This season-by which I mean Spring until the end of November, possibly into December-will be the first time I do anything aside from Hallowe'en. I'm a potter and a sculptor living and working in California, and I'm branching out into more "mainstream" ceramics to expand my business as I'm still working at mastering my craft. I have functional pottery available, such as cups, pitchers, plates and the like, plus I'll be making some "fine art," higher-end sculptures for the shows where I'm most likely to have that kind of buyer. I'm taking my first steps in discovering where to show my work, and man, do I need help!
I've found a few places to show and have started a list, but I have no idea which fairs will be the best fit for me. There's one in San Francisco that I hope to get into next year-the deadline to sign up for this year was last June, and I obviously missed the deadline!-I figure 100,000 people walking through will be good for sales. It's difficult to come up with the money to rent out booth space for these places, which I'm sure everyone here knows already, and covering all business expenses, travel, materials, booth fees, etc., will be challenging. I can already see I need to upgrade my kiln within the next year or two if I'm going to be more efficient with my fuel costs vs. product made, and I am literally having dreams of how to best set up my booth space and what "furniture" I must have vs. what I can put off until later. Of course, around the corner is the necessity of buying a new SUV or van, and/or a trailer for my stuff. Any ideas?
It's all dizzying!
So here's the question I have for everyone out there: where in the Northern California/Lake Tahoe/Nevada areas are there good prospects for shows and (dare I ask?) actual profit?
If there are any ceramics folks out there, how do you pack your product so you can pack and unpack quickly? Not all of my product is of a standard size, so I find myself individually wrapping everything in paper and putting them in big plastic bins. This take for-flipping-ever to pack and unpack, and I know there must be a better way.
Oh, and any thoughts on how to take credit cards? I have a Droid Bionic, and would love to get a reader or something for it. Any recommendations? And any thoughts as to what to look out for when I'm starting an account?
Well, thanks for any info you can give me! Good luck to all of you this coming Season, too!
