The Show

[featherynscale]

The show went... poorly.
Promised: 70+ vendors, heavily advertised, venue convenient and easy to get to, all vendors required to sell only handmade stuff.
Actual: 25 vendors, 5 of whom didn't show up. Heavily advertised by direct mail to retirement communities and a radio spot on the soft rock station. Venue easy to get to if you have been there before. I was next to a guy who was selling As Seen On TV Taco Stands.

Of the 20 vendors that showed up, the breakdown went something like this:
Scented Candles - 2
Kozy Kuntry Floral Arrangements and Clever Outhouse Signs - 3
"Unusual" handbags (which all looked the same; apparently "unusual" is code for large, square and made out of bright material, possibly with some maribou around the top) - 3
Jewelry of some stripe - 4
Stuff Not Technically an Art or Craft - 3 (Taco Stand Guy, a booth selling accessories for little girls' hair, and a woman selling framed posters)
Melted Coke Bottles - 1
Silk Skirts - 1
Quilts - 2
Ceramics of the "Take it home and paint it" variety - 1

There was also a guy there selling food who was supposed to be providing free breakfast to vendors. By the time I got through his line, he was out of almost everything. I went to McDonald's and got a sausage biscuit. Ick.

The show started at 8. The first "customer" who was not also a vendor or show staff probably arrived about 9:30. I sold two pieces all day, and one of them was to B, who had showed up to help me run the table. I brought out my kit so I could work on jewelry while I was sitting, so that I wouldn't be bored. This meant that I actually left with more jewelry than I'd had when I came in. I probably had more people come by my table trying to sell me things (display units, craft show directories, chiropractic service) than trying to buy jewelry. I also had a number of snotty wretched people who came by apparently to complain about the number of jewelry vendors in the show, as if this were my fault. All in all, I made about half of what it cost me to be in the show (registration fees only, not counting the table and display stuff kittenpants bought for me for the show, or the cost of the materials for what I had to sell).

On the bright side, though, I did get to drive my car inside a building (to load and unload my tables). I've always wanted to do that. And I had curry for lunch and a very good latte. So it wasn't a total loss, I guess. Just about 7/8ths of a loss.

Comments

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking utilizing your online venues is going to be a better use of resources. Your stuff doesn't meet up with the general "craft show" market for some reason (I could speculate, but it wouldn't be charitable).

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I have two competing theories.
One is that my stuff is crap, and I'm only successful where people know me and feel sorry for me.
The other is that I fail to grasp mainstream fashion. It's like the first one, but phrased more politely.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Your stuff might be crap and I'd never know it, since I don't grasp mainstream fashion either. But the datapoints of friends-of-friends who buy your stuff (repeatedly) sort of belies that.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Or, I suppose, the sort of people who go to these things really do, in their heart of hearts, want to buy gingham ducks, and my stuff just isn't horrible enough.

I need to gather more data.

[kittenpants.livejournal.com]

WTF. You bitch about how poorly people in KC dress, and then complain that your jewelry isn't selling... and yet you draw the conclusion that your jewelry sucks, not that people in KC wouldn't know elegance if it walked up to them and kicked them in the balls with tasteful strappy low-heel sandals. Could you please change your default setting from "self-hate" to something a bit more compassionate, realistic, and useful?

I love you.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Doubt it. Self-deprecation is so much more socially acceptable. :-P

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Okay, now I'm going to smack you, and not in the happy fun way...

Self-deprecation is only more acceptable to the self. It annoys the crap out of others.

[dramaticaddict.livejournal.com]

btw, I agree with kittenpants...
and your stuf is FABULOUS, but I'm poor, and cant pay you what i feel it is worth.

[zylch.livejournal.com]

Possible test: Go to several local craft fairs (as an attendee, not a vendor). Observe what's selling (not what's up for sale, but things that actually move). Decide whether you want to make the sorts of things that sell in KC -- if so, carry on, if not, focus on internet and screw the craft shows.

Frankly, having once (in my stagehand days) got paid an absurd amount to work a massive tole-painting show in Wichita, and having gone to the Flinthills Festival and the Pumpkin Patch in Manhattan for many a year, I think that you may be surprised how much money there is to be had from gingham ducks in the local market. Sad, but true.

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

You and Amy can definitely commiserate about this frustration.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

What does Amy make?

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

Fine art, mostly wildlife art. I was going to give you a link to her site but it appears to be b0rked right this second (I clearly need to fix that). We spent a season trying to do it professionally.