Is it Faire?

[jj2k]

Ok guys. I am really banging my head against the wall here. This weekend we did a craft show in Jacksboro texas. The show started off well. But then rain hit and the crowds melted. It takes so much just to go do a show. I am doing a show every other weekend these days. If it isn't a city festival it's a trade days or something similar. I have tried rodeos, re-enactments, you name it. I feel like I am chasing my tail here.
Usually, we do pretty good, but here lately the weather has played a large roll in turnout which translates into no $$$. You get up at 5 am travel for 1 to 2 hours, set up your booth, sit all day, forge some demos maybe, pack up, tear down, load up, head home, and unload. Makes for a very long day my friends.
So here is my question(s). I am considering trying a craft mall. Have any of you ever tried one or are any of you doing one? How is it or did it work for you? I like the idea of my stuff being out there 24/7 if you will. I like the idea of not having to fool with the sales tax.
I have considered doing wholesale work for gift galleries and such. Have any of you tried this? If so, how did that work for you?
I am currently smithing on "off" weekends at a dude ranch near here. They give me a small building with a small shop area out back. They do pretty good and have had several nice size groups come through on the weekends I am there. Again, sometimes I do well and sometime we be suckin air. The buildiing is free to me for my beiing a "part of thier show"
This is my fulltime pursuit. Blacksmithing is all I do. I am searching for direction here. Maybe this is going to take some of all of the above. But what I am sure of is there are a lot really smart people on this site so I need input and perspective.

Thanks

[rthibeau]

If you can sell to a craft mall or gift gallery at wholesale for a price that suits you, then by all means do so. Selling through such places on a commission basis is a different thing altogether. Yes, your stuff is out there 24/7, but if it doesn't sell, or get displayed well or consistently, you don't have a sale or any money. And you have to keep following up and checking on it.

Pick and choose based on experience the best shows or demos to go to and concentrate on what you sold the most of. They say weather is based on an 11 year sunspot cycle, so it will either get better if it's been worse or worse if it's been better.

Don't give up the dude ranch shop.

Oh....sorry...just noticed the smart people reference......never mind....:)

[Nick]

I don't smith full time, but I've done a lot of faires and shows over the last few summers. I also have stuff in a couple stores in the town I live in. One is on commission, one bought outright from me. The one I bought outright from has had a couple pieces of mine in there for three years (to bad, too, I think they're a couple of my better ones). I've gotten a few checks from the store that has my stuff on commission, but it's been maybe one every four months. I think it's just the area I live in. I do better at shows than shops.

[Frostfly]

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/considering-retail-3219/

Looks like I'm coming at it from the oposite side of the spectrum

[jj2k]

Richard and Nick, thanks for your input. You gave me some food for thought.

Frostfly, It was your post on Considering Retail that made me post this thread. I was reading the responses and thinking I might find some direction through some folks here who have been at this way longer than I have.

I did some reports in quickbooks this afternoon and looked at what sells and how I can improve my stock offerings. I'm not just idly sitting by. I WILL find my answers to this problem one way or the other!

Anyhow, thanks so much can't wait to see what everyone else thinks or has working for them.

[irnsrgn]

Different Locales, different People. Here if I had had to rely on Blacksmithing alone to make a living, I would have maybe made enough for one or two meals a week and Food Stamps and Welfare would have had to do everything else. I had a fully equiped Blacksmith, Welding and Machine Shop. The Repair work, welding and machine tools and my skill at using them made me my living. This is basically a Farming Community and most Farmers have a shop of their own with Welder, Torch, Drill Press etc. We are hopefully just coming out of a 7 year drought and money is tight. The Town People, me included derive their wages from the Farmers. When the Farmers don't spend it, neither do we.

With the High price of Gas and because of it the High cost of Groceries and other necessities, no one has any extra money to spend on other than necessaties.

I worked metal all week long with metal in one form or another and after many years of working long hours and often 7 days a week to provide for my family and never being around to see my family grow up, I finally came to realize to late after my children were grown and left the nest that I needed some time to just enjoy myself and my wife and ocassionally my grandkids.

Saturday and Sunday became days for me to unwind and enjoy some time with my wife. I did do a few smithing demos for awhile, but locals didn't buy anything, and I was back to more or less working 7 days.

I got into hand tool Woodworking as something that I really enjoyed and started giving just demoes with nothing to sell and I enjoyed just doing what I wanted too. I did occasionally have someone want to me to do some restorative woodworking or make something special that had the quality of the old craftsman in it. The glued up sawdust stuff from the stores would last maybe a year at the most. I picked and choose things that were within my capabilities and that I could ENJOY working with. I never looked back and now that because of health I can no longer work at my chosen profession, I have no remorse for taking the time to enjoy myself, only wish I had learned my lesson at an earlier age. I only do one or two woodworking demoes a year now for special occasions.

Baby Anvil does weekend smithing at the local State Park and does a fair share of peddling her wares, but the locals will not buy a thing, she relies on the people from out of town who camp at the park to purchase her wares.

Basically if you have affluent people and a good economy you will sell your wares, if not you won't.

[J W Bennett]

JJ2k,
I am not a full time smith so I don't rely on smithing to feed me or keep the roof over my head. I put all the profit back into equipment and other things to further the business. So I don't have the same pressures you and other full time smiths have.
I am just starting doing demo's and shows and I find that the time could usually be better spent in the shop. I enjoy the Demo part but hate the sales part. I am starting to do small commission work now and that is far better than faire's for me. As you have stated the weather can really put a damper on you. Out of teh 4 faires I have done so far I have done real well at 1 and decent at 1 and the weather was terrible at the other 2 so I didn't even cover my expences.
I've tried a popular local flea market 3 times and people love to look, watch and ask questions but not much else. I have talked with several smith's in the local IBA chapter and they have found the same to be true.
I find I am doing a steady welding and repair business. Not on the scale of JR's but it helps with the bottom line.
My goal is to build the business for the next 15 years so that I have something to keep me occupied when I retire. I've only been going at it as a business for 2 years so I am no expert and I went thru SCORE to set up my business. Very helpful people with a lot of knowledge and experience to draw on. You might talk with them also. My counsler has 30 + years in metal and fabrication. Amy Pieh at Pieh tool uses them also.
I ran a small welding/repair business as my only source of income back in 92/93 by the seat of my pants with no capital and no business/legal knowledge and got ate alive. I told myself this time I was going to take it slow and ask alot of questions and seek professional advice.

Sorry to ramble,

John

[jj2k]

Jr and John,

Thanks for the input. John, you are not rambling. Hearing your experience lets me know I am not alone in all this. It appears that I am going to have to do a little bit of everything to make this fly. But fly it will. The first 2 quarters of this year have been real good. It's been the past month to 6 weeks that has put the ding in my pocket. We've had 3 bad shows in a row and that has all been due to weather except one show that just died for everyone anyway.
I'll find that happy medium soon. ( I better )

(grin)

thanks

[HWooldridge]

I started in this trade about 25 years ago. Initially, it was a hobby but we were just starting our family and I couldn't justify spending money unless I could make some. I found a smith who had a good craft business but had developed tendonitis in both wrists. He taught me how to work quickly and accurately so I did a lot of wholesale orders for him for several years. I never made a lot but it was good Christmas and car repair money when my day job wasn't enough. I then became so busy at my day job that my smithing went by the wayside for a while but I never ditched my shop. Fast forward a few years and the company where I worked went out of business so I started a website, tried smithing full time and did the craft fair approach but I was never able to make more than a few hundred dollars a month so I found another full time day job.

For most of those years, I concentrated on craft items with only a few architectural pieces thrown in here and there. However, I am now working full time during the day in a production machining shop and coming home to make custom iron for homes and local businesses. I also do a bit of custom turning, milling and other machining work. I have more than I can handle so most nights I go until 10 pm but as busy as I am, it's still not enough to make a decent living full time.

Of all the people I have known in the business, the only guy I knew who was successful on the craft side started around 1980 and over time, put work in four different small towns with high tourist traffic. These were all stores that stocked many types of crafts and they sold his work in return for a monthly commission. He had saved about 20 grand from another job before starting out as a blacksmith (with no experience beyond a class at Turley's) and he told me it was completely gone by the time they made any money. He eventually hired a full time smith to help who stayed on for about 15 years so the two of them could put out a lot of work and it was very high quality. His wife did a stocking run to the stores once or twice every day and they said they had several years of pulling in $120-$150K annually but most were a lot less. They never had kids, lived frugally and invested well so they were able to retire when he was 55.

I'm not trying to discourage you but that's the only success story I can tell you about making money from blacksmithing...