Skip to main content

Craft Fairs, Etsy Teams and New Directions

By

Well I realised that the post I thought I had written and published is still sitting on my desktop.


The final fair of September was, for me, an unmitigated disaster. It was a vintage and vintage style fair which is generally well attended. The building we were in is a multi-use building housing a cafe, museum, small theatre, drama studio and a tiny cinema. 
I found myself in a large drama studio on the first floor with several vintage jewellery and accessory sellers, numerous clothing sellers and a couple of vinyl traders. Set up was awkward and to some extend ill thought out; because it was a drama studio, it was largely soundproof which affected everyone's card payment devices because they rely on good data signal (no reliable wi-fi either). 
Signs on the ground floor were few and far between - and having duplicate traders on the ground floor didn't really help either! 
Over the day there was, by my count about 30 people come in and look around. Few bought from any of the traders. I had one sale all day. It covered the cost of my parking - there was no on site parking at the venue so I had to park further away once I had unloaded and taken my things through to the venue - so altogether, it was a huge loss of money and time.

I have decided to be picky about what fairs I do from now on, deciding to take a bit of a hiatus from them for the rest of 2017.


Bubbly Duck, Star Wars, steampunk, handmade, jewellery
A few new pieces and a new display prop!

Necklace, fascinator, headband, book folding, display, Bubbly Duck
I also enjoy book folding and decided to use my skills for cheap pieces



So what now?

Part of my plan is to focus my attention in other areas such as wedding accessories and jewellery is that I should be more active in my Etsy shop. For those who are unsure as to what Etsy is, in short it is a global marketplace of handmade goods and vintage goods. 

I have had an Etsy shop for over 2 years and in that time I have had it closed, opened, on holiday, on edit and off again. I simply felt so overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the thing!

Back in June, I discovered that there are local regional ‘teams’ my closest being, obviously, Merseyside. I have taken part in some of their Instagram challenges, Facebook questions and have loitered around on social media seeing what the team are up to. Feeling like I need a bit of help with figuring out this Etsy lark, I joined the Merseyside Etsy Team! 

This now lets me book onto team “meetings” which take place twice every month, once during the day and once in the evening. Each meeting has an agenda and a small session which is, in essence a short training/up-skilling ‘seminar’ with a different topic each time. 

Within the past two weeks I have been to two team meetings - even taking a day’s annual leave from my day job to go to one!

The committee members are all volunteers who are brilliant at selling on Etsy and elsewhere and are really encouraging to old and new members alike. 

The sessions are very short, to the point and always makes you meet and speak to new people there is not much room for social-anxieties here but the fact that everyone is at the meeting for the same reason - to get more out of their Etsy shop and sales in general - it is like one giant family.


I’ve decided not to do too much for the rest of the year in terms of selling etc, simply because it’s looking less likely that I will not have the time before Christmas arrives!


I’m looking towards 2018 with new perspectives and highly likely a new direction.

I want to make more accessories for brides and bridesmaids using seed beads, wirework and other “non-traditional” materials. 


I have my eye on a few bridal fairs for 2018 and providing funds allow, I will be booking on!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bible Journaling Process- Matthew 8 verses 1-15

By
Weeks ago I ordered the rather lovely Illustrated Faith "Heart that Receives" bible journal kit from Ellie Beth Designs. I was following the devotional for a while, doing a few bible-art-journaling, but then my church began a short series of 1 John and I studied this quite deeply and instead I used parts of the kit - plus some Illustrated Faith "Fruit Punch" alpha stickers for this. My church is currently doing a series in Matthew and this week's teaching was surrounding the three accounts of healing at the beginning of Matthew 8. I was inspired by bible journaling process videos I have been watching to do a journal using elements from the "Heart that Receives" kit which I thought would fit quite well with my notes. Colours: Primary Red, Cadmium Orange Hue,  Dioxazine Purple, Phthalocyanine Green, Titanium White  So to start with, I picked some colours from my Liquitex Basics acrylic paint set and added the white because these colours can ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Creating Designs and inspiration

By
Sorry for my delay in this post, I'd had a plan for it but then Life got in the way and I found myself distracted and a month has gone by. So here it is. It's not so much as a "how to" but more my experience of trying to make creative designs on paper for my jewellery when I left Art as a subject behind when I completed my GSCE's and took a more science-based path (that's for another time though). When I started bead weaving and bead embroidery, I used printed patterns by other people, and I still do, but there is nothing like making something from your own design. But where to start... For me, I usually look at what beads I have and simply make it up as I go along as inspiration takes me, but that can give varying results and not always good! Beads!! Shapes, Sizes, Colour! A vague pattern in my head did not come out anything like how it should! I write poetry every now and then and I've got into the habit of keeping a notebook in almos...
Post a Comment
Read more

I've become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator!!!!!

By
So for the past few months I have been toying with the potential of becoming a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! Last year, I was given some stamps and other craft things by a family friend - they had been her late mum's. Last December  I'd used a couple of the stamps to make some Christmas cards and loved them - they are the old school type on wood blocks which (thankfully) have a company logo on - which just happened to be Stampin Up! Now being a lover of all things stampy for many years, I'd remembered hearing about Stampin' Up! put simply, it is a crafty version of Avon or Tupperware (if you're old enough to remember the popular parties). So I looked into it, going onto other blogs and You Tube videos to see who was doing it still in the UK and came across loads of people who seem to do really well (orders from customers do give each demonstrator commission as either income or towards products). So I took the plunge and bought my starter kit...yikes!! I...
Post a Comment
Read more