These are the top 5 mistakes handmade vendors commonly make at craft shows. If you're wondering why sales aren't higher, take a look through the list.
There's a lot for craft show shoppers to take in and they likely won't stop at every booth. Here's how to ensure your space catches their eye.
When I was making Christmas dinner for the first time, I had a lot of questions for my mom. I asked how much poultry seasoning she puts in the dressing and she said: “I don’t know…until it smells like dressing”. It’s an odd way to determine how much seasoning to use, but it works. If...
When I was making Christmas dinner for the first time, I had a lot of questions for my mom. I asked how much poultry seasoning she puts in the dressing and she said: “I don’t know…until it smells like dressing”. It’s an odd way to determine how much seasoning to use, but it works. If...
Most popular easy portable display ideas for markets and craft fairs - save time and energy with these clever, eye-catching display ideas for vendors.
Fall of 2012 marked our first experience as an art vendor, at Cooper Young Festival in Memphis, TN. Over the years, we’ve padded our resume with quite a few more shows and experimented with a LOT of trial and error on our vendor booth layout and setup. We’ve learned a lot, both from our own experiences and from looking to other vendors for inspiration. Today, we’re going to share with you our top 16 ideas for selling at art festivals, craft fairs and indie markets. These tips can be summed up into three key categories: Booth Display, Signage/Décor and—the most important—Branding. FIRST, LET'S DIVE INTO VENDOR BOOTH DISPLAY. 1. Plan out your booth space BEFORE the day of your festival. Before we set foot at an art festival, our vendor booth is completely laid out. We measure all our display pieces (shelves, tables, etc.) and configure the space to help speed up the set up time. Plus, not all shows have the same options for booth sizes (because that would just be too easy). This year, our Cooper Young booth featured a 10’ x 15’ space, while some of our holiday shows ranged from a 6’ x 8’ space to a 10’ x 20’ double booth. It helps to lay everything out beforehand to know what will or will not fit in the allotted space. Once everything is measured, we use Adobe Illustrator to plan out the booth space, with everything to scale. We print out copies to take with us during set up, as well as email a copy to ourselves in case we lose the paper copies (it happens). Here's a look at my Adobe Illustrator artboard for our most recent Cooper Young Festival vendor booth: And here is our finished vendor booth, based on that original mock up: 2. Display vertically. When potential buyers pass your vendor booth, they’re not seeing product that is flat on tables. At least some of your work needs to be in their line of sight. One way we add height to our booth display is with these adjustable white metal shelf units we found at IKEA (shop them here). The shelves are completely adjustable and IKEA sells individual shelves, so you can add to the original four included. We switch it up depending on what art we need to display at each festival or market. In the past, we've used these custom built white-washed wood displays on rollers, which our brother built for us. We love how they look in our booth, as they mimic a more retail-style setting. However, these are rather heavy and bulky to transport. Looking for something a little more transport friendly, this year we commissioned a custom white wood peg wall. The unit breaks down into four separate pieces, so it's easy and convenient for traveling. Everything hooks together via large bolts and wing nuts, with the shelves and pegs packed separately. It's also completely adjustable, as the pegs can be configured in various ways. This wall unit is great for displaying our larger 5 panel wood pieces, which serve as great eye catchers for potential buyers walking by our vendor booth. For smaller shows, we take just two of the four wall panels, usually paired with one of the white IKEA shelf units. Bonus: extra pegs are great for hanging ornaments! Clear acrylic risers are also a great way to subtly add height and levels when displaying artwork on a table. Because they're clear, they don't take away from your displayed art. We use combinations of this 5 piece set from Displays2Go. 3. Choose display colors that will make your work pop. As you can see, for our larger display pieces (shelves, walls), we incorporate as much white as possible. Because all sides of our wood art is stained in a dark finish, the white background helps it pop. We also prefer how clean the white and neutral hues look. 4. Store and display multiple art prints. We have ALL-CAPS-STRUGGLED with how to display and store our art prints, other than stuffing them in baskets for browsing. We recently discovered these gold wire baskets from IKEA that slide on perfectly to our white IKEA shelves. They are great at storing stacks of prints! To actually display the prints, we chopped up a 4” x 4” piece of lumber and sawed angled grooves down the top. We stained them to match the color of our wood art. The art prints stand up perfectly in the grooves of the wood, which we then prop up above the wire baskets. It’s easy for buyers to see the print displayed and simply pick it up from the basket underneath for purchase. 5. Use slim Christmas trees to display holiday ornaments. During our holiday shows, our Christmas ornaments are HUGE sellers. While we use our peg wall for some ornament overflow, ornaments look best hanging on an actual Christmas tree. This also better demonstrates to potential buyers how it will look on their own tree. However, for those smaller booth spaces, a full Christmas tree takes up too much valuable real estate and just isn't practical. And some of the smaller, table-top trees aren’t known for being sturdy. Because our ornaments are on the heavier side, we've had issues with the smaller trees tipping over ... especially when buyers are trying to take the ornaments off the trees to purchase. We found a great slim Christmas tree from our local At Home. It measures only 18” in diameter but can still can hold quite a few ornaments. We re-stock throughout the show to keep the tree looking full. NEXT UP, WE HAVE BOOTH SIGNAGE/DÉCOR. 6. Emphasize your business name for potential buyers with branded signage. We have our friends over at Ella Jude to thank for this easy DIY pop-out booth sign idea. For this sign, we painted a thin piece of wood white, then transferred our logo (with our image transfer process) to both sides, though we've seen others hand paint their logo. We bought two pieces of copper pipe and an elbow joint and glued them all together to form an L-shaped corner. To hang the wood sign from the copper pipe, we spray-painted loose-leaf rings to match the copper pipe. We then use clear zip ties to attach the sign to our booth or tent. We're hoping to make an even larger version this year. For additional branded signage, we bought a large white vinyl banner with grommets and designed it to include our logo, website and social media handles. We use this when we have space available. For our outdoor art shows, such as Cooper Young, we hang the banner on the back of our tent so buyers walking down the sidewalks behind the booths can see our name. 7. Tell your story with signage. We sell handmade image transfers on wood and marble tile. The most common question we receive from customers during festivals and shows is,
One of my most popular articles details the types of products that sell best at craft shows; you can read that here: What Sells Best at a Craft Show? This article explores the other side: Types of products that don’t tend to sell well, or that can actually harm the sales of best-selling products. I’ve created...
When I was making Christmas dinner for the first time, I had a lot of questions for my mom. I asked how much poultry seasoning she puts in the dressing and she said: “I don’t know…until it smells like dressing”. It’s an odd way to determine how much seasoning to use, but it works. If...
Some people think that woodworking is a dying art that belongs to the forgotten bunch of crafts that we, humans, don’t find any place for in our hectic lives. But this is not entirely true.
Take a look at these IKEA hacks for your craft show setup to sell art prints, jewelry, pottery, clothing, home décor, and more!
If you sell at enough craft shows, markets, and events, you’ll eventually run into shoppers who think your prices are too high. They’ll tell you they could make it themselves, get someone to make it cheaper, or find the item at the mall for less. Yet they still want the item and are asking for...
These will made fantastic display stands for your shop, studio or an event. Unique design, top quality and finish will impress visitors and make your products stand out. They are upcycled cable reel tops joined by metal poles with cast iron round bases. Sizes available: 90, 80, 70, 60cm diameter (prices starts at £339 for 60cm-70cm-80cm) You are welcome to collect as a complete display stand from EX15 3TU or we deliver and assemble. IMPORTANT: Please message me your postcode and I double check the exact delivery cost.
These are digital files only, does not include materials. Build plans for a DIY wooden cupcake stand - fits up to 100 medium size cupcakes in a beautiful display! You could also display a multitude of other items, great for craft fair displays, instore displays, and more! This stand can be finished however the customer desires - ours were done with stain and sealer for a rustic look. Great for weddings, birthday parties and store displays. These plans are our custom design, drawn in a 3D CAD program and test build by yours truly. You Will get: 1 PDF file with step by step instructions Dimension: 30W"x20T"x18D" -4 level cupcake stand Tools: Tape measure Saw Straight edge Wood glue Fasteners
Flat packing display stand - ideal for craft fairs or shop displays. NOW AVAILABLE IN VARIOUS SHELF LENGTHS! This stand was designed to display glass coasters & signs but could be used for a variety of items, including cards, jewellery, pictures, ceramics or books. The stand consists of FOUR shelves, two ends & one back support making it very compact for transportation and also very quick and easy to assemble. Everything is precisely slotted together - no glue, screws or other fixings required. The four shelves each have a 1.25cm raised edge to prevent items from sliding. This also acts as a strengthening device to prevent the shelves from sagging. It is also possible to turn the shelves upside down for additional width if the front rail isn't needed to hold items in place. The display stand shown has a total height of 48cm (19") and the depth is 25cm (10"). The shelves are each 7.5cm wide (with 6.5cm behind the front rail). Please note that the lower shelves have a usable depth of 4cm due to the overhang of the other shelves. The vertical spacing of the shelves is 11.5cm. All material is 6mm thick MDF & suitable for painting (please ensure that all slots are protected from paint if you do decorate your stand, otherwise assembly will be affected). Unpackaged weight of 4 Shelf display stands: 30cm - 1.2kgs 50cm - 1.7kgs 75cm - 2.2kgs Delivery of all stands are via a Courier, due to parcel length. This display stand is offered in three shelf lengths of 30cm, 50cm and 75cm (usable shelf lengths). Please note that the longest shelf lengths are best suited for light weight items to prevent the shelves from sagging. If your items are heavy please contact me to discuss alternative designs. I can make larger / smaller / taller / wider versions of this stand, so if this one doesn't quite match your requirements then please just let me know & I'll give a quote for a customised version! Please also take a look at my other shelf display stands (listed separately). My 5th photo shows my THREE shelf version of this display stand. If you need MORE THAN ONE stand then please message me as I'll combine the postage cost. Please don't hesitate to contact me should you have any questions. OVERSEAS DELIVERY POSSIBLE - BUT PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR A SHIPPING COST.
Asking what to wear to a craft fair is like asking "what do I wear to work?" The answer depends on many variables. Find out how to choose the right outfit.
7 art booth display photos show you how to display paintings, prints, and photographs in your craft show booth.
Platte displaystandaard - ideaal voor handwerkbeurzen of winkeldisplays. NU VERKRIJGBAAR IN VERSCHILLENDE PLANKLENGTES! Deze standaard is ontworpen om glazen onderzetters en borden tentoon te stellen, maar kan worden gebruikt voor een verscheidenheid aan items, waaronder kaarten, sieraden, afbeeldingen, keramiek of boeken. De standaard bestaat uit drie planken, twee uiteinden en één rugsteun waardoor hij zeer compact is voor transport en ook zeer snel en eenvoudig in elkaar te zetten. Alles is nauwkeurig in elkaar gezet - geen lijm, schroeven of andere bevestigingen nodig. De drie planken hebben elk een opstaande rand van 1,25 cm om te voorkomen dat spullen verschuiven. Dit fungeert ook als een verstevigingsapparaat om te voorkomen dat de planken doorzakken. Het is ook mogelijk om de planken ondersteboven te draaien voor extra breedte als de voorste rail niet nodig is om spullen op hun plaats te houden. De getoonde displaystandaard heeft een totale hoogte van 28 cm (11") en de diepte is 17,5 cm (7"). De planken zijn elk 7,5 cm breed (met 6,5 cm achter de voorrail). Houd er rekening mee dat de onderste twee planken een bruikbare diepte van 3 cm hebben vanwege de overhang van de andere planken. De verticale afstand van de planken bedraagt 7 cm. Al het materiaal is 6 mm dik MDF en geschikt om te schilderen (zorg ervoor dat alle sleuven beschermd zijn tegen verf als u uw stand decoreert, anders wordt de montage beïnvloed). Om een idee te geven van de grootte: de onderzetters op mijn foto's zijn 10,5 cm x 10,5 cm. Levering van alle stands (behalve de kleinere optie) gebeurt via koeriers vanwege de pakketlengte. Deze displaystandaard wordt aangeboden in drie planklengtes van 30 cm, 50 cm en 75 cm (bruikbare planklengtes). Ik kan grotere/kleinere/hogere/bredere versies van deze standaard maken, dus als deze niet helemaal aan je eisen voldoet, laat het me dan weten en ik geef een offerte voor een aangepaste versie! Kijk ook eens naar mijn andere schapdisplays (afzonderlijk vermeld). Aarzel niet om contact met mij op te nemen als u vragen heeft. LEVERING IN HET BUITENLAND MOGELIJK - MAAR NEEM CONTACT MET MIJ OP VOOR DE VERZENDKOSTEN.
Craft shows are a unique way to shop and vendors can get creative with their setup. But there are certain things craft show shoppers shouldn't see.
Creative ideas for displaying small items at vintage markets and craft fairs.
Cardboard display shelf, Jewelry display holder, open shelving eco friendly for craft show and store window, product display, market display sustainable display YOU CAN USE IT FOR: • communicate to the world that you are attentive to environmental sustainability • take beautiful photos of your new collections for the online store or for your social networks. • for the craft market, to exhibit at creative events, • for your shop window, for trade fairs! • you can give it away, it is a sustainable gift, an ecological gift, a cute gift, cool gift • a small gesture that can make the difference in the environment! ♻️ eco friendly - sustainable - recycled - recyclable!♻️ FEATURES: M. • Height 50 cm / 19 " • sturdy cardboard 14mm-0.55 " • supports jewelry, vases, bags, supports 2-5 kg L • Height 100 cm / 39 " • sturdy cardboard 14mm-0.55 " • supports a lot of weight • 100% recycled cardboard • Neutral color • It arrive flat with its box, ready to donate • removable display • cardboard display shelf is made by me, made in Italy!🇮🇹 • Curiosities of cardboard bottegadicartone.etsy.com add it to your favorites. When you decide to dispense with his services, you can just throw him in the recycling bin and give him a second life. In the future, he may well become a shoe box or a notebook, or supermarket display or Your favorite book!!! ALL MARKET DISPLAY http://bit.ly/market-display YOU SEE ALSO: CARDBOARD HANGER: http://bit.ly/cardboardhanger JEWELRY DISPLAY: https://bit.ly/jewelry_stand PLATFORM RISERS SHELF https://bit.ly/riser-display FREE STANDING: https://bit.ly/free-standing MANNEQUIN: https://bit.ly/mannequin_head SCULPTURE, ALL CUP THROPY: http://bit.ly/cardboard-sculpture ALL CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: http://bit.ly/ecofriendly-christmas ALL ECO WEDDING IDEAS: https://bit.ly/eco-wedding-favor
Craft shows are a unique way to shop and vendors can get creative with their setup. But there are certain things craft show shoppers shouldn't see.
Most handmade vendors ignore these 3 important perspectives when it comes to their craft show setup. Find out what they are and how to fix any issues.
Transform old newspapers or crepe paper into charming flower crafts with by following this how to make newspaper roses tutorial.
Are you looking for creative ways to display your jewelry at a market or fair so you can sell more?…
The Nelson Display Shelf is a cleverly designed piece of furniture. It is both functional and contemporary. Use it for storing books and decorator items or use it as a room divider. FEATURES Dimensions: 225W x 45D x 210H American Oak Wood Colour: Whitewash STYLING If you're in need of any styling tips or assistance for this product, please feel free to contact us - we're here to help! SHIPPING & RETURNS This item is not able to be carried by Australia Post (due to size and weight restrictions) and it requires speciality sensitive freight couriers. This means that it does not apply for ‘Free Standard Shipping’. Shipping is restricted to NSW, ACT & VIC. If you are outside of these locations and would like this item shipped, please contact us for an accurate shipping rate. *We cannot guarantee our courier service will be able to deliver to all remote/ rural locations, if shipping is not possible, a full refund will be provided.* Please note that the sale of all furniture and home décor items like art, lighting, and rugs is firm and final. OPUS does not offer any exchanges or refunds for these items (unless they are deemed by us to be faulty or damaged). Handmade construction and the use of natural materials can often leave visible imperfections in the finish or build of these items. We quality control every product we sell but natural variances in organic materials are not considered faults in most cases.
Illustrations of 6 common craft booth designs and layouts to help you plan an effective art fair display.
There are craft show tables that simply display products, and there are those that go above and beyond. They create a full experience for shoppers. As a shopper, you feel like you’re shopping with a legit business; you’re not just browsing a crafter’s creations. Everything feels polished and thoughtful. I...
In today's fast-paced and ever-evolving retail landscape, small businesses and local boutiques often find themselves in an uphill battle against the dominant force of fast fashion retailers. With their colossal marketing budgets, aggressive pricing strategies, and global reach, these retail giants can easily overshadow the unique charm and personalized touch that local businesses offer. However, despite the challenges, there are numerous ways in which small businesses and boutiques can not only survive but thrive in the face of such fierce competition.
How to make your vendor table or craft booth stand out. Tips on how to display your products at craft shows.
A wooden display tree for key fobs. I whipped together this little tree from scrap wood pieces. I needed a solution to display key fobs for a few upcoming shows. Most importantly the newest Halloween fobs: Here’s how I made the wooden tree: 1. Cut wood pieces and sand smooth: 1 – 3/4″ plywood... Read more
Repetition is important in all aspects of your business. It creates consistency and familiarity your customers can rely on. Repetition is equally important in visual design and should be used in your craft show display. Imagine a living room with white walls and grey furniture. If you place one red pillow on the couch, it...
When I was making Christmas dinner for the first time, I had a lot of questions for my mom. I asked how much poultry seasoning she puts in the dressing and she said: “I don’t know…until it smells like dressing”. It’s an odd way to determine how much seasoning to use, but it works. If...
To share the lessons in this article, I’ve replicated a craft show display I saw online that I thought could use some improvement, and have explained what I would change and how. Does the “before” display work? Yes. Could it use some improvement? Also, yes. I chose this display to replicate because it illustrates the...
Saturday was the perfect day for a festival! It was sunny and warm, but not hot, and there was a light breeze blowing every now and then. My booth layout was a little different than I had planned. I didn't get to use my full 10 x 10 space so I didn't use all the props I normally use and I had to leave out 1 of my tables. I also had to make other adjustments and put my shutter easels closer together to make room for customers to cut across a corner of my space to go into the shop door beside my booth. Hopefully next year it'll be different because I sure could have used that 3rd table that I usually have set up. I covered my two tables with cheap canvas drop cloths from Big Lots. They were perfect for an art booth! Since I wasn't using Honeysuckle Lane as my business name, I didn't have a banner so I improvised and used clothes pins to clip my used, disposable art palettes to the front of the table. What do you think? People walking by commented on it and said it was a fun way to decorate an art booth. And if you remember, I had to change what I was making for the festival. Because of arthritis pain in my fingers, I couldn't embroider so I painted instead. I didn't have any prop displays for art and I put the word out that I was looking for old used shutters. I had plantation shutters in mind, but these board and batten shutters were offered to me and I used them to make my easels. We didn't see customers walking by with bags and bags of purchases... maybe they were enjoying the nice weather, food, music, and walking their dogs? However I did have sales and customers bought original art, prints, pillows (some I had made in the past and that had been in the shop behind my booth), and flower pins! Now that the Lavender Festival is over and I am going to take the summer off, I am listing remaining items in my Etsy shop. For now, I have listed silk ribbon pillows and a few original paintings, but check back through the month of June for the rest of the original artworks and prints to be listed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Let's back-track a little now and I'll show you how I made the shutter easels. They cost me just over $2 each... can you believe that??? My sister's former boss had the shutters and I was going to buy them from him, but he surprised us and brought them to her and said to give them to me... free of charge! I thought that was really sweet of him. :) So, shutters: FREE. I needed paint... and I already had some on hand from a previous project so I considered that FREE as well. I needed slats to nail on the shutters to stand the artwork on and I found them in my husband's scrap pile... FREE. The only cost I had was hinge sets and I got them at Walmart for $1.97 plus tax per set. I made 5 shutter easels so I guess you could say it cost me $10 plus tax which I thought was pretty good! Here are the (somewhat) step by step pics: 1: shutters in original state 2: cutting slats with the bandsaw (one of the few power saws I'm not chicken to use) 3: nail slats on shutters (forgot to take a photo) 4: paint shutters while being thankful that I can use my husband's workshop for this :) 5: screw hinges on shutters --- why measure when you can eyeball it? ;) 6: finished shutters I made these on Thursday and had to go set up on Friday. I only did one coat of paint because it was so humid and I was afraid a second coat wouldn't dry in time. I am quite pleased with how they turned out. They weren't perfect, but they had a cottage look to them that I liked! Thanks for stopping by... I'll share some paintings later this week. Take care & God bless, Lana
Craft shows are a unique way to shop and vendors can get creative with their setup. But there are certain things craft show shoppers shouldn't see.
These are the top 5 mistakes handmade vendors commonly make at craft shows. If you're wondering why sales aren't higher, take a look through the list.
