Woodworking & craft shows and events…

[Peter Sefton]

Off to Harrogate in the morning, been getting ready for a few days! I will be demonstrating Verum and Melbourne Tool Company planes showing the difference between bevel up and bevel down.

Come and say hello on stand 33, lots of new tools to see and show deals over the weekend.

Cheers

Peter

 

[Hornbeam]

Im going to Harrogate tomorrow if anyone wants to meet up
Anybody from Cheshire area, quite happy to offer a free lift but leaving around 6 am Friday. If interested pm me

 

[SVB]

I know a few of you are planning to go to Harrogate this Friday-Sunday. If you do you'd be very welcome to pop in and say hello at our stall - the Northern School of Woodwork - on Stand 42 at the back of the hall opposite the entrance right in the middle.

It's my first time exhibiting at Harrogate although I've visited as a punter many times. I took over the school around 4 years ago from Chris Tribe (who I suspect a few of you know from here) when he retired. Originally based in Ilkley we got thrown out of our workshop by property developers but I eventually found a really nice workshop in Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley LS28, home of BBCs the Sewing Bee.

(I'm doing a couple of demos on my stall over the days, one of which will be sharpening in a few different ways!!!! I'm bringing along my 2 biggest lads as bouncers for protection when it all kicks off.......)

Nice to meet you Friday. (I was guy with 2 mates talking about doing a course to make your pencil box / drawer sometime). Hope you had a good show and it was worthwhile. We all really enjoyed it.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Half hour into my first Xmas fair this year and it's fairly busy, no sales yet but there's still a few hours to go, if you're near Frimley come down to the community centre and say hi we're here u till 2pm

 

[Stigmorgan]

Last weeks Crimbo fair was a total failure, no sales so effe timely paid £15 to watch everyone else make money
Today is my schools Christmas fair so I spent most of yesterday evening setting up my stall, only supposed to have 1 table but I'm the caretaker so who's gonna argue I'm pretty happy with how it looks overall
This will probably be the last small fair i do, I've not had any success at them this year, also going to leave the shop after December as it's cost me more than I've made over the year.

 

[Doug B]

One for next years diary

 

[mark w]

Last weeks Crimbo fair was a total failure, no sales so effe timely paid £15 to watch everyone else make money
Today is my schools Christmas fair so I spent most of yesterday evening setting up my stall, only supposed to have 1 table but I'm the caretaker so who's gonna argue I'm pretty happy with how it looks overall
This will probably be the last small fair i do, I've not had any success at them this year, also going to leave the shop after December as it's cost me more than I've made over the year.
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How did this one work out for you, any sales?

 

[Stigmorgan]

How did this one work out for you, any sales?

Not too bad, about £200 over the 3 hours a couple of possible commissionsand one of the other stallholders that sells soap wants to offer soap dishes with her products and asked if id be interested in working with her so that could be exciting, I'd say we probably only had half the school families come, probably largely due to the awful weather, we had a hogroast and I got a huge tray of meat from what was left at the end so I was a very happy boy
I think generally small school fairs aren't the right spot for my stuff and a lot of the craft markets I could get into around here tend to be during the week when I'm at work plus i dont drive so have to rely on my partner to Taxi, I will probably try a larger weekend event some time just to see if it could work for me and for the experience but that will have to wait as it will be a lot of money to lay out for potentially no return.
Will also be pulling out of the shop in town in January, I've been there a year this week and the whole year has cost me a lot more than I've earnt and that's with doing handyman work to pay rent for 2 months.

 

[HamsterJam]

Last weeks Crimbo fair was a total failure, no sales so effe timely paid £15 to watch everyone else make money
Today is my schools Christmas fair so I spent most of yesterday evening setting up my stall, only supposed to have 1 table but I'm the caretaker so who's gonna argue I'm pretty happy with how it looks overall
This will probably be the last small fair i do, I've not had any success at them this year, also going to leave the shop after December as it's cost me more than I've made over the year.
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Flippin eck - you’ve been busy with your lathe.
Stall looks good - hope it translated into plenty of sales.
Mrs HJ and I considered a joint stall at the local Farmers and Craft market but glad we didn’t as it was cancelled due to the severe weather warnings.
Maybe next year.

 

[Katomi woodsmith]

Hiya have a good Christmas between working. I always dreaded that first day after school had finished for Christmas.
All the mess, everyone is away getting ready to enjoy the break and I still have two schools to get cleaned .... don’t even talk about the bull rush seeds blowing round the school hall

 

[mark w]

Not too bad, about £200 over the 3 hours a couple of possible commissionsand one of the other stallholders that sells soap wants to offer soap dishes with her products and asked if id be interested in working with her so that could be exciting, I'd say we probably only had half the school families come, probably largely due to the awful weather, we had a hogroast and I got a huge tray of meat from what was left at the end so I was a very happy boy
I think generally small school fairs aren't the right spot for my stuff and a lot of the craft markets I could get into around here tend to be during the week when I'm at work plus i dont drive so have to rely on my partner to Taxi, I will probably try a larger weekend event some time just to see if it could work for me and for the experience but that will have to wait as it will be a lot of money to lay out for potentially no return.
Will also be pulling out of the shop in town in January, I've been there a year this week and the whole year has cost me a lot more than I've earnt and that's with doing handyman work to pay rent for 2 months.

It must difficult knowing where to go, you have to try various venues to find out I guess.
£200 is good though I would have thought so anyway. Good luck if you try a larger even.

 

[Stigmorgan]

It must difficult knowing where to go, you have to try various venues to find out I guess.
£200 is good though I would have thought so anyway. Good luck if you try a larger even.

200 isn't bad, 2 years ago when I did my first Christmas fair I made 700 but a lot of that was the novelty of it being me and on the tree decorations, they all still have them so didn't need to buy more.

@HamsterJam a lot of the bowls and bud vases are 2 or 3 years old, they don't tend to sell quickly (for me at least) possibly because the bowls are not meant for food use

 

[kinverkid]

200 isn't bad, 2 years ago when I did my first Christmas fair I made 700 but a lot of that was the novelty of it being me and on the tree decorations, they all still have them so didn't need to buy more.

@HamsterJam a lot of the bowls and bud vases are 2 or 3 years old, they don't tend to sell quickly (for me at least) possibly because the bowls are not meant for food use

These matchstick holders go down well with family and friends. They hold 200mm and 300mm long matches used to light stoves and open fires. Something to make out of the 'odd' bits bin.

 

[Stigmorgan]

These matchstick holders go down well with family and friends. They hold 200mm and 300mm long matches used to light stoves and open fires. Something to make out of the 'odd' bits bin.

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That's a lovely bit of oak

 

[pat from Marck]

This is my first ever endeavour into selling on an open market and thought I'd share it with you on this thread. In my local village the town hall with the local business community called ucam organise a Christmas market and this year was invited to participate. After reading the options for the sellers, we, thats Steph and I, opted to rent a chalet for 70 euros for the weekend. Our other expenses would include 20 euros for some pine boards, diesel for the car, food and drinks which was a further 30 euros. The total outlay came to 120 euros.
Why the pine boards, well the chalet came with a table and chair. The table needed to be raised to enable to display at the same hieght as the chalet shelf opening and as we were not allowed to use screws or nails on the chalets infrastructure I made a display shelf for extra space.here is our allotted chalet we arrived Friday night for pre-instalment commenced fitting the raisers for the tableand installed the home made display shelves and as we were not allowed scews used a clamp in the back corner securing it to a down slat, which worked pefectly the whole weekend. Started fitting out the interior decorations but ran out of time.
Arrived back at 10 the next morning and re-comenced where we had left off from last night, ready for opening at 2 in the afternoon. Lots of time.The next photo is Stephs display of organisation and although it drives me nuts I live with it and to be honest it works for her.The doors opened at two and so it began.
Overall I enjoyed the experience. Loved seeing the reaction of people when they realised it was all made by yours truly and especially those who passing by spot the stall and instantly come rushing over just to look. Their appreciation of the work splattered all over there faces. The day came to an end at 7. Steph and I went home a little shattered struggling to stay awake till we had eaten a proper meal.
Sunday, arrived at the market at 9 and were treated to breakfast by ucam with all the other sellers. Hot chocolate, tea, coffee, fruit juices, breads, fresh fruits, cheeses and meats all on offer, mingling, chatting exchanging experiences of yesterday's market. All to soon the doors opened to the public and we were at it again. The day came to a close at 7 and after complementary drink for all the participants we all trotted of home.
Now for the money part. Listening to the other vendours, this years market was deemed to have been slow. Lots of people but a severe lack of buying. Not having anything experiance to gauge this on I have to accept this as true. After totalling up the sales it came to 420 euros with one order for a light colour wood box with a lid at 30 euros and a bubble ash vase at 50 euros. Giving 80 euro commission lead. So after deducting 120 euro outlay we were left with 320 euros. So I'm inclined to agree with my French counterparts on it beening a slow market. What's your take. The last picture is from the ucam photographers site I think Steph was doing some of her organisation when this was taken

 

[Doug B]

Another one for the diary for next year

 

[pat from Marck]

Another one for the diary for next year

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Ooh I can dream