Markets and Christmas

Christmas season is underway for anyone that sells anything remotely 'gifty'. As a wire wrapper/weaver I find what I make is quite niche, and doesn't always fit in with the fudge and bauble markets so I can come away from these feeling a little flat. I encounter lots of people who my products don't appeal to and lots who will walk straight past my stall without even glancing over. As a consequence I've developed a thick skin, a 'go to' stack of wire to make new pendants and the ability to smile even if I feel a bit like a spare part sometimes.

Being a relatively new business I'm always open to opportunities, and willing to learn from each experience. And I always take a 'lessons learned' away with me from every sale (or non sale). Keeping costs down and realising my stall needed height I improvised with a fruit and veg pallet box, a tester paint pot, some alcohol inks and string! There has to be some visual appeal and I was pretty pleased with my rustic efforts!

I've just had a tremendous few days at the We Create Market in Portsmouth, which was a wonderful place to showcase some wonderful creative talent. I also had the opportunity to go into the studio and talk about my work on Express FM - which was a lovely experience! When it goes well, it goes well.

What's next?

*Quirky Intent will be a completely stand alone company, meaning I'm moving away from Etsy (and their fees) and am in the process of developing an ecommerce shop on the website.

*I'll become a marketing guru.

*I'm going to (finally after nearly a year of staring at my bottle of ferric nitrate) start etching.

*I'll be looking at realistic ways of manifesting my narrowboat. The dream WILL come true.

*I have another little business in the pipeline so watch this space. It will hopefully allow me to continue learning and working with my favourite medium - copper.

Keep happy, stay true and be beautiful - inside and out 💕