Dixie Dot Crafts

12/09/2026

Well, that's it folks, the last ever painters at Dixie Dot today....

12/09/2026

Sounds a bit mad for a business owner to say that one of my fave bits of each year was giving away free pottery.

The tradition started just after lockdown when so many families had missed the opportunity to capture baby footprint keepsakes because we were all trapped in the house! I wanted to do something nice for them and offered these free coasters, releasing 30 appointments to anyone who might be interested.

It blew up my socials and 30 appointments filled in under a minute. So, I added another 20. And it just carried on.
I had to cap it at 450.

Over the next few weeks, socially distanced with metres of gap, I printed 450 little feet.. I saw Mums cry because they were grieving over all the missed milestones. I saw Mums terrified of germs and needing reassurance I'd sanitised everything before they arrived. I saw Mums suffering mental health issues or post natal depression - exacerbated by being a new parent in a lockdown. I was the first person many had seen, even before their immediate family. The first to meet their baby.
Every single one grateful for what I'd offered, for no other reason than I thought it was s**t they'd missed out on so much and just wanted to help.

My peers in the industry told me I was stupid... Why give away something and cost myself money?
I Ignored them and did it anyway.

And that's the beauty of abundance, of giving, genuinely, of caring for people.

2 things followed that I hadn't expected.
1) my kindness would be returned in spades. That Christmas, those people came back and ordered their entire Christmas gift list from me. Those 450 coasters accidentally generated me about £9ks worth of business. Probably more. I honestly believe that if my offer hadn't been led by my heart, instead used as marketing leverage, people would never have come back.
2) that all these years later those parents haven't forgotten. Since I announced we're closing, I've had loads of messages from them, thanking me for their first ever baby keepsake and how much they still appreciate it.

There's a life lesson there.
Come from a place of kindness and abundance and you'll never go wrong... What goes around comes back around. ❤️

11/09/2026

Selling to survive. 2020. Global pandemic. Studio closed. World in lockdown.

I did my first online sale in the hope I'd raise some money . There was no government help for limited company directors like me whose wages dried up overnight, no furlough, quite literally nothing.

I had no choice but to try something different. Anything different. So I set up an online sale to my captive (bored) customers who needed something to entertain themselves and the kids.

I had no idea what to expect. I asked the family how much they reckoned I'd sell. Barnaby, confident as ever in his old Mum's ability, said a hundred quid. Rodger guessed £500.

I talked myself hoarse for two and a half hours, had a great time 'chatting' to customers I hadn't seen in three months and.,.. sold £7500 of pottery. £7500. In 2.5 hours.
I nearly collapsed with joy and exhaustion. (I should mention that following these sales a friend in showbiz asked if he could put me forward as a QVC presenter 🤣🤣 I politely declined!)

The next three weeks were spent packing orders and paint kits, delivering them to doorsteps all over Gloucestershire, then going back a fortnight later to collect them, glaze, fire and then delivering back again!

It was hard graft and I was shattered, but it paid the rent for a couple of months and just about long enough to then get a bounce back loan - one I'm still paying today and owe half (£8k) on!

The lockdowns might be long gone but the effects ripple to this day.

10/09/2026

I was always passionate about community. Still am. We are definitely stronger together, even in these most divisive of times.

We have done so much for charity over the years, we've supported your fundraising efforts and donated to good causes. I wish I'd kept a count of it all, but I guess numbers are one thing, solidarity is another.

We also sponsored a football team, which paid for their kit and jackets. Quedgeley Wanderers U13 girls squad. From a female owned, female staffed business (not intentionally, just the way it is!) it seemed fitting...

09/09/2026

Poogate is a bit of an old story in Dixie Dot history.
One sunny morning a smart, well dressed man in his 50s wandered in and started behaving very oddly. Obviously my brain went to debt collector, council inspector, environmental health. Yknow, someone who didn't need to be at Dixie Dot. After I said hello he quite literally turned and ran out the door. Weird.

10 minutes later he ran back in, down the studio and locked himself in the loo.

I didn't know what to do. Twenty minutes later he was still in there. My customers needed the loo, I had no idea how to deal with the situation of a strange man locked in there.
I gingerly knocked and enquired if everything was ok. A rather strangled 'yes I'm FINE' came back, not sounding like he was fine at all. Another 15 minutes went by and I'd had enough so I banged on the door and demanded to know what he was doing in there (brave).
I got a barrage of abuse, told to f**k off and that it was none of my business (despite the fact he was in MY loo, on MY business premises!)

I told him I'd call the police.
He ran out the toilet and I chased him out the studio and through the car park where I lost him.

As I walked back in to inspect the loo, the smell hit me first.
Poo.
Everywhere.
I mean, everywhere.
You've heard the expression 's**tshow'? It was created for this event.
All over the seat, the cistern, the walls - finger marks where he'd dragged it down them, the floor, in the plug hole, down the sink, in the overflow....

It was at this point I thought perhaps the best course of action was to shut the door, close the business, post the keys through the letterbox and never go back into the studio ever again.

Obvs while I cried and heaved in the kitchen my Mum, who wasn't great with bodily functions at the best of times, snapped on some Marigold's, grabbed the bleach and set about cleaning it up GOD LOVE HER.

His bosses at Octopus Energy told me he'd been feeling ill and needed the loo. I dunno about you but not once when I've had the s**ts have I felt the need to push it down the sink overflow with my fingers?!!

I did get an apology from Octopus and the biggest bouquet I've ever seen!!
But, ERGH!!!

08/09/2026

08/09/2026

A horse with ni**le tassels?

One of my absolute fave parts of owning Dixie Dot was some of the unexpected monstrosities that would arrive on a delivery.

I am sorry if you are the customer that painted this piece but honestly, once you see a horse with ni**le tassels you can't unsee it 😁😁😁😁😁

I took an early business strategy to buy up pottery from businesses that were closing down. It caused havoc with both storage and inventory. But there was method in my madness - the cheaper I could buy pottery, the more I could pass the cost savings on to you, my lovely customers. The more value you got out of a visit the quicker you'd return. I mean, I could have rinsed you for extra profit but I preferred to look after you as much as possible. What goes around comes back around eh?

That strategy did me well, through lockdowns and cost of living crises, people kept coming.

But it did mean I never knew quite what I was getting!!! This horse being a prime example.
Turns out I am a s**t judge of what people will love. All the things I've thought 'nobody will EVER paint that' usually fly off the shelves 😂

Anyone remember 'japanese body builder on a Segway'? IYKYK.

07/09/2026

He won't thank me for choosing this photo but it still makes me laugh. Rodger entered my life after I'd opened Dixie Dot and he transformed both our family and my business.
His unwaivering support and belief in me has allowed me to achieve things I never thought possible.
The day we went into lockdown he set about building me a website. A website which, over the years has changed and grown and became the backbone of Dixie Dot.
It's takes over £100k in online bookings and tickets every year, £100k worth of business that I haven't had to deal with, because customers can manage their own bookings online.
That's how you work smarter not harder!

It transformed the way I worked, streamlined my processes but even more than that, we've helped 20 + other pottery studios across the country roll out the same processes in their businesses using the same formats and reaping the benefits for themselves.
Sharing is caring, and I believe wholeheartedly in the value of our industry.

All this from a man who has never painted a single piece of pottery because it's not his thing!! Maybe one day Rodge?

Thank you for being the bestest bloody sidekick Dixie Dot could ever have had ❤️

06/09/2026

Just after I'd moved into Kingsway, with no signage as I couldn't afford it, my landlord rang me unexpectedly and told me they were paying to put my sign up. You know when it's too good to be true?
They created it themselves, without input from me and I hated it the moment I saw it.
Awful. Just awful.
As a creative who 'does' colour, that turquoise (in the pic) against the green clashed so badly I couldn't bare it.
On top of that, it didn't stand out and I spent the next three years taking phone calls from people who were lost and couldn't find me, despite being right outside. 🙄

There were, of course, reasons they wanted a sign up. Without warning, two days later they put the building into auction and I ended up with new landlords as well as a s**t sign.

It took years to change it and save enough money to invest in a new logo, a new design and new signage. Thank god the new one looked much better!

04/09/2026

My dear old Mum standing in what is now the loo at Dixie Dot Crafts.
She worried constantly - what if it all goes wrong? What if you can't afford it? What on earth do you know about business? How are you going to get enough customers?

She always believed in me, she always watched me take risks, wincing. But that's Mums eh? Caring. Worrying. Cautious. Protective.

She just rolled up her sleeves and got stuck in. Washing up. Answering the phone. Cleaning tables. Mopping floors.

Dixie Dot was her second home as much as mine til she got sick.
Couldn't have done it without her.