This summer I’ve collaborated with some incredibly talented fibre artists to run an Auction Program on Instagram.
Throughout the summer you will have the chance to bid on works by the hottest contemporary fibre artists around. The auction program is full of unique pieces, individually hand selected by myself. If your home is in need of some textural rejuvenation, don’t miss this collection of curated textile pieces.
The first artist to auction a piece is Emily Botelho of Salt Stitches.
The piece on auction is a mini embroidery in blue and pink satin stitch, beading and textured tufting. Emily has framed the work in a wooden hoop which hangs with a chain.
The Auction will start on Friday 28th June at 7 pm GMT. To make the auction accessible to all, Emily has decided to start bidding at £1! This is a rare opportunity to bid on an original Salt Stitches piece, so don’t miss out!
To find out more about how the action works, scroll to the end of this post.
Emily creates abstract embroidery hoops from her home studio in Manchester. Her stitched artworks begin with coastal adventures and the photographic collection of organic tidal textures. Rocks covered in pink and yellow lichen, crustaceans and seaweed are typical of her photography. Emily then prints these textures onto fabric which she embroiders, enhancing the natural textures with beads and the occasional seashell.
Emily’s gorgeous hoops are in high demand. Since starting Salt Stitches, Emily has gained over 70K Instagram followers and has an international reach of collectors.
I interviewed Emily to get to know more about her and Salt Stitches.
I learnt through your Instagram story highlights that you’ve been stitching for just over a year. During that time you’ve had a whole bunch of sales, launched your own embroidery kits, started teaching workshops (globally!) and gained a huge and very loyal group of social media followers; that’s a pretty impressive list of achievements so far! Did you have a business plan in place for this or did it happen organically?
Oh geez, when it’s all written down like that it’s quite daunting! I can honestly say there was zero business plan in mind. The start of @salt_stitches on Instagram was a visual record of my work as I was embarking on finally going to Uni. Everything from the grid layout to the style of images was simply to have a point of reference for the work I was going to produce throughout the year. What it’s become is nothing short of a miracle as far as growth is concerned. I’ve only really started looking at the business tools on the app in the past two months or so. I’m trying to understand it from a more professional point of view.
Your abstract embroidery pieces are so textural and detailed with only a few types of stitch and unusual thread choices. Can you tell us a bit about your process and materials?
So the start of my journey was a little cobbled together. When I started exploring embroidery work I was given a sewing machine and plenty of colourful machine thread from a very good friend, which meant I sort of bypassed “traditional” embroidery materials. Once those supplies ran out, I replaced them, and my collection grew exponentially. I’m a bit of a magpie, so I tend to collect threads and beads everywhere I go – meaning I’ve lost count of the extra baggage charge I’ve paid in the last year!
In your recent Q&A with the Sarah K Benning, you wrote ‘that first leap is scary, I quit my job at a really low point and Salt Stitches emerged as a result’. Can you elaborate on this?
So my previous career was in Fashion, and I ended up a situation where I was being quite severely bullied by one of my superiors. It feels really silly to say because I’ve never considered myself someone who could be bullied if that makes sense? It was a catalyst to quite a severe crisis period in my life – something I’ve tried to be very open about, especially on social media. The decision to quit, with no security net, was pretty daft in hindsight and I don’t recommend it to everyone.
When I say Salt Stitches was born from this time, I mean that I was quite severely medicated and the exact journey that lead me to this work is a complete blur. I couldn’t tell you how I developed my ideas if I tried!
But what came out of that period has absolutely changed my life. In fact, I’m pretty confident that it saved my life.
How do you find the work/life balance as a small creative business owner? With your wedding just around the corner, how have you found time to plan whilst creating work for Salt Stitches?
I have zero work-life balance haha! Its something I’ve promised my family I’m going to try and work on going forward. I’m definitely guilty of working on things to the point that I’m falling asleep with my work in my lap. The wedding stuff has been a breeze in comparison to salt stitches! But I’ve definitely had to adjust to not having as much time to sew, which has been hard because I rely on it SO much for my day-to-day mental health.
Which online platforms do you use to sell your work? Do you ever sell at markets or art fairs?
I’ve only ever really used Instagram and Etsy, as far as online platforms go. For comparison, I have a Facebook page for salt Stitches and it only has around 300 likes? Facebook doesn’t like me!
I did a couple of small art fairs and markets at the beginning and never sold a single piece, so have never really tried them again, but I am working with a bigger online art platform this year, so we’ll see what happens with that!
I learned from your Instagram stories that besides embroidery, you love watercolour and drawing. Do you feel that having a highly branded social media holds you back when sharing work in styles that you are not known for?
I kick myself daily that I committed to a grid layout! No, but in all honesty I’ve been trying recently to experiment a bit more and go back to other techniques that I love, I don’t feel held back from sharing because I still don’t ever really look at my work as a commodity – whether or not I post the results on social media remains to be seen!
Embroidery is undergoing a bit of a renaissance at the moment – there are so many embroidery artists and crafters on Instagram. Who are some of your favourites?
Oh my gosh where to even start! There are so many INCREDIBLE artists out there at the moment using embroidery in different ways. I am completely obsessed with Alexandra Knie (@alexandra_knie) and her use of neons. She has definitely challenged my perceptions of colour and texture and was one of the first artists I found on Instagram.
@beastorgod makes my head spin with the intricacy of his stitches, I know I will never ever be that neat, and I’m bitter about it.
And I’m currently crushing on Rebecca Bruton (@rebeccabruton_) and her use of printed patterns in her work.
But really there are hundreds of artists on Instagram that excite me so so much and I love seeing accounts I’ve followed for so long evolve.
What tips do you have for growing your Instagram following as an artist?
ALWAYS BE YOURSELF. We all get imposter syndrome, we all have creative block, we all wear pyjamas and eat a family size bag of crisps when we think our work is shit (at least I hope that’s not just me?). Some of the best feedback I’ve had has been about people connecting with my process and my mental health, so don’t underestimate the importance of who you are as a person, not just the work you’re creating. Try not to get too focussed on sales and follower counts and the stresses that come with that. Don’t pay for followers! I’ve seen people do it, the number on an Instagram page does not mean anything. I wish I had a magic formula for people, but I’m as clueless as the next person!
What do you have planned for the future of Salt Stitches?
Absolutely no idea. 18 months ago I was unemployed applying for uni, and now I’m planning my next US workshops so anything could happen. I’d love to experiment with much larger scale works, but they’re so time-consuming so they may be slow and steady. I’m just enjoying the ride and trying not to take anything for granted.
HOW THE AUCTION WORKS
The auction will take place over one weekend, starting on Friday 28th June at 7 pm GMT and ending on Sunday 30th June at 7 pm GMT.
To participate in the auction you must cast your bid in the comments section of the auction Instagram post that will be shared on Friday 28th June at 7 pm GMT.
The auction will be closed at the exact time stated above. If you bid after 7 pm GMT it will not be counted.
If you are the highest bidder once the auction is closed, you’ll be invoiced the value of the winning bid PLUS packaging and posting fees (FREE to the UK and £5 to everywhere else). You can make payment via PayPal or bank transfer.
Details
You must bid in British Pound Sterling only.
You must bid in multiples of pounds, no pennies please!
Only bids in the auction post’s comment section will be counted. Neither the Fiber Studio, not the artist, will accept bids made outside this space, whether in a personal message or via another social media platform.
The Fiber Studio does not take any responsibly for the artwork after the auction has ended and payment has been received. This includes loss and damage. Once all payments have cleared, contact details of the buyer will be sent to the artist, who is then responsible for any correspondence thereafter.
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