(The smiles didn't last long I'm afraid)Apparantly I have been a right old mare since the Christmas Fair on Saturday ... so if Mr Boo is ready this " I apologise" ... but in my defense, I have felt pretty rubbish. No excuse tho.
I have been working my warm and fluffy socks off these past few months sewing away and finally the anticipation of Boo's lovely school Christmas Fair arrived.
I was very hopeful of a good day but after about an hour the writing was on the wall. Have I got it so very wrong ? I didn't sell one Fairy Godmother and yet they've been selling steadily online.
I packed up my table, with a little tear in my eye. I covered the table plus a bit more but compared to my neighbour who sold £500 worth of glassware, I felt a complete Noddy !
I can't tell you how disappointed, let down, even stupid, I felt. Daft eh ? I know it happens and you just cannot tell how fairs will pan out but the fair was heaving with people who just wandered past smiling at my work and muttering a few 'ooh, how sweet' or 'Lovely' ...
My lovely Godmothers just didn't do it for the punters on Saturday. Oh well ....
Anyhow, I can't dwell on the disappointment but I have questioned whether all the hard work, time and effort is actually worth it. Would life be easier to buy in stock and sell it on ? Shall I try my hand at something completely different ? Shall I just go and work in the farm shop ?
OK, enough ...
But hey, looky here. This was just part of Santa's Grotto at the school. It was truly amazing, magical and so christmassy. I think it has to be the best Grotto I have ever seen, so old fashioned and traditional. The children were led in one by one for a chat with Father Christmas before receiving their pressies.
When Boo was having her chat, father Christmas asked her if she'd put a carrot out for the reindeers this year, to which she promptly replied
"YES, WE WILL. BUT LAST YEAR THEY POOED IN OUR PORCH !"
I made bread and marmite turds and scattered them at the front door with some flour and glitter. Quite effective I thought !
Another view of the Grotto. The photo's don't do it justice, shame.
I am not sure if this is pre or post 'The Reindeer pooed in the porch' discussion'.So, I have one more Christmas fair in 2 weeks time and will then decide what I shall do. The difficulty is the time it takes to make handmade things, everyone seems to want something for nothing.
I had a customer looking at something really quite lovely I'd made which I'd greatly reduced because it was the last one and I didn't want to make any more. Seriously, I was practically giving it away but she ummed and arred over paying a fiver for it. I felt like saying to her, "Hello, that took me x amount of time to make, please don't insult me".
Hmm ... Am I being a bit precious here ?
15 comments:
Poor you, know exactly how you feel! I was in similar position to you a couple of years ago, and now take along a mixture of stock from a warehouse and handmade items. I've also learnt to only do the fayres that I know, as have spent a few eves twiddling my thumbs! Most of my handmade sales are from word of mouth, what about popping in to some local gift shops to see if they would sell your lovely things?
xxx Steph
Just read about the fair and don't worry. I know how you feel, we all face situations like that, as the saying goes "Do not give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying" :) And god loves a trier!
All things nice :)
Oh poor you. Would rush around with tea and sympathy but tea would be cold by the time I got up there and saucer would be swimming.
I think you have voiced something so many of us find - people do not want to pay monetary worth of handmade items. Perhaps those who buy online realise exactly what goes into it. Good luck with the next fair because your work is so beautiful everyone should be fortunate enough to own some.
You make beautiful and original things so should definately persevere! But sometimes you need the right sort of customer too. Perhaps you need to try some different fayres until you find your niche?
Loved your story about the reindeer poo! Once when my two were younger, we snipped a bit of white hair from our springer spaniels and told them Santa had left a bit of beard behind!
Oh I have endured that shame and the feeling of being unloved... the table next to me was selling pattery that had definately been bought job lot off ebay and they were doing a roaring trade... I think its a shame that people do not appreciate handmade items but I think the general public have been conditioned to see no value in things otherwise we would not be such a throwaway society... people are starting to value quality and I think you need to carry on and keep going, its hard to take the rough with the smooth, your work is fantastic and should be available for people to purchase and pass on as hierlooms to their children...
big hugs
Alex
x
Oh thank you lovely ladies !!!!
What a lovely supportive bunch you are.
Sensible and constructive advice, I will digest and take heart.
Trash, a cuppa works wonders especially when there are choccy biscuits involved.
xxxxxx
Madame Laurie
When you're feeling sad or blue think of all that reindeer poo!....Yes I'm a rubbish poet but it made me laugh.
Again your work is beautiful and you make the most wonderful things, your customer is out there sweetie- I just don't think they were at the school fayre.
Bisous
Tracy x
It is so hard isn't it Laurie? I don't understand the way people want everything for nothing yet will pay the earth for what i view as mass produced tatt. I think your work is amazing and this is a discussion which needs highlighting as I notice a few blogs bringing it up. Good. handmade is timeless, original and heirloom! x
I have had fairs like this too. It is so disheartening. The things were lovely, and I suppose it means less work for the next one...(silver lining)
Dear Laurie
This is such an interesting post for me as I've never heard anyone else really write like this before and it's heartening to feel I am not alone in my fairs experience.
I don't even sell handmade things - I buy my toys in from designers in France and Denmark - but whenever I have been to fairs, I always seem to experience what you have described. So much so that I haven't been for over a year now and I just sell online now.
It IS so difficult and disheartening to be there with lovely things and just watch person after person wander past - and especially when ones neighbours are busy.
I have no idea what the secret is. Do you think it has anything to do with people? I always thought that some of it was to do with me - I am very shy really and HATE the idea of forcing something on to someone so much that I just stand there smiling.
I can say this though, from experience, that this is not just a phenomena of hand made things.
And what was always really awful is that often the only potential topic for conversationn would start 'Oh, did you make these..?' and I couldn't even say yes!!
Love Charlotte
xxx
ps the whole debate about value and lovely things as opposed to mass produced stuff fascinates me. I would truly rather have one nice thing to wear than five from Tesco. I would rather have one nice cushion than five from Asda. And toys - my bag of course - I would rather give / sell / own one lovely more expensive bunny than five crappy synthetic ones!! So there!
Trouble is, I don't know how many of 'us' there are out there...
xx
No, you're not being precious at all. I think many of us have 'been there, done that' and I can still remember that sense of disappointment at the end, when one is packing up almost as much as one unpacked at the start.
Your stuff is lovely - if online punters are the one who most appreciate you, then perhaps online punters are the way to go?
Take care, and keep your pecker up. Your stuff is fabtastic.
xx
obviously those attending the fair had no taste!
where is the next fair you are doing? if it is close i will try and pop in :-)
Now then! Don't you go thinking like that. Your creations are just beautiful. I think people who go to some of these fairs just want to pick up a bargain, and just don't appreciate the time and effort that goes into handmade items! People are buying thenm on line, so they are liked very much! You were just at the wrong one that time! suzie. xxx
I don't think you're being precious at all - handmade takes times, effort, skill and love - and those things are all rare and valuable, and that's what gets forgotten - the time it takes to make something by hand is worth far far more than you could ever sell it for - persevere with it, the right people will come along!
I'm sure I'll only echo all the other comments here, when I say you need to perservere. Some fayres will be a roaring trade, others will have the tumbleweed, whilst still others will be busy but full of tight people who just don't get it. So many people seem to want hand-made loveliness without paying for it. You could make more money in an indian sweatshop making cheap clothes for high street stores!
If online is working for you then yay! I'd say try a few more fayres first to get a good average view. Chin up! x
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