first venders table

[scrollock]

Hello everyone. In about a month I will be setting up my first venders table at a craft fair, and I'm looking for some advice. I've got a number of larger items made up already and I'm looking for ideas for quick to make table filler type stuff. I don't have a ton time to work on things right now so the easier it is to make the better.

Any of you who have done this before, do you have a good idea what sells well at this type of show? What price range should I aim for? I've been forging for a few years now but I've never set up a booth before. Any advice at all would he welcome. Thanks,
Adam

[MOblacksmith0530]

bottle openers key chains and hooks, they always sell sooner or later and take up no space to store for the next event.

[metalmangeler]

Smaller items are a good way to go. You will have to find out price by trial and error. I sell twist and leaf hooks here for $7.00, most of the ones with animal heads go for $24.00. I expect that some will tell you that is not enough and others that it is to much. I would recomend that you try to find what price things will move at and then deside if it is something you want to sell based on your time to make. Triangle dinner bells are also often a good seller. Hinges normally are pretty slow to sell for me and I think it is because the customer needs to be hanging the right door, suffolk latches are the same way. door / gate pulls sell better. Alot depends on your forging abillity, and even more on your sales skills.

[george m.]

Dear All,

I've seen a number of folk refer to forged key rings. Sometimes there is an illustration of a leaf with the stem curled around. I'm wondering about the scale of something I'd expect someone to put in their pocket. I'd think a diameter of much more than an inch or so would be too big. Am I off base here? How large are the key rings? Also, are keys to be put on it directly or on a comercial double circle key ring which is then linked to the hand forged one?

Metalmangler refers to animal heads. Again, how big? I'm not sure from his context if these are on key rings or wall hooks or something else.

Scrollock, penannular broochs have been one of my best sellers over the years. If you make any knives make sure that you make sheaths for them. They sell much better then. Firesteels are cool to demonstrate. I usually sell one triangle dinner gong every event. Have replacements so that your table doesn't look picked over by the end of the event. And don't put out multiples of the same item. Only put out #2 after #1 has sold.

Good luck. Let us know how you do.

Commercially,
George M.

[Willway Forge]

One item thats moves well for me is "Snakes". Simple, about 8 to 10" long, easy take make, and folks love'em.

[Greenbeast]

i make leaf keyrings from 8 or 12mm square stock.

[metalmangeler]

The price I mentioned was for a hook with a head forged in the end. I put animal heads on lots of things. The price is mostly up with other items, I put them on steak turners, towel bars, T.P. holders, door pulls ect. I normally put a number of the same item on the table, I am not sure which method of presentation works best sometimes people want to buy when there are lots of the same item. Sort of like not taking the last cookie, others find that the idea of one of a kind even if it is an illution helps. Might be worth experimenting, I expect that it will very depending on the people and event.

[son_of_bluegrass]

What sells and at what price depends on where you are and what the buying public is in the mood for. If you give us an idea of where you are setting up, we may be able to give you a better idea of what to make.

Also given the time of the year - think christmas presents.

ron

[scrollock]

Thanks for the tips. I guess I should start figuring out how to make an interesting bottle opener.
The event organisers have recommended a $100 price cap; apparently people have shown up in previous years with $200-300 items and not sold anything. The show is in Oakville, Ontario.
I'm looking forward to see how this goes.
Adam

[Edwin]

Quality of the work and the presentation are what sells your ironwork. I always try and make a booth as inviting as possible for people to be attracted to what you are selling. First impression really matters.

[hildenmw]

All of the above sugestions are good ones. Treble clef diner bells are good. small candle holders.my ave sale in the last year has been between 20 and 30 dol.. few wanting to spend over 50. at the show bur will call later for higher priced items. Necklaces I find a necklace display in a prominate place in my booth make a good attraction for some who may keep on walking.
Marc

[PaulKrzysz]

I live just 15k from Oakville myself. If you have driven around Oakville you know they have money, well south Oakville. Another thing I think might sell would be door knockers. As well as giving you some work, the carpenters and handymen would also have some.

[Gobae]

Quality of the work and the presentation are what sells your ironwork. I always try and make a booth as inviting as possible for people to be attracted to what you are selling. First impression really matters.

And although it may seem like a no-brainer, be friendly and acknowledge people as they come up. You'd be surprised at how many crafters/vendors sit down, read, text or otherwise ignore customers. Even having a disinterested or bored look on your face sends a real strong signal that you don't care about them. It's a lot of emotional work to stay pleasant and focused all day long but you'll need to in order to get the event to pay off. Remember the rule of thumb for a successful craft fair is that at the end of the day your table fee should represent no more than 10% of your gross take for the event.

But back to key rings. We often cut apart interesting sections of failed projects to make them instead of making them from scratch. No two are alike, and you can end up with more variety than trying to design something.

[george m.]

Aha! Now I understand (sort of). I had always thought the thing you actually put the keys onto was the "key ring." The photo shows the forged work being attached to the same ring as what I might call a "fob." Most of them still look too big to go into someone's pocket but would be handy for finding in a purse, drawer, or shelf. I'll have to look for some of the actual commercial rings the next time I'm near a Hobby Lobby or Michael's (the major chain craft stores in Colorado) and attach them to the ironwork.

Illuminated,
George M.

[Gobae]

Aha! Now I understand (sort of). I had always thought the thing you actually put the keys onto was the "key ring." The photo shows the forged work being attached to the same ring as what I might call a "fob."

Yes, technically it is a fob. Though many people refer to the whole thing (ring and fob) as a key-ring.

[hildenmw]

Thing to remember. You are not a traveling museum. If it sales replace it. If an item does not sale in a few months or shows. Its a Christmas gift.
Marc

[baddog]

Best sellers for us so far have been bottle openers, dinner bells and steak turners. frontier/ pioneer days type things- camp fire tripods do well. Hooks always sell.

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Adam, glad to have you. If you put your general location in your header you'll (probably <grin>) be pleasantly surprised to discover how many of the IFI crew live within visiting distance.

I haven't done many demos recently and am mostly a hobbyist but there are things to keep in mind in public, whether it's a living history demo or a craft fair. Demos are theater, entertaining the crowd will get you farther than many other things. Having a few jokes and tales to tell is good, getting the crowd involved is even better. You are going to hear some things over and over, like, "My father, gand father, great, etc. was a blacksmith. remember to ask them if they still have the smithing tools, some folk do and might be willing to part with them, just don't be pushy. Another thing you'll hear are the two standard blacksmith jokes. #1, the customer having his horse shod picks up a shoe just dropped on the ground by the smith to cool. He drops it like it's a really HOT potato and the smith asks him, "Hot?" and the customer says, "No, it doesn't take me long to look at a horseshoe." The other standard joke is, The master smith tells his apprentice to, "take the sledge hammer, stand on the other side of the anvil and when I nod my head you hit it."

Smile is a must and let folk know you're having a good time smithing.

What I found good for sales are items under $20 that a person can carry in a pocket. Key fobs, wall hooks, drive hooks, bottle openers and flint strikers sell reasonably well here, Alaska has a lot of outdoorsy folk. If you want to sell strikers you really need some flint or good chert to go with.

Metalmangler makes animal heads look like an almost casual addition on whatever he thinks should have one. Mark's moose heads are pretty well famous here abouts and his caribou heads are a close second. He can no kidding forge a darned good looking moose head with eyes, nostrils, rack and brow tines in maybe 5 minutes.

Triangles are good though don't hang a bunch they'll probably sell a couple few. Door knockers are good though not large quantity sellers. Same for latches, hinges, etc. It's a good idea to have a couple few to show your talents extend further, you have to be ready to take orders. Having graph paper handy is good for drawings, it's easy to draw straight lines and scale from among other things.

Cabinet/drawer pulls are sometimes great sellers, sometimes not so having some on the table and a box full handy ain't a bad idea but don't be frustrated if folk only look and feel.

Forging big steel/iron is good for drawing a crowd, you'd be surprised how far away people can FEEL a large piece coming out of the fire, especially on a cool day. Large stock is a show and you're doing theater so a big project and a big hammer will break the ice and entertain. Twisting is also a great crowd pleaser, there are few processes that transfigure steel/iron as much and as dramatically as putting on a twist. Twisting large stock, say 1" sq. for a door pull, etc. means large stock and lots of it really hot and a dramatic process. Just pulling large stock like that from the fire impresses the crowd you're handling Bog HOT steel! The heat is impressive 50' away and oppressive up close so that'll get em talking. THEN you clamp it in a vise, put a wrench on the other end and twist it like putty. It's a crowd pleaser and it WOW's em mightily. All good for sales, they have an impressive almost unbelievable story AND a souvenir. That kind of show used to clean out my hooks and flint strikers almost every time.

Another really good thing for demos is something you can do from raw stock to finish in under 20 mins. or you'll lose the crowd's interest. BIG stock items are impressive enough to hold folk's attention sure but you really need to be able to hand folk something finished that's still warm from the fire. Even forging nails is a good start to finish item.

Frosty The Lucky.