March 2025 blog | markets and mini shop update!
- Emily Randall
- Apr 8
- 6 min read
March felt like it went on forever! I suppose it’s because quite a lot of things were happening during the month. I find myself writing this at the start of April thinking to myself ‘What am I supposed to be doing now?’ as I’ve gotten so used to having multiple projects constantly at the back of my mind. I need to learn how to let myself rest ^.^’
The biggest tasks on this month’s list were preparing for a market and for an exhibition. I got some new products in, re-designed some packaging, created a sign for my display, made an animation, and then, at the end of the month, had a little shop update! Between that I managed to make some art, too.
Shop update
I will start with the last thing first! I revealed the prints I got made in February, and also mentioned the sticker sheets that I had sent off. They arrived at the start of March! One sticker sheet acted as a submission to Clementine Anthology’s fourth theme ‘Girlhood’. The second sticker sheet was made as a way to fill up the rest of the space the first one left on the A5 sheet! I truly love the second sheet, ‘Lil Guys’, though, as it was an idea I had since they first appeared on my ‘Give this to someone you <3’ zine in June 2024. I’m pleased with both sheets and have got lots of positive feedback for them.
You can get the new sticker sheets and prints on letsgetartyshop.etsy.com :)
A watercolour and coloured-pencil painting using this month’s @stillustrations.club photo prompt. I really enjoyed the mark-making at the start of the painting, even if it eventually got covered up. I’m annoyed I messed up the proportions of the plate, though!
Market prep
With new products came the need to upgrade my packaging. I invested in some biodegradable plastic sleeves to keep my prints and stickers in - and let me tell you, I will never be going back to not using sleeves!! I held off from using them for a long time as I wanted to use as little plastic packaging as possible. Using biodegradable sleeves made me feel a little better about it (though I know they are still not great for the environment), but as soon as I packed everything up, I could see how much nicer just a small detail can make! It makes your products look more professional and also stops them from being too fragile to handle. I found that people at the market were far more inclined to flick through them knowing that they couldn’t damage them when in their sleeves.
I also re-designed a few of my older products that desperately needed it. My ‘Sketchbook Print Set’ was the very first product I made for my Etsy shop opening, and you could tell. I used letter stamps to write the product title on some belly bands to hold the four prints together. The problem with this was that you couldn’t see what all the prints looked like unless you took them out of the belly band. I decided to re-design the belly band on the computer and added small versions of the prints on the back so that customers could see what it was they were buying. I’m really proud of how the final thing looks.
‘The Green Zeen 2 Bundle’ packaging was also in need of a change. Having the zine and the sticker sheet bundle in a striped bag meant you, again, couldn’t see what you were actually buying save for the not-exactly-great-quality sticker depicting the contents on the front. With the new biodegradable sleeves I could show the contents of the bundle and have a smaller sticker with the product information.
I realise I’m writing a lot about a pretty boring thing, but if you have your own products I really recommend changing up your packaging every-so-often as you learn more about what customers want to see and know about your product, especially if it isn’t selling particularly well.
Arthole animation
Part of the market prep was making another silly animation! With Arthole theming their Illustration Fair around geese going to a renaissance ball, I had to turn my silly concept into something - the image of geese going to dance at a prestigious ball amused me way too much. I didn’t have as much time as last year, so this animation was black-and-white and a lot shorter. I managed to get it out a couple of days before the market to help promote it. The feedback for it was great! And Arthole were kind enough to show it alongside their own animations on a screen at the market. I had lots of fun making it. It’s got me more motivated to tackle all the unfinished animatics sitting on my iPad, too!
Arthole Illustration Market
After all that preparation, it was time for the market! It was exciting seeing Arthole’s new shop, which they got the keys for only the day before (!!). They did an amazing job at setting it up so quickly. I can’t wait to see what they do with the space.
It was a great market - my second most successful market! I met some lovely people and had some lovely conversations. I even got to geek out about The Legend of Zelda with some other fans >:))
Fae zine submission
I was on quite the role fulfilling one of my 2025 goals - drawing more scenes, characters, etc, from my written stories. The second theme for @leylah.m.art’s ‘Zines, please’ zine submission collective was ‘the fae’. With my stories centring heavily around fairy tales and myths, I knew I had to make a piece. It was a quicker sketch this time, compared to my past pieces, as I had to squeeze it in with all the market prep and animating I was already busy with. I’m still happy with it! The zine should be up on https://ko-fi.com/bunnymouse to print at home soon.
Speak Volumes! Festival
As this was an exhibition, where I wouldn’t be there myself, I had to prepare my zines, sticker sheets and prints in a way that made it easy for others to flick through and for the volunteers to be able to easily identify when bought at the main desk.
I spent a couple of days putting everything in its own sleeve with a business card and clear price tag. To make things clearer for people looking at my things, I also decided to create an informational banner that would slide into the top of my zine rack (having only recently found out the rack had such a thing). This display banner had information on how to pick items and where to pay for them, had some information about me and where to find me online, as well as a neat little pocket for my free business cards!
With that all done, I dropped everything off at The Arches in Worcester. Unfortunately I couldn’t go to the 3-day festival but it looks like it went really really well. Thank you to those who picked up a business card, a zine, sticker sheet or print! And thank you to Freddie and the rest of the team for having my work!
Another sketchbook piece using @stillherestilllife’s photo prompt this time! Experimenting with only using colouring pencils (because I was too lazy to get out my watercolours that day...).
Cyanotype printing
We - finally - used the cyanotype printing kit we got AGES ago! With the weather getting nicer we took advantage of the sun on Mother’s Day and made our first cyanotype prints! The whole process really took me back to being in school and spending hours in the Dark Room developing photos. I do miss those days! So getting back into something similar with cyanotype was a nice break from working. These were all test prints - some turned out great while others didn’t. I’m going to keep experimenting when I get the chance (and the sun!).
Thank you for reading my March 2025 blog post! As I mentioned at the start, this was quite the hectic month with lots of ups and downs. I’m taking April slowly and figuring out what project to start next, having found myself with nothing big to do. I’ve been at a bit of a road-block with my novel-writing, and I’m not really in the art-making mood. I’m finding having my Etsy shop is really wearing me down with all the fees they take when I have no sales. I think I need a break…so I am planning on taking on a shorter writing project (or two) with a few ideas I have floating around in my head. That, along with re-evaluating some things...
If you’ve read this all the way through, consider supporting me and my work by going over to my Etsy shop and having a browse if you like zines, stickers and prints mostly based around nature and travelling. You will also find my pet portrait commissions there! letsgetartyshop.etsy.com <3
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