Here's what I enjoyed about it:
*I met a bunch of really great people, both extremely talented and very nice. Luckily the two ladies I sat between were fun to spend 7 hours of my day with.
*I sold 5 items (including one custom order), which was enough for me to break even after purchasing a scarf, a gift for someone, and the cost to participate in the fair itself.
*I got a lot of really nice compliments from everyone who visited my table, telling me my stuff is really pretty and very cool. A lot of them also took my business cards.
*I have very nice friends who took time out of their days to come say hello, to support me and keep me company for a little bit.
*I now know the experience of craft-fairing.
Here's what I didn't really enjoy about it:
*I was sitting by the door and was FREEZING all day, even in a North Face jacket (thank goodness I brought it!) and a scarf - one of the items I purchased out of necessity. I'm wearing it again today - it's a pretty great scarf and I totally don't regret buying it. But still. It took an incredibly long, incredibly warm shower to make me feel like a human again.
*While I got all those compliments on my stuff, those people didn't buy anything. And even though I had 5 sales, I only had 5 sales, which was frustrating. Though let's be honest, I could have had none. So it's better than nothing, it just made me a little discouraged.
*There wasn't much traffic. There were a lot of amazing tables of stuff and I actually feel bad for most people who were there because I don't think they had crazy success either.
All in all, it was a good experience and I'm glad I did it. Heather, the Etsy seller who put on the event, did a great job and I hope they made a lot of money for their missions trips. I'm glad she contacted me on Etsy and I'm glad she liked my stuff enough to invite me to participate. It's just something I'd have to do a bit of thinking about before I tried it again. Maybe next time I'll check to see if it's a place that gets a lot of traffic and/or is on a bit of a bigger scale. And you know, if I get asked to do this same one again next year I'd probably do it because it's for a good cause and everyone was so nice.
My set-up. I didn't have a fancy banner or anything - but I did have cute bags and tissue paper to give to those who bought stuff. :)
One side of the table.
The other side of the table.
Now I just need to figure out how to peddle the rest of the stuff I made. :)
Kelly, your mosaics look wonderful! I also had only 5 sales from the most recent craft fair. How much were your items? I had things ranging from $10 all the way up to $240, and it was the lower end items that sold. My next event in two weeks will probably be a repeat of this past weekend's experience, but the one after that is higher end and more geared to art than crafts, so we'll see. This is the year of experimenting for me to see what works and what doesn't. If you don't try, you'll never know!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tina! My items ranged anywhere from $10 to $75. The most expensive thing I sold was $23. People made lots of comments on the vases, but no one picked them up like they did the smaller items. I guess I'll just have to make a ton more of those even though they don't make as much money in one fell swoop! Good luck with your next few fairs!
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