Hope Street Hangover

Well it's Monday morning after the hectic weekend of the Hope Street Markets and I'm bright eyed, bushy tailed and madly processing everything I learned over the last 2 days. It was a fantastic weekend, Saturday in particular was huge, Sunday was a bit of a sleeper, but overall the feedback was great, the people were into it, the setting was beautiful and nothing went horribly wrong! Here is a view of our humble stall, we had a nice position up near the front and were located right next to Marina Civiero with her funky collection of jewellery and very close to the lovely girls from Raspberry Beret. 

I had lots of visitors over the weekend who I would like to thank, and I hope that anyone who purchased something loves it for a long time. I will be putting some things on Etsy very soon, and I think it is worth trying to get some of the work into shops. To be honest I dont know if I will make the same sort of things for the next markets, people didn't seem to be keen to spend very much, so the challenge is to come up with a cheaper range specifically for that type of buyer. I understand, when I'm at the markets I'm looking for bargains, it's just tricky when you're handmaking items to keep the costs down. Mmmmm, it's all a learning experience!

Here is the delightful Safari Lee, fellow jewellery designer and spunk extraordinaire in her newly purchased Pearls Before Swine heart brooch. Notice the lady in the background enviously eyeing off her purchase? Lucky Safari for nabbling the last one! But don't worry folks, I might make some more of these, they were the hit of the weekend.

Probably the highlight for me over the weekend was meeting other designer/makers and hearing how they are making their way in their practices. I met a gorgeous and talented lady Jenny Vidler (the image above is from her website) who makes incredible jewellery and hats that would make you swoon. She is a graduate of Sydney College of the Arts and handmakes everything meticulously. Her product is unique, perfectly made and breathtakingly beautiful. I hope there are enough people in Australia to appreciate what she has to offer, sometimes I wonder.....I think it is a hundred times easier to find a market in Europe where people really do appreciate the value of one off handmade pieces and don't want to just follow the crowd and buy another charmy necklace made in China for $20. Oh, whoops, this is my usual rave, I'd better stop myself before I get too worked up! Anyway,  I will definitely be ordering a hat from Jen for my wedding day, hurry up and legalize gay marriage Mr Rudd! I need that hat!