Well, it was certainly bizarre and not in a good way. I just don't even have words, really.
To begin with, the fair was not ANYTHING like it was presented online. It said online that this fair gets THOUSANDS of visitors every year and I doubt it had even 200. Not much traffic. Problem #1.
Problem #2 was the TYPE of traffic we got. The majority of the visitors were aged 55-65. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not really my target demographic. And they were BORING middle-aged people. The kind who buy doilies in great quantity. I am not making that part up. I think the woman diagnolly across from me selling the crocheted doilies made out better than anyone else.
At least I was smart enough to leave my queer stuff at home.
I sold barely anything and most people did not "get" my stuff. Which is not to say no one did. There were some very enthusiastic people and a few were even over the age of 10! Oh, did I mention yet how many times I was told my jewelry was perfect for children? About 5 million.
Yes, my stuff has a very young vibe, but it's not exactly MEANT to be only for kids people!!!! Although I must say the 8 year old who bought my rubber chicken necklace was my best customer of the day.
The highlight, though, I leave for last. The fair was until 4 and vendors were expected to stay until the end. Well, I was packed up and out of there at 10 of. I literally couldn't take one more second. So as I am leaving the woman diagnolly across from me the opposite way as the doily-lady says to me "Can I give you some unsolicited advice?" Which means there is always something nasty coming. Why didn't I just say no and keep on walking?
Anyways, she tells me I really need to think about my designs and start creating things that can't be found in the mall because people come to craft fairs looking for original stuff. WTF? I was like, actually you can't find anything even close to what I make in a mall. Just a rotten end to a really rotten day. Have to be insulted on my way out.
I somehow found a craft fair in the area to squeak into for this weekend. Thank GOD. Although who knows what will happen. I am not expecting much at this point but MAYBE I'll sell some stuff and be able to save myself? We'll see. It was a cheap table fee for the weekend and I have a crapton of inventory ready so I had to give it a shot.
I am gonna work on getting all my new stuff photographed next week so I can start listing it all on Etsy. I've got a couple new lines of jewelry I'm working on now that I am really excited about! I'm making tarot "collage" resin pendants and I really love the way the are coming out. I plan on doing all of the major arcana and the court cards, and then minor arcana as the mood strikes me or if I get requests for them.
Damn. I wanted to post pics but just realized they aren't uploaded to my computer yet. Oh well. Soon. I am also getting started on pendants featuring my artwoork, so stay tuned for that.
WISH ME LUCK THIS WEEKEND. Pray or do a raindance or something to help me sell some stuff so I can pay my rent. I'll be at the White Oak School in Westfield, MA so come see me if you're in the area. Saturday 9AM-3PM and Sunday 10AM-2PM. :)
More soon including pics.
October 24, 2008
October 17, 2008
Bizarre Bazaar
I will be a vendor at the 39th Annual Bizarre Bazaar held at the Gladys Allen Brigham Community Center in Pittsfield, MA. The show will be from 9AM-4PM Saturday October 18th. Come see me if you are in Berkshire county!
I still have quite a bit to do to get ready, but I think I will be able to do everything just in the nick of time. I've been busy, busy, busy trying to create new jewelry for this one. It will be my first time vending at an actual arts and crafts SHOW rather than vending at a conference.
I am hoping this means SALES! LOL! Apparently this show gets thousands of visitors each year so I am hopeful.
Whatever doesn't sell will be going into my Etsy shop in the coming weeks. I made tons of really fun new pendants, so be sure and check back soon.
Wish me luck!
I still have quite a bit to do to get ready, but I think I will be able to do everything just in the nick of time. I've been busy, busy, busy trying to create new jewelry for this one. It will be my first time vending at an actual arts and crafts SHOW rather than vending at a conference.
I am hoping this means SALES! LOL! Apparently this show gets thousands of visitors each year so I am hopeful.
Whatever doesn't sell will be going into my Etsy shop in the coming weeks. I made tons of really fun new pendants, so be sure and check back soon.
Wish me luck!
October 12, 2008
Queer Etsy Street Team & Blog Features!
We have a new street team on Etsy! My friend and talented artist Michelley Queen of Queens created the Queer Etsy Street Team for LGBTQIQ artists and crafters. (Yes, we know the acronym is cumbersome.)
In case you aren't familiar with them, an Etsy team is a group united by craft, location, or some sort of common interest. Being part of a team is a good support network and also helps with promoting and networking.
We are just starting out, but we have a great group of people so far and I expect great things to come for the team. :) Be sure and check out our team blog, ning community, and our team page on Etsy. We'd love to have you if you're an Etsian that falls somewhere within the LGBTQIQ spectrum!
In order to get to know team members better, we are doing a weekly blog interview posted each Friday. Yours truly will be the regular interviewer, but this past Friday I was interviewed by Keith of fauxsure. Be sure and check me out here.
I'm also the Monday feature in the blog of fellow team member, Heathen's Hearth. Be sure and check out her Etsy shop for great soaps and other bath and body products.
For now I leave you with lots of exciting new items from my cherryberrybunny Etsy shop!
In case you aren't familiar with them, an Etsy team is a group united by craft, location, or some sort of common interest. Being part of a team is a good support network and also helps with promoting and networking.
We are just starting out, but we have a great group of people so far and I expect great things to come for the team. :) Be sure and check out our team blog, ning community, and our team page on Etsy. We'd love to have you if you're an Etsian that falls somewhere within the LGBTQIQ spectrum!
In order to get to know team members better, we are doing a weekly blog interview posted each Friday. Yours truly will be the regular interviewer, but this past Friday I was interviewed by Keith of fauxsure. Be sure and check me out here.
I'm also the Monday feature in the blog of fellow team member, Heathen's Hearth. Be sure and check out her Etsy shop for great soaps and other bath and body products.
For now I leave you with lots of exciting new items from my cherryberrybunny Etsy shop!
October 6, 2008
nolose
I've been trying to process all my feelings about the nolose conference for the past week. It ended up being an unexpectedly difficult and emotional weekend for me. I thought it was going to be fatopia the way the Femme Con. was femmetopia for me. And it just wasn't.
The vending end of things did not go as I expected. I thought it would be relatively easy to match what I did at the Femme Con. and my goal was to try and do even better. Ha! Well, I realized pretty quickly on that for whatever reason selling was not going to go the way I expected. So that was stressful right off the bat. Don't get me wrong, I am EXTREMELY grateful for everyone who supported me both in their enthusiastic response to my work and in buying a piece or pieces from me. Truly. But it's still difficult when you have put a lot of time and effort into making 50 pendants for a specific event and know that most of your time, money, and effort is going down the tubes before your very eyes.
Then there's the issue of always being tied to your table. During social times, like during meals, when everyone is walking around and talking and eating and getting to know each other--as a vendor you're sitting there alone. I talked way more to the other vendors than anyone else the whole weekend. It was really overwhelming not knowing anyone and kind of feeling disconnected from the whole conference experience. I got to say hi to a lot of people as they came by my table, but I didn't get a chance to make a lot of deeper connections.
That part of things was easier for me at the FC because I went into it knowing a lot of people. I had a huge group of friends to socialize with every night regardless of whether or not I was tied to my vendor table all day. Not something I had thought about. I didn't have 15 people I had known online for years and/or had met in person surrounding me this time.
This conference was also really triggering and difficult for me emotionally. Again, not something I was anticipating. But I realized I have way more internalized shit around being fat and way more unchecked fat-phobia than I do about anything else. I got slapped in the face big time with all of that. I'm not even prepared to go into everything I felt and am still feeling as fall-out from the weekend; suffice it to say that it was really draining and I actually had a major meltdown on Saturday complete with tears and getting mascara all over some innocent butch bystander's hanky.
I came home exhausted and sick and emotionally worn. Which is not to say that it's a bad thing I went. Usually when something is that difficult for you, it means it's probably good for you and it's bringing up important things you need to deal with. But that doesn't make it FUN.
I've been listing lots of the stuff that didn't sell on Etsy and am still waiting to hear back on a craft show in October where I can hopefully sell a bunch of the not-fat-related stuff. I'm going to try and do as many craft shows as I physically can between now and the holidays. I've decided I'm not meant to do other work besides creating. It's just a matter of figuring out how to make a living at it. I think craft shows on a regular basis is a good possibility. It can fill in all the holes bewteen my art and what I'm selling on Etsy.
I'm off to New Mexico starting Wednesday and then it will be a frantic few days trying to get ready for this next show, assuming I get in, which I think I will. That's about it for now.
The vending end of things did not go as I expected. I thought it would be relatively easy to match what I did at the Femme Con. and my goal was to try and do even better. Ha! Well, I realized pretty quickly on that for whatever reason selling was not going to go the way I expected. So that was stressful right off the bat. Don't get me wrong, I am EXTREMELY grateful for everyone who supported me both in their enthusiastic response to my work and in buying a piece or pieces from me. Truly. But it's still difficult when you have put a lot of time and effort into making 50 pendants for a specific event and know that most of your time, money, and effort is going down the tubes before your very eyes.
Then there's the issue of always being tied to your table. During social times, like during meals, when everyone is walking around and talking and eating and getting to know each other--as a vendor you're sitting there alone. I talked way more to the other vendors than anyone else the whole weekend. It was really overwhelming not knowing anyone and kind of feeling disconnected from the whole conference experience. I got to say hi to a lot of people as they came by my table, but I didn't get a chance to make a lot of deeper connections.
That part of things was easier for me at the FC because I went into it knowing a lot of people. I had a huge group of friends to socialize with every night regardless of whether or not I was tied to my vendor table all day. Not something I had thought about. I didn't have 15 people I had known online for years and/or had met in person surrounding me this time.
This conference was also really triggering and difficult for me emotionally. Again, not something I was anticipating. But I realized I have way more internalized shit around being fat and way more unchecked fat-phobia than I do about anything else. I got slapped in the face big time with all of that. I'm not even prepared to go into everything I felt and am still feeling as fall-out from the weekend; suffice it to say that it was really draining and I actually had a major meltdown on Saturday complete with tears and getting mascara all over some innocent butch bystander's hanky.
I came home exhausted and sick and emotionally worn. Which is not to say that it's a bad thing I went. Usually when something is that difficult for you, it means it's probably good for you and it's bringing up important things you need to deal with. But that doesn't make it FUN.
I've been listing lots of the stuff that didn't sell on Etsy and am still waiting to hear back on a craft show in October where I can hopefully sell a bunch of the not-fat-related stuff. I'm going to try and do as many craft shows as I physically can between now and the holidays. I've decided I'm not meant to do other work besides creating. It's just a matter of figuring out how to make a living at it. I think craft shows on a regular basis is a good possibility. It can fill in all the holes bewteen my art and what I'm selling on Etsy.
I'm off to New Mexico starting Wednesday and then it will be a frantic few days trying to get ready for this next show, assuming I get in, which I think I will. That's about it for now.
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