As I mentioned earlier I took part in a little craft show at the end of April, and I’m here to report back! It was a great time, and the smallness of the show made it a bit more comfortable than if it had been a massive ordeal. The boyfriend and I arrived around 11:40 am to set up for the noon opening, carrying the folding table, book bag full of books, suitcase, and milk crate props on the subway. Next time we’ll be taking the car. Thankfully I didn’t really have that much to set up and had already laid everything out the night before so little would be left to the imagination in the morning. We quickly set up camp and got comfortable.

I sold out of my small notebooks (2.5 x 3.5 in) within the first several hours, and will definately have to make more of them for next time. There was also a lot of interest in the medium sized books (5 x 7 in), which I make more than anything. A lot of people were looking for small books with travel themes to take with them on trips or to give as little gifts when travelling. All of the books covered in the vintage flocked wallpaper sold, people just couldn’t help rubbing the fuzzy covers!
To attract people I also set up a raffle where I raffled off one of my medium sized sketchbooks. Overall it was a fine idea – I just need to remember not to use permanent markers next time in case someone decides to use one of the books as a writing surface. I was worried that I hadn’t made enough books for the show (which in this particular case turned out to be unnecessary because it was a pretty small deal anyway) and also threw together a little video that shows some of my bookmaking process and some of the final products:
(clicking photo will take you to the video)

Overall it was a good experience. It was great to meet a lot of the other vendors and see some of the other work. Besides the personal list of things I should make for the next show, some other things to consider for any craft show are:
1. Take a buddy. Having the boyfriend there was absolutely indispensable.
2. Take some snacks. I had a box of cheese crackers but will have to do better next time, especially since it’s a seven hour show.
3. Take something to keep your hands busy! I took a sketchbook and drew for a little while during slow periods, but that got old after about 2 hours. I also took some paper to fold for new books, but ended up folding all of it in an hour. Maybe more paper or some other little project to keep my hands busy, but my attention still on the table.
The next show will be at the end of May, so hopefully I’ll be a little wiser and more prepared. =)
leaving some love