Hey Everyone, I wanted to share how my first craft market went with everyone, both to help me critique myself and get my thoughts down and to also share lessons learned that can maybe help others. What went well: 1. My location in the Market turned out to have a lot of foot traffic. I would say once the market opened there was a constant flow of people. 2. Human Interaction - Despite Finns being in general a bit reserved, many people complimented the work I was doing, the products and the tools. Over all I guess I presented something quite unique and professional. The sight of someone performing a obviously highly technical skill was something that stood out. 3. Over the course of 2 days I gave 6 short workshops. The item I chose to teach about was simple enough to construct within a hour or 2 and at the same time the students were able to produce something pretty professional looking. I dont know if that says more about the level of students or my own teaching abilities. 4. I gave out around 20-30 business cards - remains to be seen if thats a sign of anything. 5. I took this time as well to start to work on my Instagram presence and upload photos. Something that was overdue. 6. I dont feel that my prices were too high or too low. The sales that I did make were done by men who didnt blink at the price and with minimal interaction or talking. In other words, the sales experience was not making or breaking the sale. What didnt go well: 1. 2 sales over the course of 2 days. Nothing really to add beyond that.... 2. My impression from the beginning was that hand crafted leather goods are a natural fit for a craft market. It turns out that at least this specific craft market, it was not really a good fit. I would say that most of the booths there were selling craft supplies ( beads, mosaics, string) or sellling women's fashion accessories, hats, or clothing. There were some booths selling crafty sort of house decorations but that seemed to be the limit of truly hand made goods. All in all, the level of "hand crafts" was very low, on the verge of it seeming some of the participants made big Ali Express orders and simply packaged them in Finland. In comparison to what I was doing, it was very very different. 3. Understanding the demographic - I would say 85% were middle aged to elderly women in the age range of 40-70. As most of my goods were angled at a more male clientele Im sure this was a factor in the lack of sales. 4. Under pricing my workshops - I think my workshops were way to cheap (10 euros) for the one to 2 hours I spent with students combined with the fact that they walked away with a hand stitched monogrammed card holder. That about sums up my thoughts on this experience. Im unsure how to approach the Craft Market side of things. This was a nice experience but it is financially completely unsustainable as I wasnt able to even cover the costs of the both. Any and all thoughts, advice, or comments are welcome. Thanks

Hi Guys, I wanted to reach out and get some feed back about ordering pricking irons. I currently have Kevin Lee pricking irons in sizes 2.7mm, 3.0mm, 3.38mm, 3.85mm. All of these are 8+2. Lately over some projects where I marking meters of leather I have found that the limited amount of teeth is impacting my accuracy with marking + time spent. I was thinking of investing in the 20 tooth irons, or asking Kevin to make 22-25 tooth irons. Due to the price Im not going to try to order in all 4 sizes. I was thinking of going with 3.0mm and 3.85mm. Anyone have any past experience with this? Thanks in advance.

Just a quick hello from Helsinki, Finland. I have been working with Leather for around 6 years now on a hobby and part time professional basis. Hoping to make this a full time profession in 2019.