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I spend a great deal of my time on Facebook. That’s an established fact. Memes fascinate me. I like to stay up-to-date with the latest lingo, the music, the things people are into. It’s fun, and it keeps me connected. So when the fascination with mudskippers came about, I was right there in the forefront, keen as mustard. This was just one of many mudskipper photos being shared and re-shared, but it stuck in my head.

And then, of course, there was this funny clip – put the sound on, and try not to laugh. I dare you.

I decided that I needed to know more about them. How big were they? What sound did they make? What kind of creature were they? What was their bone structure? And then, I decided to draw them.

I was still enjoying the shape of them, and I needed a motif for the bronze casting class that I was attending. I decided to make a model in plasticine, and see if it would work as a bronze sculpture.

It turned out to be far too ambitious, so it got shelved – there was no way I was going to be able to carve that out of wax, with my rudimentary sculpting skills! Not in a way that would satisfy my own standards…

I had just got into sewing again, so I decided to try making soft toys. I made the Sneaker Shark, and it went fairly averagely, and I made several others (a jellyfish, and an octopus with cat ears). And I also had a go at making mudskippers!

The mock-ups of the triangular body design were encouraging, so I went ahead and made a couple.

Fast-forward a couple of years, and I have just started selling fat quarters at the Shelly Bay market. I decide to bring my soft toys as examples of things that can be made with my fabrics. After many requests, I have a shot at making a sewing pattern for them. 

​It’s not the best, but some people manage to create some adorably derpy toys.

People also keep asking me to make colouring books – I promise, they’re in the works! My style of line drawing lends itself well to being coloured in, so I thought – why not combine colouring with sewing mudskippers? So I made these!

I took the same drawings, and the mudskipper food artwork that I used as filler for the colour-and sew bags, and I made a series of fabrics and jewellery, on their own, and combined with the stars of the Underwater Unexpected series.

When you walk around a busy craft market, you don’t often get the chance to take everything in. There are so many amazing things to see that it can be a sort of sensory overload. This feeling is why I always recommend that people take one walk all the way around first, then come back for a second, more detailed look. If you only go around once, there’s so much you can miss!

We’re going to break up our visit into manageable chunks. This post will cover the entranceway and the lobby.

If you’re one of the people cheerfully queuing up for our #goodyvouchers, you will have time to notice the presence of the adorably vintage Betsy the coffee truck from RIPE Coffee.

Next, we have a newcomer to our August market, ​Jonny Ocean Trading – Suppliers of World famous Kampot Pepper. Freya will be here again in September, so don’t miss out – pepper and its accoutrements make a great gift for the people who have everything! 

“We are an Ethical Business trading in high quality exotic fine food and that pays the local farmers in developing countries an equitable price for the highest quality and most unique natural products.
​Kampot Pepper is a rare spice, known to be one of the most distinctive in the world; it’s a pepper like you’ve never tasted before, appreciated for its delicacy and sweetness by fine food enthusiasts across the world.”

Find us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/kampotpeppernz/ 

Some lucky people received some of our Goody Vouchers in the lollipop lucky dip – we hope you enjoyed your gifts, treats, or discounts!

As we move into the foyer, we are met with the first group of stalls. On our left, Ken and Richelle from Neko Ngeru, who are currently celebrating finding a location for their Cat Adoption Café – you can help support their efforts here. Ken and Richelle support many cat rescues, including Petone Winter Markets’ chosen charity, Outpawed.

Find out more about us here:
​http://nekongeru.nz/home/

Next to Neko Ngeru, we have Elle from Doodlebum – ​The art, illustrations and melodic doodles of a stay at home mum, with some crafty jewellery and candles thrown in for good measure. True to her name, Elle was doodling 🙂

“I spend most of my spare time creating things, and you will always find me with at least one drawing book and pen case within harms reach!
I started Doodlebum as a hobby business after my daughter was born, but in 2016 I managed to take it to that next level and run it full time! I am proud of what I’ve achieved but there is still a long way to go and many more exciting plans to come over the coming years.

​I create my own colouring books and artwork , soy wax melts and candles and super sparkly nail polish jewellery.“

You can find out more about me and my stall here:
www.facebook.com/doodlebumelle

On the other side of the entrance is Adi from MARTYGIRLskinfood. 

“I handmake 100% natural skincare using foraged weeds & herbs from the roadside then infusing in oils and making hydrosols that are incorporated into all of my products! My products – all 26 of them – are healing, ethical, but funky – and they work! I have named them after geological features of the Wairarapa; Lake Ferry Lady Body silk, Featherston Fox Body Mousse, Longbush Lad SPF face cream!”

Find out more about me and what I make here:
www.martygirl.com
www.facebook.com/MARTYGIRLskinfood

Kim from Coracle Creations is next to Adi, and also comes over from the Wairarapa.

You can find out more about me and my creations here:
@coraclecreations on Instagram
https://www.facebook.com/Letsgetcreating/

The third stall on the right as you enter the foyer, next to Kim, is Nic’s Fudge’n Hell – an ever-changing selection of intriguing and delicious fudge and other sweet treats.

You can find out more about me here:
​https://www.facebook.com/Fudgenhell/ ​

As you move towards the entrance to the main hall, you are presented with a cornucopia of delicious treats from Outpawed, the charity that we are supporting as part of the Petone Winter Markets.

You can find out more about Outpawed here:
www.facebook.com/outpawed/ 
givealittle.co.nz/org/outpawed 
outpawed.co.nz/
www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/cutestuff/86021928/seven-months-after-opening-poriruas-outpawed-trust-set-to-desex-100th-cat

We were lucky enough to have a visit for part of the day from three adorable little kittens, who will be available from Outpawed very soon!

The Copper Catkin stall is also market headquarters, so if you’re looking for Petone Winter Markets tote bag, or the Koha jars for our performers, this is the place to go!

Please don’t forget Koha for our performers – they’re busking, so every dollar counts! Here’s the lovely Willow, taking the jar around.

Copper Catkin is my website, and you can find out more about me and my work on Facebook, too:
www.facebook.com/CopperCatkin
www.facebook.com/CopperCatkinConsulting/

Continue your visit by clicking one of the images below to see more of August’s stallholders.

A year ago, my nephew was turning three, and I was designing an artwork for his wall. People had been asking me for a Kiwiana range recently, and wee Mr. almost-3 was a big fan of robots at the time, so that’s what I made. The number of characters was driven by the letters in his name – and the stripe in the background, as with many of my stripes, is actually derived from a word, written in barcode font. In this case, it’s my nephew’s name.

As anticipated, this ended up being one of my most popular designs. One of my favourite things about NZ is how much we love and value our native flora and fauna. 

One year on, I have this range available in every product line that I make – jewellery, custom-printed fabrics and accessories, colourables, and hand-made craft accessories.

I was scrolling through Facebook last year, as you do, when an amazing photograph of an amazing rock crammed full of fossilised ammonites appeared in my news feed. I just *knew* that I had to draw it! I Googled for inspiration photos, and soon, I had enough to get me started.

It turned out to be quite difficult to replicate the look of the fossil in my simple, flat-colour-and-black-linework style, but it was really satisfying to achieve – and it makes a great fabric design!

Plaids and stripes have always been an important part of my personal design aesthetic, especially when I mix patterns in the same outfit.

I carried my quirky colour scheme into my wedding outfits, too, including designing the invitations, and the fabric for my reception blouse.

​​Stripes came into my fabric designs when my clever husband suggested that I use barcode font to spell ‘Drayer Steampunk Wedding’, which I used to create the stripe that was used as the background for our ‘thank you’ artwork after the event. 

After the concept of the barcode stripe took hold, I used it to design a whole series of stripes, including my signature retro stripe which now decorates my fancy gazebo. 

​I wanted a plaid background for my designs – so I made one, in order to avoid accidentally using an actual tartan.

The Underwater Unexpected collection was the third winner of my ‘inspiration’ competition, just over a year ago. This has been one of my most successful designs EVER, so I thought its anniversary was a good opportunity to talk a little about its origins. 

Some time ago, a friend-of-a-friend was selling her beautiful creations to raise funds to pay vet bills for her bunny. We ended up becoming friends, and I have greatly enjoyed her posts about her bunnies, succulents… and axolotls! So when Beka suggested that I draw axolotls as a fabric design, I knew it was a winner. They’re weird, they’re recognisable, and they’re fun to draw.

As a fabric design, though, they needed something else. Beka began suggesting some really wonderful, bizarre sea creatures – and I got drawing!

During the design process, I decided that I needed to make my own plaid background – and that turned out to be a great decision! The axolotl print remains one of my top sellers, and my biggest ‘wow’ moments for customers. Thanks, Beka! 😀

Back in September 2013, I decided to make a soft-toy shark. I was enjoying my life in my tiny, colourful flat, spending most evenings crafting and watching wonderfully terrible movies (most of which involved sharks), and I had a delicious new nephew for whom to make something cool.

I themed my shark design around Chuck Taylor sneakers – his name is Charlie – so I used some cool sneaker-patterned fabric, and shoelaces for the teeth.

As the design evolved, I realised that it wasn’t actually suitable for a newborn – but it was a great deal of fun to make!

Fast-forward past the launch of Copper Catkin, with fat quarters for sale on my stall, I needed a few soft toys as examples of what you can make with small amounts of fabric – it’s not just for quilting! My shark (and my two soft-toy mudskippers) stepped into the limelight to entertain and amuse.

Not long after the shark began to accompany us regularly to markets, my baby niece arrived. To connect her design to her older brother’s, and because she was born around Christmas, I made her a trifle shark fabric design. I added a sharkstorm element because I was (still) obsessed with Sharknado.

And now, the design is available in fabric, jewellery, custom-printed accessories, and more 🙂

Many of my designs are inspired by our beautiful home up here in the Western Hills, in our own micro-climate, away from the rest of the Hutt Valley. The idea for the ‘meadow’ theme came from all the lovely flora and fauna with which we are surrounded. I also keep being asked to incorporate more reds into my designs, so that drove the inclusion of the amanitae muscariae and the ladybirds. I wandered around the property for some more inspiration, and it came together really nicely.

Meadow is available in all of my product lines – click the link below to shop by this new design!

​I’ve always been a big fan of tentacular creatures – so much so that we used them as inspiration for our wedding table centrepiece.

I also used tentacles to add quirky, steampunky interest to my bouquet.

As with many of my designs, some of the inspiration for this design is the impending birth of a child. One of my (pregnant) friends has always been a big fan of cephalopods, so as research (and entertainment), I began following the regular posts of Octomum, a recently-delivered mother of many at the Island Bay Marine Education Centre.

I used their amazing photographs as inspiration for the range, and gradually, a design came together. 

These pieces will be part of my upcoming colouring books. I continued to use the same images to come up with a couple of fabric designs, too.

The new fabrics have just arrived – we’re pressing, cutting, and folding them this week, and look forward to having them for sale as fat quarters, infinity scarves, and fabric crafts in the near future.

A few months ago, I started making small bags and other items to show what can be done with a single fat quarter. In the process, I developed this simple little design – it fastens in the middle into an adorable little bow, and opens out into a trinket bag.

I developed the design into a larger bow purse, and arranged it so that the smaller bags can even clip onto the larger ones.

The bags can also clip onto a wrist band, which is cute. I’m experimenting with other ideas for using the bags as cute, practical ornaments.