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sljdesigns

~ Artist ~ Designer ~ Maker

sljdesigns

Tag Archives: liverpool

July Stalls Review

29 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by sarah in About ME, Where am I, working on

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

about, croxteth, fairs, friends, gifts, handmade, jewellery, liverpool, markets, reviews, tea, visitors, what i do, wildflower

So I’ve had a really busy July. I’m sure friends and family think my *job* is an easy ride. During the week I sit and watch telly and at the weekend I sit behind my stall while people  throw money at me and grab my items, whispering ‘my precious’. LMAO, if only *snort*!

My normal routine starts at the beginning of the month that the stall is booked, first up – do a stock check. That means going through all my items, checking that what I have on the computer is the same as what items I have in real life. Anything that is missing I make a note of, I also make a note of the condition of the item, ie does it need cleaning, are chains knotted, are there two earrings to every pair etc. From there I can write my to do list.

First thing to do is to make sure that any gaps in my stock are filled so I write a ‘make’ list of stock items that I think I will need to make before the stall. I now have to check what raw materials I have and make another list – this time one for ordering from the materials supplier. If I have all the materials in I can get started straight away with the making if not, it’s a roulette/waiting game with the post man.

When that job is underway or if I’m lucky enough finished (hopefully at the beginning of the week that the stall is being held), I get to work on cleaning up any pieces that need it, removing finger prints and generally make sure everything is displayed to it’s best advantage.

Next up is to check my displays for marks and to clean/iron my table cloth … ugh, I hate ironing – this job is my least fav! About once every 3 – 4 months I also sand and paint my displays to make sure they look fresh and, well, white. White displays look fab, but they get dirty easy too.

The day before my stall I make sure that everything is in the boxes that I need to take with me – cash box, card machine (freshly charged), table cloth, boxes, items to sell, displays …. I normally write another list for this one!  All the above is going on whilst completing custom orders, working on new work, designing, sketching, account keeping, admining, answering queries, social mediating, blogging, eating and living outside of my business …

On the morning of my stall I have to get up super early (a huge thing for me, I hate detest and despise early mornings), make sure that I look normal and presentable and not like an extra from a low budget zombie flic, pack the car up and drive to my destination. This can be anything from 20 mins up the road to an hour and a half. Set up at the venue and wait. No matter how crappy/annoyed/excited/tearful I’m feeling I smile and pretend I’m walking on air! I talk to people who hopefully become customers. Sometimes it’s a bad day and not many people want to buy but if I’m miserable it won’t make them come back again when they are ready to buy.

I have good days and bad days but I do it all because I love making and there is only so many things one person can have. I also love talking to people, finding out what their day is like, what they are shopping for etc. It is all hard work but it’s definitely the most fun I will ever get out of a job – apart from the ironing, never the ironing!

So the July stalls had an extra element of fun. Mother Nature decided to join the party and see what she could throw at us poor stall holders.  Two of the fairs were new to me events, both beautiful venue’s.

First up was Artisans at the Wildflower Centre in Huyton, Liverpool. A lovely market that seemed like it would normally be a lot of fun. On the weekend I was there they were having their annual scarecrow competition. The other stall holders were lovely, unfortunately there was a deluge of rain that Noah dusting off the ark. The customers did put on a brave face though and tried to browse through the rain 🙂

2015-07-05 10.48.49

Second fair of the month was a regular event for me, the lovely Heartfelt Art & Craft fair. This really is a lovely, warm and welcoming fair in the village of Halkyn. There are lots of local visitors who really appreciate handmade items.

2015-07-11 10.05.52

The final fair of the month was Artisans at Croxteth Hall, Liverpool. The heritage building that this fair was held at is absolutely stunning! I would love to visit again, as a visitor just to have a good wander around. There were lots of visitors and lovely stall holders to keep me entertained. I even sampled an iced spicy chai latte from Sarah of Lady Liver Tea’s. This lady is a tea-genius! She can take the flavour of cakes and make them into tea, with no calories!

I think my most favourite thing about this market was all the four legged friends that were wandering around. I got to make a fuss of so many ‘browsing customers’ 🙂

2015-07-19 14.36.31

That’s it for me for this month. My next markets aren’t booked until September so I’ll post an update nearer the time!

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It’s all been very busy ….

21 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by sarah in Exhibitions, Life, shop update, Where am I, working on

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

about, admin, aims, art, Artisan Network, changes, collection, collective, helfa gelf, liverpool, market, new, Palmhouse, procrastination, sketch, store, trail

As the title says, it’s all been very busy here!

I’ve been making some changes and bringing things up to speed, slowly, lol. The biggest change is that I now have an official web address. I can now be found at www.sljdesigns.co.uk. I’m super excited that I finally got this piece of the puzzle to slide in!

I’ve been doing craft fairs as normal, including a couple of new venue’s. Some worked out well, others I wouldn’t visit again if you paid me too! One of the good ones was Artisans in the Palmhouse. The venue is beautiful, the organisers do their job really well. All in all it was a really good day that I am eager to replicate, so I am booked in for fairs there on the 5th Oct and 16th Nov.

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Another BIG event that is coming up for me is Helfa Gelf! I’m really excited to be taking part in this this year as an artist in my own right. I’ve taken part previously as a student in Uni, but because the Uni organised it I missed out on some of the organisational bits. I’ve worked hard on these this year – I’ve got myself a portable workbench (or something I can use as … will post pics another time), I’ve had to get extra insurance, write a risk assessment and much more – all things that I am just not used to do doing. But I’m glad I have done them as now I have a basis to work on next time. Also I now own a fire extinguisher – how cool is that?!?  I’ve also got newly designed business cards and packaging on the way to me, not to mention other changes that are happening to the site. The groups facebook page is open for perusal and comments and we have our own Helfa Gelf page that gives all the information on how to reach us.

I still haven’t completed my business plan. I keep chipping away at it but it has now got to the stage where I have to start putting in stat’s and figures and bleugh! All the bits I hate, so although the motivation is there, there are much more tempting things to do, like cleaning the toilet 😀  I’ll get it done eventually!

I’m working on another resin block collection – I have two blocks with start out idea’s tagged to both of them so I’ve been working on sketches and inspirations sheets etc.  When I have more concrete designs in place I may share them … with enough bribery.

Right now, I’m procrastinating looking at the store. It badly needs updating, but I have to go through and do a stock check first … bleugh … I wonder how clean the toilet is …. 😉

 

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Inspirational

18 Sunday May 2014

Posted by sarah in Exhibitions, inspiration, Life

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Tags

architecture, art, church, exhibitions, ice sculpture, inspiration, light night, light show, liverpool, natural beauty, performance

So Thursday night I went to my meeting for the new project – it was all very positive. I met some lovely people that I am looking forward to working with. I’m just sorting out a facebook page for the project and other social media tools and then I can announce what it’s all about! I can’t wait to get everything moving!

Friday I spent the day doing some bits and bobs and then went to Light Night in Liverpool. I had such a good night and seen some really interesting things. We started off by making our way down to the docks and having a look around the Tate, the exhibition was called Constellations, it was good and had some interesting pieces. My favourite was this one …

 ImageImage

I love how all the lines interlace, and the layers – as soon as you have figured out the layer that you are looking at you notice the one underneath, such an interesting piece.

We were on our way out of the building, and you know when you have one of those moments when you are going about your business and you are thinking to yourself ‘I can hear music?’ but nobody around seems to be hearing the same thing, so you think ‘right is it me? Have I finally made it over the edge into madness’. My hubby is used to me having moments like this, so when I looked at him in a questioning way he confirmed that he was hearing it too. We continued on down the stairs following the sound of this beautiful singing only to find a performance happening in the foyer!

The music was a good mix of classics and very beautifully (excuse the English) sung! A lovely little surprise! We stood and listened for a while and then moved on to the Anglican Cathedral.

My first impression of the Cathedral was that I loved the architecture. Before I got to explore the inside we witnesses another unexpected treat. There was an ice sculpture being carved outside, it was stunning to be able to see the sculpture emerge from a block of ice. All the finishing details were lovely, when it went dark the sculpture was lit from the underneath making it all the more impressive.

2014-05-16 21.05.47

We watched a memorial service for the Unknown Soldiers buried on the grounds. It was a little quiet in places so we couldn’t hear an awful lot but was good to see. I think this is one of my favourite photo’s from the service. I wonder what is going through the mind of the man in the photo …

2014-05-16 21.18.31

Next we made our way into the Cathedral – the architecture was even more stunning inside. The whole building was lit dramatically, so that it highlighted little area’s. Completely stunning.

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I was shattered by this time so we made our way home, such a good night though – thanks to the organisers. I’ll leave you with a final picture I took of the skyline just as it was going dark … I love the colours.

2014-05-16 21.07.38

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Capstans Bazaar

09 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by sarah in Exhibitions, Life

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Tags

capstans bazaar, craft fair, friends, jewellery, liverpool

Today we have been selling our jewellery at a craft market in Liverpool called Capstans Bazaar

I met some lovely people, it was a nice event to attend with friendly hosts in a good atmosphere.

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