Hey Blog! On Saturday, I had a stall at a sale, so I’ll be telling you about that today!
A few weeks ago, I explained about my wood turning. I told you what I have created and that I would possibly be running a stall at a sale this year. Since then, I have taken part in a class called the £5 Challenge. This is where you are given a fiver by your parents when they sign you up, then you build a business with this £5. People in the class did everything from baking to jewellery, and I chose to do my wood turning. With the £5 and another £6 I had made through an early sale of four mice at a lower rate, I had £11 to work with. Because the wood from the log store is free, the chisels were borrowed, the stain and varnish we had in the garage and I could use them as I liked (responsibly!), I had no expenses and thus could use the money to pay for a stall, as and when I ran one.
Last Saturday, I did just that! Dolly’s Fabrics in Heage (not actually run by someone called Dolly, in case you were wondering) was having a courtyard sale for local makers to come and sell their wares, and I decided to participate. I spent the two days before the sale mostly down in the garage making more and more mice, sanding them, staining them, varnishing them, and then carrying them up to the house for eyes, ears, tails, and mouths. I also made coasters featuring Heage Windmill using a pyrography tool, also known as a wood burner tool. Pyro – fire, graph – writing, so pyrography literally means fire writing! I was finished just in time on Friday night, and had 20 mice and 14 coasters ready and waiting for the morning.
Luckily, tables were quite cheap at only £5. I have known them to be £15 or more at other events. With the money I had from the starting investment, I paid for the stall and simply waited for the customers to arrive. This is what made it so fun. You get to make fun things in the garage, then talk to a bunch of people while they give you money! Over the sale, I sold nine mice and four coasters, and made a whopping £42! (This is impressive only as it was my first sale; if you talked to a multibillionaire, this would be pocket money or less than, but for me, it’s quite a lot). I plan to save most of this, perhaps spend some on materials and another stall so that I can multiply this cash. After that, I don’t quite know. I might even become one of those multibillionaires!
