Wednesday 28 March 2012

First Craft Fair Fun

My first craft fair was on Sunday... and I survived it! There seemed to be a whole load of things conspiring against me before though. For a start I suddenly came down sick on Thursday - I kept blacking out and the whole world seemed to be spinning for the entirety of Thursday and Friday and all I could really do was sit around with my head very still not doing anything. Turns out I had a case of labyrinthitis, which I love the name of even if I disliked the actual symptoms! Anyway, luckily by Saturday I was feeling a little better, although not back to normal. I could at least get some last things done though so I spent a fair amount of Saturday finishing up last little bits. Obviously I ended up staying up to get everything finished, and worse I kept waking up suddenly remembering 'business cards!' or 'tablecloth!' and then having to get up to check I had remembered them etc. Aaaaannnnddd... the clocks went forward on Saturday which meant I lost an hour's sleep anyway!! Oh, and just to add a little more drama... the fair was in Balham which is quite a trek away from where I live although it is still in London.

What my stall looked like... for next time I want to have some letters on my bunting.

Anyway, I arrived, set up and more importantly I met all the other crafters and artists who were there - first of all, Emma Barrett who organised the whole event - she was absolutely fantastic and had put in so much work into the planning and organisation. It was a really relaxed atmosphere, we all sold very different things so weren't in competition with each other and the venue was great for the event. Next to me were the lovely Daisy of MakeThriftLondon and Emma of KnickerbockerGlories. I spent a fair amount of my day chatting to them and getting tips from them about craft fairs in general.


One of my favourite pendants which was sold.
The Balham Bowls Club is a fairly large pub and we were upstairs in a big room that is used for all sorts of events. There were lots of people coming through the fair as people who had come for lunch or a Sunday drink. There was plenty of browsing and chatting to people, I gave out lots of business cards, had lots of really lovely comments from people and questions about how I make my mosaics and found the whole experience really interesting and fun. And you know what? Yes, I made a couple of sales too! I didn't really know what to expect, but was hoping to at least make back the cost of the stall. That meant I needed to sell at least 2 pendants... which I did! I also sold a number of drinks coasters and lots of penguins so I actually came home feeling quite happy with how the day had gone - it wasn't much but it was definitely a start and I'm not as worried about doing a second or third one now Hoping to sign up to a few more over the next couple of months!

Penguin keyrings were displayed in a converted photo frame

It was a really enjoyable experience and I'm really glad I finally plucked up the courage to get stuck in and do a fair - I'm already looking into doing some other fairs over the next few months and signing up for them. Looks like this year I am definitely taking Creating Trouble forward!

There's only 1 Cath Kidston mug pendant left - I sold one last week and another at the fair.

5 comments:

Katie of katiedid said...

Great to hear you had such a great experience! I've been thinking about trying out a fair and this has inspired me :)

PoetessWug said...

Congratulations on your first one! Sounds like you learned a lot...and it encouraged you to plow straight ahead! Great! ^_^ I have yet to ever do a craft show...but I hope it happens one day!

Stephen @ Soy of the North said...

Great to hear that it went well. Now you'll be eager to do even more fairs. Hope you feel better soon. That labyrinthitis sounds like if someone is trapped in an endless labyrinth :-)

Creating Trouble said...

Stephen - that is exactly what I thought when I heard of it- it feels a bit like an endless spinning around not really knowing where you are so it's probably a good name!

Katie - you should definitely go for it; I spent a lot of time um-ming and er-ring but it was a good decision and I've just signed up for my next one at the end of April!

Poetess…you've never done a craft fair? I assumed you were a pro! You've given me loads of tips about selling so I presumed you were a dab hand at fairs and the like. It was really good fun actually so bite the bullet and go for it!

Kate said...

Great job! I cant wait to get back into craft shows this spring/summer (meaning I have a LOT of crafting to do!) Congrats!

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