Monday, September 13, 2010

Preparing for Market!...

A little pre-market panic set in last week when I realised I had 2½ weeks to go until my 1st market of the season. Yikes! It’s been 6 months since my last one and I had grand ideas of stall layout change, new displays and branding.
OK, so the new business cards, banner, and address labels are here and looking fab so I can cross that off the list, now to work my way through the rest of it!

As I have new product lines in the pipe-line which will require a bit of time and patience, I decided to set to work on re-stocking my embellished paua pendant range first. These are very popular and I adore making every single one – I could whip them out fairly quickly were it not for the fact I like to hand select each and every bead, then try out different layouts as I go, smiling the whole time as they really are a work of love (dippy eh!).

As I wanted to make at least 7 new pendants, I decided to try a new process – instead of making one from start to finish (ie, raw products to complete hanging pendant), I thought I’d work on all 7 at once through each step. And it worked! I still got to spend as much time as I liked on each one but it was a whole lot more efficient and unbelievably even more fun as I felt surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colours as each little pre-prepared pottle of beads sat on my table beside me waiting for their turn.




Last night I completed the bails and leather backing for each pendant so tonight will be the last step of choosing the necklace type to suit each piece – chain? Cord? Ribbon? Wire? They’ll tell me :)

Right… what’s next on the list?.....

5 comments:

  1. Wow, Mel the craft fair season is upon us, love the idea of streamlining the process. I find with my work I make 5 at one sitting, then if it flows well, I make another 5. One can never have enough stock, it is best to be prepared for the Christmas rush. cheers Marie

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  2. So exciting!!! I have never done a market, and am thinking about signing up for one in December. It is a big market that is held in the center of Auckland once a year. Do you have any helpful tips about displays and the do's and don'ts Mel? I would really appreciate any words of wisdom.

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  3. Oh that's exciting Bobbie - markets are so much fun with the direct customer contact and busyness and lovely stall neighbours. I don't do that many in a season - 3-4 tops, but I just love the atmosphere of the great quality events where everyone 'gets' handmade. I can probably think of lots of tips if I put my mind to it. I'll get back to you soon :)

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  4. I can't wait to see your stall, I bet it will look wonderful... I really love your embellished paua range.

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  5. HI Mel, your production line of working sounds great, I do the same if I am making more of one similar kind ( gosh that doesn't sound like good english!)
    Are you doing the Davenport Market? Panic for me too, I better get my A into gear! If you are doing the Davenport I look forward to catching up with you. Love Mel

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