The countdown is on - yes already! - as I dive into preparations for my big out of town show this spring, Bringing in the May. I’ve been busy designing and crafting some new items, which will be posted here once the show is over.
This is the only show I do other than at the holidays, so it’s quite a big deal for me. I talked about this event last year; it’s a spinoff event from the Spoutwood Farm Fairie Festival which I participated in for twenty years before it moved to a new home. As you can imagine, I made many friends there over the years and always look forward to reconnecting with them when I go back each spring.
My planning and preparation has me switching back and forth from my computer to my crafting table, as I alternate working on new items and building up my online presence. I’ve made some definite changes to the ‘front door’ of my website that I’m fairly happy with (take a look!). And part of this effort includes expanding my range of blog topics beyond chatting about my adventures.
To that end, I recently put up a post delving into the ideas behind Dakini Trading: What does it mean for Vintage to meet Zen? This is a topic that I think will lend itself to further exploration in the future. But for now, I simply touched on some of the looks and eras that my offerings represent or are inspired by; and some introductory steps you can take to incorporate vintage pieces into your home. I hope folks will find this inspirational, and would love to hear what you think.
On the crafting side of the table, I’m actively developing pieces that I will not only take to the May event but that will go into the new Etsy shop I’m planning. It’s taking me a bit longer than anticipated to get that off the ground, as I realized that while I have product, I don’t have great pictures. And at the same time, I’m trying to get more resale items posted to the main DTC Etsy site. It’s a lot to do, in my ‘spare’ time!
One of the things I’ve done to help handle this is establishing a checklist for posting new items. I already track when I acquired a piece, what I spent, and any notes on history or condition; but I added a new worksheet that helps me remember all the steps I need to take behind the scenes. It’s one thing to put a listing up on Etsy, quite another to make sure I can sell it through my website or at an in-person event and still keep track of it. My tendency would be to call an item one thing on Etsy, something else in Square and a third name when posting it here - all related, close enough I know what I’m talking about, but not very helpful to future shoppers! Now I can keep my prices, titles, and keywords consistent from one platform to the next.
Speaking of Etsy - one of the bigger roadblocks I put up for myself was getting a header image that was a stylistic match for my other two. The original Canva template I had used for Dakini Trading and Dakini Designs had two variations, so that was an easy choice to make when I decided to spin off the print on demand items. But I didn’t want to reuse either one when adding a third, so I had to spend some time hunting down an appropriate image and layout. I’ll likely make some tweaks to this in the weeks to come, but for now please welcome:
What do you think - does it fit with my existing images?
I hope to have all of this more or less up and running before I drive south in May. I’d love it if some folks took a test drive, looking at this site vs the Etsy pages. Do they flow naturally? Is it clear what each site is intended to do? You can leave a comment on this blog, or email me directly: dakinitrading@gmail.com. Your feedback is truly appreciated.
To borrow a phrase, Everyday, it's a gettin' closer.. It’s still a long ways off from what I envision, but I feel I’ve made some very definite progress in the past few months. Bringing in the May will be a chance for me to try my newer approach out live. Along with the new pieces I’m working on, and of course old favorites like my flower crowns and upcycled clothing, I plan to take a handful of vintage pieces as well as some design items down with me to see how they go.
I plan to be back here in a couple weeks with another installment of the meaning and ideas behind Dakini Trading. And as I get some photos of both new and existing items, I’ll be sharing those over on Instagram. I confess I’m not very active on TikTok, but I’ll try to get things posted there as well. Thanks for coming along on this journey today. Don’t forget to leave a comment and let me know what you think! Until next time, I leave you in Perfect Love and Faerie Dust..
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