Strange Folk Wrap up: The Not-So Good

As I've said I had I was happy with how the weekend went for the most part but there were a few things I would have changed looking back. One thing that I had no control over was where I was located. When I first found out I was going to be in the Big Tent rather than the Pavilion I was disappointed. You roll with the punches and make the best out of what you are given, and honestly I'm really just glad that I made it into Strange Folk again with all of the entries that they are getting.

If I had been under the Pavilion as last year I would not have had to deal with all of the mud and I wouldn't have taken such a hit on Saturday with the rain. All the shoppers ran to the Pavilion when it started and a lot of business was going on under there while we were all huddled under our tents. The positive side was that I think I had more room to spread out where I was and I didn't get claustrophobic like I did last year when all the crowds were coming through the narrow lanes in the Pavilion.

I was never really happy with how my table looked all weekend long either. I went ahead and used both of the shelving displays and I think it looked too busy and crowded. I didn't sell that much off of the larger display and I wonder if it was because people were overwhelmed by all of the colors and prints going on. I'm going to have to do some experimenting before the next show and figure out what I'm going to use and what is not going to cut it. Mike thinks I need to shelve the shelving units entirely. He says I should get some sort of rack or wall bracket system to hang things from. The booth really is always a work in progress so we shall see.

The other negative came at the very end of the second day. I was absolutely exhausted and somewhat vulnerable. I was hoping for one last good sale to get me to last year's numbers when a women ran up and started working me over. She asked if I would take $30 for 3 scarves, which are normally priced $15 a piece. I said how about $35 and she hands me $30 and a few singles and says that's all I have. I tentatively said okay and she started grabbing. She ended up walking away with 3 very nice scarves and I felt like I'd been taken. I really wasn't prepared despite the stories I've been told about how people can be at shows. I'm used to people going on about how reasonable my scarves are and was not ready for someone to try to completely low ball me. I should have said "I'm sorry but the prices are as marked and I do take credit cards if you are interested." As I said I was in a weakened state.

To be fair if handled properly it's not a terrible thing to ask for a discount. Earlier in the day a women had waited until my booth was completely clear and approached me about taking a few dollars off a scarf. I had only spent $1 or so on the yarn in this item so I was OK with it and we were both perfectly happy with the transaction.

So I've shared the good, now the bad, and here's a little ugly. These are my poor, swollen, achy feet after day 1 with the lovely backdrop of the cheap hotel bedspread.

Strange Folk Wrapup: The Good

I'm going to break the wrap up from Strange Folk into 2 parts. The good and the not-so good. Today will just be my observations about the weekend so I will probably ramble on a bit. There were definitely some things that I learned from this experience and that's what I'll talk about tomorrow. I'm certainly no expert on shows as I've only been doing them part time for a few years. I do like to share what I learn here so that I don't forget it and so that others can learn from what I do both right and wrong.

I really never got a good shot of the whole booth display. I took pictures both mornings after I set up but the sun was always either too bright or not bright enough. This is from the first morning. When I got there I was in a total tizzy because I couldn't figure out how I was going to configure my booth to fit both quilt racks. About 30 minutes into set up I looked up and saw the other vendors setting up facing outwards not inwards into the tent. Oops. No wonder they were all looking at me like I was overreacting.

This is why I always get there well over an hour before it starts, with plenty of time to get things set up right. So I turned my table around and placed the racks outside of the tent in such a way to draw people in with the bamboo rug as a nice balance. I liked this overall configuration. I sat my stool next to the table not behind it, so that I could come out and talk to people and hold the mirror for them. I was never really happy with my table displays but I will talk about that tomorrow.


I had the sweetest booth neighbors I've ever had in every sense of the word. Sarah and her mom from The Hot Cookie were such a treat to hang out with for the weekend. When I needed a pick me up a great trade was made, cookies for a headband, you can't beat that. Her cookies really are amazing and she sells them on Etsy here. Mike's favorite was the Lemon Tarragon Sables and mine was the chocolate with oats. They each bought a scarf from me and wore them proudly sending customers my way.

Kai was such a great helper this weekend. This was my first show that I had any help since my first one that I did with friends. It made such a huge difference. If you have an agreeable friend, spouse, or teenager I highly recommend it. He took his responsibilities very seriously. His main job was to make sure that no scarves were touching the ground since we were outside and there was a great deal of mud after all the rain. He restocked after things sold and made sure the display was in place. He was also a great help during what he called the Cabbage Patch Kid moments when 4 or more women were in the booth in a frenzy. These were the good times that customers were trying everything on, throwing things to each other, and "fighting" over scarves.

It was so nice to be able to walk away occasionally and not worry about things walking away from the booth. He gave me this update when I came back from one bathroom break. "I explained about the scarflettes to the lady and she liked that one but she didn't think it would match her coat." For some reason I found this exchange cute. He took lots of pictures with his new camera and we traded for some art with one of the vendors nearby.

Staying at the hotel on Saturday night was a good decision even if their wi-fi wasn't working and Mike spent most of the evening complaining. Mike hung out with his brother and Brian most of the time that he was there. He did give me one good suggestion. I was complaining that things weren't moving on Sunday morning and he told me to get more things on the racks. I had decided to just put out $15 scarves on Sunday and a few $30 ones on the table since the lower end was what was moving on Saturday. I had kept it nice and neat but they were beginning to look bare which was not drawing people in as much. Once I put more out I got lots more interest as they was more selection to choose from.

He also entertained some people with his commentary. At one point before he left on Sunday he cracked up a woman who overheard him say that part of his soul had just died from boredom. Luckily she was a fellow vendor and he didn't offend a customer with his sarcasm.

I don't know if I will ever be able to get Mike to come back but I do think that Kai would help again with the proper amount of incentive, i.e. bribery. By the time he is too old/cool to spend the weekend hanging out with his aunt, Ani should be old enough to make a good helper. She and her Dad, Gandolf the Grateful Dead, came out on Saturday and had a good time despite the rain.

Overall it was a successful and fun event. Strange Folk really is my target audience in every sense of the word. The free spirits get me and my aesthetic and I love being a part of it all. The other vendors are such amazing artists and with the music and other activities I always come away so inspired. I also came away with a box of yarn from the Upcycle Exchange and nothing beats free yarn.

Oh the Strangeness!

Well, I'm home. I'm tired, dirty, and achy but it's all good. I'll give a full update tomorrow but I thought I would share a few pictures tonight. Above is a little taste of the booth in action. Below is a taste of Saturday afternoon with a shot of one of the booths across from me trying to keep warm and dry. We had wind all morning and then over an hour of steady hard rain. It definitely put a damper on sales but it picked up again with a flurry right before we closed. Today was nice and sunny, too sunny in my opinion. No one was trying on the heavier scarves or scarflettes. Despite the weather fluctuations I made just about what I did last year at the festival so I'm happy about that. At the bottom is a picture our friends Brian and Sandy with their too cute daughter Sophie checking out the booth.

Strange Folk Here I Come!

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I've got just about everything ready to go. I just need to pack up the car and get a good night's sleep. That is easier said than done, getting a good night's sleep that is. I always have tons of manic energy right before a show. I'm fine once I get set up but until then I'll be a nervous wreck.

If you are coming by this weekend I'll be in the Big Tent towards the middle of the vendors, not in the pavilion like I was last year. My sister in law, Gray Eyed Scorpio, will be near the music stage, and be sure to check out the author's booth and get a copy of my friend Brian's Young Adult novel, Playing With Matches signed.


I got my hair done today so that I would look presentable. Here is the lovely shot I just took. I also went to Good Will. My twin had just been there again and I snagged 4 pair of pants and 6 tops all Lane Bryant or other favorite brands. I think I've decided to wear the two new shirts below. Yes, I know they are both tie-dye but they are nice and it is Strange Folk after all. They also happen to match the two scarves that I had already set aside to wear this weekend. Kismet I believe.

There will be a blogging station at the festival but I don't know if I will have time to do a post or not. I'll probably be lucky to get a tweet or two in. I'll update on Sunday night and will hopefully have lots of interesting stories to tell.

Updates

So I've had a weird but relatively productive week so far. When we lost power on Monday we also lost our Dish receiver and DVR. We have already gotten a new one but that means all of our recorded movies and shows are lost. I had some great PBS specials, the presidential inauguration speech, and lots of other shows on there. It's like 2 years of our lives were erased. That last bit might have been a bit overly dramatic but you get the idea. And then tonight I had to set all our timers again. I'm sure I forgot some which worries me more than it should. I felt so tied down to the television the past few days too. Seriously I know I need to get over it but DVR has just so revolutionized the way we live.

And on to more important subjects. I got everything tagged for the Strange Folk Festival yesterday and today. The 4 stuffed to the brim tubs are in the picture above. I spent over 2 hours trying to figure out how to do a mail merge in publisher from an excel spread sheet but I failed. I ended up taking the easy way out but I'm okay with it. Instead of listing each item individually on the inventory sheet I'm going to divide by type. Meaning I have an inventory number for $15 wool blend scarves, $15 synthetic blends, $15 cotton blends, $30 wool, etc. I will then just have to keep track of how many I have sold from each of the groups. It will work for my Rock and Roll Craft Show inventory which was the main priority. I don't think I mentioned that I went ahead and applied and did get into this one. I did not get into the Indie Underground show that is going on downtown during Fashion Week but I'm a bit relieved actually. I was sort of worried about the logistics of that one even though it did sound really cool.

I spent the afternoon today with Kai. We had some great Indian buffet and got to go birthday camera shopping. He was off for parent/teacher conferences which worked out nicely. We ended up getting him a cute little Samsung TL100. I didn't even know that they made cameras and it was not one of the ones that I had researched, but it was the one that made his heart sing which was most important. He used his birthday money and I paid for the rest. He was so excited and couldn't wait to get it charged up. I hope he takes lots of interesting pictures with it.

Speaking of interesting pictures, or at least speaking of pictures. Here is a shot I took in the front yard during the momentous power outage. As I mentioned I was bored. At least I'm not posting the pictures of my eye ball and toes. Be thankful for small favors. Oh and can someone please stop the rain dance. We need some dry weather for the weekend, I'm getting nervous.

My craft Show Checklist

I've seen other checklists of what you should bring to craft shows but I decided to create my own. As I was sitting in the dark last night for almost 4 hours I wrote out my ideas. Our street is always the first to lose power in a storm and the last to get it back for some reason. The checklist was the only productive thing I got done last night. I messed around on my cell phone, played with my camera, walked around the front yard and annoyed Mike as much as possible.

I just listed the Zen Rainbow scarf the other day but I'm getting tempted to keep it and wear it to the show. Be sure to wear your items if appropriate to show people how cool they look on.

So here is what I came up with as the absolute necessities for any craft show or festival.

1. Directions. Sounds obvious but I'm always nervous the morning of so I don't want to trust my memory even if I think I know where I'm going.
2. Vendor information. The organizer will usually e-mail you info like your booth number and parking directions that you will want to have that day.
   
3. Lots of business cards.
4. A little basket or business card holder of some sort so they don't blow away.
5. inventory list with prices. I'm really going to try this year to mark off items as they sell.
   
6. notebook. I like to keep a running tally of how much I've made. Be sure to keep track somehow of how much you make so that you can pay sales tax.
   
7. E-mail sign in sheet. I'm still deciding what I'm going to use for this, probably some sort of notebook.
   
8. Shoe box to store all the little things I'm about to list.
9. tape
10. pens
11. safety pins
12. scissors
13. tape measure
    
14. band aids
15. hand sanitizer, I added this for this year with all the flu fears.
16. Tylenol, tums, allergy medication and whatever other meds you might need.
    
17. paper towels and/or baby wipes
18. tissues
19. breath mints, for all the obvious reasons.
20. water
    
21. Snacks
22. trash bag to dispose of your messes
23. calculator
    
24. receipt book
25. credit card receipts
26. credit card machine
27. cash, I usually bring $100 in cash.
28. cash apron, I prefer to keep my cash on me rather in a cash box that could walk away when I turn around.
29. signs, I make up signs with prices and I have a sign that says I take credit cards.
30. Booth banner. Have some kind of banner that says who you are.
31. Table cloth, I put a sheet beneath my table cloth so that it goes to the ground and covers my stuff under the table.
32. Table. I have a fold up table for those events that don't provide them. Find out for sure ahead of time if you need to bring your own.
33. Display items. I've already talked about these types of things.
    
34. Stool, I prefer a stool rather than a chair. When I used a fold up chair I felt too low to the ground and couldn't keep an eye on everything.
    
35. rug if needed. Since finding out I'm going to be in the outdoor big tent at Strange Folk I've decided to use my bamboo rug under my quilt racks so that things don't get muddy.
36. Extra shoes in case of rain/mud
37. Extra clothes in case of emergencies
38. Mirror, I'm always amazed at how many vendors forget this one and ask to borrow mine.
39. Shopping bags of some sort. Paper lunch bags can work for small purchases.
    
40. Tools to "fix things", if you make jewelry bring some extra findings just in case.
41. Something to work on if things are slow. I personally have a hard time knitting but many people like to keep busy.
    
42. cell phone, never know when you'll need it.
43. camera, so you can take lots of pictures of your booth for your blog!

Let me know if you think of anything I missed. I hope it helps someone who sees something that might have forgotten.

A few More Pieces of the Craft Show Puzzle.

I didn't get nearly as much done this weekend as I had hoped. I was feeling very lethargic for some reason. Thank goodness I have 3 days off this week so that I can get everything ready for Strange Folk this weekend. I can't believe that it's almost here. I went ahead and booked a hotel room for Saturday night. It's less than an hour away and last year I just came home but I decided it would be much more enjoyable if I had a place to crash Saturday night. I will have to be there by 8:00 a.m. Saturday, work all day, and then get up Sunday to do it all again. Mike and Kai are going to come down later on Saturday & spend the night too, so it will be nice to have someone to help me this year.

My sister and law, Gray Eyed Scorpio, and her family are staying at the same hotel as well as one of Mike's best friend's Brian Katcher. They are having a local author booth this year and Brian will be promoting his current Young Adult novel Playing with Matches and his new one that comes out in October Almost Perfect.

So what have I gotten accomplished so far you might ask. Strange Folk has a rule that you can't use plastic bags so I decided to create some personal shopping bags for my customers. I bought some Kraft paper bags and ribbon with a coupon at Michaels. I used my logo stamp that I got from Terbearco on Etsy awhile ago. I think the bags came out cute. I'll probably stamp some paper sandwich bags for smaller purchases as well.

It's not a great picture above but the backdrop is a cool fabric that I got for a few dollars on that other E site. It's a burlap type material that I'm going to use as a tablecloth with a cream sheet beneath it that goes to the floor. Thanks to my friend Kristin from My Art and the Mom in Me for the idea to use burlap in my display for a natural and rustic effect.

So this week I need to get everything tagged and inventoried. I also need to get everything I'll need for the weekend packed up and ready to go. Wish me luck!