Sell the Sizzle

by Anne Wingate
(Salt Lake City, Utah)

It is unnecessary and unwise to try to display all you have of any item at the same time. My grandfather, who often sold his arts and crafts at Farmers' Markets, had trouble with this. One little Dutch boy holding an ice pick and a bottle opener is cute; 50 little Dutch boys each holding an ice pick and a bottle opener will make one's eyes glaze over. Ditto with ceramic ashtrays in the shape of a water lily with a frog sitting and fishing on the edge. My grandfather worked hard at these, but was sadly discouraged that he had to bring so many of them back home. I suspect that my little Dutch boy holding an ice pick and a bottle opener is the only one left of that set, and even I don't have the frog and water lily.

Think before you select the craft about where it is going to be used. A very large dark blue crocheted owl holding a dish towel might be fun to make, but how many people have kitchens that a large dark blue crocheted owl will fit into esthetically? Mine was a gift. I couldn't possibly use it in the kitchen; I put it in the food storage room for awhile, but it was useless there, and I finally gave it to a used everything drive for a thrift shop. Whoever made it should have begun by studying catalogs old and new to see what color appliances are currently fashionable and what colors were fashionable up to ten years ago. A tasteful display could have been made out of hooks on one of the poles holding up the display tent, with the owls hung on the hooks; but it should be tasteful because the crafts are colors that will work in the rooms they are designed for.

Don't be afraid to price the goods at what they are worth. If you spend $5 on yarn, $5 on buttons, and $20 on 20 hand towels to make twenty button-on hand towels for people's kitchens, which you price at $1 apiece, you've just spent thirty dollars plus your time to make twenty dollars. You should have priced them at a minimum of $3 each. As you set up your display, be sure that it is clear what the cost of each item is. Customers in a crowd may decide not to buy your craft, if they don't know the price and there are four other people ahead of them asking you the price.

To sum up: Don't make your display too busy. Do display items that people will actually want rather than buy--maybe--because they're sorry for you. Make the price clear.

You might still take some things home after each craft show, but not, I hope, as many as my grandfather did.