Now here's a challenge for all you Independent Members out there. As you know, Brian Freeman of the Staffordshire Group has become the established master at miniature marquetry and is a multiple award winner in that category.

Well how about giving Brian a challenge in our 2015 International Exhibition and see if you can grab some of those awards from him?

USA Independent's Member Ernie Mills has sent me some examples of his miniature work which you can see here, and he tells me he is up for that challenge - and judging from Ernie's work, I would say he stands a very good chance of diverting some of those awards away from Brian in 2015!

A good thing with miniatures is that the posting costs from the USA and many other countries is very cheap - hardly much more than sending a large letter. So why not give this a thought for 2015?

So what do you think Indies - do you fancy trying to grab some of those awards from Brian in 2015? We know you are more than capable of producing some brilliant miniature pieces, we have seen them in the past, so, out with those magnifying glasses and get to it - let's see the Indies grab a bagful of awards in 2015!