Show season is winding down.

At least summer show season, anyway. A couple weekends ago I participated in Art Off Pike in Covington, KY's arts district. This was my third year as an artist/vendor there. My lack of sales there last year made me reluctant to try it again, but after the success I had at the Mason Arts Festival last month, I guess I was feeling good and lucky. I actually missed the juried entry deadline. And the extended deadline.

I'm the first to admit that I'm a procrastinator. Jewelry is such a tough category at some shows and I honestly figured it was way too late to try. I sent off an email to the nice lady coordinating the event anyway, and she got right back to me and told me to send in my photos and application. I was accepted and I'm glad I gave it another shot! (My point is, it never hurts to ask, even if you're late on a deadline!)

The morning got off to a chilly start, but with promise of highs in the low 80s, I ran out the door with shorts on and a sweater over my short sleeved shirt. Boy, was I freezing. There were a few volunteers who practically unloaded my car for me, and while I parked my car, they set up my tent. I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived back at my booth space. I do hate the tent setting up part! And it's always tricky to do it yourself. I've heard it can be done, but I've never successfully done it myself. I was just so thankful the volunteers were there!

Okay, tent up, jewelry out... still freezing! The day went on with a decent amount of people wandering from booth to booth. It did eventually warm up. To the 80s. It was so HOT! lol I couldn't believe it. If I remember correctly, the high was 86º. Honestly, I'm not complaining, but I was surprised.

The lovely sunny, warm weather kept a steady stream of visitors and people were actually buying this year! It was a pretty drastic difference from last year's show. I didn't get a chance to walk around, but I did not see a bunch of jewelry artists there this year – another pleasant surprise. The couple I could see from my booth were very much different from what I was offering, so that was a definite plus.

I'm not really sure if it's the economy starting to bounce back, the weather or the change in style of my merchandise, but the show had a better energy than previously. Probably a combination of all of those things. I imagine I will try to make the deadline for entry next year!

Here is my booth set-up from this time around. I decided to add some 11"x11" color prints of a few of my pieces. I printed them at work on the nice color printer and mounted them on foamcore. I punched holes in them and hung them from large binder rings. Economical and eye-catching. I had a few comments from passersby that they had drawn them in. One lady actually said they made her buy the earrings, so they did the trick there! I think it's an idea that could work for most types of booths.

View to the right of me.
The Arcade is a passageway that led to the other street with vendors. They had various local musical groups and a duo throughout the day. This one was my personal favorite.
The view to the left of my booth.

An overdue update

Wow, I haven't really been blogging long enough to neglect it yet. My apologies... So, in a nutshell, here's what's been going on in no particular order:

Last night, I finished up a custom bracelet order that has been hanging around for a couple weeks. I have to get it in front of my customer and see what she thinks, but I really like the colorful chunky look of it. Lots of different smooth tumbled stones, some agate, some carnelian... a nice mix. And the focal point is a sterling silver oval with the Gandhi quote "Be the change you wish to see in the world." I picked that up from another Etsy seller, tropacopy. The style is a bit of a departure for me, so we'll see what happens.

Also this past Saturday was the Dixie Heights Band Boosters 2nd Annual Craft Show. They had a great crowd, so they must have done some publicizing. For me though, it was nearly a flop. My excitement turned quickly into disappointment. I was really thinking it would be a good venue for me, but, eh, I've been wrong before. I ended up with one sale, for which I am thankful, but am a little bit in the hole for the day. On the other hand I received plenty of compliments on my jewelry and my set up, which is always nice. And I got a lead on a show from a shopper, who told me she thought my pieces would be great in the upscale setting. Nice!

I had a bit of a shock when I walked into the place and everyone had these massive set-ups. Mine was still small by comparison, but I ended up scrambling the night before to get another table and dressing for it. I still didn't cram a bunch of stuff on them though. Some of these tables I see at shows... it looks like a bead store threw up on them. And yet, they still get lots of sales, it seems. I don't know, I don't really get it. I still think it's better to not overwhelm the eye. Maybe I'm going about it all wrong. lol Okay, I guess I'll add more pieces next time. Sheesh.

Slow shows can still pay off

Yesterday I was out working in the yard with my mom. I came in to a blinking light on the answering machine. I played the message and it was a lady who had seen my jewelry at CraftMafia this past weekend. She was calling to say she'd like to buy a pair of silver earrings I had there Saturday. I tried to call her back a couple times and got no answer and the recording said voicemail was full. So I panicked a little. Then I tried her again this morning. Still no answer, same recording. A little more panicked. My husband told me not to call her (or, stalk her, in his words). I was skeptical. Then I was sitting here early this afternoon and my phone rang and it was her!

I made arrangements to take my jewelry to her house later this afternoon. When I got there and met her, I remembered talking with her the day of the show. She spent quite a

bit of time shopping around there. She told me mine was the only business card she picked up and that she remembered talking to me about the earrings at my booth. It turns out I think I sold the earrings she wanted, but she said, "I'm sure you have something I can buy!" I showed her basically my entire store. She ended up buying "Calling on the Sun" pictured here. She also asked me to come up with some custom designs for her, one of which would be a bracelet the other a wall plaque (? - lol). I told her I'll see what I can come up with and get back to her soon.

I do have a point here other than just talking about a sale. It is that no matter how slow sales are going at a show you never know who will remember you, your jewelry, or whatever it is you're selling. So smile at every potential customer to draw them into your booth, when they get there, engage them. And please, please hand out business cards!

CraftMafia was a success!

As I mentioned in my last entry, I participated in CraftMafia at Leapin Lizard Gallery this past Saturday. I did get everything packed up the night before, which took me all of 15 minutes, so I'm not sure why I put it off until after 11 pm Friday night.(I guess I'll never learn.) I think by the time I got in bed it was probably around 12:45 am, so I was not too excited when Saturday morning rolled around bringing the annoying buzz of my alarm clock. Good thing for me I have two dogs who won't let me snooze.

I got up around 7 am Saturday, got showered and ran out to grab snacks and water for the day and hit McD's drive-thru and returned home to feed myself and my groggy husband. Then it was off to the gallery. I was so glad I packed the night before. I knew I hadn't forgotten anything and that was a good feeling. I got there in plenty of time to get a decent spot on the main floor and not in the balcony. People were being directed to go upstairs to the few vendors there, but I am always unsure about upstairs or downstairs at these events. You never know if people will make the effort to travel the stairs. They had a good turn out, with people through pretty much all day long.

So it turns out signing up for ProPay on Friday evening was a good idea. My very first sale was a necklace and the lady said, "I love it! I'll take it! You do take MasterCard, right?" I was excited to be able to say yes to that. It went smoothly – although I'm sure I didn't entirely look like I knew what I was doing – and I processed the transaction as soon as I got home. My only other sale was a pair of earrings and that was to one of the gallery owners. I don't know, I was flattered by that... I was happy to be able to cover my show fee and make a bit more on top of that.

There were quite a few jewelry artists there, probably slightly more than half the total number of vendors and also quite a few fellow Etsy sellers, which was kind of funny. We all exchanged business cards and compliments. All of the vendors were quite cordial and Lizz and Jill, the owners of Leapin Lizard, really worked hard to make sure everyone was taken care of and had all they needed.

I'm still perfecting my table/booth set-up. I'll probably add a couple more necklace busts and another earring frame at some point, but I like that my pieces are the focus of my table, so I think I'll stick with the neutral backgrounds. I received a lot of compliments and a couple of the other vendors were interested in my earring frame. There are a few pics below if you're interested in seeing my set-up.

All-in-all, it was a fun show to do. I just need to make myself go to bed earlier the night before next time I'm in a show. I really should know better!