DNA Metalworks

Sorry for the lack of response to all of the great comments, life has been pretty busy lately. I appreciate all of the comments and the ideas. I just had a curve ball thrown at me (and the rest of the crafters I would assume) today when they sent out the registration forms. The craft fair for the children is from 8am - 3pm, they then decided to extend it and make it open to the public from 3pm - 7pm. I questioned whether the $10 limit ended when it opened to the public, it does not. I am more than willing to help out the kids by lowering the prices so that they can give good gifts, I'm not so sure about doing it for the public. They also said that the sellers should plan for 800 kids to be attending the craft fair during the student portion, and I can't imagine how many adults would come out for the public portion knowing that there is a $10 limit on all gifts. I have no idea what kind of inventory would be needed for this event, I can't even make an educated guess. I think I am going to pass on this event and see how it goes for the other vendors, then I can make my decision for next year if they do it the same way. Thanks again for all of the comments, I hope I did not waste anyone's time. On the plus side, I did get a lot of great ideas and information for future events. Thank you to everyone who helped. I will update if anything changes.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the comments. You folks gave me a lot to think about. I'll try to hit all of the suggestions left for me; Sorry for not having my location in the post, I overlooked it. I am from southern Ohio, just outside of Athens. The school district is pretty rural, not a lot of disposable income. Les L, for the kids is definatley on the top of my list. Attaching the card to the item is a great idea. Steven NY, that is awesome to hear about your bread business. That is what I was hoping could happen from this event (doubltful that it would be on your scale though!). JHCC, I couldn't agree with you more about the practice. The good thing is that this would be practice with a purpose. Frosty, you bring up great points about the insignificance of the material expense. I am overthinkinig cost, especially given the fact that most all of my material is drops from steel suppliers that I can get on the cheap. Propane is my biggest expense, but that has a lot to do with my son (11 years old) as my forging partner ( he is the "A" in DNA metalworks, kind of a play on our initials (Aiden) and that he is my son). He tends to heat, beat, and repeat way more than neccessary! But the experience far outweighs the cost. I'm not as fast as you are with cranking out products, but I am getting quicker. And as JHCC said, this would be great practice. Kozzy, I like your horseshoe project ideas. I will check into the cost. I will check into personalizing on site, I'm sure that would be a great selling point. The welded projects are on my radar also. My son is the welder of the team, he is actually a better welder than I am. He just made a cat face out of washers, nuts, and nails for his little girlyfriends birthday. I will post a picture when I get a chance. It really came out good. Glenn, thanks for the ideas. Stocking hooks... at a christmas sale, why didn't I think of that? That's why it is good to ask for advice, I get stuck in the same products and don't see the obvious ones in front of me. Thanks again. George N M, I would love to do the nail swords (especially since I feel like I have 100's of them sitting around. That was one of my son's first project for hammer control), but I don't think the school would let me. A few years back, he drew a picture of a hunter, and they made him cut the gun off of the picture. I am going to check though. I have the hair decorations on my list too, thank you. Sorry for being long winded, just wanted to show my appreciation to the responders. I guess looking at everything, the biggest con that I didn't list is fear of failing. That one should be on the top, but is hard to admit. I've have not done any craft shows yet, let alone for kids. I think my stuff looks good and everyone else that sees it thinks it is good. I will be submitting some of my work to the organizers for approval, so I guess they will tell me for sure whether it is good or not. I probably just need to suck it up and try to do it, stop overthinking everything. Thanks again for all of the advice. Don

Hello all, I am reletively new to the craft (less than a year) and have the opportunity to attend an elementary school Christmas craft sale. The school is trying something different this year. Instead of having the same old dollar store items for the kids to purchase as christmas gifts, they are inviting local craft vendors in to sell their wares. The stipulation is that all items must be $10 or less. The customers will be preschool - 5th grade (5 to 11 years old). They will be shopping for their family and friends. At first I thought it would be a good idea to do it, but now I am having second thoughts. What kind of items would you consider for this event? I am ok with not making a profit since it is for the kids, but hate to completely go into the hole! I was thinking about heart, leaf, and cross pendants and key chains, small Christmas ornaments, and bottle openers, and any other ideas. Several pros and cons that I can think of; Help out the kids with a decent gift (we've all gotten the normal junk from our kids!); get my foot in the door for the actual craft fair that the school has (there is a lengthy waiting list); Mom and Dad may be so impressed that they commision something from me (wishful thinking!). The cons are the cost vs selling price; will elementary school kids even consider products like this; how much inventory would I need in the event that they do consider something like this (a couple of hundred kids will be shopping). As far as I can tell, I would have the only hand forged items at the event. I look forward to any advice that this group has to offer, the good and bad. Thanks in advance. Don