Arts & Crafts Show Season Comes to a Close!

5 months ago

Yesterday, we attended the final Holiday Fair of the 2023 show season.

This was a fairly small "local" event held at the exhibition hall/common room of a local winery. It was also a one-day (Sunday only) event which we normally don't do — it takes too much effort and energy to set up and break down for just a few hours — but we decided to make an exception because we know and like Amy, who puts on this particular show.

Our vendor space at the December 9-10th event

It was no great shakes, but we did end up selling a few more things and the vendor fee was only $15, and now we finally get to "take everything apart" and reorganize for 2024 while we still have fresh memories of how things went.

We were basically out "on the road" for four of the last six weekends before Christmas, which is about as much as we could find time and energy for. The "Active Production Artist" lifestyle is not for the faint of heart... keeping in mind that we also have to work for a living, on top of all this.

Close-up

Whereas "showtime" was definitely a worthwhile endeavor — and I definitely found some new inspiration and energy for going forward — the somewhat sketchy variable remains that in spite of giving out 100's of cards and brochures, not a single online sale resulted from all this activity, pretty solidly cementing in the reality that selling painted stones online is an all but impossible task, even while they remain quite popular when offered in face-to-face settings.

Doesn't mean I am going to "throw in the towel" quite yet, but clearly we need to start doing something differently!

My wife at the vendor table, at yesterday's event

Spoke to a fellow merchant — who is experiencing a bit of a similar problem — who opined that the "problem" is that we're not selling anything people are looking for, and so they are not even using any search terminology relevant to what we create... and until they actually SEE what we have, it would never occur to them that they could want such a thing.

As such, maybe one of the ways we are on the right track is by attributing "metaphysical qualities" to the stones — an area with a pretty substantial search volume — rather than relying on selling the stones purely as art. I've touched on this "angle" in the past, and I think it is worthy of being revisited.

It's not that metaphysics is an angle that I find all that important or appealing, but if it can be used to "open some doors," I'm not averse to going down that particular rabbit hole.

We already have a few precedents, suggesting it's a valid idea.

A few years back, I was the primary editor of a somewhat well-known spiritual teacher's book, and she gave the stones several plugs on her web site... and the number of people who suddenly showed up at our web site because she had called them "meditation healing stones" was rather remarkable.

Already test running the metaphysical angle

Similarly, the most successful events we attend (sales wise) are not gift shows, or arts & crafts shows... but usually UFO/Paranormal type conferences.

It's all about finding a story that "fits," I guess. And perhaps also a realization that the work does not "speak for itself." You have to create some sort of mystique around the product that gets people's egos involved in the picture.

That said, "Show Season" does serve me well as a source of inspiration, and I get ideas about what I want to develop more, and what just doesn't seem to catch anyone's attention.

I suppose some might argue that I should just be doing this "for its own sake," but I'm just not that altruistic... and I don't really need to have a huge pile of painted rocks sitting in the back yard!

What's also nice about doing shows is that we have been doing this long enough that people actually come looking for us at some of these events. Overall, this marks our 15th season, although only our second season "back" after the Covid lockdowns and cancellations. The comeback has been somewhat quicker than expected.

Not going to speculate too much on 2024 yet, but I expect we'll probably shoot for doing 8-10 events, depending on what sounds appealing and promising.

I appreciate you coming to visit and please do leave a comment if you feel so inclined!

Thank You!

If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!

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