Craft Show Tidbits

Last year I did a whole series of posts about craft shows as I was getting ready for the Fall season. This year not so much. I was rereading them this morning to reassure myself that I was ready for the Strange Folk Festival this weekend and thought I would share some of the highlights.

From the post Craft Show Ideas:

Another thing to consider when choosing a show is whether it is juried or not. Personally I prefer juried shows since it keeps the resellers out but there is the stress factor of waiting to see if you got in. I am not in the league to consider the high end art shows but if you are than you need to plan pretty far in advance and be willing to put out some bucks in fees. The most I've ever paid for a booth fee is $90 but I have heard of shows that cost in the hundreds of dollars that attract a high end clientele. Shows that have been around along time and have a built in clientele are worth the investment in most cases. You should consider how long they have been doing the event and if possible find out how many attended the year before. I've never done an event that charged attendees to enter but I've been told they bring out people really ready to shop.

Missouri has a site called MissouriArtsAndCrafts with a list of events and I'm sure your state probably has something similar.... Another comprehensive site is Festival Network Online. You can search events for free here but to get full details and other services it costs $49 a year. This is more than I can justify paying but I do use it to search and then I google events that sound interesting to see if I can find more details.

From the post Fall Craft Show To Do list:

Figure out how you are going to accept credit cards. I think that it's vital to have a method of accepting plastic. You are missing out on so many sales if you just take cash and checks. I use Propay and it's super easy and very reasonable. I just renewed my membership and it was around $30 for a year which is so worth it.

Stock up on business cards. I recently bought 1000 cards from Vista Print with one of their many coupons for around $15. I have heard that some people had bad experiences with them but I've put in 3 different orders and never had a problem. You have to be careful to opt out of all of their silly promotions and you will get spam e-mails from them but I'm okay with that for such a good price on a business necessity. I've also been thinking about ordering some postcards to use as follow up with some of my return customers.

From the post My Craft Show Checklist:

1. 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.
   
2. 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.
   
3. calculator
   
4. receipt book
5. credit card receipts
6. 
   
7. cash, I usually bring $100 in cash.
8. cash apron, I prefer to keep my cash on me rather in a cash box that could walk away when I turn around.
9. Mirror, I'm always amazed at how many vendors forget this one and ask to borrow mine.
10. Shopping bags of some sort. Paper lunch bags can work for small purchases.
    
11. Tools to "fix things", if you make jewelry bring some extra findings just in case.
12. camera, so you can take lots of pictures of your booth for your blog!

From the post First Craft Show Anxiety:

The best way to elevate your anxiety is to be as prepared as possible. Set your booth display up at home and get everything just the way you like and then take a picture. Save it to your phone or make a copy of it so that you have something to work from on the big day.

Don't be disappointed if you don't sell a ton of stuff at this first show, just look at is as a dry run to get over those first show jitters. Keep telling yourself that this is your hobby and it's supposed to be fun. That helps me for some reason. I will also tell myself that this is not my job and my mortgage doesn't depend on it. If it did I can't imagine how nervous I would be. I'm usually a mess until I have my first sale and then I will calm down a bit. Once I make my booth fee I breathe a sigh of relief and am much calmer for the rest of the day.

Definitely get a good night's sleep the night before. Don't, I repeat Don't, stay up all night making new items to sell. If it relaxes you to work on your craft do so but having a few extra things will not be worth the all nighter if you are tired and cranky the next day.

Try not to have a thin skin and don't take it personal if someone turns their nose up at your booth or doesn't get the inherent wonderfulness of you and your product.... As creative types we tend to have a more sensitive disposition. Don't let this stop you from trying something new and putting yourself out there. Most people will be complimentary and you will get more feedback in one day about your work than in a year on line. I have had some wonderful interactions with customers that gave me warm and fuzzy feelings for weeks afterwards. When someone really gets you and wants to actually buy something you made with your own hands it's one of the best feeling in the world.

From the post What I learned about craft shows:

Too much is not necessarily a good thing. I always brought all of my merchandise to the shows but I found that over filling my quilt racks and table actually overwhelmed shoppers. If someone was interested in a different color I could always get out the plastic tubs with the rest of my inventory and let them look through them. I sold a bunch of scarves right out of the tub.

Make friends with the organizers and keep a smile on your face even if it's painful. The last thing you want to do is to be seen as a trouble maker by the organizer, especially if it is a juried show.

If you can't set up the night before than at least pack up the car and be ready to go. Have the mapquest directions printed out and read through carefully. Try to get a good night's sleep.



I know this is not my first time at the rodeo but I still get those pre-show jitters. Hopefully I will be able to take my own advice and enjoy the weekend!

Pricing Delimmas

I've been really struggling this year with how I want to price my inventory. The past 2 years I've streamlined everything into very narrow price points. I priced all of my scarves at $15 or $30. My soft wristcuffs were $7 and the wire wristcuffs were $11. Scarflettes were primarily $25 except for some lower end ones that were $15.

Last year at the Strange Folk Festival I started out like the year before with one quilt rack of $15 scarves and one of $30. Two years ago I sold more $15 ones but I sold a good number of $30 ones as well. Last year for the entire first day I didn't sell a single $30 scarf so I eventually took them down and put out all $15 ones. I sold some $30 ones at the Rock and Roll Show but I think with the economy in the state it was in, $30 was just too much of an investment for an accessory.

I'm seriously considering adding a third price point this year at $23. This is right in between the two and would give me more profit on those scarves that I don't feel comfortable selling at just $15. I will only have the top tiered scarves with the highest quality yarns at the $30 mark. They say it is good to have some items that are out of most people's price range to let them know that you are a quality vendor. Mike says that I should make it an even $20 since most people don't want to make change but I don't think there is enough of a difference between $15 and $20.

I'm even more confused by how I want to price my new scarf/hat sets and the single hats. I have used such a range of yarns and techniques on them that I really feel like I should individually price them as I see fit. I want to sell the sets with both pieces and I will probably connect them with twine. They will have the prices marked and I will have all of them on my table.
For example the scarf/hat set at the top of the post was made with a 100% wool, hand dyed yarn. My yarn cost were $8 but if I'd paid full price the yarn was worth much more than that. I used the exact same pattern for this second set and the time was approximately the same but the yarn is an acrylic that I only spent a few dollars on. I wouldn't feel comfortable asking for anything less than $40 for the first set but I would be happy with $25 for the second set.

I also have some individual hats with a wide range of yarn costs and time spent on them. Do you think it would be appropriate to price them all differently or would that be too confusing? I like it when vendors have some consistency in their pricing. When I'm looking at a display or rack I like to know that what I'm looking at is in my price range but I just don't feel comfortable putting the same price on such varying items. Any thoughts about either of my dilemmas would be greatly appreciated.

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.