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Dogs, pinnies and Gruffalos…

Evening All.

OK, so tonight’s Rockhoppers blog-writing tipple of choice is a well known brand of alcoholic Ginger Beer. (“You don’t have to have a drink to write a blog, but it helps…”). Scrum.

Anyway – like bin day, the blog is a day late this week due to the Bank Holiday. (Insert your own joke about rubbish here). This Bank Holiday weekend saw the RT team revelling in our gorgeous Westcountry surroundings, including a sponsored walk on Dartmoor to raise money for pooches with epilepsy (who knew eh?), enjoying a rather splendid meal at River Cottage in the Royal William Yard (fabulous food from Mr Hugh F-W) and finally a trek through Cardinham Woods in search of a Gruffalo (No joke. You really can go and hunt a Gruffalo…).

All of this was rather splendid, but also rather outdoorsey, so it was lovely to spend Bank Holiday Monday in the serene surroundings of the Moorland Garden Hotel, manning the RT stall at the Moor Things Vintage and Lovely Summer Fete, organised by the always reliable Miss Ivy Events. As always, the day was well organised with bags of character and atmosphere, and from a personal point of view, we had a stonkingly good day with loads of interest in our products (especially our beautiful range of handmade pinnies from What Jess Did Next – after all you can’t get much more vintage than a frilly pinny…). The only dampener was the fact the hog roast pretty much sold out before I got to it (humph – too busy having such a lovely time with the bloomin’ customers, honestly…). But my empty stomach aside, the day was a big success – it’s great to see the vintage and handmade scene is alive and well in the outskirts of Plymouth.

Therefore it’s with a twinge of sadness that we wave goodbye to the May bank holiday. Oh hang on, another bank holiday on the horizon, you say…?! Why, splendid – don’t mind if we do…

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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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Back of the net…

Woo0hoooooo! The accompaniment to writing this week’s blog is the dulcet tones of Drew Savage on Radio Devon – yep, I’m listening to the Argyle commentary on the radio and we’re currently 4-0 up, away to Fleetwood. (Come on you Greens – play offs here we come!! LET’S BE ‘AVING YA!!!!!).

Ah-hem. Apologies for that brief Delia moment. It’s just that Argyle winning by that margin isn’t a common occurrence – one has to celebrate smugly when one can when one follows the Greens.

Anyway – back to the world of Rockpool Trading. It’s been a busy week! (When is it not?!). Following on from welcoming the fabulous Home Threads into the RT fold with their gorgeous range of shoulder bags (made exclusively for us, doncha know), I’m jolly excited about our latest product, due to hit the shelves this week. Hold on to your hats – Rockpool is dipping it’s toe into the vast world of art work! And what better way than by welcoming our newest crafter, Kirsty M from Lanivet in Cornwall, to the gang? This lovely laydee is a very talented soul, not to mention incredibly patient; each of her beautiful paper-cut designs is painstakingly drawn and cut by hand. I’m in constant awe of the talent and commitment of our crafters, and when I see all the hard work that goes into making their products it spurs me on even more to build a business that supports and promotes their wares. It’s a topsy turvy world where some crummy, poorly made products get lots of publicity because they’re sold in large, high street chains, whereas crafters have to jump up and down and wave their arms just to get their beautiful, original and well made products seen. Still – if we can provide another outlet for these talented types, whilst bigging up the fabulous South West at the same time, we’ll have achieved our goal.

And speaking of goals, the final whistle has been blown and that’s 3 points to the Mighty Greens. Altogether now! Westcountry…la-la-la…Westcountry…la-la-la…

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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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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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