When a friend of a friend got the opportunity to open her dream store, it was mentioned to me that she was looking for local crafters and artists to sell their work on consignment. I resisted at first, hesitated to call her…I even panicked and got all of my vintage clothing together in a bag to sell to her instead. But eventually, with the unfaltering encouragement of my fiancé, friends, and family, I mustered up the courage to set up a meeting with the owner to show her some of my work. I went through all of my pieces with my mother and fiancé, and fought with myself over what was the best, what I was most proud of, and above all – what I thought would sell. And on a sunny afternoon, I packed my new pretty little jewelry display case and grabbed my plastic garbage bag of vintage clothing, and headed to my meeting.
My heart was racing, I was so nervous! But I figured hey, worse case scenario -- at least I cleaned my closet out, right? Well I don’t know what on earth I was so worried about, because every piece I pulled out she loved and wanted for the store, and couldn’t wait to see what else I would bring!
I felt so proud on opening day to see my pieces displayed in an actual store, and even prouder the first day I saw a stranger wearing one of my pieces! Now that was a first for me – typically I was always the one making the sales, meeting each customer face-to-face, but then…there I was…waiting in line to order coffee…and the woman behind the counter was wearing something I had made! It was REALLY awesome!
And my positive experience with doing consignment with the store led me to consider doing consignment with the gallery above it. In November of 2008, for the first time in my life, I saw my own paintings in a gallery, next to other artists, and I got to see them sell with great enthusiasm! What a rush! It’s been so much fun and so rewarding that I plan on setting out to do more local consignment (and maybe outside of the area too, any takers?!).
If you are ever in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, be sure to check out my goods and the rest of the awesome store that is UnderWired! Tell Lisa that la la la sent you!
Some of my little owl paintings at UnderWired
My handmade earring display at UnderWired. 
Some of my jewelry on display at UnderWired
The artist behind lalala is Janessa, and other than in her Etsy shop and at Underwired, you can also find her online at her blog and also follow her on Twitter @lalalajanessa
No comments:
Post a Comment