Big things are happening! Fleur de Pixie designs will be on consignment in a studio in a couple of months!
A few weeks ago, I was contacted through my dad’s shop. Under my Tree studio in Shediac, New Brunswick wanted to have his art on consignment. After a few emails, we decided to meet. It was fortunate that the jewelry maker who started and runs the studio was visiting her daughter in Montreal. So last weekend, we all met at a coffee shop to discuss options.
For my dad, this is ideal. He loves to create stained glass but doesn’t necessarily want to do it all day every day. He’s not trying to make a living out of it. He just wants to do what he loves and not have the results pile up in his home. By putting about 12 pieces on consignment at Under my Tree at a time, he can keep that relaxed pace and liven up the homes of tourists or locals.
As manager of my dad’s online business, I was present at the meeting. But I was mostly there to look out for my own interests. So once I have more inventory, Under my Tree will have 6 Fleur de Pixie designs on display! But before that, I will start a new endeavour: bread bags. She was telling us there is a new French bakery in Shediac that is very popular and that there was a demand for bags since they just hand you the loaf of bread to take with you. When she brought up the idea I wasn’t very excited. I thought “bread bags. urgh boring”. But the more I thought about it, the more excited I got. Bread bags don’t have to be boring! And I could actually use some at home too for the bread I make from time to time and wouldn’t it be nice to know that people bought something well made and functional from me? So that will be the start of my business on consignment. I’m really excited to get a chance to expand beyond the online spere!
Normally I would have told her I would have had things ready within a week or two but my sense of time has changed a bit. We have officially adopted Shuko. Yay! Having never had a dog, I’m still adjusting to the demands though (which is why I’m using my lunch hour to post. I rarely seem to find the time when I get home). We don’t have many issues to deal with, especially considering she’s a rescue. But she does suffer from separation anxiety, enough that we have to address it sooner rather than later. This means that over the next months, the bulk of the work will be to get her to start feeling comfortable and relaxed while she’s alone. So short departures it is! The work started this weekend where I would just through the routine of putting my coat and boots on and getting out the door and coming right back and repeating that, walking away from the house a few steps more each time. There was a change in her by the 4th time so we’re hopeful but still that means that on weekends, instead of spending most of my time in the workshop, I will be going in and out the door for no reason but to get Shuko comfortable with being alone. And since my boyfriend is leaving for 3 months for work this week [insert sad face], I’ll have to go at it alone. So I see the next months as eat, sleep, take care of Shuko and watch 2 sec of TV before falling asleep in front of it (not necessarily in that order). So I was upfront and said that I was really interested in starting the bread bags and making more purses to display at the studio but realistically I couldn’t really have the first bags ready before March, maybe the middle of March even. I know I will find time, I always do, but I wanted to give myself a chance to adjust to a ‘Shuko and I only’ routine first before I making any big commitments in the craft world.
So big things are happening! Really, really slowly but they’re still happening and that is all that matters!
