... is, DO NOT try to sell finished jewelry at an event geared primarily toward other jewelry makers!
The Houston Bead society has an annual Mini Bazaar, for which a table costs $15. But it's not a public event, and most of the vendors were selling raw materials, and that's what people were buying. I got a lot of compliments on my stuff (egoboo!), but not a single sale.
Oh well, at least I didn't lose a lot of money, and I got to schmooze a bit, and I bought some raw materials too. Also, I figured out a few setup changes I'll have to make before the big November show, for which I also have a table -- and which *is* advertised to the public. So it wasn't a total waste, and next year I'll know to attend this event as a buyer rather than a seller.
The first week of November is going to be interesting. My partner and I are both signed up for the Harvest Fair festival at a local college, which runs Tuesday thru Thursday. Then Friday is setup day for the HBS show, which goes Saturday and Sunday. The saving grace is that I'll be offering completely different emphases for the two shows -- at the college, I'll be focusing on the cheap silver stuff, while the HBS show will get the expensive items.
Did about $200 worth of sales at the con in Louisville -- once again, virtually all of it the cheap silver. Apparently this is an underserved market at cons! Most of the jewelry sellers either have fairly pricey set cabs and wire-wrapped stuff, or really inexpensive seed-bead-and-glass items (for which they are NOT getting enough to reimburse the amount of labor involved!). So okay, if it sells, I'll continue to take it, and to use the good jewelry primarily as an "eye-catcher" to draw people over to the table. If I were trying to make a living this way, I'd be losing my shirt; but as long as I'm piggybacking on my partner's booth, all I really have to do is pay for my own table expense, which I'm consistently doing.
I also tried putting a few of my pricier items into the art show at the con. Didn't get any bids, but then I wasn't really expecting any -- I mostly did it to increase my exposure. Also, it was very much a spur-of-the-moment decision; if I continue to do this, I'll have to put a little more thought into the way I handle it. And the art show director told me afterwards that their total take (sales and auction) was *way* down from last year. When the economy is in the toilet, luxury items are the first things to be written off, and jewelry and art are both pure luxury items. This is why my partner's T-shirts continue to do well; even in a bad economy, people will buy *clothing*.
OT, for those who might be interested: our latest bumper sticker simply reads "What ELSE have you lied to us about, George?" And the next one up to be added will be "No more Bush-league presidents!"
Celine (still mostly ABEND)