At the end of January I took This Is Sian Ellis on the road to Manchester. I held a trader stall at Craft and Flea at the beautiful Manchester Cathedral. This was the Craft and Flea’s first Manchester event, and the first time I’ve taken my prints out of Sheffield. I am committed to growing my business this year and awareness in other cities is crucial to that. Nonetheless I was certainly nervous to be doing it.
Why nervous?
I’ve released so many prints based on places, particularly in Sheffield, doing a fair somewhere else needs something different. I’m really proud of my Sheffield prints and have always tended to chose places a bit more alternative that I feel drawn to to be featured in my work. However, this inevitably means that people are drawn to the prints because they are drawn to the places. I don’t have any Manchester themed prints (although having spent so much time though over the years I definitely have a couple of places in mind to do) so instantly I worried about my stock levels. Luckily though I have lots more prints and products than I thought I did!
That can’t be all that makes you nervous?
It wasn’t! After you take my location themed prints away then you are left with all the stuff that comes purely from my imagination. It means that I feel a lot more naked on my stall than usual. I am sharing work with people they don’t already have a reason to admire as they might with a print of a loved location. It’s not instantly recognisable and many visitors to the fair won’t have seen my work before. We’ve all heard about imposter theory, and creating things purely out of my own mind and the sharing them in a new city with new people definitely gave it to me to the nth degree.
So how did it go?
Drumroll please……… it was excellent! The nerves I brought with me meant a huge sense of accomplishment when the day ended. I had done well on sales and event been approached about some commissions. My Instagram followers soared by about 40 people in one day! My business card were almost totally cleaned out and I got a tonne of new Etsy favourites too. I sold out of my ‘Ll’amour’ valentines cards and my skeptics ghost patch which are both new products. I have definitely gained some confidence towards out of town fairs through this experience, and just need to dbe code where to next!
For up to date info on my upcoming events follow my Instagram account