Last time at Coatesville Market



Last set-up at Coatesville Market



Close-up of my 'thank you' sign

It is sad that this was my last time at Coatesville Market but I know that it is not the right venue for selling the larger pieces of artwork that I am going to be creating next. Everyone has been really friendly here and made me welcome, so I will have to come back now and then as a visitor.

For anyone reading this who still wants to by my HANGAs, I am intending to open an on-line shop on Esty.com to sell these and other smaller items. I will start work on this when I get back from my trip to the UK, in May, and hope it will be up and running some time in June.

Coatesville before Christmas

This was my last Coatesville Market before Christmas. I now have a permanent indoor place in the hall, which is great, and using their table gives me plenty of room for display, as it is quite a bit longer than my own one.

As I took all my best HANGA designs to Craftworld, I felt the display I had here was a bit dull. I wonder if I would have sold more if I had had less of the plain coloured ones? I need to make some replacement stock for my last event before Christmas and must concentrate on making more with interesting surface designs.

The HANGA at Coatesville

The HANGA made its first appearance at Coatesville Market today, and again was very successful. My stock is now quite low so I will have to get busy making more for the forecoming events I have planned before Christmas.

Two events in one weekend

On Saturday I did the Browns Bay Craft Show for the first time (I really thought I should show my work at this event as I am now a Browns Bay resident) and on Sunday I did Coatesville Market, being very lucky to get an indoor spot, in fact it was in the entrance hall where I was last time.

Browns Bay Craft Show

I am not sure what to make of my sales statistics, as I took exactly the same amount of money at each event (+ or - $1); on Saturday I sold twenty four pieces (nearly all low cost items – I actually sold out of my experimental brooches) and on Sunday I sold four pieces (higher value). I would prefer to concentrate on fewer, one-off value pieces but I do not think that ‘markets’ are the right type of sales venue. Once I have left my job, I will have the opportunity to try approaching some galleries and gift/boutique shops, as alternative outlets.

A Review of August 2010

August has been a very interesting and varied month, starting with my first time at Coatesville Market, right at the beginning of the month. Since then I have been working on various ideas and still trying out new techniques. I have got totally addicted to creating Klimt style canes and have been concentrating more on making lower cost items, for the markets and events that will be leading up to Christmas.

It may have been fortunate that I did not have time to finish the construction of all my new display screens, last month, because I may need to change my table set-up again, as a result of future developments. There will be a major life change for me in a couple of months time – see the next post.

Klimt style brooches, stick pins and mini pins

Here are my first six finished Klimt style brooches. To see individual photos of each brooch, go to the 'Sample Brooches' tab on www.art-brooches.co.nz. The middle brooch on the bottom row is a prototype, designed to hang reading glasses from.

I have also been busy making lots of Mini Pins and Stick Pins for my forthcoming events. Several people asked if I made stick pins, when I was at Coatesville Market, so I thought I would try them out.

Mini Pins

Stick Pins

This coming weekend is going to be a busy one, with Browns Bay Craft Show on Saturday 4th and Coatesville Market on Sunday 5th September (luckily, I have now managed to get a covered spot for this one).

A Review of July 2010

The main focus of this month has been to get stock ready for my first time at Coatesville Market, which means I have not created many new Art-Brooch designs on canvases. I have tried to finish off pieces that had previously been started, especially making some of my experimental pieces into brooches and also trying out the idea of making sample brooches – both of these will be lower cost items for my stand.

Trial set-up of table display

I have also been working on a new set-up for my table. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, so I only have three screens (instead of five) as shown in the photograph above. It looks over-crowded to me but when I get the other two screens, I can space things out more. I have designed the screens to join together with Velcro strips but I am not sure how secure this will be in practice. At least I can try it out tomorrow and then reconsider the fixing method, if necessary, before adding the other two screens.

Completing pieces for Coatesville Market

The last two weeks have been spent completing pieces for Coatesville Market. Here are my latest Art-Brooches on canvases.

Silver Flowers

Golden Mask

Un-titled

I am not sure about the one which is un-titled. I like the idea of the golden rods cutting across the square but I think they would be better made from metal (maybe metal clay, which I have not tried - yet?). I have had to make them quite thick, so that the polymer clay is strong enough, but this has lost the delicacy.

The eight designs from one shape have now become nine, as I discovered another one. I am pleased with how they have turned out although I think I will need to use two different sizes of the curved triangular shape, as some have ended up quite small, if I make some more. These sample brooches (see post dated Thursday 15 July 2010) will be sold with a small organza gift pouch.

Sample brooches - nine designs from one shape

More sample brooches

Here are a few more experimental brooches that were not photographed before.

I seem to have accumulated quite a stock of polymer clay brooches and I still have some of my earlier ones, made from Friendly Plastic, as a back-up if I run low.