Nicolette’s Design Diary

I heard a bit of sad news yesterday. It turns out that one of my favorite galleries in this area, Vincent Hester Gallery in Portsmouth, Virginia has closed as of the end of January. I wish the owner, Barbara Hester well, it was really great working with her for all these years.

I imagine with the economy this won’t be the last gallery closing I’ll hear about. Times are tough for everybody. If you’re an artist, it’s likely that times have already been tough for quite a while. I remember when I was doing shows back in 2005 and 2006 that there were already a lot of artists that were saying that sales were off and things were slowing down considerably. It seems as though artists along with other a lot of other similar professions are the canaries in the coal mine. When bad financial times are headed our way, we appear to be among the first to get hit and among the last to recover.

I watched President Obama’s press conference last night on the stimulus, and while I think that he’s doing all he can, there’s still going to be a tough road ahead for quite a long time. Is it the right thing? Is it too big? Is it too small? Is the money going to the right things? Is it going to work? Everyone seems to have an opinion, but in truth no one is really going to know until we go through it. And we’re going to go through something whether we want to or not.

He says that things will probably be bad until next year. Frankly, I wouldn’t be too surprised if it lasted longer than that. Will the economy implode? I doubt it. If anything I guess the economy will probably be like Japan in the 1990’s, what was referred to as “The Lost Decade” where stocks and real estate basically collapsed and stay flat for over a decade after several years of real estate and stocks being greatly inflated. Sounds suspiciously familiar to me.

I am not trying to be doom and gloom here. I wrote about how artists can survive a downturn on my Crafted Web blog several months ago and gave some tips on how we can get through this. While the prospects seem bleak and is probably bleak for a lot of artists, I also do believe that we’ll get through it especially if you’re willing do what it takes.  It means changing your product line or your marketing. It means finding a new market for your work or finding new ways to make money or finding additional ways to supplement your income. It means being more frugal and smart with the money you have. It may mean making the tough decision to downsize or close altogether like Barbara Hester did. But it also means telling yourself that this isn’t the end of the world and if one door closes perhaps another one is opening somewhere else. And it means sticking together and helping each other out when we can.

I got some great comments on my Why Artists Hate Buy/Sell post…like I said, the topic of buy/sell hits a nerve!

I got one really interesting email comment from a reader called Karo who described an effort they undertook to educate buyers about handmade crafts…

…I set up a little exhibit with a cheap plastic stretchy bracelet from Walmart beside a very similar (but beautiful, according to the other gals from the beadshop where I work) bracelet that I had made with sterling silver, freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, and my own hand-woven netted beads. Behind the two bracelets I had placed a laminated sign titled “Buy from American Artisans: Here’s Why” which very simply stated, with easy-to-read bullet points, the reasons why handmade artisan jewelry is preferable to cheap mass-produced junk…

…During the course of the show, there were maybe seven or eight people who commented that they liked the exhibit and several wanted to buy my exhibit bracelet. However, to my dismay, at least half a dozen people totally ignored the exhibit’s sign, picked up the cheap junk bracelet (which as part of the exhibit had its original price tag of $3.99 on it) and wanted to buy it! When I explained to one woman why it was not for sale and she took the time to read the exhibit’s sign, she literally threw the cheap bracelet back on the table, and complained that “arts and crafts shows are supposed to have bargains” and “have gotten too snobby and expensive”…

The most fascinating part of Karo’s comment was the customer’s complaint that “arts and craft shows are supposed to have bargains” and that they “have gotten too snobby and expensive”. What does that mean? Why are crafts “supposed” to be cheap? Why is charging for an artist’s time and overhead as well as materials considered “snobby”? I’ve only been in the biz for about 14 years, but after reading some history listening to the experiences of fellow artists who have been in the industry for 30 or more years, I’ve developed a couple of theories.

A lot of people don’t realize that crafts has a very deep tradition in America starting at the very founding of the country. Settlers came to this country with practically nothing and anything they needed, they had to produce themselves. Everyone had to be a craftsman to survive. As the country grew, crafts and craftsmanship become more sophisticated and specialized. The local artisan was a “service professional” in the colonial days. If you wanted a book, you first had the pages printed at the local printer, you then took the printed pages to the local bookbinder to have them bound to your specifications. The same went for clothing. Either you made it yourself, or you went to local dressmaker or tailor. For shoes you went to the town cobbler or shoemaker. All of these artisans knew their customers and served generations of entire families. And these services weren’t cheap! Only the rich or well-to-do could afford the best and most talented artisans for these services.

Everything changed with the advent of industrialization and cheaper mass-produced goods. As the price of store bought goods went down and the popularity went up, things that were handmade were seen as less desirable. Making things yourself was seen as something you did if you couldn’t afford to go to the store. Crafts were relegated to something for a “hobby”…something to do in your spare time. The idea of craft shows and making a living doing crafts didn’t really resurface until sometime during the 60’s.

According to my colleagues, craft shows really had their heyday in the late 70’s on through the 80’s and early 90’s. Craft shows were well-attended, sales were great, and the audience was eager to buy. Things began to change in the 90’s as craft shows became oversaturated with artists selling the same things year in and year out, markets becoming oversaturated with more and more craft shows, and with competition from a flood of foreign imports. Artists who have never had a problem with sales began to struggle to keep their businesses open, competition to get into show became stiffer, and cheap buy/sell items began to crop up even in some of the best shows.

So what conclusions did I come up with from this brief history lesson?

1. There was a time in which craft and craftsmanship was respected…and prices were paid accordingly to those who were the most skilled.

2. Craft gained a negative connotation with the advent of industrialization…you only made something if you couldn’t afford to buy it.

3. There’s currently a resurgence in crafting and do-it-yourself these days. This turns out to be somewhat of a double-edged sword. While it’s good for the general public to know what it’s like to make things with their hands because they usually have a better appreciation for the time and effort that goes into handmade objects, you also get the attitude of “So what? I can make this myself and save money”…or “My aunt/friend/mother/grandmother can make that!”

4. The idea of crafting as an actual business or profession that’s every bit as legitimate as an accountant or a doctor is still relatively foreign to most people. If you’re a crafter, people assume that it’s your hobby and you’re just selling it in order to earn a bit of pocket change. Most people don’t realize that there’s a difference between their Aunt Ida making a half a dozen handmade items for birthday or Christmas gifts and a professional crafter or artist making enough product cover expenses and make a living.

5. Even though there’s a resurgence in crafting, there isn’t as much publicity about the masters of craft. There’s a world of difference between the skill it takes to make ceramic item at your local “Color Me Mine” and the skill of a master ceramist like Ruth Duckworth. I’ll bet that most people who are aware of “Color Me Mine” probably have never even heard of Ruth Duckworth.

…thus you get the attitude that crafts are to be a source for cheap products.

Perhaps the idea, the attitude that people should realize that there’s more to handmade things than just the price tag is “snobby”. I don’t know…there are a lot of other things in life to worry about than craft and art. Maybe my “semi-historical” analysis is a pile of bull. And not everything that artists and crafters make can be considered a work of art…or even good craft. Some craft definitely deserves it’s “cheap, bargain-basement” label. Perhaps that’s thing that’s most disturbing of all. It’s the fact that a lot of people can’t sense the difference between something that’s cheap and something of quality. It’s even more disturbing that even when they are shown the difference…they don’t care beyond the $3.99 price tag. Not that they understand and acknowledge the difference and for whatever reason the $3.99 item suits them better, but that it’s “The Lowest Price…Always…damn the quality.

What do you think?

Well, the spring show season is rocking and rolling along, but I decided to sit out a bunch of shows this spring so I can concentrate on getting into more galleries. Traveling is fun, but it’s awful hard to maintain that pace week after week. While it bums me out that I don’t get to see my show buddies every week, I do keep up with them through email and through the artists’ grapevine. It was through the grapevine that I found out that another artist was kicked out of a show and banned from future ones because they were selling buy/sell products instead of their own work. It wasn’t a big surprise, we’ve speculated about this person for a while, so it’s kind of a relief to know that someone’s finally done something.

***Warning: I’m about to step on to my artist soapbox, so if that’s not your thing…step away from this post now***

Now, in case you don’t know the term, buy/sell products are exactly that, they are products that people buy wholesale so they can sell them for a profit at retail. I had mentioned in a post last year that most artists hate buy/sell products with a passion. Why is it such a big deal? In a lot of cases, it’s a matter of competition. If an artist is exhibiting at an expo or a small “craft” show, it’s kind of hard to for an artist who hand makes all of their inventory to compete price and volume-wise with someone who purchased their products at wholesale. An artist can make some beautiful coffee mugs and sell them at $20 because they have to take in account not only how much the materials cost in making that coffee mug, but they also have to figure in labor costs and business overhead. Plus, an artist’s time is limited, they can only make so many mugs in any given day. So the size of their inventory is limited from the start. If they happen to sell out at a show, they have to go back into the studio for a couple weeks and build their inventory back up again before they can sell more. Meanwhile, someone two booths down can sell their coffee mugs for $7 a piece because they bought hundreds of them for a couple of dollars each. If they run out of inventory, no problem…they call up their supplier and can be back in business within a day or so.

Go to your average unjuried craft show at the local PTA, high school, or YMCA and you’ll find handmade crafts lined up side by side with Avon products and jewelry ordered from a wholesale catalog. There are very few artists who can successfully compete against buy/sell merchandise and still make a living, which is why most professional craft artists prefer to sell at juried craft shows. When a craft show is juried, that means that there are certain quality standards that an artist must meet before they are allowed exhibit at the show. Artists must submit images of their work to be judged by a single juror or a panel of jurors. One purpose of the jurying system is to filter out buy/sell exhibitors. That way, all of the artists are competing with each other on even territory and it also ensures that visitors to a show will have the opportunity to seen and buy work that is handmade and of a certain quality. But despite the existence of the jurying system, there are always some exhibitors who are less than honest about the products that they’re selling, which is another reason why artists tend to dislike buy/sell so much.

Once buy/sell products start creeping into juried craft shows, not only do you get the uneven playing field for artists, but it also defrauds and confuses the buying public as well. If you are not familiar about what goes into making something by hand, you’ll be confused as to why this artist’s handmade vase is $100 when you can get another “handmade” vase from another “artist” for $20. And if you have little experience with buying handmade ceramics, you won’t be able to figure out that this “handmade” vase was really made in a factory…or that it’s handmade all right…in a sweat shop somewhere.

Another thing that makes buy/sell so difficult to deal with is that even for experienced craft jurors, it can be hard to tell the difference. Last year at one of my shows, my husband and I ran across an exhibitor who we were certain was passing off buy/sell as handmade. How did we know? Because my husband had seen the exact same items in a store in the Phillipines during his annual trip there. He had, in fact, bought a couple and we had the exact same items at home. You could buy these items for less than a dollar over there and this exhibitor was selling them at the craft show for 10 or even 20 times that cost and they were literally flying out of this person’s booth. James was outraged and complained to the show manager who acknowledged that they had received complaints from both exhibitors and show visitors about this “artist”, but they needed to have further proof other than an accusation before they could do anything. Well, since we were in New Jersey at the time and our evidence was back home in Chesapeake, there wasn’t much that could be done at that point. While many show promoters do step in and kick out exhibitors who are proven to be selling buy/sell items, some promoters aren’t so proactive, even when they receive complaints. Some artists argue that show promoters sometimes turns a blind eye to obvious buy/sell because they want to fill booth space.

There is also the gray area of products that can be assembled from pre-made parts or from kits. I order the wire for my jewelry from a mail-order jewelry supply company and there are plenty of pre-made parts available in which you can make earrings, pins, pendents by simplying buying the part and pressing a stone or a bead into place. Could you honestly call buying a stone and a ring blank and popping the stone into place a “handmade” ring? Most people would say that it doesn’t take much workmanship to assemble a piece of work from a kit. But it’s easy for jewelry of this type to get accepted into many juried shows. I know because I’ve seen many, many jewelers with these items in their booths.

You might be thinking, “So what? Not everyone can afford a $500 vase and if they can find something that looks just as good and cheaper, well good for them.” I would have to agree with you. The best handmade and fine craft is not something that everyone can afford. I always joke that it’s a good thing that I made jewelry since I couldn’t afford to buy some of my own more expensive pieces. There are plenty of pieces I’ve fallen in love with while visiting fellow artists at a craft show…one of the hazards of the trade. But I’ve often had to content myself with a small piece…or find something close elsewhere. If you want inexpensive mass produced design go to Target…go to Pier 1…heck there’s a mountain of mail order catalogs you can order from. But these items don’t belong in a juried craft show. If you want to sell mass produced items, fine…just don’t lie about it so you can have an unfair advantage over those who designs and makes their own products by hand. And if you’re a show promoter who promotes craft shows where the items are truly handmade, do your best not to turn a blind eye to those who break the rules, it’s unfair to the other exhibitors and unfair to those who pay money to go to the show.

There…I’ll step off my soapbox now…

Technorati Tags: craft shows, buy/sell

Zombie bag from doxieart @ Craftster

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the different types of craft shows while I was patiently awaiting my rejection from CraftBoston. But in the past few months, I’ve slowly become aware of a growing movement in the craft world, a movement that I was recently reminded of while reading a post from Amy Shaw from the Greenjeans blog. In her post, Amy points out that there appears to be a “alternative” world of sorts that’s growing separate from the traditional “crafts” establishment. This world is made up of an energetic group of individuals who are taking traditional crafts world and standing it on its ear. They call themselves “indie crafters” and “indie designers”. They can knit, they can sew, they can crochet and felt and they aren’t making cutesy little socks and stodgy old doilies but they are making vinyl zombie bags. knitted Star Wars figures, and Halloween bats made of *ahem*…tampons.

CRAFT booth

Originally uploaded by natzee.



And they are net-savvy…oh boy are they net savvy. While many of the “old-school” artists and crafters I know are just getting their web sites up and are still trying to figure out how to make this internet “thing” work, this new generation of “indie crafters” are connecting to each other through blogs and MySpace, sharing photos and videos of their work on Flickr and YouTube. Some have even launched their own podcasts. (If you don’t know what a podcast is, click here) They’re also finding alternative places to sell their wares, online craft stores like Etsy as well as their own professional looking web sites. There are whole blogs like Modish and Inside the Indie Mind by Craft Revolution that are dedicated to finding and featuring the “designers” and “indie crafters” of this new wave. And they are showing and selling at new craft fairs like the Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta, GA, the Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle, WA and Renegade Craft Fair that takes place in Brooklyn, NY and Chicago, IL.

Work by Dana Brandwein Oates

I had actually first heard about the Renegade Craft Fair back in August when I was at the Litchfield Jazz Festival. My neighbor was a cool and talented potter by the name of Dana Brandwein Oates, if you have the chance, check out her work. Dana had been in the PR business in the music industry dealing with heavy metal bands like Metallica before she decided start her pottery studio. While at the jazz festival, she suggested that I might try check out the Renegade Craft Fair. By chance I ran across photos from the Chicago show on Flickr and the first thing I noticed was that the crafters there seemed to be about my age, in the mid 20’s to mid 30ish range. Now at most “traditional” craft shows that I’ve done, most of the artists exhibiting there are usually older than me and in some cases I was the youngest person there. A study of the crafts industry done in 2000 showed that the average age of most crafters is 49 and that this population is steadily growing older. There is actually some discussion in the crafts world about the “aging of the crafts industry” and galleries and show promoters are trying to figure out ways to attract younger artists to the field. There are some complaints that not as many young people are signing up to do craft shows and galleries are talking about how difficult it is to find new and emerging artists. There was an article in this month’s issue of the crafts industry magazine The Crafts Report on this very subject. Well, if it takes an artist $400 to $600 and up to do a “quality” craft show not to mention a grand or two on a professional booth setup, and another grand on travel expenses, the reason why starts to become clear, especially as many professional craftsmen report that they are barely breaking even at many of these shows.

CRAFT @ Renegade

Originally uploaded by natzee.

Another thing I saw from these photos from the Renegade Craft Fair is the type of items that these “crafters” where selling had more of a “cool” factor. The style was more modern, more edgy, more “hip” and youthful. Not that I don’t love the work I see at the “traditional” craft shows, but after doing close to 20 shows a year…it starts to be the “same type of crafts and the same type of aesthetic, show after show. And if I as an artist notice that it’s the same crafters from show to show, you can bet that the customers that attend these shows year after year certainly notices. I also hear from artists who have been on the craft show circuit that even the most popular and prestigious shows have gone downhill since the “glory days” of the eighties and the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

Kayoka Shibue of Pied Nu @ Urban Craft Uprising

Now, I know I’m inferring a lot from some photos of an event, but after months of reading indie related blogs like Extreme Craft and Craft Synergy and visiting the web sites of indie designers, I can’t help but to be a bit excited and intrigued by this new world of craft opening up. I know that one criticism that some of my veteran crafters may have about this new wave of indie crafters is that in some cases, that the level of craftsmanship doesn’t measure up. Some of the old-school may argue, and possibly with some justification that this new wave may actually set back some of the strides that has been made in advancing craft as an art form. We’re finally getting to the point that the general public are beginning to see crafts as something other than pipe cleaner ornaments and granny squares, and now some of the new designers are just making “hipper” pipe cleaner ornaments and granny squares. In the recent years, some of the traditional mainstream crafters don’t even want to refer to themselves as crafters anymore because of the connotations the word “craft” invokes…those of summer camp craft projects, Saturday morning classes at Michael’s, and after-school rec room creations. They’re calling themselves “artists”, “artisans”, “woodworkers”, “ceramic artists” and are focuses on creating “serious” works. Mediums such as knitting, crochet, and certain folkcraft are very difficult to market in the old-school world and has to meet a certain aesthetic to even be considered acceptable. Even galleries and museums that have traditionally focused on fine crafts are purging the word “craft” from their names, such as the formerly named American Craft Museum in New York, which is now known as the Museum of Art and Design. Now you have this new wave of artists and crafters that are unabashedly calling themselves crafters that are turning the traditional connotation upside down and having a fine time doing it. How are traditional professional craftsmen and artisans and their work supposed to be taken seriously in the face of this new wave? I don’t know. Perhaps the reason that new artists and craftsmen aren’t joining the old-school world because they’re making one of their own.

Toward the end of Amy’s post she asks these questions:

The point is that it’s so interesting, these two worlds. Are they merging? Is the new one replacing the old one? And if so, what is happening to the value of craftsmanship? How are new generation crafters approaching old school media? How is craft, and the craft world, changing?

Are these two worlds merging? Don’t know, too soon to tell. I’m not even sure that the old-school world is even aware of this new world. Is the new one replacing the old one? Ditto on that point. Like any establishment, there can be one of several reactions, to ignore it, to embrace it, or to try to crush it. One thing that I do know, each world has a lot that can be learned from the other. Perhaps the biggest thing that the old-school world can learn from the new one is not to be afraid of the label of “crafts” and look beyond what the medium is and to focus on the object itself. And perhaps the new one can learn more about the importance of craftsmanship and excellence in one’s medium and how to channel that energy and brashness into pushing a certain medium to it’s limits and beyond. One thing’s for sure…it’s going to be interesting.

[tags]craft shows, craft, DIY, design[/tags]

I hear it at every craft show…it’s inevitable.

I’m talking to a fellow artist, we may be discussing the current show, shows that we’ll be doing in the future, shows that we’ve been doing in the past. If the fellow artist is not a jeweler, I’m almost guaranteed to hear this statement.

“It must be great being a jeweler. You guys always make money.”

Or…

“I need to figure out how to include jewelry in my line. That way I’ll can get some of the action you jewelers get.”

Eh…okay.

A lot of the time when I hear these statements they’re usually said with a hint of resignation, frustration, or envy…and occasionally with more than a hint of hostility. In a way I understand. It’s difficult when you feel that your hard work is being overlooked you’re constantly losing sales to someone else. If you aren’t a jeweler, it may seem that our booths are always filled with customers and that we’re making money hand over fist. In reality, being a jeweler can be just as tough as any other medium.

In some ways, it’s true. Look at any craft show, if jewelry is not the biggest category, it’s usually the second or third biggest. And in most cases it’s one of the highest grossing categories at any craft show. Why? Most of the people that attend craft shows are women. Women love jewelry and they tend to buy a piece of jewelry faster than they would buy a painting or a piece of sculpture. Jewelry is also a popular gift item. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Graduation, birthdays, and of course Christmas…jewelry is almost always on the menu when it comes to gift giving. And women aren’t the only people that buy jewelry. Men also buy their fair share of jewelry…for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Graduation, birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmas. If your line of jewelry is particularly manly (think cuff links, money clips, and tie tacks), they’ll even buy a piece for themselves.

In terms of transport and setting up for a show, jewelers can also be at an advantage. Our stuff tends to be relatively small and lightweight in comparison to say pottery, clothing, or paintings. I can pack up everything I need for a show, booth, display, and merchandise in a medium sized pick-up truck. Artists who do glasswork, pottery, or large works like furniture usually need to purchase or rent a trailer or a large truck to transport their wares. Set up and break down for a show is also relatively fast as well. Unless I’m working a show by myself, other artists who have fragile items are usually still packing up their work and their booths long after I’ve loaded the last box into my truck and had pulled away from the show site.

So if you’re a jeweler you have it made right? Well, lots of my fellow artists seem to think so. Many have the impression that I make five figures at every show and have customers forming lines outside my booth with one hand filled with jewelry and the other hand waving their credit cards and checkbooks. And it seems that at almost every show, I have to set my fellow artists straight.

A couple years ago, I read Sun Tsu’s Art of War. Why? Don’t ask…I like reading books on random topics. If you’ve never read or heard of The Art of War, it’s a 2400 year old Chinese manual about military strategy. Although the book is about military strategy, many of the principles in the book also translates well in business, management, and interacting with people. One of the principles in the book that an opponent’s greatest strength can very often can also be their greatest weakness, and the way to defeat your opponent is to turn that strength into a weakness.

A lot of what the Art of War says about strengths and weakness also applies to being a jeweler. Sure, jewelry is very, very popular at craft shows…so popular in fact that it is one of the most competitive categories in the industry. The jewelry category is one of the first to fill up when artists are being juried in for a show. If you’re a jeweler, you better make sure that your work is unique enough or compelling enough, because you’re guaranteed to be competing against a dozens and dozens of other jewelers for that coveted spot in the show, and in all likelihood, they’re doing something very similar to you.

Jewelers may get a lion’s share of the sales at a show, we but have divide that share among many other jewelers. At the last show I participated in, out of 299 artists, approximately 80 of them were jewelers..that’s 27%…over a quarter of all the artists at that show. Compare that to potters…there were only 25 out of 299(8%)…or photographers…20 out of 299 (7%)…or even glass artists…19 out of 299 (6%). So out of 299 artists, I’m in direct competition with 79 other artists. In addition, some artists who work in other media such as glass, pottery, or fiber may also create a small line of jewelry in addition to their usual work in an effort to bring in more sales. These artists aren’t even counted in the jewelry category, so I may be directly competing with both jewelers and those artists in other mediums who also have a line of jewelry.

And from the customer’s point of view, having 80 jewelers at a show is not necessarily a good thing. I also overhear comments from customers…

“I’m tired of seeing so much jewelry at these shows!”

Or even worse…

“Oh…more jewelry…”

It’s funny, I almost never hear complaints about how there’s too many photographers at a show or that if they see one more woodworker they’ll scream. If anything, customers appear to want more of these mediums and want they want to see something different.

The fact that jewelry is small and lightweight also makes jewelers a prime target for theft. All artists and craftsmen who exhibit at shows can be targets of theft to some degree, but jewelers are an especially attractive target, particularly if they use high karat metal and expensive gems in their work. Just two weeks ago at the Timonium show, a jeweler had $100,000 worth of merchandise stolen out of her van while she and her husband were eating dinner after the show. And this is by no means an unheard of occurrence. Theft can include robberies on a small scale with customers who shoplifts individual pieces (I’ve been a victim of this more than once) to the organized thieves who steal whole inventories of merchandise.

Just because you offer jewelry, it doesn’t mean that customers are falling all over themselves to buy your stuff. Because there are so many other jewelers that exhibit at a show, that also means the customers can be somewhat selective. I think that it’s this fact that surprises other artists the most. Somehow many are under the impression that customers buy jewelry indiscriminately without regard for personal taste or preference. For every customer that buys a piece of jewelry from me, there are fifteen others who won’t because my earrings are too long and they don’t wear dangly earrings, or they don’t wear gold filled jewelry, they only wear 24kt gold, or they only wear posts and not french hooks, or their ears aren’t pierced and they only wear clip-ons, or my earrings aren’t long enough, or my bracelets aren’t thin enough, or wide enough, or that my jewelry is so delicate-looking they’re sure that they’ll destroy it because they are “hard on their jewelry”, or they’re afraid it’s going to snag on something, or they have more than enough jewelry for the time being thank you and they don’t need yet another pair of earrings, or they like butterflies and I don’t have any jewelry that have butterflies on them…or ladybugs, or sunflowers, or elephants, or frogs, or dragonflies…etc…etc…etc. Every customer has their own likes, dislikes and their own sense of aesthetic. No matter how unique and beautiful and well made your jewelry is, if your work doesn’t fit what they are looking for, they won’t buy it…just like any other medium. And if you don’t offer customers what they want…well, there’s another jeweler two booths down that might. Customers at a craft show may buying a lot of jewelry…they’re just not necessarily buying it from you, they may be buying from any one of 79 other jewelers at the show.

I mention these pros and cons when I start to hear the “Jewelers have it easy” comments, not because I want to get into contest about who has it the worse, but rather to point out we’re all trying to make a dollar and that it’s not neccesarily easy for anyone…even us jewelers. The more I do craft shows and the longer I’m in the arts and crafts world, the more I see is that it isn’t necessarily all about the medium. Take doll artist Charla Khanna. Most people I know don’t think of dolls as an art form and I know lots of doll artists that complain that no one appreciates the time, work, and the artistry that goes into dollmaking. Now take someone like New Mexico doll artist Charla Khana. Each year she does the famous Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. There are frequently lines of customers camping outside her booth hours before the show even opens. She usually sells out by the second, even the first day of the four day show. You can be sure that she’s not wondering how to increase sales by selling more jewelry. Because her heart and soul is all in her dolls…people who love her dolls recognize that…and respond.

Sure, there are general trends in how popular a certain medium is, a couple years ago art glass was all the rage, now it seems that fiber is beginning to make a comeback. Things like colors, patterns, and subject matter can also go in and out of style. And these are factors that can affect what your customers are interested in. I’m not naive enough to imagine that these wide general fads and trends make absolutely no difference. But I think the trick is is to figure out how to balance these trends without letting it change how you express yourself through your art. I guess the trick is is to find a medium that you love and with enough work, the right audience and the right exposure and lots and lots of patience, you’ll find your place. Ever since I’ve started making jewelry about 14 years ago, I’ve always worked in paper. It’s only in the past 5 to 7 years that people seem to be more accepting of what I do. Between now and then I’ve heard plenty of suggestions from well-meaning friends and colleagues;

“Try using polymer clay…it’s all the rage!”

“Start adding more gemstones and real gold and you’ll make more sales!”

“You know, those chandelier earrings are really popular right now, you should try making some of those!”

I’ve tried polymer clay and it’s fun, I’ve learned how to cast metal and set gemstones and those chandelier earrings are really pretty, the only problem is that none of that really interests me. And any attempt to incorporate something that doesn’t interest me won’t work. But I’ve stuck with the paper and continued to grow, and as I continued to grow, so has the interest from the public has continued to grow. And maybe one day I can grow up to be like Charla Khanna, sitting in an empty booth on the second day of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair.

[tags]craft shows, jewelry, Charla Khanna, Art of War[/tags]

Friday show days are usually slow days. Most everyone is at work. In general, the people that attend a Friday show day are retirees and stay at home moms and their kids. And while it’s great talking to retired folk (I get a ton of advice on carpel tunnel, restaurants, and travel tips) and it’s fun to look at the adorable children the mommies have in tow, there’s not a whole lot of y’all out there on Fridays. So, Fridays are the days that we have leisurely talks with our customers and it’s also the day that we artists visit our neighbors.

At every show, you meet someone really cool and interesting, and everyone seems to have a story. This weekend, I seem to be located in the international section of the Sugarloaf Craft show. My neighbor to the right of me, Ivetta Moore is originally from Russia and now lives with her husband and kids in Maryland. She immigrated to the U.S. when she was 18. She does these lovely pictures out of pressed flowers and plants and handmade paper. She was even featured on HGTV’s show “That’s Clever!” last April.

The lady across from me, Wioletta Marek Hada is a photographer who is originally from Poland who now lives in Connecticut. She and her husband met on a airplane when he was taking a trip to Poland. She takes photos of a variety of subjects including nature photos and the coolest photos of children. She has a framed photo of a little Mexican girl selling bracelets on a street corner in her booth that’s one of the adorable photos I’ve seen in a while. Her web site is currently under construction, but hopefully she’ll have it up soon so you can take a look at her photos yourself.

To the right of Wioletta’s booth are a husband and wife jewelry team, Jos

Show set-ups…sigh. Life would be so much easier if…

1. Spaces were always the same size.
2. Everyone stays in their space.
3. There aren’t any immovable obstructions in your space.

In general, booth spaces at most shows are a standard 10 foot by 10 foot. Sometimes if you need the extra space and have the extra cash, you can get a 10 x 15 foot space, or even a 10 x 20 foot space. But for the most part most artists design their booths to fit in a 10 x 10 space. If you get anything smaller than 10 x 10…that can be trouble.

Well, things here at Gaithersburg appear to be a bit different. The Sugarloaf Gaithersburg show takes place at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. The show consists of a number of exhibitors setting up outside in the Fairgrounds with some setting up in open sided barns located throughout the grounds. There are also a number of buildings on the grounds in addition to the barns. Booth spaces outside and in the barns are the standard 10 x 10. Those located in the buildings are 9 x 8…or 9 x 10…or 8 x 8…or some such thing. Now I was aware of this before I arrived at the show site. My booth is pretty flexible, the four walls of my booth can be as small as 6 x 6 and as big as 12 x 12.

So I arrived to claim my space, and saw immediately instead of 10 x 9 space, it was going to be closer to 9 1/2 x 8. One reason was because part of the back wall of the building jutted out into my space. Since the back wall of my booth can’t curve around this part of the wall sticking out in my space, I would have to shorten my booth by almost a whole foot. What also made matters worse is that the lines marking each space appeared to be off by almost a half a foot. Now 10 x 10 foot space is not very big…so 9 1/2 x 8 feet is just miniscule. Why such a fuss about how big my space is? Well, when you’re paying for booth space, you start to become very keen on making sure that you get the amount of space that you paid for. Because I have to shorten my booth in order to work around this piece of wall invading my space the back of that space it essentially becomes dead space…unusable. It’s also unfair because I’m paying the same price as those who have a true 10 x 9 space, but I can only use 9 1/2 x 8 feet of it. Needless to say…I was not a happy camper.

But as it turns out, I wasn’t the only unhappy camper in the building. My neighbor to the left of me arrived around the same time as I did and discovered that her space was lacking a half a foot. Unfortunately her walls are fairly inflexible and she had a carpet that was going to overlap in my space. The crafter to the left of her had already set up…so she couldn’t shift to the left. The crafters to the right of me had already set up…so I couldn’t shift to the right. Someone was going to have to lose some space. I was already somewhat irritiable, I had gone to bed at 1:00 a.m. last night and woke up at 6:30 this morning so I could make the drive from Chesapeake to Gaithersburg before noon. All I wanted to do was to set up my booth so I could check into my hotel and take a nap before dinner. I also wasn’t too keen on losing more space, especially since my booth was already going to be short to begin with.

Fortunately, we took our concerns to the show director and we were able to “make it work” without either one of us losing more space or without me taking a sledgehammer to that back wall. As it turns out, that dead area in the back of my booth space makes for pretty good storage.

[tags]craft shows[/tags]

The sun and blue skies mocked me as I drove from Alexandria to Timonium this morning. After enduring 12 hours of cold and the wind at the Art on the Avenue in Alexandria yesterday, the sun came out to make a perfect fall Sunday. I arrived back in Timonium to find James and Mary in good shape. They hadn’t killed each other and Mary had learned how to make sales and everything was running fairly smoothly. She’s still a little uncomfortable when it comes to checking out credit card orders, but because of it she developed a way to pre-prepare shopping bags so she could quickly package purchases after processing the credit card. I like her system so much that I plan on using it from now on.

James of course managed to make friends with everyone at the show…I doubt that anyone even knew I was gone yesterday. And as usual, he was on dog patrol seeing as we haven’t seen our babies since Wednesday. While on patrol, he discovered Maestro a 3-year old Pomeranian who is a certified therapy dog trained specifically for assisted living and nursing home environments. He was a real sweetie and petting him just made us anxious to get back home to our own poms.

James also filled me in on a bit of terrible news from one of my fellow artists. It appears that Friday night, one of the jewelers at the show, was robbed of over $100,000 worth of inventory, practically her whole stock. It appears that the thieves broke into her van while she and her husband were eating dinner. What makes this lost so crushing is that this jeweler had spend most of the summer creating this stock and it’s now gone just like that. And not only was she robbed of her inventory, but she’s also forced to pull out of all her fall and winter shows because she has nothing to sell. And as anyone in our business knows, October through December is prime selling season because of the holidays, some artists make anywhere from 50 to 80% of their yearly income during these three months. For artists who may be just living on the edge, thefts like this can be a business ending blow.

Unfortunately theft and shoplifting is not an uncommon occurance at shows. You have people shoplifting merchandise out of your booth, thieves stealing money out unattended cash registers and cash boxes, customers making purchases on stolen or invalid credit cards, and thieves breaking into hotel rooms and vehicles to steal both cash and merchandise. And the shoplifters aren’t always the people who steal because they can’t afford to buy from you. At the Princess Anne Show last year, James spotted a nice well-dressed middle-aged woman slipping a pair of $9 earrings into her purse while her daughter was buying a $60 bracelet. James attempted to confront her about it, but didn’t want to blow the sale I was closing with her daughter by making a big scene. It was clear from her reaction to James that she knew what she was doing. Clearly this lady could afford to buy these earrings, they were only $9 after all…so why steal them? One of our artist friends from Harpstone told me about a lady who stole a pair of earrings and then had the audacity to bring them back for a refund! But it’s usually the fact that artists are small one to two person operations that’s the reason that thieves feel more comfortable targeting them. We’re small, we can’t afford high tech security systems, we often work alone, and we’re mobile, making us easier targets for theft and fraud. But because we’re so small, theft especially large scale theft like what happened this weekend can cripple or even end our businesses when they do strike.

It’s more than likely that the clowns that pulled off this theft will never be caught…I can only hope that karma kicks in and they get exactly what’s coming to them. As usual, my fellow artists banded together and did what they could to help. Saturday morning a group of artists helped the jeweler pack up her booth and load up her truck so she could make the return trip home. And on Sunday we took up a collection for her and managed to raise over $4,000 in donations. I know that will hardly make a dent in what she lost, but we can only hope that it helps her out at least a little bit.

One great thing about having three people working in the booth is that I finally managed to take the time to take a leisurely walk around the show floor visiting friends, checking out new artists, and taking in the atmosphere. And breakdown was a breeze, packed up and out in 1 hour. I’m sure going to miss the help next weekend!

[tags]craft shows[/tags]

Well it looks like the show gods have granted me my wish. It wasn’t raining today at the Art on the Avenue show in Alexandria. Unfortunately, I forgot about hoping for warm weather and no wind. Last year at Art on the Avenue, it was the perfect fall day a warm 75 degrees, with lots of sun and blue skies and practically no wind. This year it was cloudy, in the mid 50’s and windy with gusts up to 30 mph. Fortunately, I had learned my lesson in Frederick earlier this year and made sure that I had my tent weights, because if ever was there I day that I needed them, it was today. Some of the other artists at the show weren’t so lucky and their tents went flying when the wind gusted particularly hard. Even with my weights my tent was rocking back and forth and there wasn’t anything that could keep my jewelry from being blown off my tables. Mom and I didn’t even attempt to hang my earrings on the wall of my tent…that was futile from the get go.

Fortunately, the cool weather and the wind didn’t keep away everyone. There were a number of brave souls that came out today keeping warm with scarves, gloves and steaming cups of coffee. And like last year, the Art on the Avenue was also a pet parade and many visitors brought their four-legged friends with them. These are the cutest pair of Corgis I’ve seen at a show. Didn’t catch their names, but the owner was gracious enough to let me get a picture of them.

50 degree weather with wind gusts up to 30 mph is tolerable for an hour, maybe even two. 50 degree weather with wind gusts up to 30 mph for 12 hours gets to be quite unpleasant after say, the third hour. By the end of the day, Mom and I were happy to pack up and go for a hot meal, a hot shower and a warm bed. All I have to say is God bless my mom, there aren’t many people that will put up with getting up at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning to spend all day outside in the damp, cold, and wind. Thanks again!

[tags]craft shows, dogs[/tags]