Thursday, June 13, 2013

A Failed Attempt

I remember a few months ago when I was reading one of my favorite blogs: MY ROSE VALLEY

I remember all the work Annette was doing to get ready for a craft show.  She made a beautiful booth and sat all day to sell her wares.  The success was just not there.  I'm not sure if it was the event or if the place she showed was just not ready for her Bloggy-loved crafts, but the sales were disappointing.

I remember thinking, ugh... I hope I never have to put my beloved crafts out to the public and have them shunned!

Well, I had JUST THAT happen.

A few weeks ago I hosted a table at our local Heritage Festival.  I have had a table there for many years for my scrapbooking and digital photo organizing.  But, this was my first time EVER adding crochet to my table.

I thought a lot about my booth, what I would sell, how I wanted it to look.  I wanted simple, cute, bright and happy.  AND... I got JUST THAT!

Here is some of the crochet (during the 3weeks preceeding the event I made a lot of stuff!) in the works for the booth:


And here are some of the photos of my booth.



Some of my designs were inspired by pinterest and blog patterns and the like, others were of my own design entirely and I'll be sharing the patterns for those.

Here are some more photos of the booth and event:


People kept asking if these were prayer flags - I told them I refer to them as buntings.  They had no idea what a bunting was or what you did with it - maybe I only live in blog-land?






What do you think - should I try it again?

The Heritage Festival is not a big shopping event - it's much more about our town's historical buildings and historical past - about community organizations and opportunities, about pony rides and ice cream and beautiful weather on a road beside the creek... but it didn't seem to be a big sales event for other people either.

For me.  I sold one item for $8.  Table fee was $25.  So, I don't feel it was a success.

But - my booth was successful!  I loved my booth.  It was nice and cool and shady on a hot hot day and I got to sit and relax and be surrounded by my happy, yarny colors all the same.  So what's your take...should I ever try it again - did you like my booth?

4 comments:

froggy (D'Ann Gayler) said...

Yeah! Try it again.

I have done a few craft fairs. The first was a not a big seller, but the others have been a lot of fun and profitable.

Never give up.

Bethel of Bethania said...

Ohh Sher I know your disappointment but like the lady before said 'don't give up' Your stall was very well presented... I love your cheery brightly coloured crochet work... Like you say others didn't have a profitable day either... you get times like this when folks have short arms & very long pockets... Do try again & look for another market where you can only sell what you make... I find these places are where your work is much more appreciated... All the Best. <3

Unknown said...

Craft fairs are always hit or miss. Sometimes they are a lot of work and when there is a table fee, you end up making about $.005 an hour!

If a craft fair doesn't have a table fee (I'm doing one at my swim club with no table fee) I'll usually do it. If the table fee is reasonable, I'll sometimes do it. It's exposure. It just depends on how I feel about it at the time.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I think you should try again. I just came across this and I think your crafts are super cute and fun!!!!

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