Buying (Hunting) Fabric

I was out on a shopping spree today, the main objective was to get a range of fabrics in 4-5 colours which I could use for lining in my products. In the past I had been buying some small quantities as I was doing mostly samples, but the price difference between  buying a few meters and a full roll is about 100%.

Checking the Quality

My fabric hunt had started a few days ago and I visited a few wholesale cloth markets of Old Delhi and tried to find out what is available where and at what price. Most of the bigger suppliers are not willing to sell anything less than 350-400 meters at a time. I asked a lot of local cloth traders as what will be the best course for me to take, some of them will pass you the information and some will just ignore your words, and you just have to move on.

Looking for Colours

Out of what all I learnt asking people some questions, I was able to figure out a few places I could visit and check them out for myself. One of the places on my list was a business in the eastern part of Delhi, that specializes in odd lots of fabrics that have been left behind after an order was fulfilled or a production run was completed. I was told that at the time of manufacturing an order or constructing garments typically 10% extra is manufactured or ordered. After the order has been fulfilled whatever extra is left behind comes to this shop and it is sold to small traders and businesses.

Looking (HUNTING) for More Colours

Though I am not very well versed with that side of the city but I was able to find my way to the place and it was a treasure trove of fabrics in various colours. The place was full of fabrics and they were all stacked right till the roof, and pulling out one roll from the stack was a big exercise in itself, rather than buying I'd call it hunting for the right fabric in a stack of 100's and 100's of  rolls of fabric. I did select 6 colours but I had to leave two of them behind as I did not have enough money to buy all of them, I will be back in a few months.

Packed and Ready to Leave on the Cycle Rickshaw (No motorized traffic is allowed here except Two Wheelers)

Transferring Fabric Rolls to an Auto Rickshaw

Also Called an Auto or 3-Wheeler

Tuk Tuk in Some Parts

On my way back after a very successful HUNT

Ebook: Sell Your Crafts Online

I am really very happy with my first Ebook purchase. It certainly is worth way more than what I paid for it, since this was the first Ebook I ever purchased I was really hesitant in the beginning as I kept thinking that it might just be a bunch of papers with some random thoughts on the subject.

The book that I purchased is Sell Your Crafts Online it is written by James Dillehay who is an expert on the subject of Arts and Crafts. James runs a website Craftmarketer where he has a lot of information and I will definitely recommend it to anyone associated or interested in the arts and crafts world.

Though the book is very centric to the USA but it still has a lot of valuable material that has been neatly compiled for international folks like me. There is no way that I could have got my hand on the information even after a few weeks of research.

The book has given me a long list of different websites that specialize in crafts in some way, craft communities you can join, places to sell your crafts, and suppliers from whom you can source supplies. James further draws out  a detailed action plan and what all resources are available and how you can tap them. There is a lot more to digest and write about, and I will let everyone know how some of the recommended things I did turned out.

Also, the printed version of the book can be bought on Amazon for $12.95, but if you do not want the printed copy you can download  the Ebook on James's website http://www.craftmarketer.com/ with a very very hefty discount.

(Please note; I get no benefitt in any form for reccomending this book, I am just doing it because I found it to be a great resource of information for me)

My first Ebook purchase

Last night I purchased my first Ebook in life, I have grown up with traditional books and to me reading is more meaningful when you hold a physical book in your hand and read from it. It is a strange feeling reading a book on your computer where I find reading more of a chore than a relaxing experience.

I would have bought a physical book than an Ebook but I went for it as I want the information quickly and shipping it from the US would have taken weeks and cost me quite a bit. The convenience of instant delivery is amazing and the whole process was quite hassle free.

The whole process has got me thinking and I believe convenience and low cost are the buzzwords here and any product or service that can provide them both is one up on the competition.

At the end of First Quarter

Looking back I can see that I have made so much progress on my goals in the last three months. Though it has been slow and frustrating at times, but when I look back at the whole picture it seems that quite a lot has been achieved and a lot more could have been achieved if I knew everything earlier that I know now.

Determination and information are critical to a path of success, when I started out I was determined but the scope of my knowledge was limited to the production process of my creations. Even that is questionable now as I found out that sourcing materials is not straight forward; though you may know a supplier but he might not be interested in selling small quantities to you.

It certainly helps if you knew someone who has already done it and been there, but that is not going to be a reality for a lot of people including me. I do get information and tips from people but not everyone is helpful or wants to share his knowledge.

I am moving well on some aspects, I have found some amazing materials, I have some designs and samples ready and am working on a few. Surely, I am not where I should have ideally been but I am happy to note that I am not at the back either, but am WAYYYYYYY ahead of where I was and that is a great feeling.