WOW! Owls flying off the stall at both Rose St and Abbotsford Convent markets

Whew. The past few weeks have been really 'up': Rose St was a hit, a record breaking market at Abbotsford Covnent, and a bevvy of new creations from our time camping up (almost) on the Murray. To top it all off I'm trialling a new market at Borders in Carlton on Monday 3 May which will be a first.

Rose St Artists' Market, with its upbeat music and hip ambience was incredible and it looks like I may have found a home for my owls -- 3 owls were sold within the first couple of hours and a tri-frame sold, too, making it my most successful market yet. It looked rather grim at the outset with the market organiser having placed me outside and, on arrival, gulping at the possibility of my frames being smashed to smitherines in the gusts of wind whisking around teh courtyard. Some convincing arguments saw me quickly moved inside which was a godsend.

6 owls, count 'em, SIX of the little suckers, were sold at Abbotsford Convent's Makers' Market in April which is a new record (along with the fact that not one of my photo products sold at the same market :o( -- also a record). Granted, it was an open day at the Convent and people were streaming thru the doors, but it was generally an exciting day for business. The Makers' Market organisers are still grappling with the issue of bringing people inside to our stalls with signage of some sort within the limiting perameters of heritage laws which will, I think, be the deciding factor as to whether I continue this market or not. I am booked and paid for for 16 May and 20 June so there's time yet to gain a few more statistics before making that decision.

Monday coming will be a novel experience: Borders in Carlton are holding their monthly (1st Monday) Craft Fair at which I am to have a stall next Monday. Setting up in a shop will no doubt pose some interesting challenges and my fabulous new card display, louvre doors, may have to stay home as they will probably be too heavy to clamp onto the table provided. There are so many unknowns here with Borders providing the table (and a chair, hopefully!) and no hanging space possible, I shall have to think outside the square. The #1 purpose of this new market is to hopefully get some stock into the Borders store card displays. Fingers crossed that the powers that be take notice!

A bit to do before then (including a working bee at the school, 2 children's birthday parties, 1 dress up party for adults, and the usual running-a-household-type weekend activities) so best get off the computer.

Adios. Hopefully see you Monday.

®

New market on trial this Sunday -- Rose St Artists' Market, Fitzroy

Well, I've been enjoying the freedom of the school holidays but *not* the absolute shambles resulting in my house at the end of a few days of playing at home. I'm therefore looking forward to some time to create a little order here once school goes back. Not too much, mind…

Tara's 7th birthday at the beginning of Easter was a highlight of the holidays, along with our present to her, 'Cats', a couple of days prior. It was a distinct pleasure to enjoy her absolute delight at the theatre (luckily not solely due to the kitch, plastic martini glass with the lit stem that constantly changed colour -- "you may take it back to your seat but you must switch it off before the 2nd act begins". Never fear, it was only a non-alcoholic slushy!).

Easter down on the Mornington Peninsula helping to celebrate a wedding and take some photos of the occasion was fun with additional highlights of a judged Easter Bonnet Parade and Easter Egg Hunt at Uncle Martin & Aunt Yvette's caravan park on Easter Sunday. Tara's eyebrows shot up when, on arriving at Granddad's place, the Easter Bunny hadn't yet been as he was "incredibly busy delivering eggs all over the world"! A weak excuse which has helped to convince her that the Easter Bunny, along with that guy in red who turns up at Christmas, aren't real. Let's face it: I'm a terrible liar. ;o)

One benefit of our lazy school holiday life has been the volume of new owl creations (new ones starting from Mini Mae #25 -- http://good-times.webshots.com/album/575948722JEguIc?start=72) which I'll be taking to Rose St, Fitzroy on Sunday 11th. Come and join the fun of a market chock full of amazing talent selling fabulous stuff. I hope to see you there!

Back to school and the usual routine next Monday. Mixed feelings about that. My next market will be the following Sunday (18th) back at my regular Abbotsford Convent Maker's Market. It's panning out to be a busy month.

Back to full health

Well almost. I'm back swimming laps a couple of times a week which is generally a good indication of wellness, however, and it's not surprising, my level of stamina is low. At the end of 50 metres my lungs are struggling and I'm needing to rest a bit where I could previously keep going. Easy does it for a while longer, I think.

I've been busy working on some more owls and diversifying a little -- I need to with so few tea strainers to be had! One of my recent additions is 'Stretch' whose body is an oval grater. You can see him for yourself on my Metal Sculptures album

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/575948722JEguIc?start=72).

I've also been brewing up some other creatures which I"m hoping to bring to fruition during these school holidays. Watch this space!

My blog has had some adjustments and now sports a list of my upcoming market dates down the right hand column. I will endeavour to keep this updated so you can keep abreast of where I'll be to come and say hello.

Off to enjoy the first weekday of the school holidays. I think we'll stay in pyjamas ALL day. ;o)

Market day again!

I have been enjoying the return of movement in my fingers and have been busy making some more owls for my market tomorrow which you can see on my webshots page by copying and pasting the link below into your browser (if you've seen the others, you might want to 'jump' to the current ones by clicking on 3 at the bottom right of the white picture panel).

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/575948722JEguIc

I will be at the Markets in the Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens (near the Observatory Gate) from 9 to 2pm on Sat 13th March and then at the Abbotsford Convent Makers' Market on Sun 21st March from 10 to 4pm. See you there!

Oh to be healthy again!

Wow! How absolutely awful the past three weeks have been. I was laid low with a very nasty virus which hit at about 1am on Sun 21 Feb and when the alarm went off at 6am, it was in full party mode in my poor, sad, painful body leaving me in no shape for 'marketeering'. My first thought was to drug myself up with some Codral and 'soldier on' but my hubby breathed some sense into me with the most reasonable argument: that he could look after me (and the kids) on a Sunday, but not on a Monday. So, sure, I could go off to market and kill myself so that I would require a week to recover – with no additional support – or I could stay at home in bed and recover quicker. Well... the recovery was less than quick so goodness knows what might have been had I decided to head off to the Abbotsford Convent market after all. I was mostly recovered by Thurs and was in reasonable form for the craziness that was my daughter's school Fete on that Fri afternoon/evening.

That pretty much did it. I felt battered, but not beaten on the weekend which we spent down at Mornington taking it VERY easy. The weather was with us (i.e. cold) and meant that we spent most of our time inside watching videos, doing puzzles, and resting.

Back in Melbourne for Monday back at school and by Mon evening, most of the joints in my body had seized up and I was shuffling around like an 80 year old. It was awful and an incredible way to make me thankful for the usually pain-free, fluid movement that I enjoyed most of the time. I was not just stiff, but every movement was painful. As time went on, the pain, particularly in my feet and hands, got worse and my extremities started to swell. I took myself, slow shuffle by slow shuffle, to the doc on Wed and was relieved to hear that it was likely to be a short term problem. Relatively. 2-3 weeks was the expected recovery period, which, at the time, seemed like an eternity. I couldn't do anything. Well, I could, but it was slow and excruciatingly painful, so I didn't. I still needed to drop Tara off at school and Erin off at kindergarten (although she ended up being sick with my original virus from Tues to Thurs so we just blobbed on the couch together watching videos!) but driving the car was a disaster: limited head movement meant very slow and limited checking for other vehicles when turning anywhere and lack of grip with my hands meant turning corners was ridiculous. Any impatience for elderly drivers turning the corner in future will be no more. Ouch. I couldn't actually grip the wheel but used the side of my hands to push against the steering wheel struts. Very, very slow with painful jarring if I missed the hole!

During this time our house just became more and more messy. Getting dressed was achieved with help from my husband who was 'luckily' unwell and at home from Wed to Fri so could help with some things. Unfortunately, with my incredibly depleted immune system, I came down with hubby's mucous-filled virus last Sunday making for a completely miserable me. :o( On a positive note, my feet had started to loosen up and slowly, from the ground up, my whole body started moving more easily. Last to loosen up have been my hands which still suffer a little pain on making a fist and grasping things is still achieved gingerly. Back to the doctor's on Wed this week for a follow up appointment which ended up being about the 'new' virus with the double-sized head, sore throat and liquid cough with painful lungs. He finally felt that it had gone beyond a joke and we're now fighting back with some antibiotics which are helping me to feel human again. Tomorrow's market will find me rugged up with lots of suppressant medication and moving pretty carefully, but at least upright. Tara has joined me at home today with a rattling cough, and headache to keep it company. Poor love: I know exactly how she feels.

Bring on our return to health. I can't wait.

New additions to my repertoire

I have had some surprising interest in my quirky Kitchen Owls which you can see in my album on Webshots http://good-times.webshots.com/album/575948722JEguIc The he first one ('Flashy Fabio': Kitchen Owl #1) was quite a surprise to me as well: he is so adorable! As with most things creative he sort of evolved and, to be fair, he had been brewing in the creative recesses of my mind since my first 'sculpture' attempts for my daughter's school art show back in October last year. I displayed this shiny fellow for the first time at my Dec market at Abbotsford Convent and, perhaps due to poor layout, he was still around to be packed up again ready for my Jan markets at the Royal Botanic Gardens and Abbotsford Convent. More success this time as he, and a strawberry owl I made on the day of the Convent Maker's Market were sold. I didn't even manage a photo of 'Strawberry owl', my first jam jar lid owl (almost identical to 'Berry Pretty' but with a strawberry jam jar lid). 'Little Laddie': Kitchen Owl #2, my very first tea strainer owl, became a Christmas gift but also the rough template for the majority of my owls to date. I took along 'Beaky', 'Berry Pretty' (another jam jar lid owl), 'Insomnia', 'Dainty', 'Fly away home' and 'Copper Grandpa' to my February market at Brunswick Town Hall (Sisters' Market) and had some exciting interest. 'Dainty' was sold quite late in the piece to a young lady who had earlier bought some of my cards and who had been riding away but returned saying 'I was on my way home but I decided I just had to buy Dainty'. It's wonderful to think of my little guys hanging around in people's back yards or kitchens. Time and enough tea strainers are lacking to get more done but I'm doing my best to have some ready for the Botanic Gardens market on 13 March. 'Fly away home' now has a home to go to so I'll have to make another one of those, too. No rest for the wicked! ®

Market stalls: A step in the right direction

Well, it's certainly taken some time to take that first step to moving my photography hobby to the next level but I've finally done it. After receiving some positive vibes at the school art show where I donated some of my photos I decided to leap into making something more out of my photos and my market business was born.  The month and a bit leading up to my first market at Northside Makers on 28 Nov was, to put it mildly, incredibly busy. What started off as framed prints and prints with mats exploded into an art card range of around 40 cards and a calendar, mini block canvases and coasters. 

Setting up on the day was, mildly put, chaotic, and I without the help of my sister, Linda, and my mum I wouldn't have been ready for the first customers at 10am. Many thanks to you both! The stall display, while not wonderful, was a good first try and I kept myself busy putting my cards in poly bags while the customers walked on by. I had had plenty of warnings from various quarters to be prepared for disappointment and, I felt I was. A mere 2 customers in 4 hours proved me wrong. At the very least I got all my cards in their packaging and cut some business cards. I have a mailing list and the memory of plenty of people commenting on how much they liked my work. 

I'm not the type to let one unsuccessful attempt get me down and I was back behind the stall the following day at the Abbotsford Convent Maker's Market. I was lucky enough to land a cancellation place and had a great corner position which allowed me to display a lot more than the previous day. More people added their names to my mailing list and there were plenty more positive comments, but still only 2 customers and this time in 5 hours. :o( I did manage to sell a framed print so I at least covered my market fees. At the end of market no. 2 I determined to follow up other avenues of selling enabling me to spend my time producing to perhaps sell in shops instead. Not much fun spending so long in preparation and at the market itself for little gain. 

Since then I've pounded the beat in Lygon St at Readings and Borders and in Yarraville and have had varying degrees of success. My cards are now for sale in 2 florists in the Yarraville Village shopping strip and are being considered for the Green Collective in the same area. Readings have expressed interest in my cards in the New Year and things are looking up. 

The next step is to get some web presence happening and see if I can sell some things that way. For now, I'm busy expanding my range of cards with photos from two recent visits to the Melbourne Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary and considering doing another calendar with a different theme. Busy, busy. Keep watching.