Last week­end we par­ti­cip­ated in a very small craft fair at Ophelia Gifts in Kings Heath. Foot traffic was a trickle res­ult­ing in very low sales. Just goes to show that advert­ising and loc­a­tion can make or break an event.

Red Siren: Pearl, Red Jade & Jasper

Thank good­ness I was sur­roun­ded by a fant­astic, cheer­ful bunch of stall hold­ers who were will­ing to share ideas and have a laugh. Several of us even took a mid day adven­ture to MoMo, a bead shop loc­ated two doors down. We got lost in there for at least twenty minutes. I struggled to decide what to pur­chase, there were so many good­ies on offer. Pure heaven. Between MoMo Bead Shop and the Armadillo, Kings Heath is a crafters delight!

Midway through the after­noon I nego­ti­ated a trade with another jew­ellery maker, Anna, who had her eyes on my col­our­ful mother of pearl but­ton neck­lace. I walked away with a new friend and a gor­geous blue beaded bracelet.

Colourful mother of pearl but­ton necklace

The brace­let is set aside as a Birthday gift for my bff’s daugh­ter, Jasmine, in May. Pictures will have to wait so I don’t spoil the surprise.

Anna has a metic­u­lous eye for detail and heaps of patience. She knits wool mit­tens (those are hers in the pic­ture) and wire jew­ellery. Gorgeous stuff! I’ve tried crochet­ing with wire and rejec­ted the craft because it’s too fiddly for my taste.

Anna Dixon Jewellery Designer

At the end of the event I fol­lowed Anna’s advice and chose a few Articles to put on dis­play in Ophelia Gifts for a month.  If response is good we’ll refresh our mini UnArt dis­play and keep it for a few more months. This arrange­ment is an inex­pens­ive way to get our Articles out into the com­munity, increas­ing aware­ness of what we have to offer. There’s noth­ing like know­ing your work and busi­ness cards are out there being viewed by the public.

All in all, our first craft fair of the year fizzled. Sometimes that hap­pens. While I never like to walk away from an event in the red,  the day wasn’t a wash. I was able to put some Articles in a shop and had the oppor­tun­ity to exchange ideas with a great group of like minded people. Some of which had no sales at all. Maybe next time, ladies?!  Thanks for keep­ing my spir­its up!