NOW this was my 1st ever market stall in 2010. It was a local Christmas market which was a wooden trestle table and a flannel xmas cloth. i was promoting my edible icing images i just started selling with my new printer and the stall does kind of look like a charity stall.
It was in the town hall courtyard and next to a bus stop so i was near people all the time, Christmas music playing which i sang along to and a live reindeer. The footfall was not big but i was excited nonetheless. My business cards were supposed to tun up that day and they did, dad came to the stall and gave them to me in the daytime. I made some money with the stall costing £10/15
I had just got my 1st ever cake stand that my grandad gave me from buying in a catering warehouse in Leyton the silver with dome. I had recently got these metal dishes and used microwave covers as plastic domes, which i thought looked great. This was way before i knew about Ebay and how to sell or buy on there. Just basic labels and basic cookies, fruit slices and Xmas cards mum made. Looking where i am now it is a world apart. This was around the time i started volunteering.
There were not many opportunities i was aware of to go sell which was just a hobby to me at the time. Volunteering i got to go alongside the community centre to promote my baking classes i was going to start with a grant i got. I would sell cakes and give out leaflets having a small part of the table, as more events come along in spring and summer i got my own table so ventured out with what i had to sell and then i started with my displays themed to the time spring, summer. I had plastic flowers that people tried to buy off me and ask the price, this was the start of the stands and props!
As i did more of these events i wanted to better my stall with cake stands and more props. When they brought a tiger and then much later a tkmaxx to town cake stands and decorations became more available to me and then started the building up of them all.
People think i see any stand and buy it, which is not the case i have an idea of what i want from glass to ceramic to metal. and acrylic they are all different in sizes shapes and patterns which makes for an interesting display varied in colour and height.
Most of us when we window shop admire shop displays and i take the same attitude to my stand as if i was dressing a shop window. The car is mostly always crammed with props and stands and i end up sitting like the hunchback !
That is my style and everyone has there own style, when i do markets and there is another cake stand they are either nice don’t talk at all or hostile! i get on with my stall you get on with yours. Since i also started my jam business my display stuff has grown for baskets and wicker baskets and crates so i do have a lot of display stuff.
You could say it is a never ending circle of finding new ideas and stands and waiting for the right theme for them. some i have not used at all yet, most i have and some wait till the right time.
DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE ?
I now see possibilities of cake stands in other items like candle holders where small treats could be put or displayed. Imagination is key and down to the individual just like up cycling a item into something new when it is broken. I now have a few items like this where the original use is not what i use it for.
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE BROKEN
Many of my cake stands have also come from Ebay quirky unusual or just cheaper stands preowned and being sold, where i swoop and buy them for half price. And i have had my fair share of broken stands arrived. This was mostly the post or sellers thought for not wrapping them properly
to date i have had 2 ceramic stands smashed, 2 glass ones, 2 glass & ceramic ones and a scratched acrylic one. All refunded and now i have mastered the taking of photos of damaged goods ebay cases. What is frustrating is that they are different older ones not ones you can easily readily buy, which makes it even worse when they arrived pre recycled
Of course storing these stands can incur damage
2 glass ones smashed, 2 metal ones corroded the bases off and the other the base has gone green like it`s been on the wreck of a ship underwater for 100 years.
I do sway towards acrylic stands but ca get scratched, glass is good but can smash, metals okay just depends on the type. I avoid copper or brass looking now for the rusting nature problem.
WHY DO I NEED SO MANY?
I don`t need them i want them i use them to display what i sell attract attention just like any retailer would on the highstreet in their window display. I just happen to be an individual doing so. Anyone can do it the same just like you buy another pair of shoes even though you don’t need them you like the style or colour and buy them same principle!
SPACE DO YOU HAVE A TARDIS?
not at present, but theres always hope! its the garden shed, my bedroom the kitchen and the attic for me.
Adampastryguy 