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For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Laurie Lou BearsI am thinking about doing a show with my bears-if I can be brave enough and if I can get enough bears together but I wonder if anyone has any experience of doing a bear stand at a craft fair.The one I am thinking about is local but there are supposed to be 6000 plus people attend.You have to have the stand over two days at the cost of £150 so it is quite expensive.I have already seen that some people will not do the smaller bear shows as it is not worth it but if I try to do a bigger bear show I have to go at least 100 miles and the craft fair is only 8 miles away.The main thing I am concerned with is that if I do a craft show will I be likely to get many sales as it wouldn't be full of bear people.I would appreciate any comments on this.
Laurie :hug:
Bears by JodiLaurie,
Usually craft shows did not work for me because people expected my prices to be craft prices. But if it doesn't cost any thing and it is close , it may be good for you to just practice so to speak !! You never know with that many people attending there may be a collector or 2 and they could buy several !! Let us know what you decide and how you do. Give out fliers for this web sight !!! Help develope some collestors !! :dance: :dance: :dance:
:hug: Jodi Falk
Back Road BearsI have great success at quality craft shows. Ones where ARTISTS are there selling high quality items. If you end up next to a table full of crocheted doillies folks will suffer from sticker shock when they see the price tag on your bears. The key to selecting a craft show is to determine if there will be other crafters/artists there with items for sale in the same price range as your bears. If so then attendees will expect these kinds of prices and not scoff at the fact that you want $150 for a bear! You have a better chance of being successful at this kind of a show. You can contact the promoter, tell them the price range of your work and do they honestly think what you have to offer would be appropriate for their show. A good promoter will be very honest with you! :)
Let us know what you decide! Doing craft shows is a great opportunity to educate the public about artist teddy bears as most will have never seen such a thing!
And for the record, for the first few years I was doing bear shows and craft shows, I did better at craft shows!
Sunnie BearsI also have had fairly good luck with a local "craft" show. Like Daphne mentioned, it was a high end show. Stained glass, sculptures, etc. I really didn't expect to sell anything there but agreed to do it to educate my town about artist bears. It was one of my best shows yet. But like all shows, it has it's ups and downs. The last one I did, I only sold one bear. But I will be doing it again in November
Sonya
PS figured I better edit this
It looked like I was going to EXECUTE my town instead of educate them :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
I have attended one of largest craft shows here in my home town for years and it is great fun and hug ego boost. Most people that attend craft shows like to make things themselves and appreciate the hard work that goes into a product. They are a different crowd to "market or fair" public as they only want a bargain.
It is a great form of advertising and eduacting people about yourself and artist bears in general. You will be surprised at how much and also how little people know about artist bears. Have a chat to the promoters and they should be honest with you (if they are not just trying to fill the space). Please give it a go.
cheers Lisa
Charlotte Des Roches DesignsLaurie,
I have had years of experience with Craft Shows, and have generally speaking had very good luck with them. The ones who have been well promoted & have been going on for a number of years are usually the best. If this craft show draws 6000 visitors...that should be a very good sign. One great thing about Craft Shows vs Specific product shows like Bear shows(In my case it has been Baskets. )I had much better sales at the Craft Shows...much less competition for each kind of work. There are bear lovers all over...and I would think that visitors to a well known Craft Fair would be thrilled to see Bears...Dunno if I made any sense here...but would love to hear how it all goes for you!
Hugs &
Back Road BearsCharlotte.... Perfect sense!
Charlotte Des Roches DesignsDaphne,
Oh good... 
Hugs &
PaLaurie,
I've been thinking of trying a craft show this fall myself. I know a person who did 2 craft shows last year. She sold 4 bears at one and zero at the other. She also raffled off one of her bears at the craft show. Her bears usually sell for around $125 and she got abut $400 from the raffle. I don't know if I would do the raffle or not, haven't really thought that far in advance. She said the raffle was a big draw and brought alot of people to her table. Good luck
Kathleen
Mark's BearsI will be doing my first craft show this coming November here in NM (the jury for the show liked my bears ). Both my wife and I have attended the show the past two years and noticed that items ranged in price from $15 - $500 with all the items of high quality. What we also noticed was that all the exhibitors were selling items, not just the inexpensive crafts.
Going into the show I am assuming that I will have to educate the patrons as to what mohair actually is and the work involved in putting together a collectible bear as opposed to the $9.95 Walmart bear. I intend to take bear parts and given time, photos of the process.
Good luck on your show. I'm interested in hearing how your craft show goes.
Happy bear trails,
Mark
My main concern is that craft-shows cost the same ( or more) as bear-fairs ,pretty much...and yet the foot-fall past your stand...though there may be more people...will not consist of any guaranteed number of bear collectors. So in that respect it might be a big waste of time.
That said, we all bang on about getting new folks to start collecting...maybe craft shows are the perfect way to get people to start to look at our work that would not normally see it.
You'd have to go armed with lots of magazines..literature and info about bears..and not be disappointed if it doesn't work out.
Mind you, at least if it doesn't work you won't feel too bad...unlike some of these badly organised, poorly promoted and ,consequently, under-supported bear-fairs you'll at least know what might happen before-hand and go prepared for it instead of feeling ripped-off and depressed.
You may be pleasantly surprised.
Bears by EdieI don't think there is any way to tell ahead of time if it is worth it to do any particular show! My experience with craft shows has not been good - so many people just seemed to be looking for ideas to go home and make their own and it got really frustrating trying to explain to people why the bears (not just mine it was the whole bear club who had taken a booth at a big craft fair) were so expensive. We did sell some but not as many as we would have at a bear show. I have also done antique/collectible shows and doll shows and often it has been one or two people who have made the day for me by buying as many as 6 or more bears at once. Now if that person had not been there it would not have been a good sale for me so you just never know what will happen! The fact that you will have less competition than at a bear show could help too. Sometimes you just have to take a chance on it and at least you get the experience.
