Craft Displays – Success Tips From a Professional Crafter and on Selling Handmade Arts And Crafts
Craft displays are a fun, creative part of your handmade business. But before Craft displays are a fun, creative part of your handmade business. But before making any decisions about them, I recommend that you make a list of what you need from your overall display system.
That’s what I did when I was struggling to devise the best way to show my handmade jewelry at the events I do. And as a result, I wound up with my perfect setup.
Here’s what my craft displays need to do for me. Your needs will vary, depending on your craft and the events you do.
What I Need from My Craft Displays:
* Between jewelry-selling events, my display system must serve as storage for my jewelry inventory. My house is small, and I don’t have space for storage containers plus displays.
* My entire craft display system needs to fit into a small part of my hall closet at home. It also needs to fit in my car (a Honda CRV). And there needs to be enough space left over in the car for my EZ-up tent and tent weights when I do outdoor shows.
* My craft displays need to be quick to set up and take down. At many of my venues, such as home parties, I can’t expect to spend two or three hours setting up. I need to be fully set up in 30 minutes or less. And after the event, I need to be able to pack up quickly so the event host can get their space back to normal.
* My setup needs to be lightweight enough for me to carry myself, since I do most events alone. It also needs to be easy to take from my car to my booth and back again, without needing help.
* The craft display components have to be modular and adaptable for a variety of booth spaces, jewelry party homes, trunk show venues, private showings, etc. I need to be able to set up in a standard 10 x 10 foot booth as well as in the living room of a party host’s tiny apartment.
* My craft displays need to look professional and enticing – but not distract customers’ attention away from my jewelry (which is what I really want them to look at!).
* My system also needs to be a professional way to show my jewelry to shops and galleries, where the busy owner has a limited amount of time scheduled to see all of my work.
How My List Resulted in the Perfect Craft Displays for Me
Once I had my list of all the ways my system needs to serve me, it was easy to start narrowing down the options.
I based my system on black plastic jewelry trays with compartmented liners. I can load the trays with my jewelry, and then stack the trays inside carrying cases. For storage between events, I cover each trayful of jewelry with a cut-to-fit piece of no-tarnish cloth to keep my jewelry shiny.
For private jewelry showings and venues in small places, I simply pass the loaded trays one at a time to my customers, and we consider my pieces in small batches.
For shows, I use tiny, folding easels to prop my trays up off my tabletops, and angle them up for better viewing. When folded, the easels fit nicely inside the carrying cases on top of the trays.
Once you’ve got your list of what you need from your craft displays, you’ll have the fun of devising exactly the right system for showcasing your handmade items.
Are you a talented artist or craftsman? Is your work an expression of your creativity that you do just for fun? or are you interested in selling your handmade arts and crafts as a source of income. If you are interested in turning your passion into a business or even if you want to make some money to help pay for your supplies there are several factors for you to consider.
The first step you need to take is to evaluate your craft. To sell your crafts online you must have something that is different from all the other arts and crafts that are being offered online. An example would be if a number of people painted a ceramic dog or cat the one that would be selling the most would be the one that is painted in a lifelike manner, utilizing different colors and shading.
Research what you are going to sell. Hand embroidered dish towels are not going to sell as well to men as they will to women, but intricately tooled leather sheathes for hunting knives would be more likely to sell to men. Identifying your potential customers will help you decide on a venue to utilize for selling your handmade crafts.
Add up all of the costs involved in making your handmade craft. In addition to supplies, include a reasonable estimate for the time you will spend on it. Stop at that point and ask yourself if people will be likely to pay at least that much for your handmade craft. If not, consider a different item. Otherwise, add in a profit for yourself and ask yourself the question again. If you still feel that many customers would find the item an attractive purchase, repeat the process with your next item.
Estimate how long it will take you to make each item. This will give you an idea of how many items you will be able to produce in a week’s time. Assuming you can sell everything you produce this tells you the maximum you will probably earn. Use this information to determine how much you can afford to spend on booth rental or on a website.
Decide whether you are going to offer personalized items. Requests for specific colors or the addition of names or sentiments can require more production time. On the other hand, it may be exactly what you need to set you apart from other crafters that are selling a similar arts and crafts. You might include the personalization in the cost of the item if all items will be personalized. If it is to be an option that is seldom exercised, you might want to just make it a surcharge.
| Learn more secrets of a profitable craft show booth at Rena Klingenberg’s Jewelry Display Ideaswebsite. |
Top 10 Selling Items in Arts and Crafts Shows
Arts and Crafts shows are great venues to showcase your creativity and make money at the same time. There is a wide array of products which can be showcased. Listed below are the 10 types of items which are very popular and generally sell very fast in an art and craft show.
1. For the Kids
Kids are priority always and parents are happy to buy things for them. It is good to encourage your kid’s creative talent and taking them to various art and craft shows is good way of boosting their talent. You can find many items for children aged 0 to 12 in crafts shows to catch their attention. Items like painting tools, paper crafts which the children can do by themselves, or which children and their parents can do together.
2. Limited Edition Crafts
Giving a timeline for an item is also eye-catching. When you make an announcement or put a tag on your item that it will only be available, for example, on that day because of limited stocks perhaps, then people tend to give attention and take advantage of its availability, like art collectible dolls, cards, homeware items etc.
3. Crafts with themes
Crafts items with theme also catch interests. For example, you may sell items for pets such as dog collars, leashes and pet clothes like dresses and sweaters.
4. Unique Items
Products that cannot be seen and bought easily in public places like malls or even online, gain attention too. Browse ebay.com or etsy.com for unique crafts items and you will find a new shape candle or design, or embellishments, which can also be customized.
5. Environment friendly
Recycled products made from organic materials are also a hit. This is because there are a lot of people now concerned about the environment. Examples are home displays made from used papers, sculptures from broken glass or paintings from coffee beans.
6. Jewelry
This may be a regular product in arts and crafts shows but it has never lost its touch. You may blend uniqueness in style so that each item would look like it’s personally crafted for the buyer. This difference will give the items an edge from the others selling jewelries too.
7. Glass products
Making glass items like vases, or mirrors with beautiful frames is not a common skill. Showing these types of items in arts and crafts shows also showcase the superior talent of the makers because this skill is really difficult. People who appreciate this kind of talent will show their appreciation by buying the glass items.
8. Items for women
Women make up a great proportion of any country’s population. Most consumers are the homemakers too. You can get their interest with items such as bags, knitted or crocheted tops, cross stitch items or homemade perfumes and scented candles.
9. Products for laptops and the like
Laptops, mobile phones and other products which help people communicate are used by all these days. Feature items like laptop bags and covers and mobile phone holders or cases are also great selling craft items these days.
10. High Quality items
Quality is always essential for any product. Making sure your item may it be big or small has top quality will also ensure your buyers will buy and even comeback or refer you to other buyers even if the product is just a regular one.
Creative talent is always great to have. You can either pursue it as a hobby or can also make living out of it if you are really good at it. Take the time to research which items will sell in arts and crafts shows so that you can earn maximum profit out of your creation.
| Frustrated spending hours looking through craft show listings online?
Want to find the most up-to-date craft show listings available on the web? Search for fairs and festivals by state or zip code. You can even post your own vendor information and get a free newsletter and e-Book. |
Now that you have taken the time to read this post, take the time and read my many other posts, am sure you will find what you need.
