Last Sunday's Crafts Market

The market was outside in the courtyard of a manoir, which apparently had once been a ruin and was now in the final stages of major renovation. There were maybe 15 exhibitors, including at least 4 who did jewelry (too many for a show that small!). I shared a tent space with a pleasant young woman who was selling her mother's pottery - some nice stuff - and her own stickpins and leather cord necklaces with pottery pendants. It was sunny but it was cold. I was dressed to stay warm, except my feet ... my super-thick soled sneakers were good for about 20 minutes - my feet were freezing all day!

I was there at 8.30am and all set up by 10.00am. As is pretty standard for these things, there was almost no one until about 3.00 in the afternoon, so the exhibitors stood around and talked to each other. Finally, there started to be people, which at least made it more interesting.

It was an earring crowd! I sell earrings for 5 euros a pair, and usually when somebody buys a necklace, I offer a pair of earrings. These were earrings-only buyers, and we spent a lot of time choosing posts over hooks, and vice-versa (I have findings with me so that I can change things for people) ... a lot of to-do for what are after all not expensive earrings!! However, there wasn't much else to do ...

The worst part of my day was the bathroom situation. I brought a thermos of tea, and there was coffee being served. Around 11.30am, for obvious reasons, a pit stop was necessary, so I asked where the facilities were. Where they were was out in a field in a port-a-potty (or the French equivalent thereof), which would have been okay, except that it was Turkish-style, which means a hole in the floor. I don't know why anybody thinks women can use these things, and as I was wearing a skirt and pantyhose and it was cold, I certainly wasn't up for undressing so that I could take advantage of the facilities. After about an hour, I managed to corner the owner of the manoir, and in most apologetic way, I asked if there was any possibility of using a toilet inside the house. Lucky for me, she was quite nice about it (and I got to see the results of the renovations - quite an impressive place!). However, not wanting to take advantage of the situation, I spent the rest of the day not drinking anything. As I was packing up my car that evening, I saw a young woman come in the field putting her clothes to right - she clearly preferred nature to the hole in the floor, and I think she was probably right.

So it was not a big sales day, but on the other hand, the table rental was 8 euros; that and my time were the entire costs for the day ... I'm still fantasizing that someone like Christian Lacroix is going to come along at one of these things and flip for my use of colors, and then I'll be off on a new career!!

Above necklace: red coral slices, watermelon jade

Below bracelet: agate nuggets, quartz "peanuts" (first time I've used this shape!)