Introduction
Jo, the artist behind Sentimental Castings, loves the ‘reveal’ moment in her work. Her passion for her craft has expanded into running workshops to encourage others to try out ‘casting’ for themselves. She is also keen to foster business collaborations and explore other outlets for her artwork.
This is part three of a three-part story.
What’s your favourite part of the process?
Ooooo, that’s difficult to answer.
Is it the creation process, the delivery to a customer, cleaning up afterwards, seeing a piece hanging on a wall …
I think it depends on what mood I’m in, but It’s probably the ‘reveal’. I can be working on a piece, looking at it in the mould and be totally underwhelmed. So it’s a case of never mind, I’ll do another one later to make up for it. But then I’ll be completely surprised when the plaster has actually set to find the level of detail that has been captured; that’s the exciting bit.
I used to feel the same way when I had my own black and white photography darkroom. The ‘magic’ of the image revealing itself in the developer tray.
[Laughs] 2024 was a big step for me showing my work to a wider audience and selling pieces. I finally decided that there was nothing to lose. I’d had the fear factor of not being good enough or whatever.
It’s very common with creatives in all fields, ‘imposter syndrome’ as it’s referred to.
Yeah, it had been holding me back. By showing my work at craft fairs, art exhibitions and street markets, I discovered that I absolutely loved it. The interaction with people admiring the works and wanting to know about the process etc. But just as importantly, I’ve met some really interesting people over the last year who have helped me from a business point of view. I feel like I’m back in a community that supports each other, which I’ve really missed without realising it.
[Images courtesy of Jo Butler]
What’s the most challenging part of what you do?
Time and space [laughs], there’s never really enough of either.
You work part-time at the hospital?
Yes, I work three days at the QA. I also have two young boys.
How old are they?
Seven and Ten.
Quite demanding of your time then?
Yeah, and I want to share my time out fairly. I wish I could do casting every day, but it does mean that I look forward to it and make the most of the time available.
What is Sentimental Castings known for, what do you offer in the way of keepsakes?
Mainly botanical and coastal castings in a variety of sizes. The largest is around 50cm square, but I also create smaller pieces.
You have a shop on your website, are there any other outlets that stock your products?
I’m still exploring what works best for my products. Art suppliers and stores offering space to small independent artists are an option, so I’m open to chatting with anyone with that in mind.
You mentioned that you started to attend craft fairs and similar. Did you say you exhibited with Lucille Scott of Little Duck Forge recently.
I’m a member of ‘Artful Collective’ who had a summer exhibition at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Romsey. That was very successful, and I was invited back for their Christmas event [2024]. That’s where I met Lucille who was showing some of her metal sculptures. The summer event was my best exhibition to date, so I’m looking forward to showing with ‘Artful Collective’ again this summer, at Spudworks in Sway.
Artful Collective Summer Show 2024
[Casting Images courtesy of Jo Butler]
When’s the show this year?
During Hampshire Open Studios. From 16th August 2025
I also had a stand at the ‘Garden Show’ at Stansted House. That wasn’t quite so good with regards to sales, but I had an awful lot of people asking about attending casting workshops. Coincidentally, at the same show, there was a young lady from Dorset who had recently started up a flower farm. She asked if I would be interested in running some sort of collaborative workshop. Although I didn’t follow up with her, it put the idea in my head of working with someone local who had a flower farm. So after the show, I put out a request on social media asking if anyone would be interested.
[Casting Images courtesy of Jo Butler]
And you had a reply?
Yes, Nicki Gibbons, of Slow Goose Flower Farm, responded to my post, and we’ve decided that we’ll be running a workshop at her flower farm this year [2025]
That’s coming up in May?
Saturday May the 3rd at Slow Goose Flower Farm, Wickham. Anyone who is interested in taking part in the workshop should contact me direct.
Slow Goose Flowers
What will the workshop cover?
Nicki will show attendees around her gardens, talking about the flowers and plants. My part will be using elements from her gardens for a botanical casting session and a demonstration of painting on clay relief decorations, which is something new that I’ve started doing.
Have you had any other responses to your request for potential workshops?
Actually yes, I’ve been approached by Little Forest Land Art. They open their gardens, really it’s woodlands and meadowland, for two weeks in June every year. They hold an open art exhibition in the outside space, and I’ll be holding a workshop there as well. This one won’t be collaborative though, it’s just me.
Friday June the 6th 2025 [Bookings via Little Forest Land Art]
You’re active on social media, Facebook and Instagram
Predominantly on Instagram and some posts on Facebook. As we’ve mentioned, I have a website but one of my goals this year is to rework this and have better integration with the sales process. I’m having some work shown during the month of April at Gallery 30 [Petersfield] and I’m also returning to the Artisan Gallery [Chichester] at the end of May.
To finish up, I end with what I call the magic wand question. If time, money and resources were no object, what would the future hold for Sentimental Castings?
For the last twenty years, all I have known work-wise has been the NHS. For all of the ups and downs of that career, I’m not sure if I could walk away from it completely, but in an ideal world, I probably would and do Sentimental Castings full time. I want to extend my offerings to wedding bouquet preservation and more privately commissioned pieces. I would absolutely love to have a local studio workshop that’s open to the public and to have the space to do some much larger panels.
Any more collaborations, maybe playing to your strengths and experience in therapy?
I’ve had some talks with Solent MIND, the mental health charity. I think working with organisations along those lines would be really good. Also, stroke and brain injury organisations, which I have experience working with. There are a lot of charities that I would quite like to get involved with.
