Thoughts From Today’s Craft Fair

I just got back from that craft fair I’ve been excited about for the past two months. It was held in a large “retirement” village where a lot of the residents and some staff members came to visit the show to pick up gifts for themselves and others in their family.

There were a lot of other jewelry makers there, but I did pretty well because I had a wide selection of pieces that I thought would appeal to just about everyone. I had spent a lot of time making things which I thought “older” people would appreciate like eyeglass holders and bracelets with easy to open and close clasps. I found that a lot of the people who tried the eyeglass holders liked the design, but found that the beading was a little uncomfortable on the neck!!

Ooops! I don’t wear glasses myself (well, not YET anyway) so I hadn’t really thought that through. My bracelets with the easy clasps did sell fairly well and one very friend woman thanked me for thinking of the audience I was selling to!

I didn’t really know what to expect for this show, so I didn’t really put any price tags on any of my pieces. I walked around to the other vendors and saw some of the same them selling bracelets and earrings similar to mine for three times the price I would normally charge. I actually lowered my price for earrings “on the fly” this morning (from $8 a set to $5 a set for most) simply because I knew many of the people visiting my table were on a fixed budget.

I also found two more BIG selling features, aside from taking pride in my work and having fun with it at the same time.

1. I brought a lot of my supplies today and actually managed to put together a couple pieces right there in front of people browsing my table. I can’t tell you how excited some people got just to see the process of jewelry being made. One woman left the fair and came back with four of her friends who then watched me make a bracelet pretty much from scratch. It was fun for me to share my love of bead jewelry, it was fun for them to learn something and I ended up selling the bracelet to one of her friends. So I not only sold a fun bracelet, but we all had a story to tell later!

2. Again, I learned that a well-presented display that is pleasing to the eye sometimes makes all the difference. I received many nice compliments on the way my table was set up and how professional everything looked. Some people commented that they normally aren’t interested in jewelry, but the table looked so inviting that they just had to visit. That makes me smile

To the right is a quick photo I took of my table. I like the black cloth over the table with the purple shiny cloth spread out in a “ripple” effect. It makes my white and clear displays really stand out, don’t you think? That “green vine” in the middle of the table is a fake grapevine sort of thing I found at the local dollar store. I’m still a little undecided on whether that adds to the display or makes it too busy.