molten wonky’s #MarchMeetTheMaker challenge
22 April 2024
Happy Spring to all of you wonderful crafty bunch! To celebrate this season full of new opportunities and new crafts, I followed along with a fun Instagram challenge for the whole of March called #MarchMeetTheMaker.
For those of you that don’t follow molten wonky on Instagram, I’d love to share a few highlights from this challenge with you. If you’re up for it, you can see the whole challenge on Instagram by following @molten_wonky!
day 1: story time
The first day of the #MarchMeetTheMaker challenge was a chance for me to share a little bit more about me and my story. It’s always a good place to start!
I started cutting coloured glass when I went to the Chelsea School of Art — studying stained glass in 1986 was clearly a great starting point for the future. Fast forward to 2009, I started molten wonky. I now work and live near Steeple Bumpstead in North Essex, and I’m a happy wife to Scott and mum to four lovely grown-up children. Oh, we also have Flo the three-legged dog and Gary the cat!
day 5: evolution
Day 5’s prompt was ‘evolution’ — something that’s incredibly important to all of the fused glass trinkets and gifts available from molten wonky. Each design has — and always will — continue to evolve over time, and that’s something pretty spectacular.
day 7: combinations
Creative combinations are something that I come across every day — and I love it! From the satisfying process of colour blocking to playing with textures, there’s always fun combinations to be discovered during the glass fusing process. Over the years, I’ve even had a lot of fun combining both of these techniques in over 400 Wonkylands!
day 12: focus and priorities
Those of you that already know me will already know that focus has never been my strong point. With that being said, day 12’s prompt gave me the reminder to write down a few goals, including: developing my new and upcoming fraggley bowls, thinking about new Christmas products, painting more, and designing new greeting cards,
day 14: collections
I’m very lucky to have lots of different collections of my handmade fused glass decorations. Christmas has always been my best-selling range, but over the year’s I’ve had the chance to add new collections, such as the hearts, birds, coasters, rainbows, mandalas — you get the idea! With the sun staying out for longer, don’t forget to take a look at molten wonky’s fused glass summer gifts and decorations!
day 15: challenge
All businesses have their own challenges, and I am admittedly my biggest one! Being the face of molten wonky means I have to keep motivation high, and that can sometimes be easier said than done.
To help me power through with my never-ending to-do list, I like to pop on an audiobook or the radio and crack on. Humming, walking, dancing…”move to remove the challenge”, I say!
day 25: product story
Day 25 of the challenge prompted me to tell the story behind some of my products. The first star of the show? My fused glass flamingo pal — inspired by my fond memories of travelling across the mineral lakes of Northern Chile.
Taking inspiration from what’s around me is an exciting part of the creative process, and my fused glass mandalas are inspired by fabrics I bought when visiting Peru, Bolivia, and India.
Last year, I was lucky enough to walk the Cami de Cavell in Menorca. From the photos I took on my travels, I decided to create my fused glass wall panels (and also try my hand at a few paintings which will be for sale soon, I promise!)
day 29: vision
If you’d have asked me 15 years ago what my vision for molten wonky was — it definitely wasn’t this. And I mean this in the best way. What molten wonky has become has far surpassed any ideas I ever thought I could have.
So, my vision for molten wonky over the next few years? To keep doing what I’m doing, add bolder and colourful products to the collections, and ultimately — to make all you lovely lot SMILE.
what is #MarchMeetTheMaker?
#MarchMeetTheMaker was thought up by the wonderful Joanne Hawker — the mastermind behind a beautiful collection of personalised scratch cards and special occasion cards. Take a look at her Instagram @joannehawker to see more of her wonderful work.
Ok, so — the challenge. Back for 2024, #MarchMeetTheMaker was an incredible opportunity for small creative businesses to show the world the story behind their business, as well as the wonderful creations and offerings available. This year’s prompts were inspired by new ideas, discoveries, and current trends — some even coming from the Maker Community that I’m so lucky to be a part of!
It’s been so fun to introduce myself to new followers, letting them in behind the scenes, and showing everyone the different parts of running molten wonky. I hope you’ve enjoyed these highlights from the challenge as much as I have!
Here’s to next year’s challenge,
molten wonky x