Craft sellers - BEWARE INTERNET SCAM!!!

Last week I received an email via my folksy shop asking me lots of questions about one of my Hemp bags.  

Hello Seller
Am Philips James,I came across your item on Folksy, i will like to buy the item,is it ready for the immediate purchase, before i proceed with the payment i will Like to ask about the item…
1) Is the item still available for sale?
2) What is the present condition of the item?
3) Do you accept PAYPAL as your mode of payment?
4) what is the final asking price?
Kindly get back to me with your reply to my private email
hope to read from you soon.
Best Regards.


All the answers to the questions were clearly laid out on the shop, but I replied with an answer to each one. I then received an email telling me he was working at sea and wanted the bag as a present for his sister and needed my home address, Paypal email address and telephone number and he would send a courier to pick up the item as soon as the payment had gone through.

I then became very suspicious and looked on the Etsy forums to see if this was a scam, and found that this was a very similar email to that other sellers had received.

I contacted Folksy and they said they would suspend his account and this was not the only case to be reported. So if you get an order which follows the same or a similar pattern it would best to ignore it and report it as spam to your email provider. PLEASE DON'T GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION

So Sellers BEWARE!

Sashiko on Hemp canvas

I dyed this Hemp Canvas last week, and I couldn't be more pleased with the colour. It's a beautiful violet shade, but I'm having trouble coming up with the right name to call it on my shop which really describes it. (any suggestions would be welcome).

This is the first item which I have decorated with my new found passion Sashiko embroidery, which originates from Northern Japan and is pronounced 'sash(i)ko, it means 'little stab'. It was originally used for adding strength and warmth to recycled clothes household goods and work clothes.

 It was a craft handed down from mother to daughter in farming and fishing communities and has seen a revival in popularity in recent years. Sashiko can be used as I have here as on stand alone piece, or can be used as part of an intricate repeated pattern.

I can't wait to get on with next design.