Wednesday, July 25, 2012

A Brief Moment of Clarity

I would like to state, for the record, that I hate craft fairs. Or, more accurately I suppose, I hate the kind of craft fairs that I have been to. I would also like to take a moment to both bless and curse Rima Staines for letting me see that there are other kinds of craft fairs than the abominations that we have here in New England.

This is what my options have been:

What a lovely, monotonous row you have.

This is what she gets in England:

Please note the lovely green vardo cover on the left



See the difference?

I'm jealous. That fair? I would love to do, and my eclectic collection of things would fit in. Unlike here where half the time the craft fairs are more "I needed to have a yard sale and thought I could sell more this way". There's an awful lot of confusion between art/craft sales and flea markets. If I wanted to compete with the folks trying to clear out their storage rooms, I'd just set up at the end of the driveway and be done with it.

Also, a lot of ours tend to be Grandma selling cross-stitch-teddy-bears-in-plastic-frames-from-the-dollar-store-with-the-pattern-she-got-from-a-book or some woman selling at prices just high enough to pay for the table and pay for her beads, which is NOT what I'm trying to do. I can't compete with that, and it's really not a good fit at all.

Annoyingly, the best format for me to sell what I do is the craft fair type idea. Especially since the travelling gypsy artist is so SCREAMINGLY perfect for the River's Daughter, I can't even stand it.

I just want to do something less like this



and more like this.




(Yes, I know we have "non-standard" craft fairs around here. Unfortunately most of them are genre-specific. Much of my stuff is not SCA/Steampunk/Faery/etc appropriate, and so I'd either have to leave half my stuff at home, and really what's the point, or be That person who's out of place and not well thought of because it breaks the paradigm. Neither of these are things I want to do.)

I need to look around and see if we DO have anything that I would fit in at around here, 'cause really? How AWESOME would it be to be, in truth, the travelling gyspy artist???


*also, seriously check out Rima Staines' work...she's an amazing artist and I adore her work. She gets to live the coolest life!
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

7 comments:

  1. I am so with you! I don't really fit into the grandma-style craft fairs (can you see my straitjacket hoodies at one of those?) but my stuff is all over the place, not genre-specific. I've had a bit of luck doing events that aren't craft fairs, like music festivals and geeky conventions, and I'm planning to set up at my local Farmer's Market next weekend.

    Perhaps if we can't find something exactly like this, we can create our own? Not sure what all goes into that, but I'm an event planner, I can figure it out. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. I may take a look at Pepperell's Farmer's Market, now that you mention it. We've got a decent enough amount of artists in the area (oddly enough) that it might be something doable.

      I will also keep the "creating our own" idea in mind. I'm awful at that sort of thing (having monstrous anxiety issues that rear their ugly heads if I think about what goes into it), but am an amazing assistant! :D I'm willing to bet that there are a fair number of artists/crafters in our situation that would be interested, actually... Hmm. Things to ponder.

      Delete

    2. Amazingly enough, my anxiety does not go nuts over being in charge of something like that, despite my crowd issues. Definitely something to ponder.

      Delete

  2. A few thoughts -

    - Waltham's sheep-shearing festival looked a lot like your "this is what she gets in England" photo. An odd mix of reenactor, 4H, and a bit of Ren Faire, with an added heaping of arts/crafts and fiber arts (duh).

    - Artist's Alley at various Sci-Fi/Gaming/Geek cons? Might not be as good a fit for you, depending on what you're offering, but could be worth looking into.

    - I'm gonna point at Heather's first paragraph encouragingly (and also raise an intrigued eyebrow at "straitjacket hoodie").

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. *peers at Interwebs for sheep-shearing festival*

      Huh. So it does. Clearly, I need to investigate this further. (Have I mentioned I'm looking forward to moving down there? Don't tell The Boy, but I think I may be falling in love with Waltham, too. I'll never hear the end of it.)

      Cons are a little overwhelming for me, sadly. I've got about 2 hours before I'm out of a week's worth of spoons (too many people, too close together).

      Yes. Straightjacket hoodies. They are shiny and I've got one in the works. :) Go see... http://www.etsy.com/listing/103695717/custom-made-to-order-straitjacket-hoodie

      Delete

  3. You could also combine the ideas and start smaller than a full scale craft fair and find a few people willing to join you and set up a few tables at the farmers market.

    I do like the idea of start your own "Gypsy" Faire. New England could use something with a bit more culture than Grandma trying to make enough money to buy more yarn.

    Though you might also look at the "BIG E" down in Springfield Ma. My dad use to sell there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. New England TOTALLY needs it's own Gypsy Faire. It's a little too stuck on kitsch and Granny's yarn buying habits and could do with a bit of something new.


      I think the Big E's a bit large for me. I remember going a couple of times, and while it was neat to check out, I don't think my nerves could handle working it. At least not without the steady application of large quantities of rum. ;)

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)