We’ve only ever really done one craft show, and that was years ago when we lived in Connecticut. It was a very small nursing home/elder care facility and not a lot of traffic. It was a fun time and a great learning experience.
Living here in the Pioneer Valley, we go to a LOT of fairs and festivals. It’s gone from looking for nice items to purchase to looking for nice items, and, what’s their set-up, what about storage, seating, traffic flow, water bags or sand bags to hold the tent stakes, is there electricity for payment systems, bathroom access, insurance certificates, and more. All the important things that the usual event-goer doesn’t even think about.
So, slow things down, take a breath, and pick one thing to start with. Like product labels and branding.
Let’s start with something easy like yarn. I’ve been selling my yarn online for years and have this down pretty well. Twisted skeins with bands or sleeves is my favorite. I’ve also used hang tags, but those can get tangled easily on piles of yarn.
Stick with the bands.
The yarn bands are printed and then color info is filled in by hand. My yarn bands contain all the pertinent info that I feel someone purchasing yarn would want to know.
Scarves get the hand-folded hangtags. Those are professionally printed and then I will sit and score, fold, punch holes and attach the elastic hang cord and brass baby safety pin. All of the info is filled in by hand.
OK, here’s where you come in. What’s your opinion on these displays from a shopper’s perspective. If you’ve got show experience, that’s welcome, too.
Just before the pandemic forced the world into a quarantine, Bryan and I were up at the Greenfield Farmer’s Market. On the way home to Northampton, we stopped into the Arts & Antiques on 5 & 10. Danielle, the owner, was opening the doors just as we were driving up.
If we’ve ever met, you know that Bryan and I talk to just about everyone. We were browsing and chatting with a few folks here and there, and with Danielle. While admiring the change of displays, and was taken with a tall cherry rack with magazines displayed. She told me about it having been made for hanging papers in a fine writing store. I thought it was fabulous for scarves and was similar to what I tried to build for the Connecticut show.
There was no way I was leaving without it. It was FAR better than anything I could build. It was tall, wide, and had lots of cross bars. When I asked if it was for sale, she asked what I had in mind, how much. I named my price, she said it was too much, and offered me a more attractive lower price.
With the cash handed over, we were out the door and dismantling it in the car to take it home before she changed her mind!
Once home, it got a sanding and a couple of coats of cherry Danish oil. It really was thirsty wood and the oil just went right into the grain.
Back to the display. This is what I did first, throwing scarves on the bars with the tags hanging in the front.
It’s super busy, the bottom space can’t really be used because things will hit the floor. Baskets could go there with the skeins yarn.
The second idea was to use it for hanging yarn.
It’s kind of cute. I would need to be hands-on to remove the skeins. (Remove the yarn band, pull off the skein and replace the yarn band.)
Going one step further, it could display BOTH the yarn and the scarves!
Yarn on the top, scarves on the bottom.
Better hangers, of course.
This would work, it’s just the skeins that I’m not too happy with. Someone wants yarn , they’re going to want to hold it.
That’s where I’m stuck on this. Is this the BEST way to utilize it, and is this the best way to use it for yarn? SHOULD it be used for yarn? Maybe just a top and bottom rack with scarves.