Me in my beach hut shop on Herne Bay Pier in Kent.
Hi I’m Claire,
I’ve always loved being creative, making and designing things but I never started to do it for a job until 2023.
I started off making resin items just for something to do, and made way too many to store in my house. My husband told me to donate or sell them so I packed up the car and went to a boot fair. Unfortunately this was not the place and I only sold 1 bookmark, then crafters on Facebook said, ‘you need craft markets not boot fairs.’ So off I went again with my eldest in tow, he has Down’s Syndrome and really wanted to work, we set up on a high street for their monthly fair. To my surprise, I sold quite a lot of items and so from there I joined another monthly fair and did odd ones on the weekends in-between. As is all business it was hit and miss but my son enjoyed himself, especially the food stalls.
Then after one fair in a Church in Sept 23, that is usually a second hand shop, I found some of the sellers were permeant stall holders and joined there. This meant I had a stall up all the time and only had to be there 3 days a week, I still did a few markets until the end of the year. It was a nice little group but after the Winter close the Church decided they didn’t want sellers only second hand goods and we were told not to return.
I looked at opening a shop on a high street, maybe sell other peoples items too, but the costs were very high. Then I applied to Herne Bay Pier in Herne Bay Kent, they have a shopping village of 11 beach huts. As there were no other resin crafter I was accepted and opened in May 24. I’m still going on the Pier although over that time my products have changed, a lot of resin items were never purchased and ended up going to charity. Now I only make keyrings, coasters, notebooks and hanging decorations. My son even opened up a hut next door, which he loves running.
And I found a whole other area of craft I enjoy doing.
I made a couple of shadow box designs from Creative Fabrica and loved the concept, which made me want to make my own ones that were unique to my business. I started designing from photographs of my local area, being on south east Kent there are a lot of beaches and so I choose them to be my main focus. From there I also designed a few others, some I still do like fishing, weddings and gaming, while others that never sold have been removed.
Last summer I started quilling, but again wanted something more unique to my shop. So I started edge quilling on photos I’d taken at the local wildlife park. People would see me doing them sat at my desk in the shop and watch and talk to me about them and how much time they took to complete. A gentlemen even asked me to use his big cat pictures from there, as he likes taking photos but has nothing to do with them.
For the end of 25 I took some of my seaside photos, printed them multiple times and cut them into layers to create 3D photos.
I’m hoping I can get more people to see my art and hopefully want to display it in their homes.
Vendor Biography
Hi I’m Claire,
I’ve always loved being creative, making and designing things but I never started to do it for a job until 2023.
I started off making resin items just for something to do, and made way too many to store in my house. My husband told me to donate or sell them so I packed up the car and went to a boot fair. Unfortunately this was not the place and I only sold 1 bookmark, then crafters on Facebook said, ‘you need craft markets not boot fairs.’ So off I went again with my eldest in tow, he has Down’s Syndrome and really wanted to work, we set up on a high street for their monthly fair. To my surprise, I sold quite a lot of items and so from there I joined another monthly fair and did odd ones on the weekends in-between. As is all business it was hit and miss but my son enjoyed himself, especially the food stalls.
Then after one fair in a Church in Sept 23, that is usually a second hand shop, I found some of the sellers were permeant stall holders and joined there. This meant I had a stall up all the time and only had to be there 3 days a week, I still did a few markets until the end of the year. It was a nice little group but after the Winter close the Church decided they didn’t want sellers only second hand goods and we were told not to return.
I looked at opening a shop on a high street, maybe sell other peoples items too, but the costs were very high. Then I applied to Herne Bay Pier in Herne Bay Kent, they have a shopping village of 11 beach huts. As there were no other resin crafter I was accepted and opened in May 24. I’m still going on the Pier although over that time my products have changed, a lot of resin items were never purchased and ended up going to charity. Now I only make keyrings, coasters, notebooks and hanging decorations. My son even opened up a hut next door, which he loves running.
And I found a whole other area of craft I enjoy doing.
I made a couple of shadow box designs from Creative Fabrica and loved the concept, which made me want to make my own ones that were unique to my business. I started designing from photographs of my local area, being on south east Kent there are a lot of beaches and so I choose them to be my main focus. From there I also designed a few others, some I still do like fishing, weddings and gaming, while others that never sold have been removed.
Last summer I started quilling, but again wanted something more unique to my shop. So I started edge quilling on photos I’d taken at the local wildlife park. People would see me doing them sat at my desk in the shop and watch and talk to me about them and how much time they took to complete. A gentlemen even asked me to use his big cat pictures from there, as he likes taking photos but has nothing to do with them.
For the end of 25 I took some of my seaside photos, printed them multiple times and cut them into layers to create 3D photos.
I’m hoping I can get more people to see my art and hopefully want to display it in their homes.