Blog

No, the Doctor that bought all of my collage at the July show did not re-appear, AMEX in hand. But it was a good show for me regardless. We had rain on and off, including one short-lived monsoon that we had early warning for, so there was time to zip up and secure the rig. At this show, since most of your customers are actually living at the site, rain is seldom a problem for attendance.

A few of my regulars stopped in and asked "no cards?" Nope, not this time, but I have these: and I gestured to the collage. It worked often enough that I believe the net profit was similar. And the relief of not having to spend precious hours making them was profound. I think I'm on to something. This is not to say that I won't drag out some trinkets for the next 2 weekends. Maybe the little collage magnets that are more fun to make and sell for $2 more. Since they will be a small addition to what I am making now, there won't be the pressure to make tons of them. But the important thing is that I won't experience what I did with the cards. I had more than one customer hold a small matted collage ($30) in one hand and a card ($5) in the other, ponder for a while and put the collage back, buy the card. I could read their minds. (I could frame this and it is almost as nice as that bigger one). Hard to frame a little magnet.

I'm learning different things at each show. Like, have several matted pieces available that have the same quotations on them as the framed pieces and with different colors. Don't laugh. Seems like a no-brainer but I'm new at this particular item. "The back wall sells the booth" a friend tells me. Well, if the back wall doesn't reflect what you have several of, what are you selling? That light bulb over my head almost burned my retina.

My next two shows are proven winners for me and I hope that holds true. I need to pay for our vacation. It could mean the difference between Holiday Inn and sleeping in a rest stop under the bug lights.

Guess I better get back to work.