greenolive

post Magnolia Square

A rather arty view of our stand at Magnolia Square

Its been almost a week since Magnolia Square in Brighton and we're still trying to get back to normal here.

The three-day Magnolia Square market was followed by a day at the Arts Centre market, and my mum visiting for two days. The house is a disaster - boxes of stock, materials and all manner of things strewn around the place. The disaster-free zones are the toilet, bathroom and our bed.

Magnolia Square was good, but not as good as I had hoped. You know what I'm like with my expectations, and how I count my chickens! We didn't make a loss. We covered the rather hefty stall fee – the cost of 11 days at a regular market - and made a small profit. But not enough in my mind to make up for the hours and hours we spent there. If you do the math, its about $33 per hour, and that's for two people!

The general consensus was the numbers were down, perhaps because the Malvern event was just the week before. As this was our first mag square, we didn't know what to expect in terms of sales, or which products would fit the demographic. So we took everything, including a new product, screenprinted teatowels. The kimono silk scarves were very popular, by far the biggest seller. Several are winging their way overseas right now, lovingly wrapped as Christmas gifts for beloved mums, sisters and friends. We got feedback on our Urban Type screenprinted fabrics - perhaps a bit too groovy for Brighton?

Anyway, we survived the market; made a profit, not a loss; I got to spend a day with my mum at the market; and we discovered a fantastic fish and chip shop in Brighton, called Fish Tank. 

So, all in all, a good thing really. The next mag square market can only be bigger and better!

three hours

 

Sunflowers and tea towels

Three hours. That's how much sleep I got Wednesday night/Thursday morning. The to-do list wasn't all crossed off, but enough of it was completed to ensure I was ready for Magnolia Square.

Day one was looooooong. Set up at 7am and 9pm closing. That's a 14 hour day. Bit hard to take after only three hours sleep. We didn't sell out - drats! - but we had steady sales and lots of ohs and ahs over the silk scarves. 

Today, Day two, is a bit more civilised. 10am to 5pm. And, I've had eight hours sleep. It came at a cost to the unfinished to-do list, but hey, that's life.

Better hurry, got an hour before I leave and have to have a shower, have breaky, work out what I'm gonna wear, press some scarves, make lunch.....

one more sleep

less than 24 hours left...

This stack of silk has now been sewn up thank goodness, now awaiting pressing. 

In 23 hours time – fingers crossed! – I'll be in Brighton, at the Town Hall, unpacking and setting up my stand at Magnolia Square.

I suppose, technically, it may be a case of no more sleeps, because if you don't sleep it doesn't count, does it?

Push has become shove. Officially. The to-do list looks a bit like this now...

• finish sewing new vintage silk scarves
• start and finish sewing cushions made from our screenprinted textiles
• finish sewing the assorted tote bags I've cut out and pinned
• design and sew the knit jersey scarves (new product for the market)
• source and screenprint T-towels (new product for the market)
• decide what to do about stand signage
• design stand layout
• try and find display props from stuff around the house (no time or money to buy)
• I'm sure there is something else...

I know I'm not going to get everything done, but we always have ambitious to-do lists don't we? And if I sell out of stock, well, that's a good thing right? Conveys a sense of exclusivity doesn't it?

two more sleeps

til Magnolia Square

Pile of vintage kimono silks all cut and sorted, waiting to be sewn into scarves.

You already know I work best when up against a deadline – its an old trait from my graphic designer days! And it seems this week is proving the rule yet again!!!

Two more sleeps til Magnolia Square and push is about to become shove. My to-do list looks a bit like this...

• finish sewing new vintage silk scarves
• start and finish sewing cushions made from our screenprinted textiles
• finish sewing the assorted tote bags I've cut out and pinned
• design and sew the knit jersey scarves (new product for the market)
• source and screenprint T-towels (new product for the market)
• decide what to do about stand signage
• design stand layout
• try and find display props from stuff around the house (no time or money to buy)
• I'm sure there is something else...

A bit ambitious don't you think? Check back tomorrow – one more sleep - and see how much I've been able to cross off the list!!

back on deck

the recuperative power of crochet

A stash of scarves – the "Day at the beach" collection. Faded colours, soft natural fibres. Snap them up at Magnolia Square this week.

Been MIA for the past week. Courtesy of a bug/flu/virus thing I picked up over a week ago at the Arts Centre Market. 

Doctor prescribed bed rest and fluids. Found out its much easier to comply with Doctor's orders when you add some balls cotton and bamboo yarn and a bunch of old DVD favourites.

So my week has been a haze of crochet, snot, tissues, Ladies in Lavender, phglem, panadol, more crochet, Mr Darcy and Elizabeth (what is it with Englishmen with sideburns), tim tams, Daniel Craig, even more crochet, tissues, The Italian Job, and yes, you guessed it, more crochet. Oh, plently of cups of tea were added to the mix too!

The result? Seven new cotton scarves, a stash of handmade face washers and bins overflowing with tissues.

While this may sound like multi-tasking – recuperating and being productive simultaneously – I missed a week of sewing and making. Both of which are crucial for the big market in three more sleeps...

great gift ideas for him

One of the designsforhim products – this sage green leather eye slip - has been included in a gift guide for men put together by Katherine from reclaimed threads. Drew is rather excited! Thanks Katherine.

There are some other great selections in the guide. I like this scarf, in great shades of green and made from felted sweaters. (Actually, I'd like it for myself.) And this colourful belt buckle has an edgy, industrial feel. Very hip.

Happy shopping!

experimenting with leather

No, not that sort of experimentation!

I've been experimenting with the recycled leather Drew uses for his designsforhim products. I'm not allowed to use the good stuff mind you, just all the odd-shaped bits and pieces that are discarded. I told you I couldn't wait to get my hands on the stuff!

I'm drawn to the uneven shapes of their edges. The edges are just as we found them, evidence of the leather's past usage and history. Each small piece provides a challenge: what can I fashion from it? Something useful but also visually appealing.

My solution so far has been zip wallets. The size and shape of each is dictated by the piece of leather. And this in turn dictates what length of zip is suitable.

I love their honest, deconstructed and slightly wonky aesthetic. Drew doesn't like them much, but he had to revise this opinion when I sold one the first week! A very design-savvy mother bought one for her Architect daughter. It was a gorgeous pale green leather zip wallet, big enough for pencils. She didn't hesitate, saying her daughter would LOVE it.

a day in the sun

all work and no play, etc

You know the drill – all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy. I reckon you could substitute "dull" for cranky, grumpy, stressed, etc, and the adage would still hold true.

Last week we escaped to the beach for the day to lift our spirits, catch some rays and blow away the cobwebs. It was all very spontaneous and ended up being a lovely day. Complete with the best takeaway fish & chips ever.

More photos on flickr site if you'd like a virtual tour of the Portsea beach!

feeling the love

An etsy admin curated treasury that was on the front page recently. Can you spot the scarf? It sold just a few days later and is on its merry way to Sweden.

We've been feeling a bit of blog and etsy love in past week or so. It is so exciting and lifts your spirits when you are feeling doubtful and unsure...you've geared up for the Christmas sales rush and you are waiting...waiting. You all know what I'm talking about!

One of my scarves and a set of tribal coasters both made separate treasuries that were curated by etsy admin and featured on the front page. Inclusion in etsy curated treasuries, featured in gift guide – surely a stint as an etsy featured seller is just around the corner?! LOL!!

Another scarf and some urban type fabric were featured in other treasuries about the same time.

And mr greenolive had his first sale in the designsforhim shop.

Then Lynsey from cuteable blog let us know she'd done a post on crafty couples, featuring us! Thanks Lynsey, always a thrill to see your work on another's blog.

Ok, I'll stop bragging now and get back to crafting, photographing, listing items on etsy, writing blog posts, making LOTS of money...

the art of photography

Aside from finding the perfect natural light just when you want it, the hardest thing when photographing your handmade stuff is making it look as good as it does in real life. Its a real challenge and we're always trying to perfect our photos.

The move to the new place a few months back has got the natural light thing sorted. Our interior hallway is bathed in light during the day thanks to a skylight and an east-facing toilet!

Now I've just got to get the styling part right! I've realised that scarves are one of the hardest things to photograph well. How to you convey the length properly when you only have a small square image size? 

Since we've produced coaster gift sets and totes from our ranges of screenprinted fabrics I've found that these items are a cinch to photograph. You can display them in a range of contexts and use lots of stylish props.

Even mr greenolive's leather pouches and slips are much easier to photograph and style.

 

Maybe I'll leave the scarves for the market stall. You really need to see the colours and feel the scarves in the flesh to appreciate how lovely they are!