Craft fair fayre.

[stevebuk]

hi jt
i think the stall looks absolutely amazing, and to say there is nothing there to attract attention is wrong, there is loads there.
So you didn't get rich today, so what , did you enjoy it? of course you did
put it down to experience and now you already have idea's for the next one, good on you. =D> =D> =D>

dont take to heart things that soulfly said, we wont always get good remarks, but hey at least it grabbed his attention long enough to say something eh!.

come on soulfly, with al the years you have been doing it (alledgedly) you must have something to show us..

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi JT,

Well done for getting out there. I must say that I've never had much success at craft fairs I think the best I did was about £75. What I did however was have a good day out with my mates as they were all with my woodturning club so it really depends on your view point as to how successful it was.

The important things are: Did you enjoy it? and Did you learn anything? If you come away with 2 yes's then it was worth going.

Keep up the good work

Richard

 

[Bodrighy]

I find that it is also good for the ego as most of the punters don't turn so don't notice all the little faults that are glaringly obvious to you and think you are really marvellous even thoug you may not think so. :lol:

Pete

 

[Scrums]

Definitely a bit of a Car boot effect, no reflection on the quality of the ware for sale - purely the first impression, for me and for the punters and those awful dayglo star thingies - lose them!

Here's a couple (or three, or four) piccy's of some I've done recently....

Country Fest, Kendal - Marquee

Myerscough Agricultural College - outside, we've got the nasty extra table cover sorted now....

Slaidburn Steam Rally -Village Hall, made money, but a total waste of time !

Wray Scarecrow Festival - peed down all the way through - covered the rent + 30 quid (...note psycho border collie in van)

Looking more closely at those, we're still a bit of a jumble sale - but getting better, thing is, keep on looking at your stall, keep on improving it and keep on learning.....


Chris.

 

[johnny.t.]

Thanks to all of you and your positive words, we did just kind of throw it all together.

Chris, thanks for those pics of yours, the first one looks particulaly good. I definitely need some shelving. Your light pull stand looks great, it kind of makes you want to look along the rows at them. Looking back at mine I think we were a bit bowly looking(too many bowls and bowl type things). The sign is a nice touch too, makes you look 'proper'.
Can I ask you how you get on selling the clocks? I've just bought some parts to make some funnily enough, with a view to it being something to catch peoples eye, something thats not a bowl...

Cheers JT

 

[Scrums]

Clocks don't do an awful lot, but they're so cheap and quick to make, They attract quite a lot of attention and I'll usually sell one or two at bigger shows - priced between £18 - £23. I find the waney/natural edge ones go best.

Chris.

 

[johnny.t.]

Thanks Chris 8)

 

[wizer]

There you go, that's the way to do it. Now you just need to find out where Chris goes and undercut him :lol:

 

[jpt]

HI

Craft fairs can be hard work, frustrating and cost money, but usually I find them hard work, fun, a good day out and you can make money at them.

Even the ones you make a loss at are good for experience, even if it is only that you wont do that one again.

Belwo are pictures of what my stand has evolved into over the years, it works for me anyway. The one thing that made the biggest change was adding lights, I now wont do one unless power is available, even at some of the silly prices they charge for it at times.

john

 

[user 5053]

I would say the Works -in -Wood has the right idea and has put some thought and effort into his display. Nicely laid out, good sign, attractive products. I'm not mad on the idea of awnings and tents to sell from. It is always worth investing in a proper stall. As for craft fairs, they always struggle to get punters through the gates, you always get the cowboys selling bought in goods even in the well vetted ones and mostly they only want people in marquees where the is very little space. Don't forget there are lots of different shows, We have sold at music festivals, county shows, street craft markets, garden shows and as long as the weather is ok and there are enough people we have done pretty well. The Showmans directory is very good and lists most shows of all types in the uk and also the craftsman magazine lists all the craft shows . It is a learning process and as long as you keep learning on every one you can succeed. Of course more and more business is done online these days and that is a whole new ball game and I'm sure we will discuss this at a later date.

 

[Paul.J]

Did you all start out the same as JT though :?:
I#m sure as he goes on he will get better at displaying his goods,as you all have.

 

[Bodrighy]

Looking at Chris's and John's displays the one thing that strikes me is the wide variety of things on view. Chris I noticed has flat work as well while John has the smaller pieces but larger presumanly more expensive things as well. Judging from the Royal Cornwall I did recently with the club, the bigger fancier things arfe crowd pullers and if your lucky you might sell one or tweo but the bread and butter was with things like light pulls, pens and smaller items. It also shows the variety of skills available and several of us got commissions from the sale.
Pete

 

[johnny.t.]

John, I notice a digital frame on your stand, care to elaborate?

JT

 

[wizer]

Is it me, or are you both called John Taylor ?

 

[johnny.t.]

No I'm called Johnny :lol:, well Jonathan but only my mum ever calls me that :lol: :lol:

 

[big soft moose]

For once I don;t actually disagree with you Soulfly. Except the barmy bit about taking card payments. :roll:

However, I think you should put up or shut up. Are you just a back seat driver or are you Dave Regester in disguise ??? Come on, be a MAN

Taking card payments is a total non starter (have you any idea how much one of those hand held chip and pin terminals costs soulfly - not to mention the service to run it . gone are the days when you could just do a manual imprest (though actually even that wasnt econoimc for part time traders)

and talking rubbish like that shows me that in fact you havent done a craftfair in a long time (if ever) , so as we said before put up or shut up - and if you cant say anything nice dont say anything.

Leaving the rubbish talked by our resident troll aside JT in my view the quality of your turning is not in question so if you can get people to come over to your stand your ought to be in buisness , put that said the layout and presentation could be a bit better.

a) lose the hand written signs and especially those nasty stars - signs should be done on a computer in at least 24pt and then laminated (copy shops will do that for you for a small fee)

b) think about a two level display to give your stand presence - this doesnt need to be fancy - you coud just knock up a couple of low shelves out of MDF or even just stick some cardboard boxes under the table cloth.

c) If you have a brand / name of buisness think about either getting a banner done (thats not expensive now) or at least making up a sign to say who you are (again on the computer)

and lastly

d) i'm not a big fan of the mud brown table cloth - dark blue or dark green might show your wares off to better effect - and table cloths are dead cheap these days.

 

[Bodrighy]

[

d) i'm not a big fan of the mud brown table cloth - dark blue or dark green might show your wares off to better effect - and table cloths are dead cheap these days.

I haven't done many fairs / sales as I sell mostly via the net but when I have done them I use an old pair of blue velvet curtans that SWMBO tarted up for me. No pics I'm afraid but it sets the pieces off well and was free.

Pete

 

[johnny.t.]

:lol: The joys of digital cameras eh? The table cloth is black!!! I wouldn't buy one thats s**t brown :lol: :lol:

 

[big soft moose]

:lol: The joys of digital cameras eh? The table cloth is black!!! I wouldn't buy one thats s**t brown :lol: :lol:

fair enuf - one other point on the cloth is that it could do with being a bit longer - mine is virtually floor length on the front which enables you to stash boxes, bags, etc on the floor underneath without them being unsightly.

3 other points that come to mind are

1) try to get/make some stands for your platters - you've got them displayed lying down which doesnt show them off to best effect - having them standing up also gives your stand more impact at a distance

2) if you've got swimbo with you (at the risk of being genralising wildly in a sexist manner) you could also invest in some cheap but nice ribbon and wrapping paper and offer a free wrapping service ( I did that in the run up to xmas 2 years back (tho actually i had my mummy in tow not swimbo) and it significantly upped my sales , particularly those to blokes buying gifts for their swimbos

3) Without giving credence to any of trollflys flipping nonsense you could do with one or two "signature pieces" to attract interest from a distance - your work is very nice but it doesnt have a lot of impact except up close - a couple of big platters , or wallhangings, or hollow forms or whatever have the potential to catch the punters eye accros the room and draw them to your stand (tho they are very unlikely to purchase the big bits once there you may sell them something smaller)

 

[jpt]

As Paul said things evolve and you learn as you go along. The first show I did was with the club and it looked like this. At the time we thought it looked good.




The raised portion along the back of the stand in the previous pictures is made up of 4 boxes which when packed fit inside each other for easy storage. They also give you somewhere to put things like the cash box, spare stock etc.

I used to take a lathe along and demo at a lot of shows which attracted a lot of attention. But the arthritis etc has caught up with me and I no longer do that. Instead I have the photo frame with WIP pictures showing which also attracts attention.

As Pete said I do a wide range of things from small £1 light pulls right up to large bowls etc. I keep a record of everything I sell and the smaller stuff pays for the stall etc.

I have been at shows with other turners who have mainly one type of thing such as bowls or large hollow forms and have come away from the show not even covering stand costs whereas I made a good profit having sold one or two of lots of different items.

I would much rather just make what I want to but I need to earn money from doing it so the market drives what I make, luckily I enjoy turning, even a batch of a 100 light pulls.

john