Off to Market!

To be frank from the start, I'm of no doubt that my main craft stall days are far behind me. Gone for me, are the days for staying awake into the wee hours to finish off a batch of upcycled crafts before leaping up at the crack of dawn (with the aid of strong coffee) to be one of the first crafters on site and impeccably displayed before the trickle of idle browsers (with not much cash) begins to arrive for a bargain hunt. Gone are the days of working far too may hours at a quarter of minimum wage and feeling lucky to do any more than break even... And most definitely, very long gone are the days of dragging a suitcase of painted glassware from Leyton to Camden Town on the London Underground! But... I do love making... And I do love the warm glow of sitting behind a full table of my wares as people potter past and tell me how beautiful it all is (whether or not I make a sale)... And we do have a full to bursting honesty box that really doesn't get the footfall it deserves... So, at the very civilised time of nine o'clock this morning, Nik and I packed the car (carefully, around Val the greyhound, who promptly started tucking in to the packaging!) and made the blissfully short hop to Llanfyllin for the Thursday street market! (OK, there may still have been a fair bit of strong coffee...)

I found out about the market from a fellow crafter at Dragons, Rosie of Wild and Woody, who weaves a wonderful selection of baskets and willow items that are both beautiful and practical. We weren't expecting to sell out, but it was a fun way to test the waters and try and find new homes for some of the excess veg seedlings that are rapidly outgrowing their homemade paper pots! I'm pleased to report that we did make a few sales and almost totally sold out of elephant garlic! Herbs and veg plants were also popular but thankfully, the crafts did get a little look in too... We've not exactly earned our retirement but as Nik said 'Well, we've taken enough to keep the dog alive for another week.' Whew! 

We probably won't make it a habit to go every week but I'm sure we'll rock up again and in the mean time it was a great opportunity to meet some more local sellers, have a chat with various members of the local community and even say hello to one or two people who we recognised from the open mic night, just up the road. We've even got the heads up on one or two other events, so for a fun morning out it was a profitable venture on many counts!