October 24, 2008

Bizarre Bazaar = BUST!

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.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good luck!! That woman sounds horrible! Love hearing your tales from the craft world!
Deery