PNA Winter Festival: Five tips for selling your work
Still in recovery mode from my first vendor experience at the PNA Winter Festival... but in a good way! From learning first-hand what catches a buyer's eye...
... to remembering to drink water at all times, I learned a lot. Here's your opportunity to learn in a few minutes what I discovered over the course of 48 hours.
LESSON #1: SETTING UP & BREAKING DOWN
Sure, I'm smiling in this photo from the second day of the festival, but that's because I finally got my booth set up the way I would've liked to have it on the first day. I can't emphasize this enough: Get. Help. A volunteer pair of hands is invaluable for set-up and breakdown, which always takes longer than expected.
LESSON #2: POWER
Whether you sell jewelry, like my booth neighbor, or collages and assemblages like me, you can do so much more if you bring a power strip (and your charger cords). Thank goodness I thought of that ahead of time. My booth neighbor shared the power strip (hey, no bloodshed from fighting over the electrical socket!). And I didn't worry about running out of juice for my smartphone while ringing up a sale on a Square card reader. Plus, no worries about my video display cutting out suddenly.
LESSON #3: FRIENDS
It seems like a no-brainer, but I'll say it anyway: tell your friends when and where you're going to sell your art! Satira drove down from Bellingham to cheer me on. Sarah and Darrell spread the word on Facebook for me. Just ask. Really. ASK. They're your friends. They want to help. And everyone likes a little reward, like a freebie or a shout-out on your Facebook page after the event.
LESSON #4: POCKET CHANGE
By "pocket change" I'm referring to two things: having enough cash on hand to make change, as well as offering items in the one-dollar or two-dollar range. On day two of the festival, nearly every new collector paid me in cash (for some reason, most people paid by credit card on the first day). And everyone from eight to eighty can dig up a dollar or two for a small piece of art.
LESSON #5: GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY
The women above represent three generations who decided it was more important to buy one of my prints than to know exactly who'd be gifted with said print. I think they discussed five or six people who might like the artwork... and through it all, I smiled and said NOTHING. I let them convince themselves to buy. And besides, it was charming to watch.
Explore these ideas on your own
Video display: My dear friend Alicia Harvey volunteered to create my art portfolio video, which shows people what else I can do beyond the work in my booth. I used a Surface tablet to play my art portfolio video. But if you don't have access to a tablet, use a photo flip deck.
Blog posts on craft fair prep: I leaned on my Pinterest board of art display ideas for other resources, such as articles on applying to a fair, setting up indoors or outdoors and thoughts about other venues.
What have you learned from selling your work? No matter what the venue, I'd like to know -- why not learn by example? Tell me in the comments or on Facebook.
LESSON #1: SETTING UP & BREAKING DOWN
Whether you sell jewelry, like my booth neighbor, or collages and assemblages like me, you can do so much more if you bring a power strip (and your charger cords). Thank goodness I thought of that ahead of time. My booth neighbor shared the power strip (hey, no bloodshed from fighting over the electrical socket!). And I didn't worry about running out of juice for my smartphone while ringing up a sale on a Square card reader. Plus, no worries about my video display cutting out suddenly.
It seems like a no-brainer, but I'll say it anyway: tell your friends when and where you're going to sell your art! Satira drove down from Bellingham to cheer me on. Sarah and Darrell spread the word on Facebook for me. Just ask. Really. ASK. They're your friends. They want to help. And everyone likes a little reward, like a freebie or a shout-out on your Facebook page after the event.
LESSON #4: POCKET CHANGE
By "pocket change" I'm referring to two things: having enough cash on hand to make change, as well as offering items in the one-dollar or two-dollar range. On day two of the festival, nearly every new collector paid me in cash (for some reason, most people paid by credit card on the first day). And everyone from eight to eighty can dig up a dollar or two for a small piece of art.
The women above represent three generations who decided it was more important to buy one of my prints than to know exactly who'd be gifted with said print. I think they discussed five or six people who might like the artwork... and through it all, I smiled and said NOTHING. I let them convince themselves to buy. And besides, it was charming to watch.
Explore these ideas on your own
Video display: My dear friend Alicia Harvey volunteered to create my art portfolio video, which shows people what else I can do beyond the work in my booth. I used a Surface tablet to play my art portfolio video. But if you don't have access to a tablet, use a photo flip deck.
Blog posts on craft fair prep: I leaned on my Pinterest board of art display ideas for other resources, such as articles on applying to a fair, setting up indoors or outdoors and thoughts about other venues.
What have you learned from selling your work? No matter what the venue, I'd like to know -- why not learn by example? Tell me in the comments or on Facebook.
PNA Winter Festival: inspirations and distractions
I'm getting off to a slow but promising start getting ready for the PNA Winter Festival in December. Take a look at my inspiration for a pair of collage portraits brewing in my mind:
Trouble is, this is also the time of year for lots of get-togethers I'm going to have to bow out of: kids' birthday parties, grown-people hang time... it's not fair! I need a clone! (And as soon as I finish getting ready for the PNA show I'll get right on the cloning plans...)
How do you handle the distractions and demands for your attention when you're getting ready for a show? Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook.
PNA Winter Festival: Be careful what you wish for...
I can barely believe what a wonderful week I'm having: is this payback for a timely bribe I paid or something? Because I found out I've been chosen as an artist vendor for this year's PNA Winter Festival & Crafts Fair!
Tons of people shop for holiday gifts over a two-day period, so this juried festival and fair are kind of a big deal... more than 100 art and craft vendors, plus live entertainment...
Sales help support several neighborhood projects, including an art gallery, food programs for the underserved, and pre-school child care. The event is big enough for the organizers to sell temporary sales licenses for out-of-town vendors who travel to the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle from Portland and elsewhere.
I learned a lot just from observing the event in 2012. More to come about this year's festival... but in the meantime, if you'll be in Seattle save these dates on your calendar:
Saturday, December 7th
Sunday, December 8th
Gotta go... this art inventory won't build itself!