Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Kids Kottage Craft Fair Postmortem


Sadly, most of the pictures I took that day came out fuzzy. And yes, that's a fitted sheet on my table -- I swear the label said flat. Sigh.

When I was in college, I studied directing for theatre. After each student directed show, we would get together with our own mentor and teachers and analyze how the show went from start to finish. We would call this our postmortem. . .

Okay, so the craft fair was not a stupendous success, but it wasn't an entire waste either. I mainly got practice doing one: the prep work, all of the set up, selling my wares, etc. Actually, I don't really think of it as selling my wares, but really just chatting with folks and telling them a little bit about what I do. Truth be told, many people have no idea what chain maille really is. My warrior (with her false eyelashes, thank you very much!) modeling the coif drew many people over to my table and inspired many a conversation. I also spent some time weaving a new dice bag and demonstrating how the weave I used (Euro 4-1) could be made into other variations. I brought a whole bunch of beaded and wire wrapped jewelry, some supplies, and even a whole bunch of DIY Necklace Kits (perhaps soon to be added to my Etsy shop) that I wanted to move in addition to my maille. I made a few necklace sales and even a pair of earrings, but no maille sold. Sad.

There was a Pirate guy there making balloon animals for the kids who gave me a lead on a local pirate festival and another vendor offered me a position at a fair outside a coffee shop in another town. I'm not sure if the coffee shop thing is going to work out because it's over an hour away from me, but that pirate festival sounds promising. I'm going to have to make that call and build up my inventory!

I also met fellow Etsy seller Megan of meganclynch and fellow Etsy seller / Florida Etsy Street Team member Stacey of Elle Belle. You can see Stacey's set up here and Megan's here. Check out more pictures of my set up at my flickr.

5 comments:

Heather Buchanan said...

Your displays look lovely! How funny to accidentally buy a fitted sheet, but it actually seems to work quite well. Your chain maille is absolutely stunning.

Amanda Conger said...

Are you breathing easy now that it's over? ; )

Sometimes, just getting out there and doing it is the hardest part. I'm glad it wasn't a complete bust for you. And yay for the pirate festival? (Can I just say, that sounds like SO much fun!)

FairiesNest said...

I love the link between theater and shows! As a former thespian and theater major I can really identify. I always feel that a craft show is a performance for me and that I'm playing a part the whole time...the outgoing crafter persona! And a pirate festival? What Fun!!

Cat (darklingwoods) said...

Sounds like it went smoothly :) and I love the kit idea!

and Pirate fest?? There is your market arrrggg!

Athena's Armoury said...

Thanks, guys!

Yeah, the Pirate thing sounds awesome and I really need to make that phone call. I've discovered that it's actually quite a huge show (15,000 people in three days!) and would require all kinds of stuff I don't have yet: a booth, more displays, liability insurance, etc. Plus, I'd have to be juried in, so I'm trying not to get too excited yet (even though I am!).