Tag: craft shows

Creativity Can Be Exhausting

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

Another Art and Craft Fair in the books, and a good time was had by all.

I popped up my craft booth (after a hefty entrance fee) two blocks from one of the biggest food and music fests in Wisconsin, and sold my wares while chatting the day away.

It’s a big step from putting together crafts in your basement/library/work room to showing them off in a 10 x 10 booth in front of thousands of wanderers.

You can’t help but be filled with apprehension, self-doubt, fear, terror, and everything in between. People will love your art; people will hate your art. People will see every flaw and  crooked stone or bent edge or stray brush stroke. Your asking price is too high. Your asking price is too low.

You may believe in everything you created, but the world may not.

What then?

Outlay for a possible craft show is quite surprising up front. Materials, labor, advertising, transportation, tables, stands, all chip away at your pocketbook without one thing being sold. Can you afford the upfront costs? What will you do if your inventory outpaces your sales? Will you take orders? Make a variety of items or just one or two styles? Do you charge sales tax? Do you have business cards? Price tags? 

What if a customer wants what you don’t have?

What if a customer doesn’t want what you have?

That’s the excitement and unpredictability of Creativity. To make or not to make. To give away or sell. If you love what you’re doing you’ll always have too much of it sooner or later. I mean, how many knitted scarves or coffee mugs can you hold onto? How many Angel Tears Suncatchers can I hang on my back and front deck before I blind the neighbors?

I find you have to have an easy-going personality to take the highs and lows of salesmanship, along with a belief in your own work and worth. Making something special to share with others is a challenging foray into the Creative World. It’s planning, a bit of accounting, checking out current art and craft trends, and hoping the booth next to you isn’t selling the same thing.

It’s also the thrill of talking to people who stop by and look at your wares. The fun of listening to their stories and sharing yours. It’s the experience of someone saying how beautiful your work is, even if they don’t buy anything. It’s taking this year’s wares and adding new styles and accessories to the pot. It’s dreaming about making a few dollars on something that gave you such joy to make.

If you’ve thought about showing your wares, do it. If you don’t want to go that far, that’s okay too. Make your creative time mean something. To you, to others.

And don’t worry if it takes you a few days to recuperate.

I’ll be happy if I’m back in shape by November…..

 

 

 

 

A Blog With No Name

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 9 Comments

I usually try and save Monday Blogs for sharing thoughts, inspirations, and, if possible, gossip.

Monday came and went, and I made no effort to stop it.

I was feeling like a heel. I was going to meet one of my good blogging friends for coffee, a meet-and-finally-greet kind of thing as she and her hubby were travelling to and from Wisconsin to visit family. I wound up canceling our meeting because I’m over my head in Angel Tears, and feel like I’m going to sparkle my way out of existence.

Do we often bite off more than we can chew?

We can’t spit it out, we can’t immediately swallow our choices, so we often sit with an overly full mouth of food like a hungry squirrel.

I want to be busy, yet when I’m busy I want to do nothing.

I want to feel special, yet when I start feeling special I want to be ignored.

And often, in the middle of all these wants I find myself tripping over my own feet.

I think I’ve told you that I have a big craft show coming up this Saturday. I’ve only been in two shows in my life, both in the same town. One was not bad, the other was in the rain and fog and cold weather. This one is going to be part of Octoberfest in a big northern Wisconsin city, and the weather is supposed to be cool and partly sunny. This one is going to be bigger and busier than I’ve ever been.

And I don’t think I’m ready.

I never thought I was a negative person by trade. Life comes and goes and the sun shares the billboard with rain and I’m good with all of it. Yet the pressure I put on myself not only made me miss a chance to meet a friend, but encouraged messy mistakes I have no business making.

I know I will survive this fun and busy time. I always do. I have no choice.

You will survive your silly and important tests, too. Never doubt yourself. There is only one way to go in life and that’s forward. Whether you want to or not.

You may not always like where you’re going or where you wind up. But that, too, is temporary.

Love is always around you. So is success. It just takes a little extra effort to open your arms and let them in.

Just make sure your arms aren’t full of craft supplies.

 

 

 

That’s Life

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

That’s life (that’s life), that’s what all the people say
You’re ridin’ high in April, shot down in May
But I know I’m gonna change that tune
When I’m back on top, back on top in June

I said that’s life (that’s life), and as funny as it may seem
Some people get their kicks stompin’ on a dream
But I don’t let it, let it get me down
’cause this fine old world, it keeps spinnin’ around

 

Yep. That’s Life. My second craft show has been cancelled. Not enough volunteers. Not enough food vendors for the fest. And a hundred other legitimate reasons.

I’m sure Covid has a lot to do with it. People are still not sure about crowds and people and people not covering their mouths when they cough. And the thought of 300,000 people not covering their mouth when they cough is enough to scare a daredevil.

But I digress.

No craft show. No Angel Tears.

No making more strands like a crazy woman, no reorganizing my bins, no cleaning up sloppily put together bags. 

At least not within the next two weeks.

Although I am sad I can’t show my wares to the wandering-past public, part of me is glad I have more than two weeks to get my sh$t together.

I have a lot of sh$t to get together.

Like I’ve said before, I learned so much my first time around. What I offer, how I package, how I pack. How to keep organized. How to talk to people. How to plan and how to breathe.

I am quite happy with how much I’ve grown in the past few months. I learned to stay focused, to take pride in my work, and to more forward one step at a time.

We all need quests like this.

Maybe not selling your wares or publishing your book. 

Quests can be as simple as finishing balancing your checkbook. By completing a walk around the block. By repotting your overgrown plants.

There is always some task we need to finish before we start the next one. It’s so easy to make a half effort then move along, forgetting what we promised ourselves. Meaning well but never following through.

Let me tell you. It feels good to have accomplished something. And it frees me up to take on the next task. 

So until next time …. 

What’s next?