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What’s going on?

Well… at this moment, I am leaving for the Suitcase Rummage Market- Brisbane- in 2 hours!

I have been all over the place since my motivation kicked back into action a few days ago…

I made a jumpsuit with a shirred top- first time making anything like this and trying shirring. I didn’t use a pattern, just winged it and it turned out pretty funky. I finished making 65 denim bunting flags- sewing on backing and cutting out. The decorations were in place just before I injured my hand…

Ah my hand… It is still not 100%, and today it is shaky and achy as I used it a little too much yesterday. But it is on the mend! And right now, I have things to do and I will not let this hindrance hinder me.

So yes, prepping for the suitcase markets… I didn’t give an update about my previous markets (September 18th) so here’s a quick recap. They were really cool, a bit of a learning experience, but I had a good time, I met some great people, my products all stayed safe and I sold some funky items. 

I took along with me a bunch of my original art, lots of jewellery bits- earrings and necklaces, some crocheted items- bottle holders, heart keyrings and yeah, I had a great range of my creations with me. BUT something that I definitely learned- my artwork gained the attention of people passing by, but all of my sales were jewellery pieces and the art stuff is not what this rummage market is really about. The suitcase rummage market is a bit more fashion and accessory orientated. I met some very cool people who gave me some great recommendations for art based markets around South East Queensland which I will look in to, but not going to commit myself to at this stage.

SO today I have changed up my inventory a bit by bringing some sewn goods- drawstring bags, face masks and a set of bunting, plus I’ve made a few new pairs of earrings and I will not be bringing my original art, maybe just a few framed pieces.

The markets 2 weeks ago were cancelled due to rainy weather, but I was relieved about this. Shortly after the markets on the 18th of Sep, my hand had a spectacular freakout. The tingles were strong, there was zapping in my palm and the sensation of touching things felt like glass splinters in my finger tips. What a fun time. I spent a week in bed, resting, not using my hand and going slightly insane with the mental game of “is this going to be forever?” and “will I ever have my right hand as it was?”. It is recovering though and I am getting treatment, so my mind is eased a lot, but it has not been the easiest of times.

My huge wave of motivation I had when I completed my website came crashing down pretty hard and I was dumped into the twists and turns of the current. I found the surface though, I am making my way back to shore, and I am going to proceed at a steady pace- not rushing or pushing myself too hard. I need to remind myself of the progress that I have made. I have not taken any steps backwards with this injury, just lost some time, and now I am taking some small steps forwards again.

I am eager to create some new art and my mind is overflowing with various creative projects. I have shied away from Instagram since September 18th markets as the frustrations of my injury consumed me. I will try and post a few things today at my market stall. 

I need to quickly finish up some face masks to bring with me to today’s market, pack my suitcases, then I will be off! Oh happy days!

This is a quick little update, brought to you with love and positive intentions.
Thank you for reading.
Much Love
Jacky B, x

(Written on 04.09.22)

Dear diary,

Well, this wrist injury (neuropraxia) and the doctors recommendations has really put a big rock in the middle of my road.

Last Monday (after writing my last blog post) I went back to the doctors because things didn’t seem to be getting better with my hand, and he told me… to not use my right hand for 2 weeks. 

It’s been a week, and boy I have been up and down in my mind. I’ve been upset, I have had to stop the preparations for my market stall, telling myself I can prep with one hand and then physically doing some preparations with one hand, then frustrations or a tired left hand catch up with me.

I have been trying to tell myself some other things I can be doing- like really I shouldn’t have stopped posting to Instagram. I want to get a nice little catalogue of my jewellery bits and new art pieces on there before my market stall. (And also use these pictures to set up my online store). And, though annoying to do a photo shoot left handed, this is something I am yet to try. 

Let me throw in a fun fact. 
My left hand (being my least favourite) is probably capable of 20% of what my right hand can do. 
This is what I would have said at the beginning of the week, but after one week of being a lefty, I would say my left hand can do basically everything that my right hand can, but to a 30% (and increasing with practice) standard. 

I am grateful my injury isn’t worse, I really have a new sympathy towards broken arms/ wrists and hands and especially the length of time for recovery. 

I am hopeful for the quicker recovery for my nerves…

____________________________________________________________________________

The above was written on Sunday the 4th of September. 

Hello to you from today- Saturday 10.09.22

So it’s been another week, and my right hand has improved greatly, but I am still not to be using it. 

My preparations for my suitcase rummage market have taken place. I have 2 suitcases, I have a collection of art and crocheted creations for sale, that today, I am going to photograph. 

I had a small thought of “I don’t want to part with this” feeling as I was collecting creations from around my art room. Some have blessed my space for so long, but now time to bless someone else’s. 

Some things that I need to do this week for preparations:
– Post to instagram!
– Make my online store and post some items there.
– Do a mockup of my market stall.
– Write an inventory and prices.

Some other little things I would like to do, but not necessary:
– Paint my suitcase (I bought a couple second hand suitcases, one has a few marks on the front, putting my little brand on the front would be pretty cool).
– Sew up some bunting (but I really have enough stock for my market and sewing is a bit tricky one handed).
– Frame some artworks for display or to sell with the frames (I have an assortment of frames and need to shift these along with my pieces).
– Finish off some earrings that I had been working on before my injury.

In other news, just now while procrastinating writing this post, I just registered for another 2 suitcase rummage markets (Brisbane CBD, October 2nd and October 16th). How very exciting!

So, I have a busy week ahead of me. Hoping to do a lot of the photo stuff this weekend and during the week I will have some posts to make to Instagram. Setting up my online store will probably be an all day job tomorrow. But I am exciiited to get it going. 

The mental gymnastics I have been doing while processing my physical situation has been a freaking loop-de-loop rollercoaster, but I am trying to stay focused on healing and getting my strength back. Just a big ol’ curve ball life has thrown my way, and I caught it awkwardly in my right hand >.<.

It’s been a great driving force to have this market to focus on, and now I am super stoked to have another 2 to look forward to as well. See my previous post for a bit more detail about the Suitcase Rummage Market. I will be at the Suicase Rummage in Brisbane city, at the river side end of Queen St. If you are around, come and say Hi! I will be perched on my little stool with my 2 suitcases and all my goodies on Sundays 18th Sep, 2nd Oct and 16th Oct! 

I hope you have had a great couple of weeks. 

If you have done a suitcase rummage market before or have any tips for me for selling my art online, leave a comment or shoot me a message. 

Much love and big virtual hugs,
Jacky B, x

PS. Follow my Instagram @byoubfree 

I hurt my hand.

This is a tingly written post as I am recovering from some nerve irritation in my RIGHT hand.
As a right handed person, I love my right hand and I am so grateful for all that I have been able to do with it.

I will not go into detail about how I obtained my injury, I just wanted to jot down some musings and activities I have been pursuing while resting my favoured limb.

I have radial nerve neuropraxia. It feels like my hand has constant pins and needles (but not terribly), occasional numbness and my hand just isn’t operating how it used to. The doctor said it should be fine within a few days, dr Google tells me it could be a few months (siiigh), but it SHOULD get better. My hand has gone to sleep and it’s not ready to wake up yet.

I am so glad I had a wave of motivation wash over me last weekend and I started the week by making a bunch of funky earrings for my upcoming online shop and market stall. The work that goes into making my jewellery piecing includes working with pliers, tiny, fiddly things and occasionally a drill. This is far from how I hurt my hand, I just needed to acknowledge that I have been on the grind getting my “business” together and my right hand has been integral to this process. For this to come to a stop has been… frustratingly difficult.

I hurt my hand 4 days ago. I have since been “training” my left hand and strengthening my almost non-existent ambidextrous skills. I had this great idea that I wanted to make some funky bunting for my market stall, this includes some embroidery on some of the flags. I have now embroidered some (very simple) designs left handed. Woo!

I used to do life drawing classes a few years ago (I will have to write a blog post about that experience another time) and I want to mention a warm up exercise we used to do in the class- drawing with your non-dominant hand. This is a practice that I still use to this day, even sometimes subconsciously. Using the non-dominant hand can really free up the sense of perfection in any artwork, and I love the perfectly imperfectness of abstract art. So my left hand has been used occasionally to draw intentionally squiggly lines. Drawing lines on fabric, with less than cooperative markers, left handed, has been tricky, but they are intentionally wonky lines, so that has helped.

I am also extremely grateful that I can still use my right hand, it just feels quite uncomfortable. I was really hoping I would sleep this injury off and by Friday the tingle would be lighter and over the weekend it would be gone. But alas, Sunday evening is upon us and my hand still tingles like the Sleeping Beauty she is, or the Rapunzel getting pricked by the needle. I have been told to rest my hand as much as possible, and to wear a wrist brace to assist with this. So as much as I’ve said I am still grateful to be able to use my right hand, it does have an “out of order” ticket on it too. This is slowing down my great wave of motivation. This is making me frustrated as my already huge list of things I want to do and make is getting increasingly longer and my ability to tackle these projects is inhibited.

I am doing my best.
I don’t want to be a grey cloud on this gorgeous day, so I have made this post as light hearted as possible.
A record to be kept on my blog of this (hopefully) speed bump on my journey.
I am not stopping though, no no no, my left hand will have to pick up where the right one left off. As much as it can 😆.
if you

Much love and sunshine!
Happy healing to me (and you if you’re healing too).
X, Jacky B

Dear Diary,

Yes, you read the title right! I made a decision, a purchase and took some action this morning.
My dream of having a market stall, which I have done previously, has come back to life!

Story time.
For my birthday a couple years ago, hubby and I stayed the night in Brisbane city. On the Sunday, we walked around the whole city and we stumbled across a couple different markets, but one just got my heart and hugged it. It’s the suitcase market in Brisbane CBD, 12pm-5pm, every second Sunday I believe. I have only been to these markets a handful of times, but every time there are such a mix of stalls. It’s basically Second hand clothes, vintage things, and also some handmade stalls. The rules are, you can bring one suitcase, anything you can fit into your suitcase you can bring to sell (there are more rules, but that is the general gist of it).

I have been wanting to do these stalls for over a year! Each time I go op-shopping (thrift shopping), I keep an eye out for suitcases, or funky things to make little displays that will store and travel in a suitcase- for the purpose of one day taking part in these markets.

So this morning. I had a sleep in for the first time in yonks. I do as most people do, but prob don’t like to admit, I wake up and check my phone. The time is 8:20.
If you follow my social medias, you know that at this time, I really am not very active on any of them, I decided to open facebook (oddly, not commonly). I scroll through a couple fb stories and then, “Hey Brisbane, come and find our Suitcase Rummage market at Reddacliff Place from 12-5 TODAY!!”. I closed out of facebook immediately and took myself to the Suitcase Rummage website. I have been putting reminders in my phone for MONTHS to check the website for their registration, but they are always sold out. (Side note, there are a few things, like dates and posts, that need to be a little updated on the website, but who am I to talk). ANYWAY, today I looked and om-fricken-g there are 3 registration dates available, first one – sold out, second one – sold out, third one – HAD A PAYMENT OPTION!! TAAAKE MY MONEEEYY!!! I honestly… I couldn’t even process what had happened. I woke up at 8:15am, by 8:20 I had an email in my inbox saying I successfully registered for a stall for September 18th!

That’s one month away!