I wanted to take a second to reflect. At the end of November I did my first market in over six years, and prior to that I did not do markets in any great regularity. That last market six years ago was in the previous iteration of this shop, which was selling locally sourced raw and cleaned wools from Alberta producers, along with roving and yarns locally milled by those sources.
This was my first market, honest to god, selling something I created. It felt completely different. Any artist or artisan or maker or crafter or [insert what you call yourself here] has been through this lots before, but selling something you create is vastly different than something you source. While I sold naturally dyed yarn in the past, even that felt different than selling my stockings, bags, etc. I dyed it, but I didn’t raise it. It’s a material or supply, rather than a finished good. The finished good, even if it’s a bag or a stocking, feels truly like it has me in it. I created the colours on the raw cotton or linen, I chopped it up, I sewed it back together, and I hand quilted it (something that my friend Amy puts very well when she says it allows her to bond with the fabric). I had a an idea in my head that I wanted to make, and somebody liked it enough to incorporate it into their life. A supply is something they’ll transform themselves, it becomes theirs, something they bond with. The finished thing is already at that end stage.
That’s the difference.
I was absolutely blown away at the success I had at this one market. I went in with no expectations, and was rather shocked at the number of people that decided they liked my things enough to incorporate them into their lives. I was doubly shocked to receive a commission work (my first ever!) from that market.
I make things just to make them – something I’ve said before – and the idea of selling those things still feels alien to me, even though I have this shop and have (in the far distant past) sold various things I’ve created.
There is also a very, very tangible difference in selling online versus at a market. Online is great and allows a much farther reach, but there is a very obvious human connection you make at a market that you cannot make online.
I’m not entirely sure where I’m going with this. Processing I suppose. I may branch out and do another market or two in 2026 and see where that takes me. I’m not interested in having markets become a regular thing for me; it’s just not how I operate or make things. But I am looking forward into having some more experiences like it in the coming year.
