I spent Saturday at the Craft & Flea Guildford, tucked in among a mix of ceramicists, printmakers, artists, and candle makers.
It's always a bit of an unknown, setting up somewhere new. You don't quite know how your work will land, especially when it sits slightly outside the usual categories.
What stayed with me wasn't just the conversations, although there were plenty, but the quieter reactions. People drifting past, then slowing almost without realising. A glance turning into a second look. And, quite often, a small smile.
Some never came over to the stand at all, but you could see the moment something had clicked. A tiny scene noticed in passing. A detail that brings back memories. It's that pause I aim for — that shift from seeing something as an object to a glimpse into somewhere else: my fantasy pieces, nostalgic scenes, or tropical islands in a box, for example.
There was a lot of interest in the fantasy pieces this time — especially the mushroom scenes. Those seemed to catch people off guard in a different way. A few stopped mid-conversation just to take a closer look, as if they'd spotted something slightly out of place in the middle of the room.
A few people mentioned they hadn't seen anything quite like my pieces before. When you spend hours working on something small and detailed, it's easy to forget how unusual that can feel from the outside.
Not everything found a new home, which is fine. These pieces tend to wait for the right person rather than the first.
If you didn't make it along, I've added a handful of the remaining pieces to my shop.