I'm suffering a serious craft fair hangover (stiff muscles, bruises in strange places, zombie stance, mental drafting of random checklists) as I write this, but I just wanted to let you all know that I survived Renegade this weekend. To everyone who stopped by or sent electronic well-wishes, THANK YOU!
I'm trying to talk my booth-helper Wing into guest blogging a thorough recap of the event that highlights some of the other great artists we met there, just like I tried to talk her into going without any sleep, hauling around leaden coat hangers and living on a diet of smoked almonds, fruit snacks and gum for two days straight. So far she's fallen for everything, so I've got a feeling a great blog post is in our collective future. Did I mention she flew out from New York City after work on Thursday night just to help me with this shebang and returned last night on the red-eye so she could be back to work on Monday morning? I think if she asked me to clean out her rain gutters with my tongue, I would be compelled to agree under the International Treaty on Owed Favors.
This is our booth, before the fair started and before the people behind us even arrived. The table arrangement evolved throughout the fair as Wing and I conducted and adapted to the results of our amateurish, guerilla marketing analysis. Because I was trying to keep the cost of the display down, and because I have limited room for display storage in my apartment, ours was one of the simpler ones, but it worked just fine. Still, we finished our setup 1.5 hours before the fair opened. Lesson learned, I guess...
Here is a view of the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason from our booth, also during setup time (the only time I had to take pictures, apparently). This view represents about 25% of the space used in the Pavilion. It was huge and packed. One woman dropped by our booth when the fair opened on Sunday, saw something she liked and said she'd return after visiting all the booths to buy it. When she finally made her way back, I commented that she had been gone a long time and must have been having fun. She said, "I finally made my way through all the booths. How long did it take me?" I checked my watch. "Two hours!"
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Wow! That's awesome! Hope it was well worth it for you :)
ReplyDeleteRain gutters with your tongue??
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right. That is exactly what you owe her. Congratulations (to you both) for living to tell the tale.
Now ... just make sure I get to order my stuff.
And how was it? Great? Horrible? I hope it was great. I hope you made lots of dough. And I love your vespa print. I think you should hang it in your apartment.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I hope it went so well. Your stuff is just amazing.
ReplyDeletei shall tell wing to guest blog-she said it was awesome! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Riley~
ReplyDeleteI was at Renegade on Saturday and had the pleasure of meeting you and buying one of your Vespa prints. You're such a sweet person, it was great to meet you. I've enjoyed reading through your blog today (especially the post about our music being irrelevant for the younsters... ain't that the truth, ugh...). Anywhooo, I just wanted to say thanks and tell you how much I love my new piece of art. I blogged about my experience at Renegade last night, pop over and have a look if you have a moment. I wrote a little but about you :o)
Have a great day!
Oops, I meant "bit", not but... Oh, and I didn't see the market bags with the scooters on them... do you stil have any for sale?
ReplyDeleteLisa--Thanks for your too kind words. I hopped over to your awesome blog and commented there, but just wanted to say here in case anyone else is wondering the same thing that I have tons of new stuff I made for Renegade (in multiples) that will be listed at my Etsy shop over the next few days, including the Vespa market bags.
ReplyDeleteLeigh--According to all my booth neighbors, the fair was a huge success. I'm sure I made many many times what I could make at a more local craft fair. Not only did I sell a ton of stuff, but I went through almost two boxes of business cards and lots of shop buyers and owners stopped by and asked if I would be interested in selling my stuff in their stores, which is awesome. However, as a first-timer, I didn't really know what to expect and so I went a little overboard in making inventory. Oh well, I might have worked harder than necessary making stuff before the fair, but now I have tons of ready-to-ship product to list on Etsy.