Craft show rubbish

[Stanleymonkey]

This might be considered a hijack of the thread or a tangent at the very least...

Not craft fairs as such but school fairs. I wish someone would start producing cheap wooden computer cut stuff for schools and PTAs. Some sort of line of toys, gifts, tat. The plastic waste from all those carpy little toys does my head in. Most of it broken and binned within a day or two and destined for landfill.

Moan over - but maybe some little key tags, games, wooden cars wood be an improvement and less harmful to the environment.

Off for a nap now!

 

[powertools]

I think that you will find that it is a potential customer who will decide if items for sale are rubbish or not

 

[Claymore]

£12? ... you probably bought a copy.

Nope it was 4 year old so not the most up to date but does everything i need, it was genuine CD Rom with code.

 

[transatlantic]

£12? ... you probably bought a copy.

Nope it was 4 year old so not the most up to date but does everything i need, it was genuine CD Rom with code.

Bargain then

Sent from my SM-J510FN using Tapatalk

 

[donwatson]

@claymore, Brian is there a reason you use/bought Adobe Illustrator rather than a free programme like Inkscape ?? or should I direct this question at Phill ??

take care
Don W

 

[Claymore]

Hi Don,
Only reason I went for Illustrator software was because Phill used it to design his patterns and I wanted to make patterns with very fine lines as it improved the IQ of my Intarsias, Phill is a proper computer whizz kid and designs websites etc so he posted some instructions on here and then he helped me achieve what i wanted to so now i can make a pattern off anything...yes its quite complex at first but you soon get used to the software and also you don't need to learn the whole programme just the bits that you need. I used to use Coreldraw for 18 years but couldn't justify paying £600 for software so bought the used Illustrator disc and it works great......mainly trial and error but ya get there in the end. Phill also does some stunning digital art a real clever sod lol.
Cheers
Brian

 

[Claymore]

ps another reason i went for the older Illustrator software is you can get a thick instruction book which helps while learning what all the settings do, most of the free software don't do books although i did see a book on Inkscape a while back.

 

[Keith 66]

A few years ago i had a stand at a Cigar box guitar festival, there were about 15 exhibitors who all had some really good well made guitars for sale.
Unfortunately some blokes from Glasgow turned up with a stand full of stuff made in a council & charity funded workshop, they sold out their entire stock of finished guitars cheaper than the rest of us could buy the parts on their own. The worst thing was they were not even good quality. This effectively killed the show dead for the rest of us & only a few of us were lucky enough to sell anything at all.
I was asked if i wanted to attend the following year & on finding out that the same lot were going again this time with a tv crew to film their antics didnt bother!

 

[donwatson]

Thanks Brian,
I may have a look on ebay for Adobe Illustrator but I am having some problems with Inkscape at the moment so it may be some time before I get round to it.
I think I remember Phill doing an explanation on here but without Illustrator it was a nono.

Don W

 

[Claymore]

Here's one off Ebay with CS2 and Illustrator ok no on a disk but you download it and install on your computer then buy a book on Amazon for it, buy a used book and you could be up and running for £15 not bad? also don't worry about updating the software as the older software will work on anything with windows 8 upwards may even work on windows 7. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adobe-CS2-Ph ... Sw-0ddZUck

 

[Claymore]

A few years ago i had a stand at a Cigar box guitar festival, there were about 15 exhibitors who all had some really good well made guitars for sale.
Unfortunately some blokes from Glasgow turned up with a stand full of stuff made in a council & charity funded workshop, they sold out their entire stock of finished guitars cheaper than the rest of us could buy the parts on their own. The worst thing was they were not even good quality. This effectively killed the show dead for the rest of us & only a few of us were lucky enough to sell anything at all.
I was asked if i wanted to attend the following year & on finding out that the same lot were going again this time with a tv crew to film their antics didnt bother!

In the last 12 months some of the places where i used to buy cheap knackered tables etc have started having day clubs where a few women go there and they are painting all the Oak tables and furniture in pastel paint and then trying to sell them in the charity shop, I have always paid the charity shops the full price even when they are knackered and scratched as once its been through my planer/thicknesser its new wood for my projects,,,,,they are actually ruining good furniture by painting it....so now I advertise for any old tables in a local shop window and have bought many Priory Oak tables and cabinets. I bought one Priory sold Oak table for £40 it was badly scratched etc BUT within a fortnight i had made an intarsia using just the tables legs which sold for £150 so £40 is a bargain to me. I have been doing these since 2014 and over the years have managed to get quite a variety of hardwoods doing this. So if you see a table at £40 instead of thinking that's expensive think about how many things you can make out of it and the amount they will fetch at a Craft Fair or any place you sell your creations. Top tip when buying any old table always have a look underneath to make sure the wood grain underneath matches that on the top....if it doesn't them leave it alone as its probably veneered and full of chipboard, I bought a love chest of drawers and found only the drawer fronts were solid Oak.

 

[Claymore]

A couple of years ago I came up with an idea while looking round a craft fair and it was nothing to do with selling my own Intarsias etc I noticed most of the stalls looked very jumbled and unprofessional BUT they were selling their stuff very well stuff like homemade soap and jewellery etc small items that look lost on a table. My idea was instead of making things to sell there I would make wooden display stands with shelves/sections to display their work and it would be fast to set up and also fast to pack away. So i made a wooden stand with two hinges sort of like a large dartboard cabinet where the door close, using cheap wood to make the frame and clad in either plywood or hardboard, it had loads of little pegs for hanging necklaces on and others for holding rings etc with space to add a small card explaining what the item is and also what prices are, I also fitted some small battery powered LED lights which were cheap on Ebay but hidden in the cabinet.....these lit up the jewellery great and to top it off i made a plaque for the top with the name if the sellers business in fancy scrolled wood. the first one i made sold for £130 it cost me about £30 to make including all the parts, the pegs were normal dowels the wood was the cheapest pine which was either painted or stained, the hinges were about £1.00. I could have made loads of them as i got people emailing me to make them one but I don't have time to make them and also do my Intarsia's but it proved a point that the sellers like to look as professional as possible. So next time you visit a craft fair look and see how people are displaying their work many just put a table cloth on and a few boxes under it to make them stand out which might look fine but compared to having a custom made display case there's no contest. Forgot to say the stand i made was around 2ft tall and 5ft wide with folding sections at 3ft, the dowels were 5mm and bought a bag with 100's in from Ebay. So you can still sell your work at craft fairs but none of the standing around waiting for a customer for hours

 

[Stanleymonkey]

A couple of years ago I came up with an idea while looking round a craft fair and it was nothing to do with selling my own Intarsias etc I noticed most of the stalls looked very jumbled and unprofessional BUT they were selling their stuff very well stuff like homemade soap and jewellery etc small items that look lost on a table. My idea was instead of making things to sell there I would make wooden display stands with shelves/sections to display their work and it would be fast to set up and also fast to pack away. So i made a wooden stand with two hinges sort of like a large dartboard cabinet where the door close, using cheap wood to make the frame and clad in either plywood or hardboard, it had loads of little pegs for hanging necklaces on and others for holding rings etc with space to add a small card explaining what the item is and also what prices are, I also fitted some small battery powered LED lights which were cheap on Ebay but hidden in the cabinet.....these lit up the jewellery great and to top it off i made a plaque for the top with the name if the sellers business in fancy scrolled wood. the first one i made sold for £130 it cost me about £30 to make including all the parts, the pegs were normal dowels the wood was the cheapest pine which was either painted or stained, the hinges were about £1.00. I could have made loads of them as i got people emailing me to make them one but I don't have time to make them and also do my Intarsia's but it proved a point that the sellers like to look as professional as possible. So next time you visit a craft fair look and see how people are displaying their work many just put a table cloth on and a few boxes under it to make them stand out which might look fine but compared to having a custom made display case there's no contest. Forgot to say the stand i made was around 2ft tall and 5ft wide with folding sections at 3ft, the dowels were 5mm and bought a bag with 100's in from Ebay. So you can still sell your work at craft fairs but none of the standing around waiting for a customer for hours

I love your approach. It's a shame you didn't have the time to go on and sell a few more.

 

[Claymore]

Cheers, its a way of selling something related to craft fairs but without all the sitting about waiting for a customer plus your not competing with other makers. I actually enjoyed making it but you can only do so much. You could actually make the stands so they concertina with a bit of trial and error, the LED lights were my favourite bit as nothing was visible until you pressed the hidden button and i think that clinched the deal as most craft fairs they don't provide electric sockets for lighting your work. You could do some really fancy ones and if you work with the customer to add certain features they will never get boring to make.
Cheers

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I bought one Priory sold Oak table for £40 it was badly scratched etc BUT within a fortnight i had made an intarsia using just the tables legs which sold for £150 so £40 is a bargain to me ...

50 years plus ago my mother used to buy me at auctions Victorian mahogany dining tables .................. if she could get them for less than 10/-.

 

[donwatson]

Thanks for that Brian. I will have a look at that link later.

 

[Woodywright]

Over the years I exhibited on many design and home shows in my profession as an Architect as well as another career as a cabinet maker. These have varied from Grand Designs, to local agricultural shows to specialist high end craft shows and general craft & Christmas fairs. What I noticed is that from when I started back in the early nineties they worked a lot better than they do today. Over the years they went from being generally profitable to absolutely awful. I believe they way the public shop has moved away from face to face transactions to the web. As has been pointed out above the standard of offerings has also deteriorated in the craft sector with much of it not even being made by the vendor, let alone even in this country. Moreover it is not uncommon to see the same tat being sold by more than one seller. Also as others have said the perceived value of one's offerings bear no relation to the hours and effort put into producing good work as your work is compared to these ghastly imports. Today's visitors to fairs are often younger people looking for a day out an d they do not appreciate quality work simply because they have never learnt what is good quality and what is not. We live in a disposable and instant fashion and gratification society. What I have also experienced is that these days punters have little consideration for abusing your time and good nature and when you have no more to give they go off and get it cheaper elsewhere. I bought a bandsaw form another maker a month or so ago and he said exactly the same - he found himself spending days after a show going to see people who wanted his ideas and input and had no intention of buying and he gave up. Sadly true. Nowadays his work is all Word of Mouth which says it all!