putting myself out there.

But when I take a step back and I see how well it's been received online or...

at live events when i connect to people and how quickly my seasonal updates sell

out and how popular my mailing list is i've done better than i thought i think

you've done really well i absolutely agree with alice shannon has done

incredibly well since i last saw her not only is she making money from her

woodturning she's moved the length of the country and also learned a new and

very rare skill which is playing an increasingly large role in her business

Time to find out how much money that's all now making her.

Shannon, it's time to talk numbers. Are you earning a living from your craft?

So working part -time on the craft side, I earn about 15k a year.

Wow, thank you. And combined with the income from my forestry work, it means

that I do make a living and it means that I've created a viable business.

I never thought I'd get here. I thought it was always going to be a side hustle.

So to be able to have an actual career in heritage craft, it's incredible.

It's so good to hear. You must be so proud of yourself.

And you're only doing it for seven months of the year. So think what you

if you're doing it for 12 months of the year.

I think the future involves me taking a step back in winter months from forestry

and coppicing to be able to give the craft a bit more space and time.

open and sell out pretty quickly and also the interest that i have online

that i think there's a bit more scope to be able to develop my collection ranges

and increase the product numbers that i have on them the potential for shannon

to grow her business further is massive but just 18 months after uprooting her

life and learning a new skill to be earning 15 000 pounds off the cost is a

fabulous achievement that she should be very proud of

I've always had this dream of being where I am today and I can't believe

made it here. I am really proud of my own achievements and it means that it's

something that I see myself doing for a sustainable and long career.

Want some help building a business that lasts?

Visit the Open University's interactive guide for practical help to sustain and

grow your business.

Scan the QR code on the screen or visit connect .open .ac .uk forward

slash I made it at market.