The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Sarah’s crafting a whole new career
An island mum of three is crafting her way through the Covid pandemic, and believes her creations have brought hope to others.
Sarah Laughton, who lives on South Ronaldsay in Orkney, launched her business at the start of March.
And despite the lockdown, she has received orders from across Scotland and even further afield.
Hestacraft is proving a hit with people wanting to send gifts to loved ones, although Sarah’s impressive work originally started as a hobby.
She crafts words from wool and wire, and has started making hearts and rainbows due to popular demand.
Having received a grant from Business Gateway, Sarah juggles work with looking after five-year-old Cara, Murray, four, and oneyear-old Euan.
“Business has been brilliant, it has been such a positive experience,” said Sarah.
“I have always enjoyed being creative, but this all started as a hobby.
“I used to work in a school doing support for learning.
“But when I had my daughter, I wanted to stay at home with her.
“So I started making things for friends and family, with baby breaks when I had the boys.
“Then I decided to make a proper go of it, and got a grant from Business Gateway.
“It was only a few weeks b e f o r e l o c k d o w n commenced, and I started to notice the impact it had on orders.
“People were buying my creations to give as gifts.”
Sarah then started to make rainbows, which have, of course, become symbolic during lockdown.
“The rainbows were particularly popular as a gift for a new baby,” she said.
“I also wanted to offer something which is a bit more affordable, as so many people are struggling for money right now.
“I settled on this idea of letterbox hearts, complete with a handwritten message because I always think handwritten is nicer.
“I mentioned the idea on Instagram, and it proved pretty popular.
“I’ve made around 400 hearts; someone asked for 22 hearts as part of one order.
“It’s a way of people connecting with their families, it enables them to send a little message.
“My husband is a workshop joiner for a local building firm, but is currently furloughed.
“So he has been able to take the children through the day, and I’ve been able to get on with orders.
“Once he returns to work, I’ll have to work in the evenings.
“My youngest gets up at 5am, so it will be a bit of a juggle.”
Sarah currently works through 10 orders each day, and goes to the post office every two weeks.
“I want to say a huge thank you to all the postal workers, they have been incredible,” she said.
“I advise customers of a two-week turnaround as I obviously don’t want to be going into the post office every day.
“I’m not sure what will happen when people return to work, but I hope the orders will keep coming.”
You can see Sarah’s work via Facebook, Instagram or Etsy via Hestacraft.