My Mom is the jeweler, and friends of mine are providing the music.

It’s going to be a fun evening!!

I would like to thank everybody who stopped by my booth at the NAU Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair. It was a great couple of days! I really enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new people, getting great feedback on my ceramics and all of the new ideas for next year. I am really excited to get back into the studio!

Here are some pictures of my booth setup. I think the setup worked well. It was a large space (10×10). I kept the floor plan open and had pieces spread out throughout the space on the tables and the two wire racks. I also hung up a white background on the trellis behind the table after these pictures were taken, to reduce the visual busy-ness. (is that a word?)

The show was held in a gymnasium with a rubberized floor, so there wasn’t much I could do about the blue and yellow floor. I thought about putting backs on the wire racks but noticed that a lot of people came over to my booth after eyeballing the backs of the pots that were on the racks. So I’m glad I left the backs open. I borrowed the racks from a friend of mine who owns a garden center. They fold flat and are lightweight; I need to get some of those! They worked out perfectly for displaying pots.

If you stopped by and have any feedback on my booth setup, I would love to hear from you. I am new at arranging my work in this type of setting and am always open to suggestions!

I had my first sale to the public yesterday, at the holiday craft bazaar at the local catholic church. My main goal behind going, besides recouping some of my expenses, was to see what people did and did not like, and to get a feel for my pricing.

All in all, I am happy with the results. I got a lot of feedback from people and sold a fair amount of product.

The set up:

Notes:

Keepers, make more and take to the next show:
Frog cups, definitely. Even though priced at $26 and $32, they sold well.
Soup/salad bowls
Slab vases
Tea cups, in small quantities
Tiny bowls
Tiny bowl-style spoon rests
Large bowls, colored heavy
ADD:
Traditional mugs (few)
Cups/mugs with no handles(had several requests for these)
Pillow vases
REMOVE:
White prairie-style large bowls
All plain white glazed items
Dot plates
Artistic bowls
Color mugs - there was no interest in these, and they are too time-consuming to make.
Small tea cups
I think the most important thing I learned is that when people are holiday shopping, they are looking for affordable gifts and aren’t so concerned with the artsy stuff. That completely makes sense, so I am going to concentrate on the affordable pieces for future craft shows and try to get the artsy stuff into a gallery, because I can’t not make either one.

I would also like to thank all of my friends and family who came out and supported this first effort. I would not be successful without you! XOXOXOX