Morningside Makers Market...

This Saturday I will have a stall at the Morningside Makers Market, being held at the Columcille Centre, Newbattle Terrace, here in Edinburgh, from 11am - 4pm.

If you're in the area it would be great to see you there!

Magpie Market...

Kasia and I will be sharing a table at the Magpie Market Spring Fair, being held here in Edinburgh on Sunday 8th May.  Hooray!

Do come along and say hello if you're in the area!

A great craft fair...

Well, Saturday at the Byers Road Makers Market was very enjoyable - it was extremely busy with lots of interesting customers to talk to, and the time just flew by.  I also managed to surpass my financial goal, which was a bonus, so all in all it was a great success.

Going all the way through to Glasgow on the train felt like an exciting adventure and was actually very do-able (particularly thanks to lots of much appreciated help from my lovely Marc :D)

Here I am setting up.  Still a bit nervous but doing some kumihimo and origami helped to calm me!

The new hat pins and wooden brooches in particular attracted a lot of attention and lovely comments, so they were well worth the RSI I gave myself crafting away to get them ready for the show!

Phew...!

Finished! (and more besides)...

These amazing wooden settings are by brightcolorart on Etsy - I love them!

hat pins

...and now all packed and ready for tomorrow!

Byres Road Makers Market... this weekend!

An opportunity arose this week to make a last minute booking for a craft fair being held across in Glasgow this Saturday, so I decided to go for it!  It's the Byres Road Makers Market - organised by the same people who put on the Edinburgh fairs I have shown at in the past.

This has left me with slightly less time than usual for all of my beloved lists and tables and organising (maybe not such a bad thing?!) but I think (hope?) that I'll be ready... 

I'm going to be crafting like a demon over the next couple of days.  Fortunately some fantastic supplies from Etsy have arrived in time, so I hope to have some new styles available at the fair.

Hope I get them all finished!

If you're in the Glasgow area on Saturday, it would be great to see you there!  The market is in Hillhead Library on Byres Road and runs 11am -  4pm.

Bellevue Christmas Fair...

This Saturday I will be selling at the Bellevue Christmas Fair, in the Bellevue Chapel, Rodney Street, Edinburgh from 10am - 12pm.  

If you're in the Edinburgh area and can make it through the snow and cold, it would be lovely to see you there!

~*~

Mission accomplished!

Well, I have survived another craft fair and lived to tell the tale...

Actually it was a much better experience all round this time, with some of my lovely friends helping me set up or popping along to offer moral support (and buying things too - thanks guys!).

Particular thanks go to my 11-year old friend, photographer, organiser, arranger, de-linter and financial adviser Hannah (she took the photos), who helped me man the table for most of the day.   Thanks Hannah!

(her being chief photographer unfortunately meant I didn't get any photos of Hannah in action...)

...so instead here I am instead looking a bit cheeky for no reason...

...and a bigger view of the table.

Generally the fair was a lot busier than my last one, and again the time went very quickly.  Lots of interest in my kumihimo braiding on the marudai, some very nice compliments, and excitingly, some sales!  I met my target, which is great, and also actually had a good time.  Yay!

My Etsy shop is now up-and-running again after a month-long break, with lots of new items to be listed over the next few days.

Ringtastic!

I'm busily crafting away building up stock for the craft fair... .

My favourite things to make are still

rings!!

Makers' Market table rehearsal...part 1

My second ever craft fair is looming on the horizon (ok, it's not until 3rd July but that feels quite soon!) - this afternoon I tried my first 'dry-run' of my table set-up, so I know what still needs to be done.  I have a lot to go on from last time - so I have most of the necessary bits and pieces.  The challenge this time is that I have a greater range of pieces that I somehow have to arrange and fit onto the table!

Here's my first attempt:

(so my kitchen table is actually 2' shorter than the 6' table I'll have at the fair, but you get the general idea!)

I haven't finished a few things as yet (there'll be more bracelets, more felted rings, and the box on the far left will be filled with greetings cards rather than cake :P) so this is just a general idea.  I've gone for rings on a piece of Indian slate, and some earrings on a plate (I'll source a more interesting and suitable plate somehow before the event!).

As always, any comments or suggestions are more than welcome.  What do you think of the earrings display - too busy?  Too busy in general?  Should I group similarly shaped brooches together or mix them up?  So many options!!

The other most exciting crafty thing happening has been the arrival of some new threads from the ever-wonderful Sarah of therainbowgirl.  She has produced the most amazing custom selection of hand-dyed mixed threads for me to use for new kumihimo bracelets - check out these beauties:

yum!

Another craft fair...

Well, I've bitten the bullet and have decided to do another craft fair - on Saturday July 3rd, at the Columcille Centre in Morningside, here in Edinburgh:

It's organised by Craft Fairs Scotland  but also has its own website and blog. 

You may remember I did my first craft fair last May in Portobello - organised by the same company - so I'm sure this one will be just as well organised.  

I've had mixed feelings about doing another fair - mostly because my Etsy shop has been rather busy lately and I'm slightly worried about being able to keep up with demand as my pieces are so time-consuming to make.  After a lot of thought though I decided that the face-to-face feedback you get from being at a fair is so valuable it was worth giving it another go.  Many of my current jewellery styles have been directly developed from constructive criticism or comments that people made at the last craft fair - mostly about making the lines of my jewellery shapes softer and more curvaceous, which let me to make my curved necklaces:

'Solferino'

and my Paisley-shaped brooches:

'Terne'

-so that sort of feedback is worth doing the fair for in itself.

So now I just need to work on building up a selection of items and planning how I'm going to coordinate everything with the Etsy shop - I think I'll avoid listing online everything I have made, and I also plan to make use of the handy 'vacation mode' in the shop for a few weeks before the fair just so I'll have a clear idea of what pieces are available to show.

I have to say the bit I enjoy most is doing the practice run-through of my table set-up :D - watch this space for photos closer to the time!

Portobello Craft Fair - May 2nd 2009

I have survived to craft another day!  I'm back home now, exhausted, with a much needed cup of tea, and can reflect on today's craft fair... .

First of all, travelling on the buses with all my 'stuff' worked out fine (with Marc's help - thank you so much!) and we made it to the venue just after 9am to set up for the fair starting at 10am.  It took me a full hour to set up (shaky hands not helping!) and I was feeling pretty nervous.

Here I am working the 'scared rabbit' look.  I'm wearing a craft fair vendor apron that I made with a great pattern from downthestreet on Etsy - and it was really useful today, with lots of helpful pockets and a zip compartment for money.

It took about 3 hours for my hands to stop shaking!!

So, by 10am I had pretty much finished setting up, and the layout worked really well (thanks again for the advice everyone!).  I felt I had enough height but not too much, and all the colours looked pretty against the black background.

Then the doors opened, and the crowds flooded in eager with anticipation!!  Um, well, not quite, but there was a steady flow (sometimes more of a trickle) of people, and I actually found that the 6 hours passed pretty quickly.

I had folded a lot of origami cranes, and had them sitting around on the table - they were a big hit with all the children that passed by, and I gave them away to anyone who wanted one - cute wee chiyogami paper cranes are hard to resist! (Portobello's crane population has increased exponentially tonight!)

I also decided to work on some kumihimo braiding at my table, partly to soothe my shaking hands, but also because I thought people would be interested to see an unusual craft, and to see how I make some of my items.  The braiding got a lot of interest - the repetitive movements seemed to hypnotise a few people (!) - with lots of older visitors reminiscing about 'rats' tails' and 'french knitting' that their mothers taught them when they were little.

In situ!

I had a good table position not too near the doors, and I was surrounded on either side by very friendly fellow crafters, who also helped me to feel more at ease.

Deciding 'how to sell' is always difficult.  I didn't take 'The Apprentice' route (I'm really not that hungry for a sale :P ), and my approach was to let people take their time and not to pressure them - doing the braiding was a good conversation starter and people naturally took an interest in it.

I found it really fascinating to see how different people approached my table - and there were all sorts.  Some just walked straight past without even a glance.  Others gave a cursory look, others came and looked closely at my items.  Of those, some people were incredibly delicate and careful, gently touching the necklaces and putting them back in exactly the same place, whereas others poked and prodded and left items all over the place!  It was also fascinating to hear the comments people were making, either to each other or directly to me.  I've never heard so many different nuances of the word 'unusual'!  Pretty much everyone who looked at my items used that word - some with a wrinkle of the nose and 'hmm, yes, that's, um.... unusual' and others seemed to love the colours and textures and gave a pleasing 'ooh how unusual! '.  I also got some pretty frank constructive criticism from a few people which was interesting, and helped me to see my necklaces in a different way, giving me some ideas for how to develop in the future.

In general though I would say the response was positive, with people particularly liking the round brooches and kumihimo bracelets.  It was also really nice when a few friends popped in for moral support (thanks guys!).  My wee Moo business cards also went down a treat - lots and lots of people took one, so hopefully they will be encouraged to check out my online shop, my Flickr, or even my blog (hello there!).

So, down to sales.  Well, Alan Sugar would be showing me the door - but I did manage to achieve my goal of at least making back the table fee for the event.  There didn't seem to be much buying or selling happening for anyone all day, so I didn't feel too bad that I hadn't managed to sell everything!

All in all, I would say the day fulfilled my expectations - it was really interesting to hear people's comments, and to have the experience of selling face-to-face.  I have to say having my Etsy shop feels a lot easier now in comparison!  I did find it all quite nerve-wracking, but I'm sure that would get better if I did it again.  All the Edinburgh craft fairs are fully booked for jewellery for the rest of the year though - so maybe I'll give it another go in 2010!