This is my consolation for what can only be described as a complete waste of a perfectly good evening! The shopping night was a dead loss. I think maybe 50 people walked through the doors and that included the 15 or so traders! After I had paid for the table, the pizza to feed the kids cos I didn't have time to cook and the babysitter I made a stinking fat loss! On the positive side .. everyone said how lovely my stuff was and "wow how talented and clever you are" and "no... you really make this all yourself" and "but it all looks incredibly professional" BUT did they buy anything .. No! You know what sold? The 50p plastic bead bracelets! Aaarghhhhhhh! I'm off to eat my consolation cheesecake... Stuff the diet! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Well, I hope you made every morsol of that cheesecake count! And does that mean I can now do my Christmas shopping in your shop?
ReplyDeleteReally sorry to hear it didn't go well. Get it on Etsy and think of all those extra Christmas presents you have to give away now. Enjoy the cheesecake!
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain! Last year a friend and I were crazy making aprons, but what to do with them. We tried one craft fair where the table was $10 and did pretty well. Another vendor asked about going to her fair, the table was $20. Yes, we went, and if it wasn't for another friend who was there, we would have sold nothing. A huge disappointment. Live and learn. People must not want you to charge anymore than the materials cost. Forget about anything for your labor. I still have lots of cute aprons, if anyone is interest :)
ReplyDeleteI am SO sorry to hear about your evening -- I know exactly how you feel. It's so frustrating to spend all that time and talent and to have people walk by and not even plunk down a few dollars (or pounds) for SOMETHING, ANYTHING that they admire. "Why did they even come?" you ask yourself.
ReplyDeletePlease don't agonize over this any longer -- as one of our government officials famously said to another government official, "It's the economy." No one is buying much in the art world these days -- galleries are going out of business; production craft artisans have laid off many of their workers; artists are writing in to magazines to ask for help in surviving during this horrific downturn.
Will you put your things on Etsy? Let us know, because I, for one, would love to shop from you. I know the quality of work you produce, and I'm thrilled to own one of your pieces. If we can just get that message out to the rest of the buying public . . .
Keep your head up -- you're a great fiber artist.
Diane
Oh b*gger. I'm sorry you had a bad time, but at least you had cheesecake at the end of it.
ReplyDeleteThis is my second try at commenting as Blogger fell over last time. What I said was I'm sorry you had a rough time, but at least you had cheesecake at the end of it and now you've got plenty of shop stock.
ReplyDeleteOh I am truly sorry it wasn't productive for you. I had exactly the same experience 2 years ago with everyone saying how lovely my jewellery was but not buying anything. I only wish I could have bought more from you. I love the make-up bag I bought for my best friend and will probably be hounding you for another one very soon. I also want some of your heart tree decorations so I'll be in touch...Dani x
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