Hi, a shop day ideally would be lots of shoppers buying items. In reality it’s cold, it’s Tuesday, people are trying to stay healthy so, no we didn’t have that many customers today. I sold Christmas cards and this included a new achievement – I have now sold over 4000 greetings cards since I started …
A new product experiment in conjunction with another local shopkeeper. He makes small wooden trays, I am hand decorating and we will see how well it varnishes and works as a practical tray. We are not looking at a high cost item but will report back on progress and see how this goes.
Since the shop reopened in June we have needed to do at least a mental risk assessment as sole traders on how we will operate the shop on our own shifts. This has been a developing process as things change but a key factor going into winter beyond signs, masks, hand sanitiser is ventilation. The …
Yesterday’s preparations paid off with a welcoming shop that was commented on by a number of visitors today. Here are the decorations with lights on making the place more welcoming. So card sales, a set of markers with follow up art techniques chat offered when pens are given as lives locally. I also offer back …
Today’s jobs- prepare the shop for reopening tomorrow. a) decorate for Christmas – this has taken the form of some lights, new decorations and some tinsel, oh and sprouts bunting. Not overpowering but a clear indication throughout my sections of the shop which season we are working towards. I also repaired my stand for my …
Black Friday for larger retailers (mainly) and a reiteration of how people can buy from me online but also that the shop and I will be ready to welcome visitors again from Wednesday and I can offer a Happy Sales dance – most people scared off by man in hand painted boiler suit and coloured …
Today’s post is about mentioning other artists and crafters and I have also mentioned other independent businesses. But knowing so many people in this field now, choosing is so hard. This is the image I used, not artists with businesses but sharing the love of art and emphasising that art is about fun, therapy. It …
This blog has focused on developing as an artist. There is sometimes some reference to what came before. Today on Facebook memories a post came up from four years ago which I can acknowledge shows just how far I have come in that time. As a teacher for the last few years of my career …
This is just a musing post. Obviously, with the second lockdown of the year the shop I share can not open as art can’t be described as essential. So that leaves the dilemma of how do you attract an audience to buy from you when the shop door is closed? This was my first account …
When I started being an artist I took part for three years in an event called Artisans on the beach in Swanage. Every December we would hire a beach hut from the town council for the month and just intoJanuary. This year’s event has been cancelled linked to covid-19 and now that I have the …