This weekend I attended my first market at Mad Dog’s in Collingwood. Opening my Etsy shop, TrinketeerByCaitlin, was the first step for me to make my little polymer clay creations available to a larger audience. My next goal was to take part in the market scene. Growing up, I always enjoyed going to craft fairs but I never imagined one day to have my own table at one. I prepped for a few months, making plenty of inventory and collecting packing supplies, little price signs and other items for my display.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by a local record and coffee shop asking if I’d be interested in bringing my artwork to their first ever summer market. This was the perfect opportunity for me to test the market waters because it was located close to home and was a smaller show, which meant I wouldn’t become overwhelmed.
My inventory was made and I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted my display to look but there were still a few things I needed to do before the market. The first was to buy a table. My 6ft folding table was purchased on sale at Canadian Tire. Then I needed to test our 10×10 pop up tent. My parents helped set it up in our driveway to ensure that we had a good idea of how it worked (better to practice and be prepared beforehand). Finally, I had to gather all of my display items and inventory so I could plan out my table arrangement.
I ordered a 6ft black fitted tablecloth from Amazon because I read that it would be less likely to blow around in the wind. I was aiming for a vintage look so I used my mom’s antique tablecloth to drape over top of the black fitted tablecloth. My younger sister bought me metal butterfly weights to clip along it so it would stay put against wind.
Three vintage suitcases were used to add height to my display. One green one that I got from a garage sale, and the other two that my Dad bought me from The Rockford Auction Centre. The mini chalkboards were purchased at Dollarama and used as price signs.
My Mom bought me this black iron lamp from Giant Tiger. It’s perfect for my display because it adds a glow and can also be used to hang my dragon key charms. The lamp runs on batteries which means I don’t need to worry about plugging it into a power source at shows.
I purchased this pewter jewellery stand from Value Village. It’s good for holding little items like my miniature animal totems.
For my mushrooms, I used a wooden drawer from Michaels. I printed out a label with type writer font to add a vintage museum look.
The black iron sign was purchased at Dollarama. In order to reuse it, I printed mini posters with my social media information and hung it with magnets. Below the sign is a retro mushroom mug filled with bookmarks I printed off. The bookmarks were a giveaway to people who visited my table.
Keeping up with the vintage theme, I used several brass framed mirrors to sit my inventory on. The oval one (several photos above) was purchased a few years ago at Good Will. The large rectangle mirror (directly above) used to hang on the wall of my family’s cottage, and the smaller rectangular mirror (below) was bought at Treasure Tails.
I’m sure my table display will evolve as I collect different props or come up with better ways to display my work. For now, I am pleased with how my first display turned out but I’m still open to suggestions so leave them in the comment section below.
I had a great time at The Mad Dog’s Market and had the pleasure of meeting several wonderful vendors and craftspeople. Although this was a fairly small show, I am thankful for the opportunity to finally display my work to the public and interact face to face with the people who are intrigued by my work. I look forward to future markets at Mad Dog’s and other craft shows in my area.
Trinketeer 