Thursday, November 16, 2006
adding insult to injury
Well I somehow forgot to put in my craft show tirade (traumatic repression perhaps?) that all the cloche customers would put their spare bags, food and garbage on my table. They would also borrow my mirror when the cloche lady's mirror was being used, to see how they looked in their cloches. Some ladies were polite enough to at least feign interest in my jewelry before dropping a bracelet like a hot potato in order to snag a free space at the cloche table. Talk about being made to feel nonexistent! Maybe I should start a links I loathe list and put Handmade Arcade there? It's not their fault though, just a really horrible craft show experience. But I have to think positive, at least I sold something!
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5 comments:
hey- I did the show too, and it was soooo slow. There were also a dozen other yarn vendors and billionty other people with knit stuff. ??? The organizers were super nice and helpful, but the show? stunk.
i ditto elise's comment from the last post.
nancy
I participate in various shows & through those experiences have gotten to know several Handmade Arcade organizers and crafters who do “the circuit” – (other indie craft fairs).
There is telling commentary in both your blog & the responses people posted:
“When I last participated in this craft show I was placed next to two women who make very cute handmade monster stuffies, friend or foe, that sold out a couple hours before the show ended…”
So, you had participated before, this, presumably was a good experience, because you sent in another application this year. I’d hope that your first experience clued you into the types of vendors & attendees Handmade Arcade attracts.
And yet you state “…I hate people like that anyway - I don't like snobby, elitist hipsters who won't deign to talk to non-hipsters like myself…” So, why did you apply again this year, knowing you’d be surrounded by people you don’t like. Plus, it’s rather superficial to dislike an entire group of people based on a stereotype one holds of this group, don’t you think?
As for “hipsters” not deigning to talk to you b/c you’re a non-hipster, come on! I’m a middle aged, decidedly “square” woman & have no trouble relating to & engaging “hipsters”. Not to mention the fact that many of the day’s 5,000 attendees were non-hipsters, moms, dads, grandparents, etc. From your blog it appears you perceive these to be more of your target market. Which brings me to this:
“…I was starting to seethe with frustration over all the time and effort I put into making 60 plus pieces of jewelry and making cute little price stickers for everything and it was all for naught…”
This year, as in the last 2, several vendors sold out of stock hours before the event ended. Many others made a lot of money. I think that you should’ve put more effort into sales & engaging the 5,000 potential customers that Handmade Arcade provided you with. Instead, you spent the day being jealous of the girl selling hats, being quite unpleasant to your mother, who was there just to help YOU and seething over all the effort you put into your sales tags.
“We were crammed in like crafty sardines…”
Many other craft fairs have a similar set up, Handmade Arcade’s set-up, meaning tables right up against each other & aisles that are around 6’ wide, has been the same since it began 3 yrs. ago. They do this so they can get as many table spaces available as possible. There are many great crafters out there, this year Handmade Arcade got over 200 applications & really struggled to give as many vendors as possible an opportunity to participate.
“…dozen other yarn vendors and billionty other people with knit stuff…”
When the Handmade Arcade organizers, (who, by the way are all volunteers & make no money from this event), jury applications they keep a ‘category’ list, so they can make sure that there’s a diversity in wares. Each year, it seems, there’s a “hot” item, this year it was silk screened t-shirts. Some vendors apply saying they’ll sell knit items, then they also bring yarn to sell; some apply saying they’ll sell reconstructed t-shirts, then they also bring purses, etc.
There are umpteen craft fairs in the Pittsburgh area that attract your target market. I suggest you participate in those, life’s too short.
To the anonymous commenter who takes quotes from my post and those of people who responded to me and basically chastises me for what I wrote. Here's my list of replies since you didn't have the cojones to put your name or a link so I could talk to you directly.
1. This is a blog, isn't this where I'm supposed to be able to whine and get a bad experience off my chest so to speak?
2. I never said that I didn't like the entire group that compromises hipsters, my husband said that of me (he said a number of things to try and bolster my spirits) and he was wrong. I was trying to clarify/specify by putting a dash after what he said and writing that 'I don't like snobby, elitist hipsters who won't deign to talk to non-hipsters like myself' of which there were hipsters that would fall into that category at the Handmade Arcade. I don't have an exact percentage for you on the 'hipsters with attitude' at the craft show but I can tell you some were in attendance.
3. Don't take me to task for comments about the show that other people put on the post. It's not me putting those comments in!
4. I don't think I'm wrong in believing that vendors with a specific image and product that matches attendees expectations of what the craft show will be probably do better in sales. Like it or not, everybody judges everyone to a certain extent. That's why pretty people get paid more and heavy people have a slew of negative stereotypes directed towards them. My husband was trying to make me feel better by saying I wasn't a good match for that craft show. My craft related posts were part bitch session, part realization that I probably am not a good fit for that show.
5. I didn't say anything negative about the organizers of the craft show or about any of the other vendors because there's nothing negative to say about either group, the organizers were nothing but nicce & helpful. I had a bad experience and I wrote about it so I'll refer you back to #1.
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