Toymaker Jennifer Goldsmith loves making things.
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Her back room is full of plush creatures, dressed in overalls, coats, hats and boots.
What she loves making more than making them is inventing their stories.
Mrs Goldsmith, the creator of Frazzy Dazzles, speaks about the story of a chicken with a headdress, and a skinny fox bloated by a big meal, and a mouse out fishing in Wellingtons and a raincoat.
“Toys need to have some level of personality. I love giving hints to that personality, and letting people find their toys’ stories themselves.”
The first toy to make Mrs Goldsmith realise the power of personality was a frog she made for her daughter.
Her daughter wanted it to have socks, so Mrs Goldsmith found a “tiny scrap” of felt – enough for one sock.
“She took the frog to school on her first day, and by the time it got dark all her friends were searching all over Bletchington for the ‘lost’ sock,” she said.
Mrs Goldsmith’s work, along with the work of other local and regional arts and craft makers, will be on show at the CraftAlive expo, which runs Friday to Sunday at the Orange Function Centre.
The three day event will have workshops and events for all ages, with stalls and shops for local creators to sell their wares.