First craft fair

[Chicken lady]

25 years ago I was doing pottery regularly and had small but nice pottery sales at an annual art show in Baltimore. Then we moved west, i spent 20 years focused on my family, and pottery became something I did rarely and only for myself, gifts, and later as a teacher (this is my 7th year teaching)

Now that my kids are out of the house I am working at getting back into the pottery - fixing up my home studio, taking a few classes, teaching a little more... I placed my first work in a local store in October.

One of the goals I had set myself for this year was to participate in a craft fair or show, but I hadn't been able to get my act together. This morning - nudged hard by my older daughter - I signed up for the last table in the holiday bazaar at the studio where I buy class supplies. It's a small display space, but it's only $15 (and 20% of sales) and they take care of sales tax, ccs etc. it's two days the weekend before thanksgiving and seemed like a good chance to get my feet wet again.

Now I'm very excited and nervous. What if I don't get enough work finished? What if I don't sell anything? What if I bring too much/not enough? What if my display looks unprofessional or out of place? What if I'm completely out of my league (or mind)?....


Anybody do this and have any tips? (remember I don't have to handle the money part, payment is single point.)

[Gardenarian]

Congratulations! That took a lot of guts, and I think it's great.

My sister is started doing watercolors several years ago, and even though she considered herself an amateur, she signed up for some craft fairs. There was definitely a learning curve, but it has been a great experience for her. She has met many other artists and received lots of positive and useful feedback. This summer she partnered with another painter, so they take turns minding their booth (and split space fee as well.)

Maybe your older daughter could go with you the first day to help you set up and give some moral support?

[SiouzQ.]

Good luck and have fun!

[lessisbest]

Craft fairs are hard work, long hours, and LOTS of travel, so I wish you the very best.

I would suggest you also try to consign your wares in shops. Our local museum has a store that sells primarily Kansas-made items, including a wide selection of hand-crafted items, lots of local artists works - all on consignment. This was a win-win because the museum store wasn't out a lot of money for stock, but most of it was quickly sold to visitors.

Do you happen to make a chip/dip platter (a large platter with a bowl in the middle)? I would launch a group of those for New Year's Eve, the Super Bowl, any theme you can think of. Have you ever made Santa Cookie Plates?

There is a quaint tea shop in a small town not far from here and they carry a line of tea-related items, including handmade pottery - cups, saucers, mugs, teapots, tea canisters, tea strainers, tea bag holders, sugar bowls, creamers....

[Chicken lady]

I enjoy attending craft fairs and used to love working the farmer's market (but the profit was small and dh resented giving up every Saturday) so I think it will be a good fit if a carefully choose no more than half a dozen a year (starting with one - lol!). I'm in an area where it would be easy to do that without driving more than an hour.

I do have some work in a nearby store (only for the last two and a half weeks) that carries local artists/craftspeople, but they also keep 40% of the selling price, so I have to price my stuff higher than I would like.

In general I have no interest in making mass-produced looking themed stuff, or, as my friend puts it - why compete with Walmart? Most of what I make is unique and clearly handmade, although I do have a line of hair clips and leaf dishes that I am making to fill out the low end - because that's what sells easily and pays for your effort when nobody happens by who both wants and feels they can afford the really great mixing bowl or baking dish. One thing i have learned is always have something for $5 or less.

I know people like chip and dips, but they are hard to wash and I don't, so I don't make them. People also like mugs and I do make those, although the handles cut into your hourly pay. Bowls are faster and sell for more when you sell them.

[Float On]

To get your feet wet again this is a perfect way to do it.
How are you displaying? Tables can be easily raised by sliding pcp pipe on the legs. You want things higher not lower. Use this as a weekend to take notes. Don't sit in a low chair. Take a stool to get you up to eye level with people. Be engaging and friendly. Have a business card or post card with an image of your work and hand them out. We always got follow up calls because our cards reminded them of the work they saw. (vistaprint has good deals and fast turn around time).

[Float On]

I do have some work in a nearby store (only for the last two and a half weeks) that carries local artists/craftspeople, but they also keep 40% of the selling price, so I have to price my stuff higher than I would like.




Artist problem #1. Not knowing how to price their work. You have to figure your wholesale price first. One of our biggest pet peeves is all the kids coming out of college art programs don't take a single business class.

[Chicken lady]

Oh, I think I know how to price my work, it's just that I don't think that what someone should Have to pay is 40% more than what I should get, so I take about a 10% cut, which I can live with, and feel like I'm overcharging.

The one this weekend will actually have us circulating, not sitting behind our work. The way it is set up is on waist high wide counters and you add shelving. Extra storage underneath. Pay at the regular cash register in the studio and they pay out after the show. I can price stuff at a level I think is fair because they only take 20% (plus my $15). And I enjoy and learn fom the time at the sale, so I don't count that against my hourly (I'd gladly pay $15 to spend two days at a gathering of artists showing work related to mine, OR doing covert marketing research)

My kid is still working on my business card design. (free, professional, fast, pick two...)

[Chicken lady]

Here is the thing that frustrates me about consignment pricing - say I make a thing, and I think I should get $10. The store doesn't just add 40% for their share, ($14) they take 40% of my sale price, so at $16 I get only $9.60, and the store gets $6.40 (2/3 of what i get)and I think the customer over pays. If I sell the same item at the studio fair for $13 I get $10.40, the studio gets $2.60 (1/4 of what I get) and the customer gets a good price.

[mschrisgo2]

Here's to a successful sale and an encouraging experience!

[Williamsmith]

Is there anyplace we can see photos of your pottery?

[Chicken lady]

Not yet, although my girls are supposed to put up a couple of facebook pictures before the show.

[Chicken lady]

Not about the show, but I sold two pieces at the little store! It's a little store, and my work has only been there three weeks. I took her two different pieces today and she asked for some other things.

I'm doing a research trip to a big local craft show on the 7th.

[mschrisgo2]

Congratulations on your sales!

[Chicken lady]

So today I went to the craft fair. Dh went with me even though he doesn't like craft fairs. And we bought a gorgeous, underpriced wooden rolling pin and rack from a veteran for dd1 for christmas, and a pair of very warm "repurposed" felted wool and fleece gloves for dd2 who goes to college in a cold and windy place.

I decided I need to put my "clearance" pots midlevel in front of a much larger and nicer piece - and only put a few out at a time with a regular but low tag - rather than having a "clearance" bin or shelf. That if it isn't worth $5 it isn't worth bothering with - except my hippos which are my eye catcher and will be either $4 or $4.50 (under $5 with tax).

Nothing more than 3 deep, odd numbers, small things in groupings, large things seperated by the small ones. Stand. Make eye contact. Talk to people. Hand out sincere compliments. Engage somebody in your booth zone because if you are talking to someone, other people come in and look. If you are alone, they keep their distance.

Also I stole a coupe of product ideas. (not in the "I'm going to reproduce that" sense) All art is derivative - when I get done with them, the original artist won't know I stole them.

And I stole the design for a barrette display.

[Tammy]

I agree about talking to others and not just watching the people ... I don't like approaching a booth when the artist/vendor watches my every move. It just feels weird.

[iris lilies]

Your observation about Customers being hesitant to approach vendors who are alone in their booths is interesting. for me that's not true, if the pieces interest me I go in, if they don't interest me, I don't. But certainly if there is a crowd in the booth it makes me wonder about the buzz.

I wish you well. In a recent month I spent $335 on ceramics from craftsmen. The first was a slab container for floral arrangements. I kinda want to get into slab work myself to make a few shapes for floral design.

The other vase was from a vendor I've watched for 3 years, so I let myself just go for it and buy one of his pieces. It is brightly colored and I can visualize tropicals in it.

I do do floral arrangements as part of a garden club and I compete in flower shows, so the container is key. Judges always like handmade pieces.

[sweetana3]

I went to a huge (200+ booths) craft fair yesterday. We actually stopped and talked with three vendors who were alone because it felt "friendly" in the booth. Mostly it was because they smiled, said something, were friendly and could carry on a conversation that did not sound like desperation. One man drove us away by coming up and loudly talking about the product and making it hard to walk away. He just sounded desperate to sell. Problem with this show is that it was not all handmade. Quite a bit of "Chinese" imports. But the handmade stood out.

I am always looking for recycled projects and an original product. The best vendor, in my opinion, had wood jewelry that had tiny inset pieces of turquoise. He had used the grain of the wood to create a subtle scene.

[Chicken lady]

The wood jewelry sounds neat.

I also got the idea for dh Christmas gift yesterday. Someone had made a tray with polished pebbles and then two stacked rocks with a hole drilled through them and an oil lamp in the hole. I would have just bought it (for his meditation table) but the tray that looked like wood turned out to be plastic. And flimsy plastic too! Bad corner to cut. So he will get rocks from the creek bed and polished stones from the beach I spent my summers on as a kid. I just need a wooden tray, an oil lamp, and someone who can drill a hole in a rock. I may throw the oil lamp instead of buying glass.

I came home very inspired yesterday and made three large bowls, two medium sized bowls, and 18 hippos and wedged 30 lbs of clay into balls ready for throwing today.

Most of my work is barrel fired or horsehair/feather so the pieces are very stark, earth tones, black, and neutral. The hippos are 2.5 inches long and will be glazed in many bright colors and scattered around the display as a counterpoint to the more formal work. I'll also have a midsized dishwasher safe bowl on offer, a small rack of barrettes (there are kid activities advertised heavily) and another small rack of Christmas ornaments - both racks at one end.

I am actually bad at "selling". I end up talking about the things that stand out. Pottery doesn't stand out at a pottery fair. Bet I give somebody my number so they can get a goat kid for 4h in the spring before this thing is over. Probably from someone I know who has a different breed instead of from me. That is how it usually goes with the goats. I start out trying sell goats and end up finding customers or my welder or hay supplier.

But my welder's mom is handing out craft fair post cards like crazy, (mostly to flower show people!) so it all works out....

[Mary B.]

Chicken lady, your display sounds fabulous. I found myself smiling at the very idea of bright-coloured hippos wandering through an array of earth-toned bowls.

Have you told us why you came up with hippos? Such a surprising animal to feature!

[Chicken lady]

I teach children, and one of the projects we did was little animal cracker style animals, and I just found my fingers wandering around my hippo making him fat, and eventually I glazed him pink and he usually sits on my desk and the kids love him. I brought him home one day and my older daughter came by and saw him amidst all the junk on my counter and said "oh! A tiny hippo!" and I thought - there is my eye catcher....

[Chicken lady]

And Mary b. this is the thing that happens. Someone will say "why hippos?" I'll explain, I'll start talking about where I teach, they will buy nothing and enroll their kid in Susie's drama program....

[iris lilies]

The wood jewelry sounds neat.

I also got the idea for dh Christmas gift yesterday. Someone had made a tray with polished pebbles and then two stacked rocks with a hole drilled through them and an oil lamp in the hole. I would have just bought it (for his meditation table) but the tray that looked like wood turned out to be plastic. And flimsy plastic too! Bad corner to cut. So he will get rocks from the creek bed and polished stones from the beach I spent my summers on as a kid. I just need a wooden tray, an oil lamp, and someone who can drill a hole in a rock. I may throw the oil lamp instead of buying glass.

I came home very inspired yesterday and made three large bowls, two medium sized bowls, and 18 hippos and wedged 30 lbs of clay into balls ready for throwing today.

Most of my work is barrel fired or horsehair/feather so the pieces are very stark, earth tones, black, and neutral. The hippos are 2.5 inches long and will be glazed in many bright colors and scattered around the display as a counterpoint to the more formal work. I'll also have a midsized dishwasher safe bowl on offer, a small rack of barrettes (there are kid activities advertised heavily) and another small rack of Christmas ornaments - both racks at one end.

I am actually bad at "selling". I end up talking about the things that stand out. Pottery doesn't stand out at a pottery fair. Bet I give somebody my number so they can get a goat kid for 4h in the spring before this thing is over. Probably from someone I know who has a different breed instead of from me. That is how it usually goes with the goats. I start out trying sell goats and end up finding customers or my welder or hay supplier.

But my welder's mom is handing out craft fair post cards like crazy, (mostly to flower show people!) so it all works out....

ou heck yeah, iron work is popular with us arrangers. I've had DH make one piece for me already, and will be asking him to weld a couple more this winter.

[Mary B.]

And Mary b. this is the thing that happens. Someone will say "why hippos?" I'll explain, I'll start talking about where I teach, they will buy nothing and enroll their kid in Susie's drama program....

LOL! I can see that this might happen! I hope the parents who arrive to check out the drama program end up seeking hippos!

[beckyliz]

And now I need a ceramic hippo.

[Chicken lady]

So, day one, $104 gross ($79.20 after commission)

Sold 6 hippos and some other things. Mostly small, one $30 piece.

Got complimented on one of my pieces by the studio owner, lots of good conversations, learned some more about types of clay, have been coveting a piece my teacher made (he's diagonally across the way and I get to stare at it.)

My display is probably about median level quality, so I feel good about that.

I had it prepped and photographed so I could reset it up when I arrived, and there were good surprises last night which caused me to re-plan and then scramble to finish setting up this morning because I had left some staging gear at home thinking I couldn't use it - moral: take everything.

Tomorrow the bazaar runs 11-5 and then we're done. Another $50 in sales would make me pretty happy. I worked the children's activities from 1-2 today and will do it again tomorrow- completing all my work commitments and earning a "free" box of clay which is basically my booth fee back.

I know some of the flower show people are coming tomorrow.

[Gardenarian]

Sounds like a success! Congrats!

[Chicken lady]

It went well!

About another $80 in gross sales today, giving me almost that much in total profit with some materials and ware left over, plus my display stands are paid for.

I stayed to help a few other people clean up when I was done and one of them gave me a nice bowl that he didn't like the way the glaze turned out on. It's not perfect, but i think it's pretty.

[mschrisgo2]

I'm glad you are pleased with your success! Here's to more successful endeavors, when you are ready.

[Chicken lady]

I took a bunch of stuff to the store where I consign today. She really liked mat of it and was pleased to have it all. She said I sold two more things in November, so I will have another $20+ check coming dec 5!

[mschrisgo2]

Wonderful!

I miss the little consignment store we used to have there that sold all kinds of household stuff. We still have furniture consignment, and very expensive designer clothes, but I don't have or need either of those.