What a Difference a Day Makes!

I should probably say what a difference a  month makes!
I did the December Hoxne Artisan Market on Saturday and it couldn't have been any more differerent to the one in November.

I think several things were in play - firstly that in this rotten economic climate everyone has been hanging on to their money until nearer Christmas.

But I also wonder if it's because I simplified the amount of different items I was selling and also laid the table out differently.

Here's the table in November . . . .

I'd put out EVERYTHING (well almost!). And hanging behind were my new machine embroidered pictures. I noticed that no-one was looking above the level of the table so they became virtually invisible. I'd also put out the last few of this and the last few of that so it was quite jumbled. We'd been asked to make the stalls Christmassy and after this photo was taken I added some sparkly silver stuff around the top.

This is the table on Saturday . . . 

I move the embroidered pics down to the table and put art quilts on the wall so they could be seen from a distance.

I also restricted what I had to sell - I had the pictures, 3 kinds of brooches, Kumihimo bracelets, Christmas cards and some beaded angels hanging on a wire tree. Much, much simpler and I think it was less distracting.

It could simply be that we are now very close to Christmas. People were so decisive - they either moved on without lingering or they stopped, looked and bought.

But who knows . . .  .?

Trying to earn an honest crust

I've been away from my blog for a while as I've been busy with my usual work of writing resources for teachers. I've also been trying to supplement my income by doing some local craft fairs.

The Hoxne one wasn't as lucrative for me as I'd hoped - apparently it was a real mixed bag for people. Those who usually do well had a not-so-great day and others had a brilliant day.
I wish I knew the magic formula for getting people to buy what I make.
It's definitely about venue in some cases - my kumihimo bracelets sold incredibly well at Snape Maltings in July, as did my brooches. They don't seem to do so well at the smaller fairs though.

I set about making some new stock - small machine embroidered pictures which I was really please with. They are done by printing a photo onto inkjet printable silk - purchased from Crafty Computer Paper.

Once the ink has dried, the backing is peeled off and away I go with the sewing machine!

 . . . . and yes, you have see this image before!

This is much smaller than the last one though - about 5 x 7 inches.

I decided some machine embroidered images would be good because they reflect one of my main areas of textiles. Plus I haven't seen anyone else selling them.

So, I agonised long and hard over the price and decided on £22 which is probably not high enough. BUT . . . and it's a big but . . .I need to make some money so there's no point pricing them too high.

But no-one bought any!!! (imagine me wailing and gnashing my teeth here please).

Another textile-ey lady at the craft fair suggested the cream mount was too stark a contrast, especially for this one of the leaf . . .

The more I looked at it the more I thought she had a point.

I tried colour-washing the mounts on some scrap card to begin with but the only one I did in the end was the leaf. With all the others I just couldn't make up my mind what colour to do it! I was having a particularly dithery sort of day I think.

This photo doesn't really show the difference very clearly does it? (I blame the photographer)

And now I think the mount just looks grubby!!
It's actually got a light, watery brown wash over it but to be honest I'm just not sure. You can see it better in real life.

I ended up a bit grumpy and packed up in a bit of a huff in the end!!