Craft Fair ideas

It sounds like you have a lot of variety to sell. This helps a lot. Most of what sells for me are utility bowls, from individual meal/salad size (6 to 8 inches) to family size serving bowls and platters (12 to

16 inch). A few nautral edge bowls and hollow forms. You never know what is going to sell. It never hurts to have a few expensive pieces. Tops sell well too. Hope there are a lot of tourists coming by. robo hippy

I'm very interested in doing crafts. Building shop now . . . I did concessions at craft shows for years. Having a kettlekorn booth always put me @ the entrance/exit of most shows . . . . . This allowed me to see what really sold as it was headed out the gate . . . The one thing that always sold well was "anything" any craftsperson sold that had incorporated a demo into their booth . . . I can assure you a scroll saw and/or a mini lathe will be running in my booth every show . . . This keeps them gathered around . . . . also anything that you can sell for a small amount that will be noticed by others as they walk around the rest of the show.

Hmm - having a mini lathe isn't a bad idea. I'm sure not gonna haul my big one around, but a small one and a shop vac wouldn't be too bad.

Thanks for the comments so far, you two. I'll look forward to hearing more......

I know this is more of a wood turning news group, but my late uncle was very successful selling small Christmas ornaments at fairs across the country. Some of his designs are available on my website:

Enjoy.

A lathe demonstration is a very good way to draw people to your booth. But it is most effective if you have someone else there to take the orders. People don't seem to want to bother you while you are turning. If there are people with small children, baby rattles (you can see these at my web site) can be very effective if you can keep the price below $10.00. My experience was that it was hard to sell anything priced above $25.00, unless you had the capability to accept credit cards. And like someone else said, it is good to have a few higher priced items. They probably will not sell to the visitors, but sometimes they will sell to other vendors.

Fred Holder

Lots of places won't have power available or allow a generator. Then there are a couple of places I've been where they do not take kindly to wood shavings blowing around. I was carving, but there was enough wind for even those to move. Since they were both over grass, I figured it was just a bit of mulch. They saw it differently.

Also fills your limited display area with rubberneckers rather than buyers, which can be a minus.

A mini is great to have along if you have power, help and an ok from the event people...

Imagine turning pens or small goblets while folks are walking by... maybe even doing a "to order" pen body or something...

I'd set it up so that you're facing the front of the booth while working... when your back is to people, they tend to tip toe the other way as to not distract you instead of hanging around to watch..

We've thought of doing very much the same thing in RV parks... *g*

Mac

Several folks in the group turn "holiday" ornaments.. Mac

ISP not working well, but in case no one else has mentioned it - liability. Your responsibility. I believe the term they used when our insurance company had to pay a claim for a child who had climbed an 8-foot fence and cut herself on some amusement equipment inside was "attractive nuisance." As adults, we should know that Johnny is going to try and reach in or get too close.

Only one thing is predictable about Craft Fairs. They are UNPredictable!

I've sold at two that were about 20 miles apart, both had good sales, but totally opposite lines of products. I was in two others about 3 months apart in the same location, one sold great (my first was over $200 so i thought it was good), the other I sold 3 key-chains (bummer!).

mike

Brent wrote:

I figure that if it is a good show, it will take a year or three to build a clientel. A lot of people will return to the same show every year. The same show can be good one year, and bad the next. One product can sell well one year, and not the next. If the clients are checking tha prices on everything, that isn't a good sign for your art pieces. The artist next to you may sell better than you one show and you may do better the next show even though your stuff is similar. The higher end shows have people who find what they want, and say I'll take this one, and not even ask the price. I have heard that full moon, half moon, new moon, first of the month, 15th of the month (pay days), and all sorts of things will make a show better. It is almost always one artists worst show, and anothers best show, for no particular reason other than because. My best single show sales day, was Mothers Day, in the pouring rain, in Davis, CA. I didn't think they came out in the rain in California. You just never know. robo hippy

Someone asked this a few months back and I pulled together a list from the ideas suggested:

eggs (various woods) mushrooms acorns honey dippers small boxes candleholders spoons pens small bowls (salters) magic wands (for the kids) keychains Tops - kids weed pots wooden whistles

-palm stylus

-zipper pulls

Hope this helps, Brad Harding

PS: be sure to let us know what works well and what didn't after the fair is over.

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas. None of these things sound too difficult to make, so I'll try a few that I haven't done before.

Since I've got a 4 year old daughter that demands most if not all of my free time, I'm not super worried about building a clientel. Although it would be nice to make a few custom orders. Two years ago when I was up visiting my mom and dad, they got a few pens. They showed them to a neighbor, who then said that they'll buy as many as I want to make. I guess it helped that the wood came from their property. I make 30 of them. I kinda vowed not to make any more pens for a while.

Hi Brent, If there is a round lighthouse in your area or visitors come from 'lighthouse areas' you might want to make small models as chain pulls. There is something about lighthouses and inland folks love them too.

I donate my Jupiter Fla. inlet lights to local non profit thrift shops. They easily sell in the $5 range as affordable mementos for visitors and locals alike.

I make sets of three small form scrapers from cut nails and with one skew and two open end wrenchs as calipers, I can make a lighthouse complete with sanding, waxing and an added screw eye in five minutes from a 7/8" X 5" pre-cut mahogany block. Of course, the Jupiter light is an easy design to turn.

I leave some unfinished for the buyer to color, also some finished a clear gloss. Surprisingly, people like them as well as the much more time consuming red & black of the actual light.

I put them in little zip-loc sandwich bags with a nicely printed insert on good paper giving the history and specs of the light. I add a bit of ribbon thru the screw eye for holiday ornaments. The bag & insert adds a bit of elegance with almost nil expense.

I make them for fun and keep some in the truck for on the spot thank-you's that seem to go over well.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Sorry, I just had to vent. This PC stuff has just gone too far in my opinion.

I'm not sure what sells well, but you could try out a few matched pairs of candlestick holders and one or two lamps. The lamps would each take a $5-8 investment up front, but they could be big sellers for you, never know til you try.

Before you get too incensed, note that anyone who does "" is almost certain to be one of your fellow "cultural conservatives" attempting to be ironical about those who actually believe in "political correctness."

I'm not an HTML expert but most attributes in HTML code are expressed as: to start something and, to end it. I'm not sure what these tags do but they certainly have nothing to do with Political Correctness. Now, you got your panties in a knot for nothing! :o)