Craft fair reality check

mac davis · 2005-04-18T17:02:07+00:00

The wife and I went to the "Vintage Show" (crafts fair) this weekend, cuz myneighbor went the day before and reported "there is one booth (out of about 400)with turned bowls there and his stuff is just like yours... a little bigger, butthe same quality, and his prices are between $30 and $200!"The guy was an ARTIST.. looked at his stuff while talking to his wife, and whenhe came back to the booth, the only thing that I could say to him was "I'm notworthy"..He had a lot of stuff on display, nicely set up on shelves with shavingsscattered artistically under them... most of them were in the 10" to 20" rageand were so well done that they could have been used as examples in a turningschool.. his walls were near perfect thickness, bottoms just thick enough to addbalance, well done bowl bottoms that looked good and kept the bowls level,etc...His finishes were EXCELLENT... on his walnut collection, they had a semi glossfinish that was as nice as most cars... he wouldn't say what the finish was, buthis wife said that it was a salad bowl finish.. damn, they were beautiful...We talked turning for a while.. he was trained in Sweden and has been turningfor a hobby for years, this was his 2nd show.. He was very up front about notexpecting the income from the booth making him a living, but his wife worked andhe could support his habit from sales and keep going to classes... (it surelooked to me that he should be GIVING classes)I don't think that he sold very much, but you never know.. the booth was $250for 3 days and i'm guessing that he had to spend at least $500 to do the show..(booth, place to stay, food, etc.)It seems that you need to do really well to make enough profit to cover thosekind of expenses.. Bottom line: my wife has been encouraging me to sell some stuff because we'refilling up the garage... but after this weekend, I don't think my stuff is nearready to sell... this guys work was SO good.. a very humbling experience..macPlease remove splinters before emailing

Apr 18, 2005 45 Replies

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George 21 years ago

Marketing. Convincing people they're getting the better of you. Probably would.

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mac davis 21 years ago

I'm WAY too evil to have a twin.. still have that zippo that says "I am the evilist S.O.B. in the valley" it's only about 40 years old now.. *sigh*

mac

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David Wade 21 years ago

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robo hippy 21 years ago

One other thing that I discovered, is that if you take your own bowl (wood in our case) to the food booths, they give you more food. I have sold more than one bowl walking back to my booth, with mine being full of food. robo hippy

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mac davis 21 years ago

wow, there is still a romantic alive! way to go, Dave.. lol good sales pitch, though.. maybe a consignment thing at jewelry stores... Are you listening, Will???

mac

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mac davis 21 years ago

ahh ha! now THAT'S a sales tip that I can use... Now, I just have to turn a bunch of large beer mugs...

mac

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