Craft Fairs
It’s always important that you are promoting, particularly at this time of year. I do as many Craft fairs that I can. So, I thought I’d give you a little behind the scenes of all the work that goes into a craft fair. Craft fairs need to be booked months in advance. Prices vary wildly, in some cases, you pay extra for the use of the table (and chairs) and some organisers also want you to provide a raffle prize, all these costs need to come out of the day’s sales along with the cost of stock. Preparations start weeks before, I have to put together my craft fair stock, but also, I need to have table cloths, shelving, display stands, card readers, power banks, leaflets, bags, branding. I don’t have separate stock put aside for craft fairs so I do have make sure that there’s plenty of the best sellers, and that needs to be done weeks in advance, although some of it comes off the gallery walls. I have to try and guess what my customers will like the most and pack accordingly; beach towels in the summer and throws in the winter. Coasters and little canvases are always really popular and I make sure that I have plenty with me.
Like in the gallery, I have to make sure that I can showcase my work to the best of my ability, so the print manger comes with me and all my unframed prints. The prints have to be packed as flat as possible; I don’t want any damaged. If the gallery is manned, I have a catalogue there detailing all my prints to go with the framed ones on the walls.
I will also take my tote bag stand; it really is the best way to display the bags. I don’t currently have two (they are expensive to purchase, even ex-display ones), so the one from the gallery needs to be dismantled and I need to remember a weight for the base. For the gallery, I have a little tote bag display and hang a few other designs on the wall. I make sure that there are plenty of bags both with me and in the gallery.
The next challenge is getting everything in the car. I can’t park the car directly outside, so I get it as close as possible and ferry the boxes and bags to the car. It is a game of tetras; everything fits into the car in a certain way, especially the curved top of the bag stand. I am always pleased when I don’t need the gazebo, tables and chairs. Everything gets checked off my list. I make sure that I have enough food and drink (and cutlery) with me for the day, there isn’t always food available to buy or (hopefully) time to go find some. I don’t want to forget anything and I make sure that the card machine and extra power packs are charged. I can’t afford to run out of power on my phone or the card reader. It is important that I have enough leaflets and bags with me too.
On the morning of the fair, its normally an early start. I drive to the venue, find a parking space and then head into the venue with a couple of bits so that I’m not empty handed and look for my stand. I take up a lot of space but I do have to make sure that there is space for my neighbours to get out from behind their stalls. Once everything has been unpacked from the car, I can start building my stand. It all seems to take such a long time. I try and make sure that everything is just so, appealing to the eye and tempting. That takes at least an hour. Some of the bigger fairs, it is possible to do some or all of this the night before. Where possible, I like to bring someone with me to help with the setting up and later the taking down, it is always great to have company and someone to look after the stall when you need to use the facilities or just want to browse the other stalls. Currently I can’t afford to pay anyone so, it is mainly my family that get roped in to help.
When the doors open, you cross your fingers and hope for a good day. You hope that the organisers have advertised the event but even then, no-one can guarantee the weather or the number of people that come through the door or even if there are other craft fairs are happening at the same time. I try and greet everyone who comes to my stand, and tell them about my work. It’s always great to meet customers and its wonderful when they love your work, it really, really does give you a boost. Occasionally, you have to contend with people who don’t understand the amount of work that goes into every item that you sell. It is frustrating when people simply glance at your work and say to the person that they’re with that they could create that, or suggest that they could buy it cheaper at the supermarket. Ask me who the photographer is. We are all very happy to talk about our work if they would simply ask.
Every sale brings a smile to my face, especially at this difficult economic time. Some sales even make me do a little happy dance, especially when I’ve made more than enough sales to cover the cost of my stall. I often meet other photographers and I enjoy having a chat with them about photography, I love getting tips of where to get some interesting photos from both photographers and customers. Its an obvious place to meet and catch up with other crafters and stall holders, share and learn display tips and of new and different fairs.
When its all over its time to pack everything away. Fingers crossed you have much less than you came with, sold enough to make a small profit (although its unlikely to cover the cost of my time or my companions). A good day makes the packing away a little easier, but I still have a lot of things to take apart and put away so that still takes the best part of an hour even with help. I am frequently one of or the last person packed away. Then its back to pack everything in the car.
Depending on how far we are from home will mean the difference of being able to unpack the car at the gallery with help or having the car still full and unpacking the car on my own the following day. I then need to unpack all the stock back into the gallery and re-assemble the bag stand. Over these 10 days I have around 6 craft fairs. I won’t always have the opportunity to return to the gallery between some fairs so I will have to make sure that I pack an extra box or two with stock to keep at home from which I can replace sold items.
Craft fairs are always a lot of work and very tiring, I am a photographer not a sales person, I prefer to hide behind a lens and I find selling hard work, but when you’ve met some wonderful people and made some sales it all feels very worthwhile.
I am very grateful to all the people who have helped me with my fairs this year, my sons; Joshua and Harrison, my daughter Anneliese, my mum-in-law Sue, my husband Rob, my brother Marcus, my friends Kathryn, Robyn and Natalie. I couldn’t do it without them and their support is amazing.
