I am very sorry that I have not been posting much recently. Life has rather got the better of me from domestic disasters to family ill health, to starting a whole new life. I have now retired from the University of Bristol and am starting what I grandly call a portfolio career. This will consist of running Pomegranate Studio, starting to sell my textiles and being a humanist celebrant taking non-religious naming ceremonies.
That’s quite a lot to take in and also quite a lot to work on. I have also managed to set-up on-line banking, which I consider to be one of my achievements of this year.
There will be more about this as the portfolio is properly opened, but for now, I wanted to show you an image of one of the things that I am hoping to sell through my Etsy shop. There isn’t much in the shop at the moment as I just wanted to bag the name PomegranateAnn, but I will be adding more. I have decided to sell some small pieces. I have always found it extremely difficult to sell my work as it is a part of me, but needs must at the moment. The problem is that making to sell, rather than making because I want to make is difficult because it always feels very different.
This is in the Etsy shop:
It’s really very pretty and quite a wintery piece. Unusually for me is that the fabrics used are all my hand-dyes. This second piece did not behave quite so well. It came out as a trapezium. I quite like that because it makes it look particularly handmade, but I can see that it won’t appeal to everyone. It is made from samples of neutral pale fabric, mainly linen and silk. I also used some very chi-chi Japanese organic embroidery thread for the leaves and stem:
This is a really interesting venture for me – to see if I can make a living outside the university, and to see if I can reinvent myself.
Annjrippin's Blog 
Leaving academia has been fantastic; re-inventing myself way harder than I imagined — but even so I have no regrets. Best wishes on your journey!
Good luck Ann. Your work is great – you should do well.
Good luck Ann as you find your way along this new path.
Go for it, Ann. I am sure you will find what works for you.
Hello Ann, what fabulous news! Years ago you encouraged me as a new academic by saying that as academics we could write and publish whatever we wanted- now that we are both retired from academia, you are showing that we really can !