The Inaugural Bloggural: Hitting the Craft Fair Circuit

I made it out to my second craft fair of the year today, and this evening I am licking my wounds at the agony of defeat. Rough Day! Though I'm new to the craft fair scene, I am fairly familiar with the brutal and honest feedback from a good old-fashioned art school critique. I was reminded of that slight feeling of being exposed today. True enough, the country hills of Indiana probably don't offer much in the way of an Indie craft scene. However, all my handcrafting comrades out there know how MUCH work and care goes into conceptualizing and creating your pieces, and how hard it is to not see that work reflected in your day's sales. Never mind the endless late nights at my sewing machine after the kids go to bed, the near complete depletion of my already modest bank account, the days of finding the appropriate PBS show to babysit my children when they are awake, and the constant nagging feeling that no one may like it in the end. When all is said and done, you want at least something to show for it!

So, I had a rough day in the craft fair trenches. No sales. Lots of compliments, though. That's nice... truly. If only I could make my next few scarflettes from compliments. One good thing did come from today... I met Sunday Afternoon Housewife, who's work I admire. We commiserated on our shared rough day, and I was invited to participate in the Handmade Promenade at Luna Music for Record Store Day next Saturday, April 17. All was not lost! It was a good thing I came out after all, and I got to try out my new booth set-up too (I'm thinking I'll do a post on the evolution of my booth soon.)

This craft fair business is a whole new world for me. We shall call this phase of making it in the craft fair scene "baby steppin." Wish me luck. Here's a little preview of some scarflettes that will be offered at Record Store Day's Handmade Promenade next Saturday:

Thanks for reading!