Craft Sale - The Aftermath

Well, what a wet and miserable day it turned out to be on Saturday. Enough to dampen anyone's spirits.

Here is my set-up at the hall:

I had some extra bits and bobs for sale - some drop spindle kits, knitting needles, a fulled bag made from Colinette Skye, and some jewellery from a sale I did a while ago. Also some spiral scarves made from recycled sari yarn.

Trade was ponderously slow due to the location and the weather, and I'd given up hope of selling anything after the first four hours, but then I had a small flurry and managed to sell 4 of my felted corsages. Hurrah! At least I wasn't totally out of pocket.

One lady buyer told me that I wasn't charging enough for my items (I know this, but people on the Island seem to want something for nothing, which is very disheartening for crafts people). The other buyer wanted to know if there was a discount for buying two items (!!!) and then asked for them to be wrapped (!!! x a million).

I always wrap my items nicely in tissue, but this is an extra little touch, not a given! It amazes me that people will take the shirt off ones back and still want jam on it - to totally mix my metaphors.

Bah!

My next plan is to start selling on Etsy, and I need to get to work on some decent photographs and list these articles in my shop which is: http:/fleece2fantastic.etsy.com although empty at present. I may also dip my toe into eBay, to sell some kits.

Lesson's learnt from Saturday.

1. Get organised earlier - pricing and labelling were a nightmare to do and I was still awake at 1am the night before trying to get it all finished.

2. Try and publicise the Sale more widely. Although I didn't organise the event, I'm sure that having just one ad in the local paper was reflected in the small number of people who crossed the threshold.

3. Stand firm on my prices/increase prices. Devaluing my work, just adds to the devaluation of crafting on the Island in general. Other crafts people have cut back so much that they are barely covering the cost of materials. I can't see the point in that at all. Yes, it allows them to continue with their creativity, but at what cost? I'm sure if they were asked to work at a regular day job for no wages, that they'd flatly refuse.

Take art, craft and design out of the everyday world and our internal surroundings and personal appearance would be very bland indeed.