Selling Crafts in Person

Yesterday, I played hookey. And of course I got an inquiry letter for a writing job and probably lost the opportunity due to being out of the office and not replying until so late in the day. Really hate when that happens…Anyway, among other things, we went to a craft co-op store about 90 minutes away from our home. We had been to this store before, knew the layout of the place and separated in hopes of finding Christmas gifts for each other.

Amongst the many lovely and clever things were a few real stinkers. C’mon, nobody likes to talk about it; but really, just admit it, some of the stuff people are making is really junky or just plain stupid-looking. If it looks like something a 5 year old high on sugar made, it’s probably not going to be something you should try to sell. Unless, perhaps you are actually selling that item to other half-crazed, bouncing off the walls children who could appreciate that special piece of handcrafted nothingness.

Anyway, amongst some really beautiful things were these clever little turkeys. They were cute little turkeys to put on the Thanksgiving dinner table. They were made with fabric leaves, walnuts and acorns. They were quite original and charming; until you picked them up.

I came to them first and picked one up to see how much they cost. When I realized the base remained on the table because the hot glue had failed, I gasped and quickly tried to re-balance the body of the bird on the glue gob. I kept waiting for someone to creep up behind me and sneer - you break it you bought it.

Oddly enough, my Mom picked up the same turkey, or perhaps another one that was also suffering from hot glue failure. We agreed that the little birds were quite cute and truly clever. But, does cute really matter when they are falling apart?

I recently happened upon one jewelry maker’s blog where she was discussing a recent email she received from another crafter. The email helpfully suggested her current backgrounds for her jewelry pictures were detracting from her pieces. It was nice to see that the blog owner took this constructive criticism and was rethinking all of her photos as well as creating a conversation among her blog visitors.

From all of the websites that I’ve seen that sell jewelry, it doesn’t take fancy stands or expensive props to make jewelry pictures attractive. There are many ways to show the drape and beauty of jewelry without having fake body parts (can often be creepy), showing someone wearing the finished item (can often be yucky, particularly when earrings are involved) or taking a picture on wrinkled sheets or some other unattractive background. In case you haven’t seen it before, do check out my earlier post on this topic On Wrinkled Sheets - A Photography No No for Crafters.

I thought I might offer some suggestions of backgrounds that other crafters have made work quite well. Hopefully, someone will take them and run with them and create some of their own cheap jewelry stands for photography.

After several posts that focus on marketing and building your websites, I thought it was time to return to a post about selling crafts.

We recently went to an area craft fair and spoke to a number of the artisans who were showing their creations. One artisan that we spent a great deal of time with was the catalyst for this post. The gentleman made the most beautiful hand-turned wood bowls, pots, and plates. He used a wonderful variety of woods and unlike some other turned bowls we saw recently, his were smooth and varnished on both the inside and the outside.

He did a good job of talking up his product explaining how much work was involved and his pride clearly showed. Upon closer inspection we quickly realized his work exceeded his pitch and was terribly underpriced. The most ill-priced item on the table was a lidded jar - he wanted only $25 for it. When we made it clear that we weren’t buyers but work with crafters to improve their businesses and waiting until there were no customers nearby, we had a heart-to-heart with him.

You’re at a week-end long craft fair. Some items are selling well, others not so well. You look at the items that are not selling and begin to second-guess your pricing and even the item itself. What should you do?

The answer is a great big “It Depends”. Yeah, I know not very helpful.

You just got a windfall of crafting supplies. A friend of a friend knows you craft and a bag or box of goodies has found its way to your workshop. But, what to do when the mystery items are unmarked or the labels are suspicious in their validity?

Such a dilemma came up for a crafter on one of the major craft forums. She had purchased some lovely beads on eBay and now that they were in her hands she was not sure of their authenticity. The beads were beautiful and the price wasn’t too bad whether the beads were ‘real’ or not. The crafter wondered if she should only use the beads for friends and family or if she could use the beads in her commercial pieces.