Selling at the Moss Street Market

It was with some excitement that I lined up for a review of my art, hoping to be accepted into the Moss Street Market. Well, it was all good news: I was not only accepted, but I was invited to book a reserved spot for the season!
This is my booth on week 1. Didn't have a lot of time to get my set-up nailed down, but it all worked.

If you will be in Victoria this summer, stop by the Moss Street Market on Saturdays between 10am-2pm (or 4pm on July 16), and drop by to say hi. It's a great market - everything in the arts and crafts side of things is handmade by the person selling it. Same deal on the food (yummy, so popular there are line-ups!). There is also live music every week. Plus a farmer's market, of course.

The big deal for me has been getting a tent. Not too easy, as they are pricey things to buy new. I'd tried to buy one for a couple of weeks, but finally gave up and got an umbrella. Alas, the day after my first market, I was offered a used tent, at a good price. Today I picked it up.

I have quite a bit of new art I have been working on that I'll be selling. The market goes until October 29th!

UPDATE: now have my big white market tent, so look for that (vs. the umbrella) if you look for me. I may also skip poor weather market days, as not much interest in art those days and my works could get damaged...

To market, to market...

Well, my doodles are finally for sale! Last weekend I had a table at the Fernwood Swap 'n Shop in Victoria.

I bought a full table, but ended up with a table and a half, when someone else didn't show up on time. And it's mostly doodles... am also selling a few gems from my mother's incredible book collection.

I am selling a combination of things, because I really don't know what will sell. But everything is an original. There are framed doodles, doodles with just a mat, doodle cards, doodle tins.... There are two types of framed doodles: new frames and "recycled" frames.

I doodled these two pics to tie together some colours in my bedroom, but have realized they are quite lovely and might appeal to someone.

The "recycled frames" is an intentional stream, to appeal to the people who are caring more and more about what goes into our landfills, and prefer re-used over new.

The clocks. Ah, the clocks. That's a longish story. But the short version is that I rescued 75 pharmaceutical promotional clocks (see standing clock, upper left) before they went to the landfill. And, one by one, I am turning them into doodle clocks. While I don't expect to sell them quickly - these are priced at $75 each - the whole concept generated a lot of interest. And it was nice to have something to talk about as people dropped by my table.

Also had lots of Valentine's stuff... including the coffee cup which can be spotted in the background.

The tins are actually magnetic spice tins from Canadian Tire, of all places!

I had fun with the Valentine's challenge: creating some love-centric doodles, some explicitly Valentine's, other's just love love love crazy. Once I got on a roll, I created quite a few.

Now, I have ended up going out of town for a few weeks, so despite my initial plans to be back at the market weekly, there will be a gap. And I'll be back post-Valentine's... The good news is that I have my work available for sale in Sidney at Repeat Boutique (9768 Third Street). It's a great consignment store, combining fashion and home decor - and the owner Lynn has agreed to take my work. Repeat Boutique will be my exclusive sales location in Sidney. Hoping some Valentine's will find themselves closer to real live beating hearts over the next week or so....

Back to my table at the market, I created a little freebie basket, and filled it with teensy doodles - most about 1" square - featuring smiling faces and words like "dreams", or "memories".

Fascinating offering the books for sale, alongside the art. It's good for conversation. And my mom carefully selected the titles. As I was setting up the market, I was able to surf Abebooks.com and identify appropriate pricing for the first editions amongst the lot.

All in all, it was a great experience. And I look forward to repeating it again. In person. Though repeating via Repeat Boutique is equally cool.

I am having fun. After 3 years of doodling, and amassing oodles and oodles of doodles, it is great to turn the corner and to begin sharing them with the broader world. Eventually I will create a space for selling some of my works online but, for now, it`s enough to just be started....