Sunday 4 December 2011

My first craft fair!

Last weekend I did my very first craft fair!

The Market House in St Austell was hosting the MAKE Christmas Fair, and I had a table which I shared with my friend Lizzy. Even though we shared it was pretty expensive (£15 for each of us) so I was really worried that I wouldn’t sell anything and I would’ve just wasted a load of money.

Before the fair I got busy making lots of bits and pieces to sell – I ended up taking necklaces, earrings, coasters and bowls made from recycled magazines, rings, covered notebooks, a reversible tote bag and lavender bag.

Steve came up with me and helped me set up. I was really glad I had an extra pair of strong hands to help me carry my stuff! :P. He stayed for the first hour or so but then I think he got a bit bored and felt out of place being the only young guy in amongst a bunch of women haha.

The day started off pretty slowly – a steady stream of people were coming in and most of them looked at my stuff, but most of them just carried on walking past, not really looking interested at all. A few people stopped at my stall long enough to have a closer look, and I got quite a few compliments on my necklaces, but no one looked like they were going to buy anything. Lizzy made the first 2 sales, both before 1pm (the halfway point of the fair), and I was feeling slightly disheartened at this point as obviously no one thought my stuff was good enough to buy.

A couple of young girls came over and looked at my stuff for quite a while, then disappeared, then came back and asked how much a necklace was before disappearing again. As the hall was freezing I decided to nip out and grab a hot chocolate, and by the time I came back I had made a sale! Trust me to miss my first ever sale haha. But I was really pleased, and felt that the day’s target had been met.

The next target became selling 2 items, which I did just half an hour later when someone came and bought a set of 4 of my coasters, bringing the day’s total to £12.50. So the next target became covering the cost of the table...

Later on that afternoon I sold an individual coaster, bringing me to £14.50, just 50p short of my target! Luckily I managed to sell a bowl and a ring before the end of the fair, bringing my grand total to £21. So not only did I sell something and cover the cost of my table, I even managed to make a profit. Mega chuffed right there.

Some photos from the day:

I had a really good day (obviously made a lot better by the fact I made a profit haha) and definitely want to do another fair. Maybe not the same one if the price stayed the same, but I’d definitely do another cheaper one. It’s also spurred me on to take the plunge and become self employed so I can open an Etsy shop and start selling properly, which is something I’ve been wanting to do for quite a long time but have felt completely daunted by. If anyone reads this... do you think I should go for it? And the question I’ve been stuck on for a long time... what should I call my shop?

(Also as I didn't sell loads I have a lot of this stuff left over, so if you see anything you'd like to buy then let me know :P)

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