This past Saturday, I did the craft show that was tied into an Annual CrabFest in Forked River, NJ. Originally I had thought about only bringing a couple of large umbrellas to give my table a bit of shade.
But when the weather for Saturday was forcast to be in the 90s with a lot of humidity, I changed plans and opted for my tent. And it was a very good decision.
There was a steady rain early in the morning and the vendors that didn't have umbrellas were trapped in their vehicles, while I was able to get my tent up before tha hard rain began. Once the tent was up, I was able to set up my tables (yes I went from one table with umbrellas to the tent and 2 tables) and by 10:00am start time came around, the rain stopped and the sky's cleared and I was ready to go.
Customers were a bit slow to show up, but I had a few minutes to relax, sip some coffee and tweak my displays. Other vendors were just getting started, but the EtsyNJ contingent were prepared to start selling.
The show over all was pretty good for me, but some sellers didn't do well. And many vendors never even showed up. All in all, it was a fun show for me and I enjoyed meeting with the EtsyNJ crew, chatting about upcoming shows, plans that the NJ group has in the works and meeting a couple of new members.
As usual in Forked River, my sea glass creations sold well and a few of my favorites sold, as did some of my inexpensive earrings (they always do well at the shows... they aren't huge $$ makers, but they help pay for the fees and supplies)
I have a few new items ready to go into my Etsy shop. The sea glass creation above is called "Ocean View Stacked Sea Glass Necklace" and it really is beautiful (because of internal server problems with the blog site, I can't upload the image at this tiem, I will try again after posting this blog). During the show, many people claimed they thought the dark brown piece of sea glass looked red in the light. It gave the necklace a red, white and blue look. The necklace may not ever make it to Etsy... well maybe as a Reserved Custom Order... a couple of customers at the show showed a lot of interest in the necklace and I was contacted earlier today by an Etsy customer who liked what she saw, so we'll see. The only thing I can say about this necklace is, it looks so much nicer in person than the photos show.
Before the show, my shop was well under the number of items I like to have listed on Etsy. But now, after the craft show, my shop is pretty wiped out. The pieces that were all ready to go into my shop, sold...of course (one of which I had a lot of trouble getting the type of photos I wanted and all that time spent was for nothing...LOL)
I'll be trying to take photos this week and adding an item or two each day until I get my shop to where I like it.
It doesn't appear that I'll be doing any more shows before the end of the summer. This weekend's show was draining, the heat and humidity just wiped me out and I really need to focus on getting my shop back up to speed and begin building my inventory for the fall and winter shows.
My next scheduled shows are...
October 25th-
The Handmade Faire in Medford, NJ This show is pending, for me. It's a juried show and it will feature many of the EtsyNJ team. The Handmade Faire had a spring show in Barnegat this past spring and it was by far the best show I ever attended in this area. The overall quality of the vendors was just incredible. The show's organizer does an incredible job of promoting her shows. I'll be there hopefully as a vendor, or as a customer... the show is not to be missed!
October 26th-
Forked River, NJ -The Lacey High School puts on an excellent show and they are gearing their show more towards handmade items first. I've done this show before and they do a nice job promoting and the locals do come out to support the show. (This show is also pending)
November-
I have a few shows with apps in and I'm waiting for other locations to announce dates. It looks like I'll be doing the Southern Regional High School show on the 15th of November. I've done many of their shows in the past and they've been fairly well supported by the locals.
I also have a pending application for Nov 8th in Toms River NJ and an invite for Forked River on the 22nd of Nov.
I don't have anything scheduled yet for December. I'm trying to convince my s/o to do a couple of shows (by himself) while I do another show, but we'll see how my Etsy sales go and if I can keep up with my inventory.
My one year anniversary is this week on Etsy.com and I'm thinking about a little special sale and maybe a blog give-away for everyone that follows my blog. Check back in a couple of days!
til next time...
R
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