Category Archives: markets

ETSY Made Local Market

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Yesterday I had a stall at the Melbourne ETSY Made Local Markets. It was a one day market for Melbourne people who have an ETSY online store. 

What is ETSY?  A global online market place for handmade, craft  and vintage goods. My “store ” is here  You can purchase with Paypal or a credit card .

I was one of 136 Melbourne stallholders with handmade goods including homewares, clothing. ceramics, jewellery, stationary and arts and crafts.  The markets are part of a national initiative by ETSY to connect shoppers to the local makers and designers living and working in the area. As well as the handmade gifts available on the day there was live music, a selection of food trucks and a bar serving local Melbourne brews. 

A coffee at 9.50. The doors open in 10 minutes !. 

The day went quickly as we were saying hello and talking to people all day. I had interesting conversations with a few people, when they started looking at particular greeting cards. Or we talked about drawing or sketching. 

I was very fortunate to have a friend assisting, who not only was a great salesman and  assisted carrying my gear to the markets, but also gave me the opportunity to take breaks and sit down for a few moments every now and then.  It would have been a lot bigger day if I was on my own. A few friends popped by and also a few Instagram followers introduced themselves, which was delightful. 

I only left my stall a few times during the day and it was not until about 3.30 that I had the opportunity to look around and speak to other stall holders. The variety and quality of things for sale was amazing.  I talked to some really interesting people. 

I had a steady trickle  of greeting card sales, gave out a lot of business cards and have a potential collaboration. I will be interested to see how many views and sales I get on my ETSY online store over the next week or two, that may have come from interest at these markets. 


We left the house at 7.45 am and got home at 6.45 pm. It was a big day, from getting there to setting up, chatting with all of the lovely people, working with cash (and PayPal credit card reader) and all sorts of different things. Great fun . Energising, but exhausting. Today is a day to put my feet up (sketch them ) and relax !

greeting cards – from sketch to store

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Very early in September I started drawing my next range of greeting cards, which would include some Christmas cards and also some drawn of the Supreme Court of Victoria and its architectural features. In hindsight I should have started a lot earlier as I have felt a bit of pressure to get these done to be ready for the Christmas season.

I am going to take you on the journey from an idea sketch to the printed card that can be purchased in stores. I am using my Koala and Gumnut Blossoms as an example.


After deciding to draw Australian animals on Christmas card I had the ‘lightbulb’ moment of including red and green in the gumnut blossoms. The design grew from there, 

I decided on five new cards and had the final drawings completed in watercolour pencil on A4 watercolour paper by the end of September. 

At the same time I reordered some of my previous card designs as stocks were getting low and Christmas is coming up and I have a stall at a big market at Etsy Made Local Melbourne in late November. Before sending my order to the local printing company for my new designs to be scanned and cards printed , I had to decide how many to print of each.  I was very fortunate to have two of local stockists Law Institute of Victoria bookshop and Paperpoint stationery  preorder 10 of some of my cards, including the Christmas koala and possum. I decided on 70 of each . Altogether I ordered 500 cards. 

I dropped my originals off to the printer on 25 September and received the cards on 18 October.  The timeframe was so long because I had received one set of hardcopy proofs to approve but I wanted to change the colour balance on some of them. I was then  sent another set of hardcopy proofs which I approved . Hence the delay. 

In the meantime I ordered 500 envelopes from my usual local stationery store and 500 cello bags to put each card in.

Saturday afternoon on my lounge chair’

Top Row : cello bags, cards, envelopes

Bottom Row: cards in cello bags with envelopes, strips from cello bags .

(hint learned from google searching. Put stickytape sticky side up on put cello strips on this. Otherwise they are full of static and stick to everything and anything . This keeps them in one place. )

They took all afternoon to package. But it was a nice way to occupy a chilly Melbourne Saturday afternoon. 

Today, Sunday, I took some very basic photographs so that I could put my greeting cards for sale on my Etsy online store. This also involves writing descriptions  and choosing keyword tags.  I will need to take  better photographs to showcase the cards. But the aim today was just to get them up online.

CRAFT Victoria HATCH markets

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I wrote about my previous CRAFT Victoria HATCH markets in May this year.

Craft Hatch program supports emerging makers and who have never had their own market stall before. The program includes mentoring and professional development guidance, and is a perfect way to get a face-to-face experience.Once again it lived up to all of that . 

It was held at the same venue as last time, in inner city Melbourne, which was good for consistency for me. 

Here is an overview of my day. It is mainly photographs and few words and sketches this week. I did not have time and forgot to take photos during the day or of my own stall. This blog post and my memories are my record of the event.

Saturday morning

All packed up and waiting for my taxi to arrive. I have figured out how to carry this on my own, However, it is too awkward for public transport .

everyone setting up at the  venue

These photos were taken from my table looking at the room as the other stallholders set up

My own space.. starting to set up. Set up began at 8am.

The Markets were open to the public from 10- 4 and then we packed down. There was a constant flow of visitors through the day .

There was a guitar player/singer for a few hours and he was set up just around the corner behind me. The subtle background music was lovely and created a warmth through the room . 

 

Some of my cards and my full up banner, I am SO pleased that I invested in this banner, I very proud of it and it does define my stall. 

sketches of the day 

I was able to do a few quick sketches during the day. There was a very quiet time after lunch.

 


I made some sales and had some wonderful conversations with customers. I also learnt a lot from other stall holders. There a was a wonderful vibe to the day .