If so-- dish!
Looking about I see that I can get table space around here cheap. Only I don’t think I’d ever be ready for a thing like that. Money, inventory, packaging, display. . . it seems overwhelming.
If you’ve done it, please tell me what the experience was like.
Since I’m sure some will ask, I make jewelry and boxes.
Yes. It is a pain. It’s kind-of worth it, though, eventually. I don’t have time to go into this right now, but I’m posting anyway to subscribe so I’ll remember to come back to this thread. I’m a watercolor artist, so it’s not going to be the exact same experience, but I’ll share.
Yep, I’ve done it - I’ve sold stained glass with my dad, and jewelry on my own. It was about… 30-35 years ago, so I’m not sure if that experience applies today.
Not at a craft show, per se, but I have sold crafts at dog shows many times, renting a booth, etc. Never really made enough money at them to recover expenses of booth rental, travelk, motel, etc so have pretty much given it up.
It WAS fun tho, talking to all the people browsing. Wish it had panned out.
I’ve done a few craft shows with my ceramics, and my success varied wildly.
I have one of those 10X10 canopies and I made some shelf units to display my wares. I took a lot of plastic grocery bags to wrap and bag what I sold. And I found more people would stop and chat if I was actually making something, although that made it hard for me to conduct sales, what with messy clay-covered hands.
It seems the best way to display your offerings is with a contrasting solid-colored background, arranged so that everything is accessible. Avoid putting anything below waist level or above eye level. And if you can wear your money, either in an apron pocket or a fanny pack, you’re less likely to set it where it’s easily pilferable.
I always had a chair and a cooler with ice and beverages for creature comforts. And the days when I didn’t sell much seemed to stretch out forever…
My mom did craft shows for years but gave up after it seemed like 90% of the vendors were reselling stuff. Expect a lot of comments of ‘I could get that at Walmart for half as much’ and ‘why are you so expensive’. There are a lot of people who don’t appreciate handmade items and can’t tell how much work you put in.
Which experience? I’ve been to some really well-run shows and some that were absolute shambles, some where I sold a lot and some where I didn’t even cover my booth rent, some that were indoors and some that were outdoors, some that were restricted to actual crafters and artists and others that were open to flea market type stuff.
I hated the flea-market type shows. Hated them. I make purses from my own original designs, and it seems like I always wound up a couple booths away from someone selling fake designer purses on one side and someone selling bags they’d sewn from a Simplicity pattern from licensed character fabrics on the other side, both of which are patently illegal. And that sort of show/festival tends to draw the “I could get that at Walmart” crowd in droves–they’d come into my booth carrying a fake Gucci they’d just paid $60 for and snort about how my $30-$40 bags were overpriced.
But as far as what you need to do a show, it’s less stuff than you’d really think. You need a little nail apron or similar for your money/change, some folding tables if tables aren’t provided, a sheet or something to use as a table drape, a canopy if you’re outdoors, a receipt book to keep track of your sales, and a chair and a cooler.