Well, that's that out of
the way and I seem to have my life back again. I don't usually do stalls, as
it's an almost impossible (and expensive) thing to do when you don't drive and live in remote ruralsville. But this one was only a couple of miles away and Brian-next-door helped me get
everything over, on a stormy day with gale force winds and driving rain.
Thankfully
it was all under cover. This is the annual Christmas Fair held at
Concord International College, at Acton Burnell. It was bigger than I
expected - much bigger. My heart quailed, not for the first time, but I
got stuck into setting up. I'd been planning this for weeks,
so it was just a case of popping everything out.
There was a small emergency when I had to get Brian to pick
me up again so that I could dash home and print off more price labels (which I
thought I had, but patently hadn't). And also borrowed an extra table cloth from Jean, having scrounged some extra table space.
I even unearthed my old stock of cards, and sold quite a few.
In the end it all went well. My old retail skills kicked back in and I had a pleasant smile glued to my face. There was a large footfall of over 2,000 visitors, not including the college students. My stall was nice and busy and I sold enough gubbins to make it worthwhile. My new Paypal card reader worked and the three hours flew by.
I was inevitably asked about my prices for my own needle felt work. One couple directly asking me why it was priced 'so high'. Once upon a time, I might have shrunk under a stone, but now I've got more confidence. For a start, I answered (keeping my pleasant smile) the smallest thing on my tree took at least four hours to make. I am a published professional in my field, very well known, with over eight years of full time practise. And my work is collected, especially in America, where they really value good craftmanship. So the prices reflect my time, my skills and my name.
It's hard not to be
British sometimes and undersell yourself. I now realise that I have
to be my own walking, talking CV; there's no point in being overly modest. What I didn't add was that with the hours of work I put in on each and every piece, I am still working for less than the UK minimum wage which is £6.70 at present. So I am pricing as low as I can afford to, even if it seems 'high' because this is not my little hobby, but my livelihood.
But here's the thing - although I only sold one piece of my own work, the look of joy when so many people came up to my stall and admired the displays was immensely rewarding. I put on, as they say, a 'good show'. And sold a lot of kits and supplies on top of that. I have to admit, I treated myself to a celebratory bottle of cheap wine and a pizza on the way home when Brian drove me back. He refused petrol money point blank.
I also had many people asking me if I was holding a local workshop, which is now on the cards and spurred me into setting up a monthly newsletter, which will start in January. It will be solely about needle felting - workshops for next year, tips on working, my own work in progress, new kits - that kind of thing. So there is now a sign up page on my website, here. Of course, your details remain completely confidential. I've already had quite a few subscribers, so I'd better start planning the January edition...
