On Saturday, November 8th I was able to take part in my first craft show. I got up at 6:30 am to pack up the car and then drive to Tolar with my partner, Alice. We had a long day with harsh wind and low attendance. However, parts of it were fun. I enjoyed meeting fellow crafters and talking about our various hobbies.
It was also fun getting ready for the craft fair. I didn't get much crocheting in the month I had between signing up and the actual show. School was way too busy for that. However I did get some of my Pinterest pins out of the way. Alice and I like to drink wine on occasion and a recent night with several friends led to a few bottles being in left in our possession. I decided to break out the chalk board paint and some old spray paint.
I really liked how they turned out! Chalk board paint and I were quick friends and I have loved using it since I bought my first bottle. It was a little difficult to do on the glass bottle because the paint didn't want to stick. Overall, I think both of them turned out well. The reddish brown bottles were spray painted. Those were a bit quicker, but I had difficulty getting the coats even. There are still some streaks. They just add to the overall feel. I also wrapped some light brown hemp cord around the necks. I need to remember to buy some fake flowers- these would make a great vase!
A friend of ours came over to help with some last minute keychains. We were working on snitch keychains. Alice was making new ones, while I updated some older ones we had zooming around. It's interesting to see how styles change. The new ones came out looking very geometric. We managed to sell two. Our friend, Landrie, decided to go in a different direction. While messing around, their bit of clay turned into a well formed Nautilus. They were so cute! Since Landrie is a little young for their own Etsy, these will be sold in my store in the future. All proceeds (minus Etsy process fees) will be theirs. There are talks about Nautili earrings!
We also made painted some old wands we made a while back. Nothing too fancy, but they look nicer with some color. One of my fellow crafters bought two for her friend's kids. They seemed to have a lot of fun swishing them around!
Unfortunately the show wasn't much of a success for us. The wind was pretty bad. One poor woman's canopy was broken and her stuff ended up flying everywhere. She ended up having to leave two hours after the show started. I think a lot of the people opted to stay inside with the other vendors. The wind also kept messing up my display, so when people did come by, my wares were a little askew. I did manage to make my booth fee back!
I met up with another Etsy seller that made the fair worth it. She gave me some great advice on pricing, displays, etc. She even turned me onto a few local shows coming up. One's on my campus! She was really friendly and I look forward to meeting more people like that at future fairs.
My display wasn't too fancy, but you can see more of my pictures on my Facebook. I hope to make enough at more shows to slowly afford more fancier display items.
Thank you for reading! Wish me luck at future shows.
Happy crafting,
Bertie
It was also fun getting ready for the craft fair. I didn't get much crocheting in the month I had between signing up and the actual show. School was way too busy for that. However I did get some of my Pinterest pins out of the way. Alice and I like to drink wine on occasion and a recent night with several friends led to a few bottles being in left in our possession. I decided to break out the chalk board paint and some old spray paint.
A friend of ours came over to help with some last minute keychains. We were working on snitch keychains. Alice was making new ones, while I updated some older ones we had zooming around. It's interesting to see how styles change. The new ones came out looking very geometric. We managed to sell two. Our friend, Landrie, decided to go in a different direction. While messing around, their bit of clay turned into a well formed Nautilus. They were so cute! Since Landrie is a little young for their own Etsy, these will be sold in my store in the future. All proceeds (minus Etsy process fees) will be theirs. There are talks about Nautili earrings!
I met up with another Etsy seller that made the fair worth it. She gave me some great advice on pricing, displays, etc. She even turned me onto a few local shows coming up. One's on my campus! She was really friendly and I look forward to meeting more people like that at future fairs.
My display wasn't too fancy, but you can see more of my pictures on my Facebook. I hope to make enough at more shows to slowly afford more fancier display items.
Thank you for reading! Wish me luck at future shows.
Happy crafting,
Bertie
