Thanks everyone
They pay for the advertising Indi. Although back when I started there were a couple of galleries that made us split the cost I haven't had that for a long time. Probably covered by the sometimes exorbitant commission rate, a gallery near Penrith marked up by 100%
I've stayed away from galleries for a long while having had a few bad experiences in the past . I take issue with cheap imported jewellery bought at the trade show in Harrogate being put in with my work and then they wonder why it doesn't sell. This one contacted me and it gave a lift to my very flagging spirits. I don't make that often so even if they just sold a couple of pieces it would move older stock out to a wider audience and I hope to be able to still do the Open Studio in May which has been good for me. I talked them into taking 30% on craft to begin with so I can live with that and she bought a piece from me to wear on the night so at least one has gone although it was from the OS stock and not hers!

They do seem to know people and looking at his brothers collections list on his website was interesting, way out of my league but I'm not sure they will be the people that spend the money. They intend to keep it high end and not fall into the trap that all the other shops in the village do of stocking horrible Scottish tourist tat. Not sure how much tourists spend on good stuff, I know from my OH that there is a certain nationality that prefers to pocket treasures rather than buy them :/
There were women at the opening though that said this is what we need in the area so we'll see if they put their money where their mouth is I suppose.
Will just have to wait and see but it's their responsibility now to sell the bloomin stuff and there were some positive comments from other artists about my work so that was nice. Sometimes you need a bit of encouragement from your peers to know that it's not a worthless exercise