This past weekend I participated in my first craft fair! I shared a booth with my friend, Lori. She makes some awesome pottery, which you should check out.
See? Cool pottery.
Here’s our full booth set-up, with Anthony modeling for you. Doesn’t he look excited?
Anthony was a huge help, carrying things for us and bringing us spiked coffee.
There were a bunch of great crafters/artists there. Not all of the photos turned out well, so I’m not posting every booth, but here are a few!
This food truck had tasty fries!
There was music all night, by bands I’ve never heard of. Was pretty cool though.
And yes, it was mostly hipsters.
I had a really good time hanging out with Lori and drinking spiked coffee and Jagerbombs.
We didn’t sell anything. Really. I sold two magnets and a button, and Lori was given $10 by a really drunk man so she gave him one of her ceramic birds. That was pretty disappointing, but I still had a good time (coffee + alcohol + Lori + me = Fun). I don’t know if I’ll do another craft show or not. I have a ton of stock now, but since I didn’t even make back my half of the booth fee I’m not too encouraged to try again. On the other hand, since no one was doing well sales-wise, maybe it just wasn’t a good venue for handmade goods. Everyone was there for the music (and had to pay to get in to hear the bands) so I don’t think they were coming in to shop.
Here is the lineup of all the artists, you should visit them!
Bebito – Body Eclectic Skin Care – Cachet Hoops – Davidson Handmade – Eef Ink – Fanfare and Foofaraw – Fox of the Grotto – Green Illuminations – LiLa Noir – Lindenlime – LuxieDaisy – Mocha Tree Organics - Pam Wishbow Illustration – Quilty Therapy – Retro Cafe Art Gallery – Specifically Random – Stefanie Dean – Sunday Afternoon Housewife
Oh wow.. that sounds quite disappointing. I have done a few shows, including many new ones this year, and they are a roller coaster. When I first started – maybe the economy was better – I did great. I sold out for 2 or 3 years. Then things started slowing down. Of course, I did raise my prices, so that may have prevented some people from buying more than one item. But I have tried other venues and haven’t done as well. This year was terrible! I mean, the whole year. The last “fiber” show I did I had maybe 2 or 3 sales. Total bust. I won’t be doing that one again. Sometimes you can tell that it’s not the place for you, and you don’t go back. But I wouldn’t give up entirely. Try again somewhere else. Unless you’re some “celebrity” cult star who won the personality contest, it’s hard. But I’m going to continue soldiering on and you should too. Yeah! And everything there looks great! Sounds like it was a “nice” idea to have music and shopping, but it didn’t quite work out. bummer.
Gwen recently posted..apple castle
yeah, it seemed like a great idea, but then thinking about it, would someone really want to buy something and then drag it around a concert? probably not. especially if they’re like me, and getting into the concert+food+drinks is all that i would be able to afford!
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Sorry I took such crappy photos! Clearly I’m not a photographer! I’m sorry your first time out was so disappointing. I often wonder whether it’s the economy making sales bad when I do poorly, or if the market for handmade goods is just over saturated now, since this has become the hip thing. Oh well. We did have an awesome time, and it was well worth it to sit and drink and hang out together:D If you ever decide you’d like to try again, you might apply for Bloomington Handmade. Everyone seems to do well there, and they have another show in the spring. Then again, craft fairs might just not be for you. They are a lot of work, and the profit is pretty unpredictable. Whatever you decide, I’m glad you did this one with me! And your set up looked fantastic:)
15paintedcups recently posted..A Spoon with a View
i think my flash just didn’t work on some of the shots? and i think i had it set on landscape or something, and not for poor-lighting. i could probably have lightened the photos up, but i was too lazy… i’m pretty lazy. i also didn’t want to have 384723948732 photos in this post, so i just chose a few anyhow.
eh, the sales were disappointing, but i still had a lot of fun! maybe i’ll try another one eventually. as long as the booth fee isn’t much, it’s not a terrible risk. and if there’s a bar next to my booth and someone to chat with every time, i’ll be set. =]
somehow i doubt there will be a bar next to my booth though… that was just a convenient fluke.
eef recently posted..handmade promenade
Oh man, if there was a bar right next to my booth at every craft fair, I’d never make a dime, but I’d be happy! That was a pretty good fluke:D
15paintedcups recently posted..Handmade Promenade recap
That’s too bad that you didn’t make any profit. It’s quite disappointing, I know. I remember the first craft fair that I participated in. I felt the same as you.
But look at the bright side. You’ve tried it, you can improve, you’ve met other fellow crafters, you’ve had fun, it’s not so bad after all. Don’t let it bring you down and surely you should participate again in a craft fair. But maybe you should do a better research about it first.
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Yeah, I think I just need to find the right fair… No one was selling much of anything, so it wasn’t just me! Maybe next time will be better!
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