when your pile of jewellery suddenly turns
into Mount Vesuvius and starts erupting quietly in the corner?
Well, there are a couple of things you
could do. Race out and buy lots of new clothes to match the gorgeous pieces you
have made, give them away as gifts or, you could be brave, and approach an
outlet to sell your pretties in.
I’ve never really considered going out to
buy new outfits as that is just not me
but I have given quite a few pieces away as gifts. Even then, there comes a time when you run out of people to
give them to. There is a long time
between birthdays and Christmas in our family.
I decided a few years ago to sell my
creations at the local market. Now
this is a great idea if you are prepared to slog it out through wind, rain and
heat. I began by setting up a
trestle table but had no cover when the rain came down. I wish you could have seen me madly
scrambling for plastic sheeting to throw over the stock and then standing under
the umbrella watching the water gather in pools on top of it. I’ll have you know, I did put on a brave face whilst I
watched fellow stallholders peeking out from under their nice dry
canopies.
Having stood in a number of torrential
downpours it was time to take the step and buy a canopy. I had joined the sacred society of market sellers but never let it be said
that taking a stall on a regular basis is easy. It’s an early start to make sure you get a good spot
allocated by the person that holds all the power - The Market Manager. There can be 50 pairs of eyes imploring
him to give them the perfect location today. You try to act like your okay with
everything but deep inside the begging voice is saying “Pick me, pick me. Surely I am next in line. I was good last week, I didn’t leave
any rubbish, I didn’t park my car in the wrong area, I set up in the allotted
spot and I didn’t go over my boundary.
PICK MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!”
Eventually, having shown I was turning up
consistently, I was given a permanent spot. Oh the glory of it all. So much easier to arrive and start setting up without having
to line up with the throngs. Up
goes the canopy (not quite as easy as I write), unfold the trestle tables, on with the cloths, out with the
display stands and then rummage through the wares to find the best and most
sparkly pieces to sell today.
Collapse in the chair with a cup of coffee and wait.
Be prepared to spend a whole day of your
weekend for your art. Believe me
it can be a long day. The market I
chose closed at 3pm and you couldn’t leave before that time. It is so much faster to break the stall
down and once you have done it a hundred times it becomes a well oiled
machine. The only hard thing is
trying to negotiate your car through everyone else intent on the same thing.
I tried the markets for nearly 4 years. In the beginning I sold quite a bit
each time but as more stalls began to set up selling commercial goods it became
harder to sell handmade. I felt I
just could not sell my work for what it was worth anymore.
It is a hard decision to make. Do you drop your prices, do you make
cheaper things or do you get out!!!
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