A candid account of two days at the Raleigh Market.
I almost talked myself out of going.
Not because I didn't believe in the jewelry. I do — completely. But selling in person means talking to people. Strangers. A lot of them. And if you know me at all, you know that social interaction is not my natural habitat. I'm an introvert who makes things with her hands precisely because beads don't require small talk.
But I signed up for the Raleigh Market anyway. Two days, inside with the other handcrafted vendors, surrounded by the particular energy of a flea market that takes its makers seriously. I packed up everything from my Summer City Market Show collection, loaded two tables, and showed up.
Here's what actually happened.
Day One: The Tablecloth Problem
I had two tables. I was proud of two tables. What I did not account for was the tablecloth on the second one — a busy, dark-patterned fabric that, in retrospect, was basically camouflage. You could not see the jewelry. The pieces just disappeared into it, which is the opposite of what jewelry is supposed to do.
I sold two items that first day. A woman bought gifts for her mother — two pieces with crosses, chosen carefully, held up to the light. She knew exactly what she wanted and I just had to not get in the way. That part I can do.
I went home, pulled out a light gray bed sheet, and decided to try again.
Day Two: Better
The solid cloth made an immediate difference. The pieces showed. I also filled the empty spaces with mire pieces so once glance takes in a number of pieces. People stopped. I talked to maybe a dozen people over the course of the day — which, for someone with my social skills, is approximately eleven more than I'm comfortable with, but I survived every single conversation.
One woman bought the celery green lampwork bracelet. She put it on right there at the table, right away, before she even walked away. That's the thing you can't replicate online — watching someone fall in love with a piece in real time, seeing it go from your hands to their wrist in a single moment. I thought about that on the drive home.
I sold two items that day too. By the end of the weekend I'd covered the booth rental and the food I bought both days. Broke even, technically. Not a profit. Not a loss.
What I'm Taking With Me
The busy tablecloth is retired. The gray sheet is coming back. I'm going to keep showing up — the next market is in two weeks — because breaking even on your first try while actively fighting your own nervous system is not nothing. It's actually kind of a lot.
I met people who touched my work and asked questions about the beads. I watched a woman put on a bracelet and not take it off. Almost everyone I talked to walked away with a business card — which means twelve people now know this shop exists who didn't before. That's a different kind of sale, and it counts.
I learned that I can do this, even when every instinct I have says to go home and sit quietly with the cat.
That's enough to go back on.
The pieces I brought to the Raleigh Market are from my Summer City Market Show collection — still available online if you missed me in person.