| | post craft fair....
Today was the last day of our local annual Christmas bazaar. It was fun to do, I made some new friends, and a few contacts for future work- one for portrait photography, and the other for making a customized photo collage.
It was a very modest selling fair for me. I sold 8 or 9 cards, and 6 bookmarks. (in 12 hours of selling.) Oh well. You just never know how things are going to go.... It may not really be my market, either. There were beautifully-made things there, some items that sold really well, but also many others that did not leave the door. Husband and I were talking over dinner how everyone who sells at the fair has a different outlook- are they there to make money, or there to sell their art? I see myself artistically- oriented, and have all kinds of enthusiasm for coming up with new ideas and making things looks as nice as I can.. But I have trouble mustering the enthusiasm for marketing and managing the money end. I am learning that to make any money at this, I probably need to put in at least twice as much energy into the business end as I do the artistic.
There were lots of people who sold their creations at very low prices....I wonder if the cost of their materials were even covered in some cases. The lady with the table across from me made gorgeous jewelry. Each of her pieces probably took hours to make, yet she sold them for under $10. And she had so many pieces, too. She sold quite a bit, but still had the bulk of her work still there at the end of the fair. The ladies to my right sold their crochet work- hats and scarves and baby shoes and purses they fashioned all year while watching tv at night. They had so many things, and did extremely well- selling hats, for example, for $3-4 apiece. Both sets of women didn't seem to factor in the enormous amount of time and their talents into their prices, but perhaps made up for it in volume.
Also, I imagine that a few people there this weekend consider their craft a hobby, and made their creations for the sheer joy of it. Perhaps their main reason for being there was to pass on what they had made, and possibly regain the money they invested in materials. So many strokes for so many folks.
The hottest items of the sale on Saturday were cloth bags for microwaving potatoes. The hottest items on Sunday were crochet scarves and baby booties.
So perhaps this wasn't really my gig. None of the tie dye sold. I think, in fact, in my military town, where a large percentage of the craftgoers were retirees, the tie dye might have stirred negative feelings. Many glanced at it and walked quickly on. Those that came in from the photography side of the table seemed more interested.
I am pleased by how the tie dye turned out, though. Here are a few of my favorite shirts:
Here's the one I showed the other day, the one immersed in black dye. It's a large women's, but runs like a small adult shirt.
This one is a large-running 2T.
This is a small-running 2T.
This is a men's extra large mandala.
This is a pillowcase mandala. This was a happy experiment. (-: Notice the star-shape in this mandala, compared to the oval shape in the shirt above? This star shape was done by twisting the fabric bundle after folding it up, and then tying it to maintain he twist. I think I'll do that again! (-:
These are all still here, and for sale, so please let me know if you might be interested. Today I was charging $20 for the shirts, $15 of the 2T dress, $10 for the onesie, and $7 for the pillowcases. Take them for these prices, and I'll throw in the shipping for free. If you want to see all the tie dye I have right now, go here, to my photoblog. You can click on each photo to see it quite a bit larger.
How is your weekend going?
|
| | Posted 12/9/2006 9:09 PM - 2 views - 10 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- give stars
- votes0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
