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Bank holiday babbling

Easter Monday, and this evening’s post is delivered from my sofa, where I’m scoffing the last of the Easter egg haul, finishing off the open bottle(s) of wine from the bank holiday weekend, and waiting to find out who killed Lucy Beale. (Although I suspect they’ll keep us dangling for a few months yet, little scamps…).

Super excited to be back on the craft fair scene over the last couple of weekends. (We kick-started in style with the Diverse Events Easter Fair in Saltash, and then had a fab time at the Producer’s Fair at Crocadon Sawmill the following week). I was a little rusty, and had forgotten how tiring it is running a stall all day, but I’ve loved being back in the world of the 3D people. I also forgot how much of a boost it is nattering to other small business owners – it’s easy to think you’re the only one doing this when you’re sat in your little box staring at a screen for 18 hours a day, but then you sit in a hall or a marquee with loads of like minded people and you realise that however hard you’re finding it or however big of a hash you feel you’re making trying to start a business from scratch, you’re not alone – there a lots of kindred spirits crashing their way through the process as well, and in the end we’re all just trying to do our best in an incredibly difficult market. To quote Winnie the Pooh, it’s so much friendlier with two. And therefore it’s infinitely friendlier with 22…

Anyway, the first fairs are done, several gorgeous handmade items have found a new home in exchange for some lovely spondoonies for Rockpool and loads of new crafty pals have been made. Throw in a few Easter eggs, and so far April’s been pretty sweet.

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Raisins at 30000 feet

This entry comes with a big BIG dollop of sorryness. I dearly wanted to be vigilant with my blogging when I started Rockhoppers, and I guess getting 5 months in and writing pretty much every week isn’t bad. But unfortunately life went bonkers 2 weeks ago and blogging went to the back of my head, and here’s why…

(NB – for the record, these aren’t excuses, but explanations…Honest…)

Firstly, we took our 1 year old for a long weekend in Scotland. (Random, but true). Recommendation for any other crazy parents contemplating the insane endeavour of taking a wriggling 1 year old on a plane? Raisins. And enough of ’em to sink a battle ship. Our little one was so busy scoffing, he didn’t have time to worry about the fact he was 30000 up in the air in a very confined space. (However, a word of caution; what goes in , must come out…).

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After the heady heights of the spontaneous weekend away, we were then thrown into dealing with said child getting chicken pox. Or some other nasty, blister forming disease – not quite sure what it is, but whatever it turns out to be, it’s looks angry. A tad unfortunate that we unwittingly took the incubating bug up to Edinburgh, not only potentially infecting our hosts but also all the other passengers on the plane; but hey ho – share and share alike I say. (Hope this little indiscretion doesn’t prove to be some pivotal turning point in the Scottish independence question?!).

And now the final explanation; whilst dealing with a pickled littl’un, we’ve been getting all geared up for the beginning of the craft fair season! (Woohoo! Bring it ON!). It’s time to shake out our tablecloths, brush off our shelving units and get on the road to craft fair giddiness. We already have 6 fairs booked in for the next few months, and frankly, we can’t wait. I love our online business, and it genuinely gives me so much pleasure selling Devon & Cornwall’s finest designs to customers all over the planet, but nothing replaces nattering to people about the items in person. So first up with at Diverse Events Easter Show in Saltash, Cornwall on 12th April.

So come along and see us sometime in 2014 – we love seeing you lot.

(PS – We promise we’re pox free).

 

 

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Rockpool on the road…

Evening Rockhoppers!

Tonight’s blog will be short, sweet, and a little bit all over the place, but hell – lets see if we can pull it together by the end…

So I’ve spent most of the last week back on the craft fair trail for 2014. We maxed out on fairs in the run up to Christmas, and had a splendid time, but now we need to get over the winter blues and get back out there for the spring. I’ve already booked in fairs for April, May and (randomly) November, but our aim is to do at least one per month, across the length and breadth of this fair region of ours. Now – here in lies part of the problem; when you’re new to the scene as we are, booking a craft fair is a bit like walking up to a prospective partner in a bar; they may look good on the outside (snappy dresser, nice hair, not wearing white socks), but delve a little deeper and before you know it, you’re sitting in a freezing church hall next to some ol’ dear who crochets her own toilet paper.

(OK, so my metaphor may be a little muddled, but hopefully you get the gist).

And don’t think it doesn’t happen! Luckily the RT team have so far managed to side step most land mines when it comes to disastrous fairs, but even we experienced one occasion when we travelled over 60 miles only to sit in a venue for 8 hours with just a handful of customers. And this was a fair that, on the outside, seemed like the George Clooney of fairs – nothing to suggest the Baldrick of an event which lurked underneath…

Anyway – punts have been taken, caution has (to some degree) been thrown to the wind, and we’ve booked some more dates and venues in the calendar. Keep an eye on our home page for more details, but needless to say we’re hitting the road big style in 2014. And hey – it’s a numbers game: you kiss enough craft fairs, you’re bound to find your prince… (or something like that).

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Ding Dong Merrily on High, In Devon the Bells Are Ringing…

Seasons Greetings one and all!

This is a hideously late (but hopefully worth the wait?!) update from an incredibly windy South West. Apologies as always for the lateness of this post – I can’t even blame DMT (Dreckly Mean Time) for this one – I’m laying the blame squarely at the door marked “Christmas bonkers-ness”, and there it shall stay. Not only have I had a really busy month taking Rockpool on the road for Christmas (more of that later), but it’s also our first Christmas with my little’un, and in a fit of what I can only imagine was hormone filled madness, I’ve offered to host Christmas. (Am hoping mini-RT might distract the guests from what will almost certainly be a bit of a burnt offering…).

Anyway – excuses done with, and on with the show. We maxed out on fairs in December, and actually had a really good month by going down this road. 2013 has been our first year of really doing the craft fair thing, and OK, I could have done without the 6am starts, but I really enjoyed getting out, meeting customers, nattering to other stallholders and generally having a lovely time. The last fair (14th December) was an event organised by the fabulous Outset Plymouth, who gave us loads of helpful guidance and support when we were taking off. The fair was shared between Outset businesses and local Young Enterprise teams, so the day was…well, lets say…”lively”. A brief explanation for those who didn’t have the pleasure of doing Young Enterprise when they were at school: I don’t really know the ins and outs of it, but it’s an extra-curricular scheme where schools get to put teams together (often paired up with other schools), and have to come up with a product or service to sell – the aim being, of course, to teach kids about business. Coincidentally, I actually did YE when I was 16, and the fair on Saturday brought back A LOT of amusing memories, not least being the bizarre approach to sales which YE seems to promote. To give a general gist, there must be a memo floating around somewhere entitled “Your Young Enterprise Step by Step Guide to Sales Success”: 1. Shout. 2. If other people are shouting, make sure you shout loader.  3. If shouting doesn’t work, jump out in front of people. 4. If even further persuasion is needed, wear amusing headwear and offer free biscuits. Basically, Enthusiasm is King. (Ahhhh…. if only that’s all there was to it). Still – the teams at this fair were spirited and happy, and it was lovely to see. Hopefully some of these young’uns (Oh God, how old am I?!) will make the brave leap into the entrepreneurial world and, furthermore, will actually succeed. And if they do, I’m sure they can employ someone to shout on their behalf. Happy days.

Finally, a big THANK YOU to everyone who has supported RT over the last year, either by buying unique, handmade items from us, coming along to craft fairs, helping out behind the scenes, interacting with us on social media or supporting us in any number of other ways. We’ve had a crazy but wonderful year, and we can’t wait for bigger and better things in 2014.

In the meantime, we’re off to baton down the hatches, crack open the Quality Street and kick Christmas off with a mahoosive glass of mulled wine. As we say in the Westcountry… ‘appy Christmas to You and Yours! See you on the other side.

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A snap of Tudor Evans (Leader of Plymouth City Council) opening the Outset Plymouth Fair. The Young Enterprise bods can be clearly identified by the festive headwear…

 

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So many craft fairs, not enough time

So there’s a Black Friday and there’s a Super Monday… If this is the case, then the weekend of 7th & 8th should hereafter be called “The Utterly Bonker’s Craft Fair weekend”. (At least in Plymouth and the surrounding area anyway).

So this weekend, RT packed up the car again, and headed to the All Things Vintage and Festive fair at The Guildhall in Plymouth. We attended this fair last year as customers and it was packed, so we were eager to be stallholders this year. The fair was really good – loads of varied stalls, perfect location and a great atmosphere throughout the day – but chatting to the other stallholders around us, it became apparent that the footfall was a down on last year. A little Googling revealed why – that weekend, if you were a fan of handmade and unusual items, you had a choice of at least 5 fairs within a 5 mile radius of Plymouth – the Royal William Yard, Mount Edgcumbe, Tavistock and the Plymouth Plaza were all also hosting fabulous fairs this weekend! And you’d have to be a pretty committed independent retail shopper to get round to all of them over the space of 2 days…

So – on the plus side – fabulous to see there is clearly a growing market for locally made, hand crafted items. (Which is lucky, given our USP…), but perhaps it would be a good idea to spread them all out a little next year?! On a purely selfish note, that would also allow us to spend most of December touring Devon & Cornwall doing Christmas fairs and sleeping in the car. Woo-hoo!

One final thing; I met some super talented crafters over the last fortnight, so if you’re still looking for some unusual Christmas pressies, here are my top tips:-

  • Peagreen Furniture – Beautiful candles in jelly moulds and other retro pieces of crockery. And they smell divine. (The candles, not the crafters. Although I’m sure they smell lovely as well).
  • Made for Keeps – Super-cute little hanging hearts made using vintage materials and really well presented. Top stocking-filler idea.
  • Made by Messy Muppet – LOVE her crochet hair slides and alice bands. And she has a massive range as well.
  • Rosie Drake Knight Textile Design & Illustration – If you have a few bob in your pocket, Rosie’s items are simply stunning. A real statement gift – worth the investment!
  • Funkybead – Uber-pretty jewellery and really reasonable prices.

One more fair for the RT team before we put up our feet and crack open the Quality Streets for Christmas. Come and see us at the Outset Plymouth fair at the Plymouth Guildhall on Saturday 14th December!

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Stalls, shawls and baubles…

And so it begins people – December is officially here, and the month of Christmas frenzy looms large. Deep breath – we can do this. We’re all in it together.

It’s a slightly later post this week – I decided to give myself an extra day due to the completely bonkers weekend we’ve had at RT HQ. Craft fairs, Argyle, donkies (don’t ask), more craft fairs, and general Christmas madness – last night I was about ready to sleep for a week. We are now well and truly on the festive bandwagon, and actually it’s quite a nice place to be. No bah humbugs here, (at least not yet). It is, however, crazy busy with another fair next weekend, a social media campaign involving play dough robins (again, don’t ask) and Christmas orders to get out – lets just say I’m very much looking forward to a glass of mulled wine when all’s said and done on 24th December.

Anyway – that’s a long way off yet! Sunday saw the RT team head to the Christmas Producers’ Fair at Crocadon Sawmill, in East Cornwall – lots of stallholders wrapped in their thermals and grasping flasks of tea (or Lemsip) and lots of eager shoppers who’d come specifically to buy their Christmas trees (it was the 1st of Dec after all (!)) and make a start on the long, winding and sometimes painful road to Christmas shopping Nirvana – a Christmas tree surrounded by pressies, all wrapped up and ready to go. It was a fabulous fair – really well organised by the Crocadon team; even standing in a drafty barn for 6 hours couldn’t dampen our spirits.

And as it’s now December and the tidal wave of festive frivolities is gathering momentum, we had our Christmas tree decorations on sale – really cute wooden robins and doves from Lillies (crafters previously from Cornwall but now emigrated to Devon) and very sparkly holly and Christmas tree decorations from our long term crafter and friend Sue Cheney (based in Plymouth). Whilst I was talking to a friend about these, she told me about an idea she’d heard from parents who’d recently had their first baby: apparently, you buy one, individual, handmade decoration from the year your child is born, right through until they are 18. You can then present your (not so) little’un with a collection of beautiful decorations to welcome them to adulthood, and keep for their own family Christmas trees.

I know. It’s adroable. I can see the John Lewis advert now…

Anyway, I thought this was a fab idea, so I thought I’d share it with you. And if you’re in the market for an individual, hand crafted decoration to start your collection, I know of a good website…

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The Elusive Super-Crafter

First of all, apologies for a slightly tardy blog entry this week. Last night during the usual post mini-RT bedtime / pre-Strictly results blog slot, I was flaked on the sofa after travelling to and from Hampshire in one day to pick up a third hand Punto. Anything I would have written would have been ramblings about needing rest and / or chocolate and / or a head massage.

Anyway, it wasn’t just the Sunday jaunt up the M5 which floored me; on Saturday Rockpool started its Christmas craft fair campaign at the “Crikey! It’s Vintage” fair at the Thistle Hotel in Exeter. It was a veritable vintage extravaganza with more than victory rolls, full skirts and red lipstick than you could shake a stick at. The whole event was a roaring success and was a blast for customers and stallholders alike. On the RT front, we kicked off the Christmas season in style, and had a whale of a time nattering to customers as well as helping some particularly well organised folk start their Xmas shopping. (Always happy to help).

One thing which always surprises me when we take RT on the road is the number of people who ask me “Ooooh, did you make all this yourself?”. Now, bear in mind that on the RT stall we have ceramics, jewellery, glassware, appliqué cushions, oilcloth handbags, crotched cafetierre cosies and wooden Christmas tree decorations, to name but a few. Even after hunting the South West for the best suppliers for the site, I’ve yet to meet the talented individual who could cover all of these disciplines, especially to a standard good enough to be let lose on the public…! Hey ho – one day I might find this super-crafter, proficient in everything from weaving to whittling, and when I do I’ll be sure to blog about them.

Still, in the meantime – here’s a picture (hopefully – if I’ve worked out how to post a picture correctly) from Saturday’s event. Looking forward to the next fair at Crocadon in Cornwall on 1st December. Hopefully by then I would have worked out how to fit all the stock in the back of a Punto…

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OMG this is terrifying…

Right – I’ve spent the last hour fiddling with my widgets and I really need to just stop fussing and start writing. So here goes…

Hello World! Greetings from a very rainy South West – apparently soon to be the epicentre of the worst storm since the “Michael Fish Clanger” of 1987. It’s Sunday evening, the time of the week I’m hereafter setting aside as “Rockhoppers” hour (just before the Strictly / X Factor / Homeland marathon begins). My business is 2 years old today, so I’m celebrating by finally getting round to one of our early goals – writing a blog about the goings on at RT, life in the South West and whatever else takes my fancy along the way. Basically, it’s a chance to rave about what I love, rant about what I hate, and ramble on about everything in between, with the very lose parameters that it’ll be about local stuff. (“Local” being our glorious corner of the UK – Devon and Cornwall).

And 2 years to achieve an objective is pretty good for those of us living by DMT (“‘Drekley Mean Time”). It’s this manana attitude that makes the Westcountry so fabulous. Why bust your guts today when there’s plenty of time tomorrow, and after all there’s a wave to be caught, a beach to be stomped along in the rain or a cream tea / pasty / pint to be consumed? That’s not to say I haven’t been working blinkin’ hard on RT for the last 2 years, (not to mention holding down a pretty busy day job, getting married and, oh yes, giving birth and rearing a child); it’s just there are a number of beautiful, crazy ideas Mr RT and I had when we first started up the website, which we still haven’t got round to yet. But never mind – there’s always tomorrow and maybe that’s what’s so exciting about embarking on your own business venture – the thought of what it will be in another year / 3 years / 10 years time if you keep battering away at it. And I’m nothing if not stubborn, so I hope to be writing this blog on 27th October 2014, hopefully launching some of our early-days RT ideas – that is if we haven’t been wandering along too many beaches or eating too many cream teas…

(PS – Big thanks to the wonderful Gail Vencker for the blog name! A talented crafter, a Westcountry lover and now a blog-name-thinker-upper…).