Crafters Journal
Advice and Input From Other Crafters
Eva - 11/5/2007My husband and I have been doing arts and craft shows since the early 1980’s. It all started with me making some teddy bears from patterns and showing them at work. People started to buy them and it gave me the idea that maybe they would sell at the local craft show. They had a local, in the park, craft show every weekend, so we decided that we would try it.
We started with a few boxes for displaying and sold a few bears. We were very naïve. We started to talk to some of the other vendors and looked at their displays and decided that we needed more. Over the course of the next two years of doing this one show we got ourselves some tables and a canopy. We were then able to do some of the other shows in the local area and we expanded our stock to other types of stuff animals. At that time it was mainly dressed rabbits, cows and pigs. Talking and listening to the customers as to what they were looking for and talking to vendors, and seeing what they were carrying, expanded what I would make.
At that time, the only display canopies that were accepted at shows were the off white EZUp commercial grade so that is what we got. They were hard to come by and very expensive. We paid $600 for the canopy only and that was a lot of money in the 1980’s. There was no internet to buy them on, or local stores who sold them and we had to travel over 100 miles to find one. This was the best thing we ever did, because we still have that canopy and it is still usable. We did invest in a new commercial grade white Caravan canopy three years ago at $400 and it is just not as good. This one did come with sides, which are a must to have. The new one is lighter in weight and has wheels on the bag so it is easier to get around but I still like my old one.
After the table displays that we had, we had to expand and upgrade as our stock got more diverse. We had made good friends with a woodworker vendor and he built us some shelves. These came all apart and made to fit into our pickup.
Over the years we have changed our display a lot. Another is, I never set it up twice the same. I also move my stock around every day that I do a show. I try to showcase something different at the front of the booth every day. My displays have always been in a U-shape with nothing in the middle of the booth. People like to come in an walk around and not have too much to look at and not have to worry about falling over something. You can under display your work but you can also over display your work. People do get confused with too much to look at. If you use only tables in your booth, make sure that you have different levels on the table. I use some of my plastic containers covered with a custom cover that I made. This is of the same material as the table covers that I made. All table covers need to go to the ground. This gives you a place to put your containers and extra stock. Keep all clutter out of site of the customers. Clean booth makes for better sales.
There are a multitude of types of shows to do. From the local church show to the juried shows that are run by big promoters. We have tried them all. When you are starting, it is best to try all the little local shows you can find. This will tell you, if your product is going to sell and if it is at the right price. I think this is probably a little harder in todays’ economy than it was when we started. We started with all the little shows around town, we lived in a large metropolitan city, that were all under $50 for the weekend. We talked to all the vendors and learned what shows to do and not to do. Long time vendors have a lot of information and most are willing to share their experiences.
Another great source for information on where the shows are at and the cost of the shows is through one of the magazines that are published. CraftMasters and Festivalnet are a couple of the big ones is our area. We subscribed to these when we decided that we wanted to get out and do some shows outside of our local area. My husband would go through the magazines and decide what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. We would have shows booked for up to six months before we did them. Most shows have a deadline and the shows have to be paid for at least three months ahead of the show.
If you decide to do juried shows, you will also have to have good pictures of your display and your products. There is usually a jury fee that is non-refundable and no guarantee that you will be accepted at the show. I have never been rejected but I know of people who were. Products must be handmade by you at juried shows with no commercial products or products that you just assemble. Sometimes things will slip by and these will show up at a juried show and the true maker/vendor will get upset if this happens too often.
We did a lot of shows in Arizona, Nevada and California over the last 80’s and early 90’s. Some of them good and some of them where we didn’t even make our booth fee. This business can be like that. You never know if a show is going to be good or not. You may do the show one year and you make a lot of money and when you try the show the next year, you bomb. For about 10 years we did a show almost every weekend. We both worked at other jobs and would leave on Friday night and drive to the show, set up on Saturday morning, do the show Saturday and Sunday then break down and drive back home so that we could go to work on Monday. If you are going to do shows out of your area, don’t forget to add in the cost of the travel, meals and the motel rooms in your expenses. This can eat up your profits very quickly. Make sure to reserve your motel room before you go to a show or you might not find a place to stay.
The weather, what can I say about the weather! We have been in rain,
snow, a lot of wind and hot sun. Make sure wherever you put up your canopy, anchor it!!! If in the grass you can stake it but if in a parking lot use some type of weight on each of the legs. We have been in wind so strong that even with stakes and weights, it has taken the canopy. Once the wind picked up the canopy and me, as I was trying to keep it down, breaking all the canopy legs.
Vendors who do shows full time, will usually have a travel trailer or motor home so that they can save the motel costs but this can be expensive too as you usually have to have a place to park them and they are more expensive to travel with. We did do shows for two years full time and we really enjoyed it at first but, after a while we got burned out. We had a travel trailer that we parked in a travel park and would do shows in a 50 mile area. I had all my supplies in the trailer and I would sew for about 14 hours a day and then we would do the shows on the weekends. It was just too much and it wasn’t enjoyable after a while. Doing craft shows should be fun and when it because just another job, it is time to stop and do something else. This is what we did. We didn’t do shows for about three years.
I never stopped sewing. I tried local craft shops to put my things in and did pretty good with that. This allowed me to still sew but we were not ready to get out there every weekend.
After retiring four years ago, I decided that it was time to try the craft shows again. I was surprised on the cost of the shows and the amount of shows out there. Those smaller towns that were only doing 2 or 3 shows a year now have a show every weekend. This will really cut into the profits that you would expect to make at a show. Every one got into the promoter business and even though they made money, a lot of the small vendors were not making anything.
We signed up for every show we could find in our area. Some of them we made money and some we didn’t. We have eliminated the bad shows and are down to only a few shows a year. I still love doing the shows and visiting with the vendors and the customers. I no longer make product by using a commercial pattern. I design and make all my own stuff. The teddy bears, this is my passion, don’t sell very well, so I have designed a group of soft dolls and have been making them the last couple of years. These have been selling fairly well but in a couple of years I know that this will change and I will have to come up with something new. I have made so many different things over the years that I can’t even remember what some of the things are until some one mentions a product that I had.
Lastly, don’t forget to pay your taxes. I know we all hate this but it is something we all have to do. Get your state tax license and check to see if you need a city license. Keep really good books! Write down every dime you spend on supplies, booth fees, gas for your car, motel rooms and anything else you buy along the way. Keep all your receipts and make sure you record them after the show is over. Your tax person will need all the information you can give him. You also need to know if your business is really profitable or that it is just a hobby that you can only have fun with and not worry if you make an money. All that cash in your cashbox at the end of a show may look great but if you deduct EVERY thing that you need to, maybe you didn’t do so good. That is the time to access your product or the type of shows you are doing and see what can be changed to give you a profit. I have seen so many changes in this business over the years and I know I constantly have to change my product, it is a must to change with the times.