Fresh from the desk: Doing better at shows

Yesterday was a good day.  The weather was gorgeous (if a little bit warm, and a couple of clouds would've been nice since we were on blacktop but Mom brought in their tent so I was out of the sun at least), there were people everywhere in town thanks to the Arts & Crafts Festival and the Miss South Dakota Pageant and the antique car show, and there were lots of vendors on our corner so it worked out great.  I made more sales yesterday than I had on my own before, without Mom's garage sale-type stuff to help with traffic.  Any sale makes it a good day when there's no booth rent, but 4 sales when last time was 2 makes for a great day!  There was so much going on in town that we weren't sure we'd get any traffic at all, considering how much was available at the A&C Festival, but we figured it was worth a try and it actually worked better than we expected.  It's open for one more day so I may go wander around today to see what my direct competition looks like in town.  A friend commented that everything over there was more expensive than mine, which I don't doubt, but I want to see the quality too.

I decided to make a couple changes this time.  My signs are smaller and more specific and placed where the items are on the table so there's no confusion.  I need to get a real banner made at some point, but I thought a little shop sign at the front might help people know what I have. The bookmarks are all together on the tree with one on a book for demonstration, I got a little black display hand for the bracelets and anklets, a sign on the earrings but one pair is over with its matching necklace, and the necklaces spread out to encourage touching but grouped generally by style.  Hemp together, toggle clasps together, memory wire together.  I've found that when the necklaces are displayed on a velvet card, they get visual attention, but when people are comfortable picking up the pieces to get a better look at them they seem more likely to buy.  Also, the cards fall over too easily in the wind so it's not really worth it.

It was a long day.  I was there from 8am to about 4:30pm, and if I hadn't had the tent I wouldn't have lasted near that long.  The problem with the tent is it's rather short, anyone taller than 5 feet has to duck to get under it and I don't have anything to raise it with, especially spur-of-the moment like that, so people weren't really approaching the table when it was under the tent.  I moved the table out, so just I was under the tent, but then I wasn't using up very much of it and there were other people struggling with sun parasols and such, so I moved my whole setup over to the other jeweler's table so we could all share my shade.  They were incredibly grateful and wouldn't let me pay for the beads, bamboo flute, and pickles I picked out from their tables.  It made the day go faster to have someone to chat with.  Whitaker Jewelers is run by a middle-aged couple, and they recently moved down from Hill City so they're still trying to establish a presence in Hot Springs. We're not in competition with each other so I'm sure we'll end up with some kind of working relationship before too long.  They work with Black Hills Gold, silver, wire wrapping, gemstones, wax casting, all kinds of stuff I can't do, and they don't do a whole lot of beading, especially not the kind I do, but they have access to beads and gemstones that I don't so they will probably end up being my stone suppliers.  I have no problem paying them more than cost, because whatever they would charge me will definitely be less than a chain hobby store would.  She and I chatted a lot yesterday, it was fun.

Since next Saturday is the first weekend of the month again, we'll be back.  I need to keep up with my high production this week so I have more to show and more to list.  I'm also looking at easy crochet patterns for bags, purses, wallets, cat toys, and other various small things I could make to expand my audience a little bit.  Handmade beaded crocheted bag? Yes please!  I also had an idea for beaded hat bands on straw hats for all the ladies who loved my floppy hat yesterday and wished they had one.  Question now is where to find the hats for cheap enough (and decent enough quality) to sell them at a decent price.  That will take some research and I'm not sure if that will get done this summer or not.

At any rate, I need to clean my house today.  Also, my cats have made it clear that I'm not allowed to leave today.  I'll have to, since I need to go to the store for some printer ink and I'd like to wander the A&C to see what's there, but I intend to stay home the rest of the day.  Somebody has to hold these kitties.