Could you provide advice for a craft show virgin?

Since you have never sold anything before I would keep your paintings right around $50–100. The size isn’t as important as the detail required to paint it.
Have you considered going to a party supply store and renting a canopy this first time?

Costs about the same to rent as it does to buy, unfortunately. I put an all-call out to borrow one, but no joy. I will be able to borrow tables. So I just have to hope for a spot in the shade. Fortunately, it’s not expected to rain.

maybe you could at least find a patio umbrella? you could decorate it all cute and artsy.

Congratulations and best of luck! I’m a fairly frequent purchaser of art from art and craft fairs, and the prices often seem inconsistent or obtuse to the pieces. Judi’s advice is great—and I’d say go with your gut, too. If you have a piece that you feel was particularly difficult or time-consuming and the outcome is very pleasing, don’t be afraid to place a higher price on it.

I’m sure you’ll get offers below your asking price on some occasions, and only you can decide if you’re open to that.

The album-turned-bowl idea is fabulous! I bet those are a hit!

Snackbowls probably $15—$25 I think. Depending on the size. Those sound really cool. Pricing will be trial and error. This first show will be a learning experience. You will probably get price feedback and it will help you for the future. Did you check Sports Authority for a canopy? I bought mine there, but mine is large 12×12 I don’t remember how much it cost. I would offer it, but I have it with me in Daytona this weekend.

Let us know how you do. I think it is exciting to sell your work!

Edit: it looks like the canopies are about $100, but there is this shaded chair option to at least protect you from the sun. http://www.sportsauthority.com/product/index.jsp?productId=16750386&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=31-240255800-2

Depending on how good your sense of self-esteem is (and I would think that it ought to be pretty high), you might consider leaving the works unpriced, and simply entertain offers. Some of them might be insultingly low, and that’s where the self-esteem thing would play; you don’t want to be offended or feel bad because some others may not value your work as highly as you do.

So tag the ones you want to sell with “Make Offer” and see what you get.

If you want to be extra-devious, which I would also recommend (although it’s entirely fair and honest!) you could tag some of them with “Not For Sale”, and see what offers you get on them, too!

I wish you much success (and I welcome you back; the place was looking kind of grim with the prospect of your leaving).

I’ve seen many sellers at craft fairs with no canopy. You just set up your paintings around the area you are given on tables or easels.

It’s too late now, but you can buy easels at second hand stores for under $5. I’ve also seen canopies offered for free on Freecycle.org

I would buy a three lattice pieces and use them as three walls to hang the paintings on.

Do a search on how to make your own craft booth.

Before customers start coming in, you can check other booths with paintings and see what the range is. For the snack bowls, since they cost so little for you, you might start off with $5. My DIL sold hand made boxes and booklets. Some of the smallest
boxes were $5.00. Children bought many of them. That’s all the money their parents had given them to spend.

I’ve done my share of selling at fairs, festivals etc. and getting a feel for pricing is ALWAYS the biggest bugaboo for a newbie. Finding out “what the market will bear” (since its heavily dependent upon location) takes some trial and error. It’s just going to take some time but you’ll get a feel for things pretty quickly.

Since you’re selling your own paintings, you have quite a bit more leeway since its a bit more nebulous.

What is a piece of original art worth? Whatever someone is willing to pay for it, essentially.

If you feel comfortable with the suggestion of “make an offer” then do so. But just keep in mind how long it will take you to “restock” if you sell out your inventory completely.

I was fortunate that I was mostly doing balloon sculpture and face painting so I could just put out a hat for donations and get a gauge of what the market was like in any given area when I was first starting out.

But if I was at a large festival or craft fair I would also take some time to visit the art sellers as I love unique art. The price guidelines folks have given above are pretty on the mark from what I’ve seen in my meanderings.

Good luck and have fun.

Thanks everyone! It’s a small neighborhood fair, but there should be a couple hundred sets of eyes coming through at least. I’m comfortable with the “Make an offer” system, but I worry that people might just pass by unless they see price tags. Is this not so much the case?

I might ask, but 20 years ago I probably would have just walked by. I would also include something on your price tag that says “original work by @Seek_Kolinahr ” as there are giclees out there that look exactly like an original.

Speaking only for myself, I would be unlikely to pause at a booth if I saw “make offer” instead of price tags at a craft fair. I would feel put on the spot to set a value on the pieces and would worry about being way off in either direction. I’d also feel a little suspicious that it was a gimmick to get me to overpay. Better to set prices and learn from the experience, I’d say, than to intimidate prospective customers who don’t feel like displaying their ignorance or having to deal with bargaining.

re: pricing – Last weekend, I forgot my hat so I visited a booth and found a nice hat, but the price tag said $30, which was too much for me. The vendor said “That is the retail store price, I can let you have it for $15.” I said OK, and as I was getting out my credit card, she said “Since it’s so early in the day, I can give it to you for $10.” So I paid $10.

Speaking of credit cards….. Do you have the Square for your phone to accept credit cards? There’s no problem charging a bit more to cover the expenses.

Not as yet. Hopefully that’s something I can provide in the near future.

If “Make Offer” is too open-ended for some (though I guarantee that it will work to at least get offers from those who aren’t shy about saying what they like and naming a price for it), put on prices that at least represent their value to you.

Don’t try any calculus of “it cost me this much in materials, and it took x hours, and I think my time is worth y” nonsense. I’ve seen people turn excellent, expensive materials into even more expensive garbage. I’m not for one second suggesting that you have done this. Putting a price on garbage really is degrading to your psyche, and I assume that you would not even show people work that you’re not already proud of.

Let your pricing reflect that pride, and the hell with what others think about “too much for your first work” or any other foolish calculus that they use.

I bought a photograph of Lake Superior at an art show on Lake Michigan two decades ago, and I could not believe what I was willing to pay for that thing. A photograph! I’m a photographer myself, sometimes, and I can recognize good composition and execution. I wake up to that photo now every day – and I love it as much now as I ever did.

Price your work for that buyer. (I would have been just as happy this morning if I had paid a quarter of what I paid back then; it’s not the fact that I spent so much that makes me “have to be happy” now. I’m glad that I was able to recognize twenty years ago the long-term value of a true work of art. I’d have been just as happy this morning… if I had paid four times as much back then.)

So, there’s a tropical storm in the gulf, that’s expected to hit the Florida panhandle on Saturday night.

I’m somewhat inland in the Tampa area, which is on the east side of the storm. That’s the side of the storm that all the little thunderstorms and tornadoes fly off of.

But, the storm is pretty far out there as yet.

So it could be a gloriously beautiful day for a craft fair, or we could all get blown to Bermuda.

Excuse me while I say a lot of bad words very loudly.

Look at what Åshild charges for her stuff.
http://superviken.no/2010/04/29/bunny/ Go from there. Don’t put a sign ‘Make and Offer’... I think that makes it sound like a fire sale. Value your work. Look on Etsy to get an idea of what people charge as well.
I had a check list I used to use, but I don’t know where that is, exactly, but this looks like it might be a helpful site: http://indiefixx.com/2011/06/08/craft-show-checklist-what-to-bring-with-you-2/

Be able to make change for people. I find a bum bag or an apron with a pocket is essential. I don’t have to worry, then, where I set the cash box, because I am wearing it. My stuff is small, though, like 40, 60 or 150NOK. I had an apron made with my logo on it.

Make some cheap signage if you can. I still really like the banner I painted with acrylics and black marker on fabric. It has a different version of my logo, but it works for the medieval stuff we have here. One of my signs is just an A4 page with my company name in my font framed in a cheap frame from IKEA. It looks nice enough and I can hang it, or it can sit on a table.

Write or stick your prices on the back of your business card and use them for price tags. It looks nice and identifies each piece as yours. If you haven’t designed a logo for yourself or organised business cards. Make sure people know how to see your stuff online. Get an ETSY shop. It costs pennies.

I did one outdoor craft fair. It was a week or so before Thingiemas and, living at 63N, it was a gamble. My stuff blew all over the place and a lantern crashed to the ground and we had FREEZING rain. Thankfully, the organisers were sympathetic and I never got a bill for the day we simply had to close. Since then, INDOOR ONLY.

I like the idea of an umbrella. Sit on a lawnchair and have a personal parasol, like Kaylee, or put a beach umbrella in a stand and sit under it. Sunscreen, water, food, sunglasses. When you talk to people, take off your sunglasses and look at them. It is common courtesy and more professional.

Now, i am going to go take a hot bath because I pulled a muscle in my back at work yesterday and I feel like I could burst into tears from the pain and frustration today.

I would definitely put a price tag on the items. I hate bargaining and hate feeling like someone else paid a different price. Some people like it, but even if you price it, you can put up a sign that says 20% off halfway throught the fair if you think price is an obstacle or just haggle the price with an individual. You also could do buy one, second 50% off, that sort of thing. You could do that strategy with all your items to move more product.

@cazzie Great suggestions.

There you go; advice – good advice! – from the one who has done it. Excellent suggestions.

It’s getting kind of late, but I wonder if you could post on craigslist that you are interested in borrowing a canopy for Saturday. You could even offer a trade, or “discount” on your artwork.

I hope it goes well for you… but I’m sure it will be a learning experience either way.

Make a ‘drawing’ box for one of your paintings to be given away, that way you can have slips of paper for everyone participating and capture their email info for future sales.

I stopped in to the Walmart next door to staples while my business cards were being printed, and found a beach umbrella on clearance. Shade, done!

Don’t forget to put sunscreen on the back of your ears and neck and the part in your hair. Even though you’ll have shade, you won’t always be in it (probably). Bring plenty to drink and some snacks that don’t make a mess. Haven’t read the other replies, sorry if I’m repeating. Good luck!

Ugh.

Total bust. Sold one bowl, no paintings. I did finish a couple that have been in limbo for a while.

I live in a town full of bottom feeders, I swear.

@KNOWITALL ‘s suggestion is a bit misleading. You can’t collect information on people and use it to spam them later without their express consent. It is against privacy laws… unless where you live doesn’t have any privacy laws or you want to spam people….

@cazzie Nope, do it all the time legitimately with a disclaimer that we won’t sell their information.