Craft Market

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58
Location
Near Winchester, VA
I'm involved in our little town's Craft Market. The market is located in Berryville, Virginia (that little town outside of Winchester). It's the 2nd Saturday of the month from May through October, with a 2-day indoor holiday market in November. The general market is outdoors, and vendors are encouraged to bring a tent or awning. The area is on an asphalt parking lot, so you can't drive stakes. Most people use gallon milk jugs full of water or sand hung on the corners to stabilize the tent against wind. Spaces are 10x10 feet. Cost is $25 for a single day, or $120 for the full season (excluding the holiday market).

I'd love to have some woodworkers participate! The market is a good place to showcase your wares, and it's a popular outing for the locals around here. Just about any kind of hand-made things would be good. I've had requests to sell some of my jewelry boxes, but I'm still too "new" to this to feel it's time to start selling my things! I don't have any pens ready to sell, either. I'd be happy to work with any woodworkers on a booth, too. Just let me know if you're interested. Feel free to PM or post here and I'll contact you.

Thanks!!!
-Sandy

P.S. Vaughn...if I posted this in the wrong place, please forgive me and move it where it belongs!! :)
 
Sandy, if you have stuff made, it's never too soon to offer for sale.
BTW, many blacktop parking lot locations allow the driving of round stakes (like huge nails) into the surface. You just have to fill with blacktop sealer afterwards. Not expensive. But if the rules prohibit, you are prohibited. Good luck.
 
One thing I will tell you and I MEAN this with all respect. DO NOT under price your work.

If the market won't support it, you may be at the wrong place. Your work is unique and you should be paid for your talent as well as the materials. Point in fact; Ask a Plumber for a better price and they will ask you if you can do it yourself. You probably can't do plumbing and the plumber can't do what you do. Check prices of similar items and similar quality(remember............You ARE your own worst critic.)

Best of luck.

Bruce
 
I think most of us are guilty of what Bruce said to watch out for. The box may be small and use little in materials, but there is one heck of a lot of work that goes into each one. Your time is worth the money, so don't be shy about asking for what your time is worth.
 
I agree with Frank. Between now and May, you'd be surprised how many pens and other items you can make. I also suspect your jewelry boxes are better than you are giving yourself credit for. (If not, you still have a few months to improve them, too.) And $25 is a bargain price for a booth space. (I'm typically paying ten times that.)

I also fully agree with what Bruce is saying. If you sell yourself short, you sell your craft, your art, and the art of others short, too.

That said, I'm facing a dilemma...at the last two shows I participated in, my sales didn't quite cover my entry fees. (Let alone my business costs such as the canopy, tables, business license, etc.) I had a decent number of lookers, but once people turned the piece over and saw the price, they typically walked away. I still don't know if it was because consumer spending was tight before Christmas, or if my things are priced too high. After comparing my work to that being done by others in the area, I think my prices are on par with theirs. (I've even had some of them tell me the same thing.) Still, I can't help but wonder if my prices are higher than what the current market will bear. I don't see a lot of other turners selling any volume of bowls and hollow forms. Pens, bottle stoppers, and other smaller items are their bread and butter. I have some of those items too, but my emphasis is on bowls and other vessels.

I'm doing a show in April in Brentwood, CA. This is the Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive crowd. I have between now and then to add some pieces to my inventory, and I will be trying to do my biggest and best work yet. (I intend to leave some of my lesser earlier pieces at home.) I also have between now and then to decide if I'm going to drop my prices a bit, or hope that a more affluent crowd will be willing to pay my "normal" prices. One way or another, I need to move some stuff out to make room for more new pieces. Like I told LOML, whether I sell it or not, I'm gonna keep making turned items. I'd just rather not give them away to make room for more. ;) And I don't want to cheapen my art, or that of other folks turning similar quality pieces. As I said, it's a dilemma. :huh:

Enough of my issues...I think you should consider giving your local show a try. ;) And thanks for extending the invitation out to other members here who are in your area.
 
For the Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive folks, you might want to raise your prices significantly. Some of them folks are price snobs. They often know little or nothing about the art they are buying and base their decisions on price. If it is reasonably priced they assume it is not worth having, but if it is outrageously expensive they presume that it is worthy of their ownership. They like to brag about how much they paid for something instead of the great deal they got.:thumb:

:rofl:
 
For the Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive folks, you might want to raise your prices significantly. Some of them folks are price snobs. They often know little or nothing about the art they are buying and base their decisions on price. If it is reasonably priced they assume it is not worth having, but if it is outrageously expensive they presume that it is worthy of their ownership. They like to brag about how much they paid for something instead of the great deal they got.:thumb:

:rofl:
That's a very true and valid point Jerry, and another part of the internal debate I'm having with myself. Since I've not done this particular show before, I'm still a bit in the dark about how the crowd will best be separated from their money.

I'm considering the idea of having a separate table of my best pieces (the "Museum Collection" or some other hoity-toity name) and have them priced at the upper end of the scale. The other tables could have lesser pieces at lower prices.
 
Pricing items is probably the hardest part!! Learning the methods and building skills is fun. The craft market here gets a wide variety of customers. The local farmers that are not easily parted from their money...ever...for any reason! Then there's the "townies" that go from low-income housing to the moderate-upper income folks. Then there's the richies that have, it seems, more money than sense for the most part.

I think I'll try again to make some chalk boards and maybe some candlesticks.
 
Hi Sandy :wave:,
I have a friend that sold hat bands and feathers for cowboy hats to help put him through college. He had some high end retail establishments that carried his display. He displayed one band and feather for $250.00 which never sold, but he attributes that piece and that price for the sales of the others at $20.00 and $35.00 that helped him get through school.:dunno::D

I lived in Winchester and Cross Junction for several years.
Now have a client named Berry who bought a second home/ranch in Bellville, and for the life of me, I always refer to that ranch as being in Berryville. (I think they are amused and flattered, I am always just confused! :huh: :rofl:) Good luck and don't sell yourself too cheap.
Shaz :)
 
Pricing items is probably the hardest part!! Learning the methods and building skills is fun. The craft market here gets a wide variety of customers. The local farmers that are not easily parted from their money...ever...for any reason! Then there's the "townies" that go from low-income housing to the moderate-upper income folks. Then there's the richies that have, it seems, more money than sense for the most part.

I think I'll try again to make some chalk boards and maybe some candlesticks.

Sandy if I wasn't 4 hours north of you I'd love to participate in you Craft Fair. I too found pricing was difficult... hard to find that sweet spot for a particular item. If it's a low end show with low table fees (just a notch above a flea market) then I price things on the low side, and still go home with some profit since table costs etc lower. Higher end shows where you pay $500 a table, I need to inflate my prices to make a profit, but then I find people are expecting to pay higher prices at those shows. As was expressed by others, don't undersell youself. Set a goal. I set my lowest prices so that I still make at least $20/hour shop time. If it takes me an hour per for a run of something, the lowest price for that item will be $20. Adjust as volume dictates. Example, I designed a small cracker holder few years ago... took the first batch of 18 to a two day show and sold every one first couple hours. Note to self... next show bring 100 and charge a buck more. It has been my biggest selling item since, accounting for about a third of all sales.

crackerbig.jpg
 
Very neat Dave, I guess crackers come in a standard size :dunno:
Cheers! :wave:
Well... not really, but there are a few common sizes like the Saltine crackers in the pic, and Ritz round crackers also fit nicely. Enough that folks keep buying them at least.

btw Stuart, I was impressed with your "dungeon" video. You do a lot in a little space. Speaking of small woodshops, 29 years ago as a newlywed we lived in a trailer for a time, and I sectioned off a 8x10 room, nailed some 2x4's to a door which became my first workbench... a Sears electric drill and a couple hand tools and I had my first woodshop. It was... cozy :rolleyes:
 
Pricing is a common subject on most forums. I have wrestled with it in my town as well. We are a retirement community and have many folks who just enjoy puttering in their shop. It is not unusual to see items at craft shows priced below the cost of materials. One fellow had elaborate scroll work clocks that he sold for $10.00. I know the movements cost about $13.00 and up and many hours went into the scroll sawing. Another sold small furniture items, like shelves, stools, etc. for less than the wood cost. Upside to what he did, he donated the proceeds to various churches even though he wasn't a member. My church got a couple thousand from him every year.
Then there is the problem of folks who won't pay a decent price. I'll never forget the woman who picked up a small weed pot I had turned. She commented on how beautiful it was and said she would "pay anything" to have it. When I quoted $5.00 she dropped it like she was going to catch a disease. Folks is funny, go figger.
 
... We are a retirement community and have many folks who just enjoy puttering in their shop. It is not unusual to see items at craft shows priced below the cost of materials. One fellow had elaborate scroll work clocks that he sold for $10.00. I know the movements cost about $13.00 and up and many hours went into the scroll sawing. Another sold small furniture items, like shelves, stools, etc. for less than the wood cost...

Interesting, I've come upon this phenomenon myself at shows. I try and make a certain amount of profit to help feed my woodshops veracious apatite for cast iron. It's tough to compete with the (usually) older fellow a few booths down who really isn't there to make a lot of money, he does just enjoy puttering in the shop and have some place to go and something to do on the weekends. If they make a few bucks doing that all the better. I suppose it could be argued that the guy who charges so little and then gives it all to charity... that if he charged closer to fair market prices he would have that much more to give away assuming he would still sell enough. But that's his prerogative. Bottom line is that even though he might cut into my sales a little, that doesn't bother me. I'm a boomer and I may be in his same shoes one day selling stuff for cost of materials if that. If I ever evolve into that, I wonder if I'll remember what it was like for the middle aged guy or the young woodshop owner a few booths down :eek:
 
That cracker holder is very nice, Dave! Interesting that it'll hold Saltines as well as Ritz. I may have to borrow (read...steal...) that design from you if it's ok.

So far, I'm the only woodworker in the regular market. It'd be nice to have some company, but regardless, I'll still price things in the $20-$50 arena. This means nothing fancy, no spalted woods or one-of-a-kind boxes. I may have some spalted maple pens, but that'd be it for fancy woods.

For lathe practice, I'm making some "Berryville bippers". These are little bat-like things that let me get used to using the skew and the gouges. I may or may not have some for sale. I'm not sure if a weapon is a great thing to sell at a craft market....especially given some of the customers that frequent it! ;)

I'm waiting on purchasing a Barracuda2 and a pen mandrel...hopefully by the end of this week. Once I have a good jaw for the lathe, we'll see what turns up! :)
 
That cracker holder is very nice, Dave! Interesting that it'll hold Saltines as well as Ritz. I may have to borrow (read...steal...) that design from you if it's ok...
I make several unique things I don't see in other booths, and have been told I should patent some of my designs. Sheeeesh... give me a break, as if I have money for lawyers? Just the concept kinda turns me off. I just enjoy working wood and selling enough to feed my shop. So feel free to copy anything I post. For that holder I start with a 1 1/8 x 2 3/8 x 11 1/2 blank. Go for it and give me some feedback. Maybe you can improve on my design or have an idea to help me make them faster. Currently if I do a run of 30 or more at a time, with my jigs specific to the holder, takes me about 20 minutes rough wood to finished holder, with sanding on the osc spindle and 6x48 taking the bulk of that time. Finish with edible saflower or walnut oil from the supermarket. I sell them for $8 at my low end shows and make them from oak, cherry, redcedar and maple, with cherry selling the most. I also make a $7 small cutting board (for cheese etc) to go with it, and about 2/3 of folks buy both for a $15 sale which allows me to meet my min $20/hour shop time goal. The key is the jigs and making runs of several dozen at a time.

...but regardless, I'll still price things in the $20-$50 arena. This means nothing fancy, no spalted woods or one-of-a-kind boxes...
I used to try an charge extra for more expensive, or particularly beautiful or figured wood, but especially at low end shows and only a 10 foot table I found that two tiered pricing causes more confusion and customer disappointment than it's worth. They see the (higher) price for my nutcracker made out of dogwood and assume all nutcrackers are that price, or the opposite and it becomes more trouble in a small booth than it's worth. Now I either save the more precious stuff for the fancy shows or as gifts from me to folks, or often just put them in with the common wood and eat the slight loss. Most folks don't know that dogwood (if you can get it) costs $15 a bd ft and oak costs $3. I'm not complaining... nature of the beast.
 
Sandy,
Can't tell for sure if you're just involved as a vendor or if you are part of the preparation and organization group for the fair(s), but if the latter . . .

My Church has tentatively scheduled a craft fair for November, both because we've got so much stuff coming up that the fall is the earliest we could do it and we can hopefully draw bigger customer crowds due to Christmas right around the corner.

Anyway, I have the sneaking suspiscion that I will be tagged with organizing the fair and if you (or anyone else around here) are involved with that aspect, I would appreciate any advice you could give. :thumb:
 
Hi Jerry. Yes, I'm involved in the organization and running of these craft markets as well as having a booth (and I STILL have to pay for the booth!!!). It's a BUNCH of work, and lots of it is getting crafters to show up. Hence my post here! ;)

What I've found is get some contacts NOW. Go to some shows, get cards and contact info from the crafters and build a database so you can do a mailing. We have been doing this for a long time now (this is my second year being involved), so we have a lot of crafter contacts to mail to.

You'll want to start doing your crafter invitation mailings by July for a holiday craft market. Let them know if it'll be indoors or out, and if you have electric and/or phone services available. You'll get lots of jewelry folks. Just make sure to separate them as much as you can, and intersperse the quilters and painters and photography and other crafts in there. Make sure you "jury" the crafters. Have them send photographs of their wares along with their application and check. If you don't approve them, you can send the check back. You'll want to have 2 or 3 people for the jury. If you need a basic application form and a ruleset to start with, you can download ours from http://www.berryvillemainstreet.org and click on events. Our market is hand-made only. You probably want to start designing the mailings now...it never hurts to have things ready!! You will also want to make contacts with all the local papers to advertise your market. Crafters get pretty upset if nobody comes to buy their items! We start advertising about 2 months before the market, then about 2 weeks before the market we put up signs and banners. I've still got to work on the big board for our market...they always need repair after a season of being out in the weather!

Good luck!! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. :)
 
Hi Sandy,
You got some great advice here about pricing.. don't sell yourself short..
I had a bowl in one of my show that was about 8 in diameter x about 6 in high.. it was from ambrosia maple and I had priced it at $65 thinking that was a good price... one lady walked in and grabbed it and pulled out the cash... she then said, "you artists never get what your art is worth"... it was a nice bowl and I'm thinking now I under priced it... don't be afraid to ask what its worth... you will be surprised at what people think are bargains.

on the tents.. I saw a guy in Houston that had weights for his tent.. he took 4" dia. pvc pipe about 15-20 inches long..and capped one end, filled them with sand, then put a ring bolt through another cap and capped the other end... makes a nice weight that doesn't take up as much room as the milk jugs and also looks nicer. I made four for my tent and good thing too.. we had some nice winds last fall at a couple of my shows.
 
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