second fall show follow up

I had my second fall show this past weekend.

Never mind the fact that my poor number sign is a little crooked.  If you're thinking that this looks familiar, it definitely does.  I used almost the exact same set up for my first show this fall.  It worked very well so I didn't feel the need to make any major adjustments.

One thing that I did add in my business card holder on the end there is social media information cards.  This was a last minute idea that I actually completed the morning of the show.  They have my Facebook, Twitter, and blog URLs as well as my Etsy site.  We'll see if I get any new followers from it, but a handful of people did take them.  I'd like to make/print more sophisticated ones in the future.  These worked in a pinch, though.  The business world keeps stressing how social media is overtaking everything else online, which certainly seems to be true, so I figured why not promote it more at my shows.

I changed my "feature" display area to Christmas for this show.  I sold a few pairs of holiday earrings.  I think that I'll continue to do that in the future for holiday shows.  It got a lot of attention.  I was also pleased with how the cork board went again.  I think that I could even add another one for my 2012 shows.  I could do a separate one for pins, but I like having the mix so I would probably add another one with the same format (earrings in the middle, pins around the edges).  Any thoughts on this?  Also, I have to add that as always, Edi's earring cards got a lot of comments!

I did make a switch with my middle display.  Last time I put the charm bracelets in front and the $20-$25 beaded bracelets in the back.  People love to look at the charm bracelets and talk about the buttons, but they don't buy many of them, and they really don't look at the beaded bracelets as much.  So I switched it and ended up selling at least 3 $20 beaded bracelets and got a custom order for another one.  I will continue to do this in the future.  People did still look at the button bracelets when they were in the back.

I added one more T-bar display.  Michael's had a 30% off jewelry display sale last month so I picked it up then.  People will always look through the $10-$25 bracelets, but the vertical displays really draw them into the higher end pieces.  I get the most comments (though not the most sales) on the dagger and leaf bracelets.  At some point, I might elevate one or more T-bars or necklace displays on some sort of little shelves/blocks, but I'm not planning to add more displays for my next set of shows.

I did this show last year and did decently.  I wanted to do this show again for a number of reasons that don't have to do with sales like the organization, amount of help, and the fact that it supports the school's special education department.  So it was a big plus that I also sold a lot more this year.  I had steady traffic and sales all day.  I think the largest reason is because it was simply a smaller show.  Last year there were 150 vendors and over 50 of them were selling jewelry.  This year there were only 75 vendors with about 12 of those selling jewelry.  Both the vendors and buyers seemed really happy with this change.  I didn't have products that were at all like the products of the people around me on all sides, which helped all of us.  I also think that I did better because of my improved display and variety in products.  People have responded well to the button magnets and tacks as well as my new jewelry lines.

The other biggest perk of this show was the networking.  Several people remembered me from last year.  I'm really excited to build my local following in Milwaukee.  One person recommended a museum whose gift shop offers jewelry that I should contact about getting my work there.  I got to connect with several vendors who are on Etsy.  (Check out the shop that was to my left, too.  Her displays were awesome.  Isn't her work neat, too?)  I got a big potential offer through the show as well.  Nothing is finalized yet, but if it does go through, I will have more details about that soon.

Thanks to this show, these lovely pieces now have new homes.

 

 

The fall button bracelet has been so popular and is very easy to recreate so it is still available in my shop right here as a made to order listing.

I included this post in Erika's It's a Wrap - Link Party 11/21.

first fall 2011 show review

Over the weekend, I did my first of two craft shows that I have scheduled for fall 2011.  I found out about this show through the Milwaukee Area Artists & Crafters Team on Etsy..  Joining local teams is a great way to learn about local shows.  I hadn't been to this show before, but people had positive things to say about it on the team thread.  It was very close to my house and was pretty inexpensive, so I decided to give it a shot.

It ended up being the best smaller show that I've ever done.  There weren't huge crowds, but the people who did come were there to buy.  It was at a school, and there was a very supportive group of teachers, parents, and students who all came and shopped.  Aside from the hour right around noon, I had pretty steady sales all day.  I also got to network with some of the other local artists, including a few people from the team, and some of the teachers.

I changed a few things about my booth set up from my 2010 shows.  I think that all of these changes helped.

One long table: Instead of making a half square shape with a longer table flanked by two shorter tables on either side, I made one long table.  I actually did this for the Iowa Art's Festival, too, but this one was longer.  I still had space on both sides so people could easily walk around and reach everything that they needed.

More jewelry displays: I added a couple necklace displays to to the couple bracelet displays that I already had.  I wanted to get them through Michael's, but they didn't have any, so I ended up ordering from Oriental Trading.  I thought about getting a couple more bracelet displays, but I'll hold off until next year.  I didn't have a lot of interest in necklaces.  However, I still had more people looking at them when they were displayed like that.

More vertical displays: The necklace displays were part of my vertical plan.  One thing that I've felt that my booth has lacked in the past is vertical displays.  I've needed more things that will catch the eye from far away.  I'd used the magnet board a couple times before.  This was the first time I used the bulletin board for my tacks and some of my earrings.  I taped down both of my easels.  Even with an indoor show, it's still pretty easy for them to get tipped over.  Taping them down significantly reduces that possibility.  I didn't have any problems with it this time, which was awesome.

I didn't get a close up of the pin display that I used for this show.  I took inspiration from Connie of AsteropeBC who uses a bowl filled with uncooked rice for her pins/brooches.  I filled a tin with clear decorative rocks (which coordinates with the other decorative rocks that I have in little cups in my booth).

Not only did it work well for the display, but I sold ALL of the pins that I had!  I will definitely be making more of these for the next fall show.  I mostly made heart ones, but I'll expand a little and use some other themes as well for this next batch.

Less price signs: In the past, I have used more price signs like the $15.00 one that you can see in the upper left hand corner of this picture.  These signs do work well, but I have so many price points now that I couldn't use a lot of the designs that I had used previously.  I still had everything tagged individually and sorted by price point, which was pretty effective.  I still answered questions about pricing, but I think that's to be expected no matter what.

Again, all in all, definitely a successful show.  I'm planning to keep my set up very similar for the second show that I have next month.

Here are a few of my items that now have new homes.  I pulled most of these listings until I can decide if I want to make them made to order or not.  If you're interested in anything similar, let me know.

I just re-shot this one before the show.  This is a perfect example of a piece that does work well with the light gray, but still has a terrible thumbnail.   If anyone has any advice on this, it would be much appreciated.

I also took a big 3 piece custom order during the show.   I'll make sure to post pictures of it here before I get it to the buyer.

I used this post for Erika's 10/24 Link Party.

new jewelry displays, radish earrings

It's hard to believe but my next craft show is only a little more than 2 weeks away!  I still have a lot to do to get ready before then.  I did receive one important addition for my fall/winter shows in the mail today: new jewelry displays.  I hope that having a couple vertical displays will add to the overall look of my booth set up.

I know that they'll look even better when they have jewelry on them. I bought both displays from this seller on Ebay.  I was very pleased with the price and the shipping.  It only took about 2 weeks for them to arrive from China.  If anyone is looking for something like this for themselves, I highly recommend this seller.  I'll have more details about my overall display and upcoming show details soon.

I have only relayed my recent custom order saga to Jake and the EtsyBloggers.  If you want to hear the whole story, you'll have to message me privately.  Suffice it to say, I was going to have a big reveal yesterday or today and that isn't going to happen.  I will post more details about those custom pieces sometime next week when the whole thing is hopefully finished.  For now, I keep forgetting to post a picture of the wedding order that I had a few weeks ago.

I made custom versions of the two bracelets on the left (which were made to order anyway so it worked out well) for the flower girls, which is why they are so small.  The other four bracelets will be for the bridesmaids.  I included the button earrings in coordinating colors as a surprise gift.  This bride has been an amazing customer, and I'm still in awe that she ordered so many bracelets from me.  I hope that she has a wonderful wedding.

Finally, my newest custom order is for a pair of Luna Lovegood inspired radish earrings.  I found a pattern online that she liked and used the concept to create my own original version of it.  Here's a peak at the first radish, finished, with no post yet (she specifically wanted posts).

I love the way this design turned out.  I had no intention of making a second pair to sell, but I am definitely planning to now.  I will take more pictures of the final product and post them here sometime in the next week.