Craft Fairs and Cats

Being a vendor at a craft fair is very much an occasion for mixed emotions.  Firstly you have the excitement of anticipation, the worry of whether you will have enough inventory to satisfy the customers, always balanced by the fear that your work won't be liked and everything you take with you will come back too.  There is the set up, trying to showcase your wares in the best possible way to whet the appetite of purchasers, then the ticking by of the minutes until "opening time" comes.  Sometimes your face aches trying to maintain a smile when no-one is interested in your hard work and people walk by without even giving the appearance of a cursory glance.  Sometimes the time flies as the public engage you in conversation and are complimentary.  The more people who come through the door the higher the possibility that someone will like your product and want to buy something, but, really it is a crap shoot, a gamble of table cost, gas money and materials up in the air against possible purchases.  One constant I have found is that the vendors are all nice people, maybe because we are all in the same boat, but there is a sense of community amongst the people behind the tables, they feel for you if you are having a bad day, and they cheer along when you make a sale.

I have some experience now of craft fairs, but a new market for me is internet sales. There is Etsy and Folksy, there is Ebay and Kijiji/Craig's List/ or whatever is the local alternative, they all offer the opportunity of showcasing your products on the internet.  I have used Kijiji for selling pieces of furniture, but personally don't think it is appropriate for crafts.  I have bought from Ebay and may yet sell through them.  I have an Etsy page but to date I have not sold anything there.  Today I made my first internet sale, and it was through my Hetty Jean facebook page.  I opened this page on 24th June 2013, and on 1st December I achieved 100 likers so I decided to run a giveaway.  The winner was Heather Poeschel Leary who has chosen to receive a skunk.  Amazingly from the Monday (1st December) to the Friday (when the giveaway closed) my likers grew by 22!  Now I have broken through another barrier by achieving that first internet sale, and to say I am happy is an understatement.  Miss Hippo has been chomping at the bit for someone to love her, and I think she's packed her suitcase already, she'll be parceling herself up in anticipation of the Post Office opening tomorrow.

My friend Diane suggested to me that I supersize my cat pattern.  Previously my cats have maxed out at 12 inches in height, indeed Miss Hippo is a diminutive 7 1/2 inches.  

So, I had a go, and increased the size of two cats.  The first is 17 inches in height and I used a felted merino wool sweater to make him, his tail uses the ribbing at the bottom of the sweater.  He has a pink wool nose and green eyes.  

 The second cat could in fact be a fox.  I used a great red/cream/pink/grey stripey lambswool sweater for everything except the head which is made of red kashmir.  I think this kittie is a girl, and has a grey wool nose and blue eyes.  

These cats are $35.

What do you think, do they lose some of their character being bigger or is it wrong to compare them?  The bigger ones definitely more cuddly because of the wool content, but I would appreciate input.

Have a happy day!

I 

A very Happy (early) Christmas or "There's treasure in that there chest!"

Hello there!  Do you remember the steamer trunk I mentioned previously?  Just to recap, I bought an old steamer trunk which we think dates to around 1900.  There was green canvas and wood battens on the top and sides.

In some areas the canvas was ripped.

So, I addressed the outside by trying to clean the canvas.  The glue which, given it's age, could well have been equine gave off black muck into the water.  The canvas on the top of the trunk was good enough, and we have a small paint of olive paint that I might use to stipple the colour to a slightly deeper intensity just to rejunvenate it.  However, the canvas on the sides was just too, too disgusting.  I had to pull it off and then scrape the remnants of the glue from the pine beneath.  Then Pete got to work, he sanded the wooden areas, and cleaned up the tin and discovered that the lock was brass.  He sanded and buffed with Tung Oil so that the oak battens, pine panels and even the tin panels now have a warm sheen to them.  The leather handles, which sadly don't show in the photos, felt very hard, but with liberal use of the Tung Oil the leather is now a mid-brown rather than brownish-black and feels like leather rather than wood!

When I came home last night from a craft fair it was all ready for me. 

How beautiful is that!!

It is now positioned in front of the big picture window, you can just see my pin cushions on the window ledge, my stitchy chair is to the right of the picture.

Of course, we did not forget the inside.  When we got the trunk, the paper on the interior surface was dried and flaking.

It was most probably pretty once upon a time, but sadly could not be salvaged.  I had to peel it all off.

So, the inside was then sanded down, and then Pete applied two coats of polyurethane. We decided that would be best as I shall be storing, among other things, materials in the trunk and if we finished the interior with an oil it might react with the materials potentially staining them.

So the inside is now pristine too - long gone is the smell of age and mould which the paper housed.

It didn't take long for me to be putting things into the trunk.  In fact it is looking rather full already.

The steamer trunk cost me $30 and Pete refinished it as part of my Christmas present.  It is now a fabulous piece of furniture, a relative treasure chest and I love it.  For next year Pete has promised to make a tray for the interior, you can just see the battens on which it would sit in the above photo.  I can hardly wait!!

Monday evening of the past week we had our first real snow.  About 8 inches fell that night and the world really was a winter wonderland the next morning.  You may just be able to see that the road had already been cleared, they are really efficient at that in our area.  This is the view through the front window.

This is the view from the kitchen window on to the deck and then the back yard.

In fact it has been a weird week, weatherwise.  Thursday and Friday we had very cold temperatures, dropping to -20C Friday morning.  Saturday it flipped up close to 0, and today around +3 giving drizzly conditions.  So, some of the snow has now gone, what is left has compacted down.

I have now started work utilising the merino wool sweaters I purchased at Value Village (it was 50% off day).  They are felted down and I have redrawn my cat pattern to see how it looks in a bigger size.  Photos to follow.

Have a happy day!

Alpacas and The Doctor

My right index finger hurts.  I'm not sure why other than I've been pushing my needle in and out of some felt.  I finally got around to making some alpacas.  Of course first of all I had to design a pattern, but I had met these gorgeous creatures not so long ago at Amazing Graze Alpacas in Stirling, so I had a good starting place.  

Whilst I was there I bought some roving.

The roving on the left is called Pralines and Cream, and the one of the right is blue/purple/green.  I wasn't ready to go straight into a punk version, so first I used some tan felt and the darker, nutty brown roving and voila, my first alpaca which I am calling Pralines.

Then, as alpacas are communal creatures (just wondering if the plural is alpaca or alpacas?) - (ha, just googled it and the plural can be either!), I thought Pralines needed a buddy.  So I made Cream.

I even tried to do a division on the feet to show how they have two toes on each foot. Here is Cream in a close up.  The eyelashes are killer!

So because alpacas are very affectionate, with each other at least, here they are kissing.  

I hope you like my babies.  They will be available for sale, if you are interested just send me a message.

Finally, The Day of the Doctor!  I enjoyed it.  I liked when they were comparing the size of their sonic screwdrivers, and I loved John Hurt.  I also liked that the marriage of David Tennant's Doctor to Elizabeth I, and his subsequent running off before the honeymoon, explains why she was setting the guard on him in the episode "The Shakespeare Code".  I thought it was very clever the way they tied multiple threads together.  However, I did think it a shame that Billie Piper didn't interact with David Tennant as they have always had such good chemistry on screen.

What did Pete think?  He thought Tom Baker's appearance was the best thing about the show, but then he doesn't appreciate anyone else as the Doctor!

Anyway, enough of this nerdy talk.

We had our first snow yesterday, I can still see a little that remains on  the grass.  It was only a smattering, barely covering the ground, but of course it presages the winter weather to come.  At least it has warmed up a bit, it was minus 10 yesterday.  Ok my lovelies, take care.

Have a happy day!

Tell them about the Honey, Mummy!

You may remember my recently completed Yeti.  Look at that cute face!  I have a two day craft fair this weekend at the Arena in Picton, and I'm hoping the folk there will love the Yeti as much as I do, so I've made another one.

The Yeti with green eyes looks a bit like a mischevious little boy Yeti to me.  My new Yeti with lavender eyes looks like a helpful girl.

Once she was completed I thought I would use some honey fur I had in my stash.  I did not realise immediately, in fact until Pete pointed it out, that the honey fur made my honey yeti resemble none other than the Honey Monster.  This goes to show how versatile the pattern I created is!

When last I mentioned the steamer trunk I had removed the paper from the interior, the next job was to clean the exterior.  Unfortunately, the glue beneath the canvas had disintegrated to a revolting state, combined with dirt.  Bucket after bucket of filthy water was disposed of and still it looked disgusting, especially where the canvas had been torn and ripped.  In the end I had to remove the canvas from the side panels, it just wasn't salvageable   The canvas on the top, fortunately cleaned up nicely.  The wood actually looks quite nice, so it will get a light sanding and then some restorative Tung Oil. As I want to store, among other things, fabric inside the trunk it would be inappropriate to use oil on the interior in case it got onto the materials.  Therefore the interior is to be sanded and then sealed with a polyurethane.

I'll keep you updated on the progress.

Have a happy day!

More on the Trunk, and a Scary Cat for Halloween

No, don't fall off your chair just because I'm posting again!  I know its only two days since my last post, but I have more to share with you.  It was very cold yesterday, but I managed to get outside to the shed.

Pete was also outside moving supplies from the woodpile to beside the basement door so that it is easily accessible when we want a fire.  All the wood in the shelter was culled from fallen trees from the ice storm back on April 12th, Pete has done a fabulous job of cutting and stacking it all.

Inside the shed the trunk was resting on Pete's workmate bench.

 

I know it looks pretty beaten up, but to me that gives it character.  I love it.  You may be able to see the at the bottom of the front in the middle there has been some damage.  The canvas has been compromised and the wood beneath is broken.  Once I've tidied up the interior I think we'll use some glue and a thin piece of wood to support the broken pieces of wood.  On the front where the canvas is torn we'll try glueing it, but if that is insufficient I have plenty of canvas and may replace the area.   

Here's a picture of the paper pasted to the inside.

Here is a close-up of the interior paper.  It is quite pretty, but it still has to go.

So I'm itching to get going with it, but I still need to make sure I'm stitching away as I have several Craft Fairs coming up.  Here is the latest addition to my menagerie.  I think with it being Halloween tomorrow it is quite appropriate to call him Scary Cat!  In the first picture you can see his fish skeleton tattoo.

The second picture shows his bitten ear and scarred face.

The final picture shows his broken tail, scarred back and again the tattoo.  What a character!

Have a happy day!

Wooden Boxes and Steamer trunks

I was passing by a local antique shop last week, when I noticed two lovely wooden boxes they had outside the shop.  I love wood,  and like to have lots of wooden things around me. This got me to thinking, how could I used a box in my life?  Our house is, for two people, quite large, but there is a lack of space for new objects.  But then it occurred to me, I had been thinking of getting a sewing box to organise my sewing area. I know you can't believe that I would be messy can you - however, below is the evidence. 

There is no space left beneath my chair due to the tins of lambswool thread, buttons and beads, and the roving which has sprawled out of the sewing box which cannot contain it all. Then you can see my pot of scissors, pens, pencils and filling prodders, a bag of filling, a maple leaf bag full to the brim of felt, and a bag of material.  There are also plastic boxes of embroidery thread, and a woven square basket containing sequins, ribbon and other sundries.  It is a mess, and any time someone comes to the house, I am scrabbling to tidy it up so that the room is presentable.

Anyway, back to those boxes I saw, they inspired me to look on Kijiji, an on-line selling forum which I have used previously.  There I espied an old steamer trunk.  It has a green canvas to with wood battens and metal end pieces on the lid.  It is in a sorry state, the interior stinks, so much so that it has been banished to the shed so that it doesn't pollute the air of the house.  So the first job, with a mask on, will be to vacuum the interior, then remove the remainder of the peeling paper.  Then a solution of bleach, dish soap and water will be used to sanitise the interior wood.  Then Pete will take over and he is going to refurbish the exterior so that it looks beautiful.  Pete would have taken over anyway, so getting him to say he will do it from the beginning is a bonus, it means I can sit back and enjoy the process rather than be frustrated because he is pushing me out of the way so that he can do it, so that it is done properly!  Said refurbishment together with the trunk will form part of my Christmas present.

I will take photos of the trunk to show its current state, and how it progresses, but it has gotten much colder and I'm not going out to the shed at the moment, so the photos will have to wait.

I have been busy sewing.  A raccoon:

A skunk: 

Also I bought some material which just spoke to me.  It said Yeti.  Here is the back view:

The front:

And his face, I shaved the material so that the features are more flush to the base:

He is soooo cute!

Have a happy day!

One of a Kind Show in Maynooth

What a lovely Sunday.  We drove up to Maynooth for the One of a Kind Show.  Both Pete and I took our cameras, fall colours in Ontario are spectacular, unfortunately the deciduous trees decided against us, they had, for the most part, already shed.  There were plenty of lovely firs and pines and cedars, stu nning rocky outcrops, and darkly reflective lakes.  Just no autumnal spread of colourful leaves.  Ho hum.  It was still a lovely drive, straight up Highway 62 through Madoc, via Bancroft (where we are determined to spend return and have a prolonged look around).

The gym at the Maynooth Library is a lovely big room, and we found ourselves sited at the door - a perfect situation given that if people did no more than glance on their way in, on the way out they are forced to pass by again, and can't miss the display.

In the left of the picture you will find the newest "staging" addition.  It is an iron "plant" stand which is perfect for showing my mobiles.  After Pete had taken this picture my friend Diane suggested that we put the plant stand onto the table so that it would be really visible to people - wow did that ever work.  The monkey mobile became the thing people zeroed in on, and it was the most touched and caressed item.  I'm happy to say it sold!  I'll have to make another, it won't be exactly the same and for me that is part of the fun of my creations they are all one of a kind.  

Just behind my table you can see some of the work of my newest friend Shelley.  At the top of the display door you can see a gorgeous wooden hanging which has tiny lights highlighting the central painted panel.  Shelley had samples of her maple butter.

Is it ever good.   I had to get some, sorry the pic is blurry.  Also a really cute tea light holder.

I popped tea lights in last night and it looked really great.

I also bought a ring from my friend Diane of At Sebastien's Silver Wear.  She uses silver cutlery to make rings pendants and bracelets - gorgeous stuff.  At Sebastien's Silver Wear is on facebook.

I like to wear my ring with the little rose design facing up.

But I always have he option to turn it around so that the end is visible.  Given the size I think this was a teaspoon.  I absolutely love it.

I also bought some scented shea butter.

And some yummy roving.

It was the first craft fair that Pete had attended with me.  After 10 minutes he was wondering if my prices were too high, and if there is a market for my softies.  At the end of the four hour fair he had long since retracted those thoughts and was doing a little happy dance every time along with me every time I made a sale.  It was a good day.

I have several fairs coming up, so I need to work on my inventory.  The latest addition is this little lady:

She even stands en-pointe!

Have a happy day!