Spring Fair

[Bagpuss]

Looking forward to a nice day out at the Spring Fair on Monday, I'll be wearing my red Hotpress Lanyard, will you ?
Adam/Bagpuss

[prospero]

It's been nice out today. No rain. No wind. And it was 68deg in the shed this arvo.

Hope the weather has been similar around Brum for all the intrepid adventurers.

[huntvambo]

T'was a lovely day in Brum, the weather being much better than the art and framing section of the Spring Fair.

[DCS]

The wife and I had a pleasant day today (Sunday) at the Spring Fair.
We travelled down last night and stayed in Tamworth which was only a 30 minute drive this morning.

To be honest the framing section seemed identical to last years but still worth a visit, had a chat with Ian & Sam from Framer's corner as well as look at other bits and bobs.
We were interested in an engraving machine for our shop until we found out the price (£15,000 plus Vat) so that idea is on hold for the time being.

The drive back to Durham was incident free apart from the 13 mile 50mph stretch on the M1 which felt like 130 miles.

[Graysalchemy]

misterdiy wrote "Great weather in Birmingham is still very poor by national standards (except Manchester) "

Oi Manchester was lovely yesterday, nice and sunny.

And If we get so much rain how come Manchester never Floods

Answers on a postcard please.

[StevenG]

Well, that's me back from the show, it was my first time being there - I'll be there next year and I'm having more than a day then. It was an amazing experience for me, I did keep an eye out for anyone wearing a FF badge (didn't really expect anyone to wear one though) but seen nothing. In regards to suppliers it was nice to put a face to a name/voice. Seen some nice framing jobs too that'll I'll start liberating (copying).

Took a look for Old Master but missed him.

Oh well, just thought I'd say something.

[An Old Master]

Saw you coming and hid till you past.

[IFGL]

If your heading down to the International spring fair, pop by and see the talented Tony Fernandes to view his amazing range of quality images.

[pmdavies33]

I'm just back from my first visit to the Spring Fair and from a hobbyist point of view found it invaluable. I received some great advice from one of he Gents on the Wessex stand reference choosing a second hand Morso. I drooled over the CMC machines (Would I really need one unless I went into mass production?) Had a great chat with Stephanie about the merits in becoming a Commended Framer. Overall I had a great time. Although the previous comments about the lack of framing based exhibits (Must have been great back in the day!) I found it interesting to see what a vast array of other products are out there!!

[Not your average framer]

I went there on Sunday and was glad that I had been able to be there. In particular, there were some very nice new mouldings exhibited which are well suited to my own needs.

My first stop was the Simons stand, where I found several new mouldings for which I requested samples and was kindly revived with coffe and biscuits. As many can probably guess, I like mouldings which I can handfinish for extra profit and advantage, or rustic mouldings with a touch of class and will go down well in my rural Devon town and surrounding area.

Rustic and textured mouldings are a major part of the life blood of my business, with so many historic old cottages and converted barns in my immediate area and I was not disappointed. Three new rustic mouldings which I liked where the Raphael, Somerset and Colorado ranges. There were also two new bare wood oak mouldings and their new economy range for which I requested samples.

My next stop was the Lion stand where I ordered samples for two families of mouldings I really liked, but one was a lovely muted wood veneer and the other I can't easily describe from memory. Nicola was kind enough to tell me where the nice images in some of their wall display frames came from, which was very helpful.

After this we fould the Wessex group stand and a very nice flat obeche moulding with a three or four step reeded sight edge moulding, which I have long been looking for. The stand was very busy, but both my wife and I were not feeling well at this time. My wife does not find the air conditioning easy to copy with and I was beginning to have a bit of a funny tern with my diabetis and my blood pressure. I was much helped by a glass of their real orange juice and some mini cheddars. Thanks guys, you don't know how much I needed them at the time!

Then we moved on to the Framer Corner stand, where I was seriously tempted by the price of their pneumatic flexi-tab gun, which may just be on my shopping list in the next few months.

We got into the hall at 10 and managed to get around and see everyone we wanted to see and were on our way back to the car part for 12.30. I thought it was a really good show with really good offerings from all the framing stands. For me it was well worth the approximately 500 mile round trip.

[IFGL]

Two of our senior management went on Sunday to look at the framing stands, the other directors and myself will be going down on Thursday to look at the art side.
lol who am I kidding, Jamie and Gemma went Sunday for summat to do, and me and the missus are going Thursday.

[Roboframer]

We just summon the companies to come to us give us a personal preview of what they will be showing.

I've been selling Simon's econ range for several months - the samples just turned up one day in a jiffy bag.

Mark, promise me you'll take better care of yourself in future! (Bovey Tracey to NEC is about 177 miles BTW, but still!)

[IFGL]

one of my customers who is standing asked for a quote today for 1000 of each of her prints on cotton rag paper, thats 24000 prints, will more than likely come to nothing, but if it does then we are going to need a bigger boat.

[An Old Master]

Careful Mark, John's keeping a close check on your mileage.

[Not your average framer]

Hi John,

You mean that there's a quicker route? (there's got to be a sat-nav joke there somewhere!)

[Not your average framer]

Hi Pete,

It's because he's got a faster car than me and the wheels don't touch the road between the bumps!

[Roboframer]

When the event is held at a time of year when I can put the roof down I might consider it.

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But seriously Mark, just reading your round trip gave me driver fatigue!!

[Not your average framer]

[An Old Master]

Mark, with low profile tyres like that, believe me, anything bigger than a pea in the road will give you serious spine damage, let alone speed humps.

[Comfyjumper]

Just got back, met the lovely Merlin and spent time with Simons and Wessex, my main suppliers. The quality of prints and artwork on the many stands was mind boggling, Impressed as usual with the Valliani and Wizard, but not so with the Gunnar stand as I found it not so friendly for some strange reason. it took me 20 minutes to actually find my way out through the balloons and very strange fancy dress stands. Personally I think the picture framing and art side should join up and have their own trade fair...then the missing suppliers may come back.