I’ve been busy, not busy doing the things I should be doing, but busy taking a little time out to do some things I want to do, and it turns out I’ve wanted to play with string.
At first I just used up some leftover wool from my last baby blanket to make some “Bonding squares“. I enjoyed making the little squares so much that I went out and bought some more wool to make more of them, but when it was time to post my little bundle I found that the postage cost me more than the wool did so that turned out to be not such a good way to bring back a little creativeness to battle the winter blues.
Next I hit upon the idea of making complete baby blankets and trying to sell them whole. There’s a cafe I pass most days on the way home from work, “The Palm House Cafe“, apart from the good coffee, they have a craft section where they rent out shelves to local crafters at a remarkably reasonable price for the simple return of extra advertising and increased footfall. Another part of the cafe is a children’s play area where the children’s grown-ups can sit for coffee and chat while the little ones play, so it’s a natural place to display my baby blankets for sale.
I’ve set up an “Etsy” shop on an online crafters site, but to do this I needed to make some stock and take photos. I made a couple of small macrame wall-hangings, then hit upon the idea of bookmarks, originally to practice the knots on, but now a staple part of my craft shelf, along with keyrings, and other reasonable little bits, just slightly above pocket money prices to keep things ticking over.
My shelf at Palm House is an ideal base to sell my bits and pieces, it has an ever-changing audience of holiday makers through the summer, and a progressing baby-making generation to interest my baby blankets with.
My Etsy shop is the place to sell my bigger, more adventurous creations, my driftwood picture frames and bigger wall-hangings. In reality, I don’t think millionaire status is anywhere near the future horizon, January and February are traditionally slow in any kind of market space, but maybe through the summer I’ll break into a small profit, and then there’s Christmas to play with after that.
For the moment though, I’ve made a couple of little wall-hangings, I’ve made some small bits and played around with a few long-forgotten knots and now I’m playing with a large wall-hanging to just put up on my wall … Until I get bored, or find someone who wants to buy it from me.
More from before: A little peek further into the world that I’ve “Created“.
