Ready or not, here it comes! In a week, our annual Advent market begins. Every year, I have a large selection of crafts; what I bring changes from year to year, but some things have become regulars due to popularity. A few months ago, people started asking me if I was going to bring this or that. One thing I introduced a couple of years ago was a huge hit: Gnomes with attitudes and sunglasses. By this morning, I’d made 29; then someone asked if they could buy 10 (!) – so I spent the afternoon making gnomes – and sold 3 in advance today, so I guess I’ll be making them until the market (and likely beyond, because last year I pre-sold special orders to deliver before Christmas). But this is only one of the items I’ll be selling. (And, of course, they’ll all get a nice hair styling when they finally come out of the transport box!)
Another hit is “Spitzbuben” – a two-layered cookie filled with jelly and dusted with powdered sugar. A friend and I spent the morning making hundreds of these cookies; I’ll need to fill, dust, bag, and tag them next week.
Other popular items include notebooks – I make them in every size from a few centimetres to A5, with sewn signatures, spiral bindings and more. Mixed media gift cards, bookmarks of every description, decorative folders, and cloth shopping bags – all handmade. There are a dozen more items, but you get the idea!
As you can imagine, it’s a lot of work to prepare – not just making the items, but putting together price lists, printing price tags and/or signage, packing up display racks/cloths/pieces, packing a toolbox with markers, tags, scissors, screwdrivers, pens, cash, et al. So far, our hall is already lined with boxes ready to transport – because my craft room is like Tetris right now… I need to move out what is ready to go so that I can get other things made! The working space on my craft table has shrunk as boxes of various projects demand my last-minute attention, plus space for the sewing machine for last-minute gnome “kits”.
I enjoy the market, the contact with other crafters and customers, and I enjoy making other people happy while moving my stock to free up room for more creativity afterwards!
Please comment below if you take part in craft fairs, or if you go to one or more in your local area! If you participate or if you go, what kinds of things do you sell/look for?
Stephanie Huesler 