Rhonda Bracey: At Random

I made quite a few things prior to last weekend’s craft show, none of which I put into my Etsy store — there was no point paying Etsy’s listing fee and taking photos, writing descriptions etc. if the item sold at the craft fair!

It’s been pretty hot outside today, so I took the opportunity to stay indoors, take and upload photos, write up descriptions, etc. for all those extra goodies I made over the past few weeks.

Here are the journal covers and plate mats (large coasters for the table) I added today. I really enjoyed creating the ‘Channelling Piet Mondrian‘ journal cover and love how it turned out, but it took FOREVER! It had been in the making in my head for a while, but the actual execution took about 8 hours…)

(Regular and perceptive readers of this blog may recognise a few of those ‘plate mats’ — they were left over leaves from my dragonfly quilt and left over blocks from my South of the Border quilt! I fused them to the stiff interfacing I use, then free motion stitched them with various threads, fused fabric to the back and finished them off with a tight satin stitch around the edge.)

My feet still hurt a little, despite being able to sit much of the afternoon.

The craft fair was really busy in the morning, with lots of people around. It died off after about 1:30PM, and by 3PM there was hardly a soul. By that time it was pretty hot and most of the shops in town had closed, so it wasn’t surprising that people weren’t out and about.

Having never done a craft fair before, I don’t have any comparison for how well I did. What I do know is that I sold 30+ items to about 15 customers (I counted how many bags I had left from the initial 25 I put out) over the 7 hours.

My biggest seller was luggage tags (14) , followed closely by bookmarks (11). I also sold two sets of coasters, three  journal covers, and three miscellaneous items.

The most popular thing — based on the number of people who touched it — was my lizards and reptiles journal cover and the blue peacock feather one (not listed on Etsy yet). Everyone ‘loved them’ but no-one loved them enough to buy them! 😉 And lots of people oo-ed and ah-ed over my fabric art pieces — again, without purchasing.

Most people I spoke to were very aware that the prices of handmade items don’t reflect the reality of the labour that goes into each piece.

One observation I made was that some people just walk straight past your booth. They visit the booths next to you and the ones across the aisle, but skip yours entirely. Then it dawned on me — they’re just not into fabric stuff. I do the same with booths that have things I’ll never buy, like jewellery, smelly soaps, perfumed candles, etc. Once I realised that, I didn’t feel like it was me or my display.

Another observation was that while most kids were well-behaved, a couple seemed to think it was OK to touch stuff with a half-eaten, crumbly chocolate cookie in their grotty little hands! Fortunately, most kids (and their parents) were very good.

So, was it worth it? At face value, I did OK financially. But when I deduct the costs of the booth and the large cloth over the table, then divide the remainder by the hours (gathering together everything I thought I’d need, setting up, pulling down, plus the 7 hours manning the booth), then not so much.

There’s probably no profit in the sort of craft I do as I can’t (and don’t) charge a realistic amount for labour. But I enjoy the creative process and I enjoy working with fabric and thread. If nothing else, the proceeds will pay for more fabric! 😉

Here are some photos taken before the doors opened, while the vendors were in the final stages of setting up; my booth is the one with the purple cloth! (click on an image to see it in a larger size)

I have a booth in our local Christmas craft fair tomorrow. It’ll be my first-ever time displaying my wares at a craft fair, so it’s exciting and a bit scary too, as I don’t know what to expect — except sore feet! It’s meant to be very hot (~37C; 100F) tomorrow and as I’ll be standing much of the day, I think my poor feet will cop a hammering.

There’s a lot of things to take to set up the stall, and of course, having never done it before, I don’t know if I’ve gone overboard or will have forgotten something. Only time will tell.

I also don’t know whether the 100 or so items I have to sell is too few or too many! If I get five customers like my friend from the other day, I’ll be cleaned out of stock! She bought 13 bookmarks, 12 luggage tags, 2 journal covers, and a table mat (not on Etsy).

The fair goes from 9AM to 4PM and we’ve been told not to pack up before 4PM. But what if all my stock is sold before then??? Of course, that might be wishful thinking, ‘cos the other side of my brain says what if nothing sells?

Only time will tell… There’s only one certainty — my feet aren’t looking forward to tomorrow at all. I don’t deal well in the heat, and this is an indoor venue with no air conditioning, though I think there are ceiling fans way up high near the old hall’s ceiling. With 35 stall holders and who knows how many customers, I doubt the ceiling fans will do anything more than move a few motes of dust around.

Another submission of mine hit the front page of CraftGawker today (#8729):

Pepper coasters with red trim