On Dec 2, 4:41 am, "Vibrant Jewels" wrote:
We have a bi-annual Gem and Mineral Show in Salem VA that is great... the
vendors are carefully monitored and most of the stuff is quality. Of course
the display table costs $600 for the weekend, so that kind of deletes the
cheapos. Plus the members of the local gem and mineral club are on hand to
monitor things.

On the other hand, most of the craft shows I've been to either have the
cheapo stuff made overseas, or crafters who don't realize what their wares
are worth and sell them too cheaply. I quit vending at those, it just wasn't
worth the time, effort and expense to try.

There are a lot more people where you are than where I am.
I just had the first craft fair where I paid for and took in more
money
than I paid, about $1/hour I was there. Subtract the materials and
I'm still below even. All I sold was earrings. Funny enough, I sold
2 pairs of malachite+Swarovski crystal hoop earrings in spite of
that I arrived with only one pair. I made another 2 pairs while there,
because, I have a necklace that they go with. People who have enough
money to pay for the necklace don't buy jewelry at craft fairs around
here it seems. (BTW: I paid $25 as a member of the organization
that held it, and I'm not willing to pay more than that.)
DH said something to the effect that its "an earring kind of economy
".

I went to another craft fair the day before because I had some time to
kill and found that they hadn't been able to fill the space, and it
was
rather dead at the time when I went there (so, OK, it was a lot of
people's dinner time).

$600 fairs in this state are in Honolulu. There's 10 times as many
people
there as there are on this whole island (which is maybe about 10
times
the size). That's 300 miles, a round trip air fare, and staying in a
hotel
on top of the fair, not to forget air shipping the stuff.

Karleen, you're in the middle of people, I'm in the middle of nowhere,
and I
guess everybody else is somewhere in between :-)

rant (of sorts)
People who pay $2.65 for a gallon of (regular) gas (just went down
another dime this week), upwards of $5 for a gallon of milk and
$6 for a box of cereal and $0.47/kWh for electricity are, of sorts, in
an almost permanent "survival" mode. Gas having come down from
$4.499 (is never went above $4.50 here but it did on the other side
of the island, and some of the smaller islands are still way up there)
is leaving a bit more money in people's pockets here, but a lot of
the people here still see craft shows as cheap/free entertainment.
They don't come to buy, they come to hang out, and maybe learn
something.

I overheard one of the vendors (pottery) saying that it was an
event for either really low priced stuff or really high priced stuff,
and that's pretty much what Kalera said when I talked to her
last summer.
/rant

Maren
(Got one more fair on Dec. 20, at Hilo Art&Glass Supply. I can sell
supplies there, and even make the odd completely unrelated Craiglist
sale.)