... on filling a whole table.

Now that it's all over and I've had a good sleep, I can start to speculate upon how much I've enjoyed the past few weeks of preparing for my first whole-trestle-table market, the BrisStyle Indie Market in Brisbane City Hall, which was yesterday. What a wonderful venue for a market! The whole of City Hall has just been so beautifully renovated, it was a real delight to be there. The individual stall areas were spacious and there was plenty of room for shoppers - I give the venue three big thumbs up!

For me, a whole trestle table seemed like an awfully large amount of space, but to make transport and unpacking easier I'd set myself a limitation of 'all these things need to fit onto one fridge trolley', which after a bit of nifty origami-like display item packing, was indeed achieved.

I had so much fun scouting about for items to use for my display. My main criteria was 'recycle'! I really wanted something to be able to put my wall hangings in to show them off properly - they're so airy that in the past, hanging out in the open, I think they've been a bit lost amongst the riot of colour and texture that is a handmade market. An old beehive box with a white paper backing insert was just the ticket, and it gave me somewhere high to put my big Kuberstore sign, and a spot for a little twiggy wattle forest to hang my little rainbow eggs.

C (oh thankyou for helping me, you splendid man) made me a box and a display stand out of some plywood that I'd been keeping because I knew it would come in handy. It was the shipping crate that my lovely Bellerby globe came all the way from London in, and I'm very happy that some of it now has a new life as part of my display!

It was a bit tricky to present my plaster wall words, as I didn't want to have lots of stock there, and most online orders are custom words these days. So, I had a couple of display words (including the ever-popular 'laundry') and some take-away brochures explaining the pricing and so on, and a 'free shipping' coupon code that customers can use in my Etsy store. 

Etsy store coupon code: enter the coupon code freepost during the transaction for free Australian shipping on orders of plaster wall words of four letters or more (AU$28). Valid until 31.12.2013. Hooray!

My rusty old sign was just perfect for showing up the whiteness of the cast plaster asterisks and quote mark magnets, and gave me a place to stick some snippets of info and one of my new asterisk envelope-pattern cards.

And the day itself? After the crazy whirlwind of preparation and the anxiousness of 'Am I ready? Is everything packed?', the worst thing that happened was a momentary panic at having to get the fridge trolley up a curiously-high pair of stone steps at the Ann Street entrance to City Hall, and a dropped shoebox that saw plaster asterisks and eggs spilling out onto the floor which, thankfully, was carpeted. The best things? My stall neighbours Clare (who makes beautiful silver jewellery) and Brenda (an artist, embroiderer and fellow seedpod-admirer) were cheery and lovely to meet. My Ma came for a few hours, bearing coffee (thanks Ma, so much!) and so I was able to check out the rest of the market and have a good chat with Bronwen from Whizzbangle/BravoJulietDesigns about the joys and perils of making moulds from Pinkysil. I had set up a little spot to carve at the end of my table, so I spent most of the day happily carving plaster and chatting to people who stopped by. A satisfying number of little Kuberstore parcels went off out into the world.

So. I loved the venue, and I much prefer a daytime market over the evening ones I'd previously done. I think I'm already looking forward to the next one, but first? Pancakes for breakfast, and then... unpack!

... on now.

A lovely morning... the studio is warm, a 'This American Life' podcast is on, my hands are dusty with plaster, the sun was out but now a misty winter shower has come across, the latest pour of eggs are curing and I've got lots to do. Lots! I'm going to be doing my first BrisStyle Indie Market in the beautifully restored rooms of Brisbane City Hall on Saturday 10th August. I've got a whole table to fill, display ideas overflowing, a stall helper arranged (thanks Ma!) and just over three weeks to prepare.

I'm about to package up this set of five speckled eggs and send them off to a secret destination that I hope to be able to reveal more about soon. Exciting!

I had a visitor with a camera yesterday (more on that soon, too), so the scurf that usually lingers about in the studio has been momentarily tidied away. It prompted me to find a proper home for the huge pile of newspapers that had previously been living in the hallway, and helped me accept that although I may have hoarding tendencies, I'm not too bad. Not yet!

A cup of tea and my morning will be perfect! How's yours?

... on the Market that was.

I've just finished unpacking everything after Friday's market, and to my horror found a wet tablecloth that I'd totally forgotten about! I was immediately transported back to that very exciting ten minutes late in the evening when the heavens opened and the wind rushed through King George Square, causing absolute mayhem and an early exit!

Other than the rain event (mostly deflected by an emergency plastic dropsheet I had in my kit... mostly!) it was a grand evening, filled with sparkling lights, cheery talks with other people-who-like-to-make-things, and some chance encounters with old friends. I shared a table with Sharon from Treble Two, who had a wonderful collection of crochet goodies, appliqued needlebooks and cards, and became an excellent co-conspirator during the Great Flapping Plastic Dropsheet Adventure.

I learned a few things from this market. One is that I am hopeless, HOPELESS! with names. I called Sharon 'Laura' almost as soon as we'd met, and soon after that I directed a fellow stall-holder to 'Belinda'... "that girl down at the end with the glasses on her head."... and then knew it was Rebecca, not Belinda, who I'd meant. Gah!

The second thing I learned is that I am also hopeless at talking about my work. Someone will ask me a question about it, and in my head a clear and interesting sentence will form, and when I open my mouth "Aaaah... errr... it's... er... it's ah (etc)" comes out. It's happened often enough for me to notice it, and it's weird, because I've had to pitch creatively in lots of jobs I've had, and I don't think I came across as such a gumby then!? (or maybe I did! EEEK!) Maybe it's something you fall out of practice with. ("Yes, yes, Em! That's a good explanation!")

The third thing I learned is 'Don't underestimate the power of your Mum coming along and putting on the charm and asking curious questions about your things in order to provoke another customer into buying something'. I never believed that kind of thing worked (having witnessed it in various big cities when some shady dudes are trying to sell something out of a suitcase and they get their friends to crowd around as though they're buying) but last night... proof! and my Ma did buy something too. Thanks Ma!

Definitely a big YES to the 'be making something at your table' idea. For much of the night I carved an ampersand from a piece of plasterboard, and people did stop to watch.

I found it really relieved the tension I've felt at previous markets, the I'm standing here waiting for people to look at my things thing. It's stressful, man! It provokes an intense desire for alcohol! Does anyone else feel like that, or is it just me? Well, on Friday night I was able to just look up and smile every so often, answer questions anyone had, and be demonstrating where the originals of those plaster letters come from. No, I didn't just buy the moulds, thanks for asking!

So, what next? Each market I do gets easier, and more enjoyable. I'm really looking forward to May, when City Hall will re-open after the renovation, and be the venue for a new BrisStyle Indie Market. It'll be on Saturday mornings about once per month, and be inside! No tents! No lighting! NO RAIN! I think they could be fun, and hope to be involved. It's a good incentive to get some new products underway, as I'd really like to (gasp!) have a whole table to myself!

I've put it off long enough... there's a festering tablecloth I must deal with. It may never be the same again - wish me luck!

... on Market preparation, and a new sign!

Tomorrow night it's the first BrisStyle market for the year and, weather permitting, I'll be there! I'm sharing a table in the co-op section, and would love for you to drop by and say hello if you're passing through King George Square in Brisbane - I'll be there from about 4.00pm.

I've been busy making myself a new Kuberstore sign, which I hope to be able to suspend from the marquee somehow. I had in mind some kind of speckly-flaggy-banner-cardboard-cutout-letters-type creation, so I cut out a newspaper mockup to see if it might work.

Yes, I think so! I then speckled up a nice big piece of brown card, cut out my logo from white card, and painted in some shading.

I've just finished glueing and varnishing it this morning... here it is!

I've mounted it on a piece of corrugated cardboard, so it's very light and hopefully won't be too tricky to install. We'll see!

This time I've resolved to make things a bit more vertical in the display department, so have recycled my old sign into a brooch-stand. That should clear up enough space for me to be able to sit at the table and carve some plaster, which both gives me something to do, and demonstrates what it is exactly that I do. I have wondered whether people looking at my things realise that I make them from scratch. This will only be my third market, but one thing I have noticed is that people are more likely to approach a stall and have a good look if the owner is either already busy with a customer, or they are sitting there concentrating on making something. Plus, just standing there behind my table watching people looking at my things (or worse, not looking!) makes me feel very awkward and exposed, and is something I have struggled with so far. Perhaps this is the answer!

So, my rainbow watercolour plaster bird's eggs will be making their first appearance - can you believe it's only five weeks until Easter? Something from this cheerful little collection would make a lovely Easter gift for someone who doesn't eat chocolate, and I'll have several wall hangings available, as well as individual hanging eggs.

Weather, please be kind to us - and do drop by if you're in town. I'd love to see you!

... on an idea.

Ideas are funny, aren't they? You'll be minding your own business, maybe digging in the garden or peeling potatoes, not thinking about anything very much, when... WHAMMO! A thought will suddenly arrive, unbidden! into your head, leaving you thinking "Where did THAT come from?" and then, as experienced by me a week ago; "... and why haven't I thought of that BEFORE!?"

The thought was this. I'd finished drilling holes and glueing metal loops into the tops of a batch of my smaller plaster eggs. They were ready to be painted, and I was planning on undercoating and then layering up the acrylic colour coats on them in an array of rainbow hues. But I swear, I wasn't even thinking about them one morning last week when suddenly I thought watercolour. WHAMMO! I thought of my previous experiments of colouring my plaster letters by soaking them in ink, and wondered why on earth I've never thought of colouring the eggs in a similar way. I knew, from the letter colouring trials, that the plaster has various densities that absorb the pigments to different degrees - an effect I wasn't pleased with at the time. WHAMMO! I had a vision of a plaster egg soaked in watercolour paint, and it was all mottled and lovely, picking up the textures of the plaster; dark in places and light in others, any textural differences in the plaster highlighted... I had to try it straight away.

I couldn't believe my eyes! They turned out exactly as I'd imagined. I could see that less colour was absorbed where I'd sanded the eggs. At the bottoms, where the plaster is denser (I think the smaller particles naturally sink to the bottom when I bang the moulds to get the bubbles out) hardly any colour went on at all. Inbetween, the colour was really rich, and any surface textures were picked out with denser pigmentation. The result was, for want of a better description, really watercolour-y, and I was so surprised!

I speckled them all up with white paint, sealed them with several coats of varnish, and sat back to look at them. They look like galaxies!

There's rainbow craziness all over the table, and I'm feeling pretty happy about it. I've set out a couple of rainbow-song wall hangings (you know... "Red and yellow and pink and green!") which I'll have ready for the next BrisStyle Twilight Market in King George Square. First market for the year - less than three weeks to go now!

I know I said I was planning on retiring these eggs. I was wrong. They've evolved!

... on a room less empty.

I can't say I've officially moved in yet, because all I've done is pick up everything from inside the house, walk across the deck, and deposit it somewhere in the new room. But, as I've got a market on Friday night to prepare for, all those things that I've put on the floor will just have to wait until the weekend.

However. My CD player (which had been unused since we moved in here at Easter) is now throatily blasting out some tunes that I hadn't heard for ages. I don't think I'll ever get around to digitising all my old music, so I feel like I'm going to be reunited with some very old friends in the next few days. Speaking of old friends, I've also been reunited with my big work table, and there's just enough space on it at one end to get some work done. The morning light pouring in the big window is just so lovely - it really feels like home already.

So, to market! I'm busily be-speckling a batch of my new small bird's eggs for some kind of christmas tree to bedeck my half-table on the night. Fairy lights may be involved. I do hope so!

Red. All red! These eggs are tiny tiny versions of my original cast plaster bird's eggs - just over half the size. They are wee and small and sweet and I am enjoying speckling them up very much.

I still haven't painted the bathroom door, though. Wicked girl!

... on a day like this?

It's a stinker today, and I believe it's going to be much worse tomorrow: 41 degrees centigrade is predicted for where we live. It's a good day to stay inside in an air-conditioned sanctuary, which is how I'm feeling about our house at the moment. With all the blinds down to keep the sun out I can hardly tell that outside it's blowing a horrible hot wind that's travelled all the way across the baking heart of Australia to shrivel us here in Brisbane. I am so thankful we have air conditioning. This is the first summer I've ever had it, and for the first time I'm feeling like summer isn't only about survival. Previously, summer has been a sloth-time for me. I'm one of those people who just wilts in the heat, and when you add humidity to the mix I become a non-functioning Miss Irritable who lethargically counts down the days until the end of March. The end of March is the end of summer for me, as I reckon something that my grandmother Mard once said is pretty spot-on: "March can go out with a bang!"

Today, March seems quite some ways off, but that's okay! In here it's cool and peaceful and I'm feeling creatively energised and in the mood to get on with preparations for my next BrisStyle Indie Twilight Market, which is on Friday 14th December. I've got a batch of special red christmas-edition speckled egg brooches on the go.

I'm using 'Napthol Red' as the basecoat - isn't that the most poisonous-sounding pigment? (a quick Google... it IS poisonous!) A strange optical illusion came about as soon as I applied the white speckles. The basecoat alone is a warm red which might almost be described as a very very VERY dark orange in a certain light. Post-speckles it appears to be a dark musk pink. When I apply the polyurethane it'll change again. Exciting times!

... on brooches. Lots of brooches!

Hello again! I'm back from all the places I went. I've got lots to tell you, but just right at this minute I'm in a bit of a whirlwind of preparation for my very-first-ever handmade market stall. I knew it was going to be a bit of a stretch, arriving home and then having one week to get everything together (including making most of the things... stock levels were very low!) but if I didn't jump in and do it now, then suddenly it'll be next year and I STILL won't have done a market!

So, the market is this Friday evening (26th October), and it's the BrisStyle Brisbane Indie Twilight Market, which is held several times a year in King George Square. I'll have half a table in the co-op section, and most likely I'll be lurking somewhat behind a branch adorned with hanging bird's egg decorations, if I can find an appropriate one in the garden tomorrow.

I've been making a big batch of my plaster bird's egg brooches, so there'll be plenty to choose from on the night.

These wee brooches have now been thoroughly on-the-road tested, and passed. They've stood up to being dropped, being rained on, being caught by the shoulder-strap of my luggage, being spilt on with tomato sauce and being flung against a wall (completely by accident... I cast my jacket down on a hotel bed and it overshot) and perhaps the greatest test - they survived rolling around in the bottom of my handbag for some weeks!

So, do stop by and say hello if you're in town on Friday night. Afterwards, when the dust has settled (the plaster dust! Oh dear, that was bad, wasn't it) I'll do a couple of posts about some exciting adventures I've had over the past few weeks. Cheerio!