Craft fair stock

Thought you all might get a kick out of this pic. After my disaster last week of Zero sales I decided to re-examine my prices and possibly change a few. With the exception of pens an bracelets this is my entire stock at this time. The area of the next craft fair is in a supposedly upscale monied area. We shall see.

Photo Details

Philip Peak

Registered: November 2004
Posts: 1,188

0

Date: Sun September 18, 2005
Views: 1,373
Keywords: craft fair stock

Comments

georgetroy

You would have better luck doing Renaissance Festivals were woodturners and their wares are appreciated. It's tough competing against painters and their abilities to make copies and sell them. You are doing one of kind.
Raise your prices and be more selective were you go. Been there and done that. I only do galleries nowdays, work is on consignment. What you see is what you get when you get it. Expect to pay 40% commission to galleries. Look at what your time is worth on weekends. You also need some do da items (bread & butter). Do some wood bic pens, toothpick holders, tops, small goblets, etc. Do these and your sales will come on the larger items. GT

#1 Sun September 18, 2005 1:21am

JimQuarles

Looks like you have been a bit busy!! Good luck with the next fair.

JimQ

#2 Sun September 18, 2005 1:22am

Rev. Doug Miller

Rev. Doug Miller

Phil, here are some idea that come to mind. Take each piece outside and examine them for flaws in the finish. Mark them with something so that you can find them again and fix them. Make sure that you have plenty of lower priced pieces. Sales generate sales. When folks see someone buying something, they figure there is value that maybe they don't see. Having something you can be demonstrating could help as well. Maybe if you have a handful of pieces you can be rubbing finish on. Maybe even a couple of pieces that you hand sand while folks are walking by. As they see you doing that they may assume that you hand sand and/or hand rub all the finish in.

I'm not convinced that George has the best idea either. Galleries may be working for him, but as you know, the gallery that I'm in hasn't done diddly for me. In fact, I was talking with one of the better turners the other day. He seemed to indicate that the none of the better turners are using galleries to try to sell anything. If they are selling anything, they typically sell it directly to the buyer. One had a sign made that simply says that the Wood Shop is Open. Folks drop by and look over the finished pieces as well as those that are in process. Often it is the pieces in process that he sells for the best profit.

All that to say that you will have to experiment and find your market, whether it be craft fairs, galleries, your own studio, etc. You'll find it. The selection you have looks good. Just check the minor things.

#3 Sun September 18, 2005 3:47am

Ugly Duck

Lee Goehring

And when (not "if")you have your pieces finished that well, don't be afraid to point it out to customers looking at them. Some may not bother looking that close. Let them know you make that extra effort to get the great finish, and suggest they look for that quality if shopping any competitor's work as well.

#4 Tue September 20, 2005 2:29am

Negeltu

Nice pieces. How do you store them? I've been trying to figure out the best way to store all my stuff without risk of damaging the finishes.

#5 Thu September 22, 2005 1:56am

Philip Peak

You don't want to know. Actually all you see here is piled into two boxes. I need to get a better system Sad

#6 Thu September 22, 2005 5:11am