Show me your sales or demo booth

[Mothman_c3w]

Frosty, great idea. I brought a notebook but I didn't think of it as a tool for the customer. I'll remember that. I am planning on doing more with the copper-poking-through-steel signs, I think a silhouette of a pop culture Mothman as a blacksmith with copper eyes hammering on a copper piece of "glowing steel" on an anvil would look awesome. Also, I did seriously think about ordering some costume moth antennae to wear, just for the gag.

Daswulf, I appreciate the Kudos and encouragement. I definitely need to work on the display. I tried to get some stuff up higher according to the advice I received, but I did not execute it well on the table display. I'll get better.

One thing that really encouraged me: I had several older guys tell me that the craft fair organizer advertised on Facebook, and subsequently they heard from their wives that a metalworking vendor was going to be at the craft fair, and that's why they showed up. Not one of them bought anything, but I had great conversations and I think they just enjoyed seeing something they found interesting. I read between the lines and heard that I should do demos and customer activities. One step at a time though.

[Frosty]

I'd hold off on a moth costume at fairs and demos, a quiche sign should be memorable enough. You don't want to turn yourself into a joke. How about a moth man fashioned after the X-men, Angel hovering over an anvil shaped like a light bulb. Hang him like a mobile that only rotates around the center of the bulb with his hammer and tongs almost in contact with the bulb. 

Pierce the bulb with the forge name so the LED light inside makes it glow AND provides illumination of the Mothman from below. 

Souvenir moths in steel and or copper repousse could flutter around under your awning. Ones with hammers and tongs are extra Of course!

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Another thought:  If you ever want to do demos do not let them charge you for booth space.  You are part of the entertainment which draws folk into their event and you need to be compensated in some manner.  If they are adamant, walk away.  You should not provide them with a free service which benefits them.  Tell them it is Business 101 not to give your sevices away for free.

Also, never try to demo and sell by yourself.  I have tried this a number of times and it never goes well.  You can do one or the other but not both.  So, if you want to sell at a demo bring another person.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Mothman_c3w]

Frosty, funny you mention the souvenir moths, I made the little guy below as a proof of concept for my big sign. It's about 6" across the widest point. I plan to make more of these in different designs such as other insects of various varieties, birds, flowers, trees, etc.

George, great advice on the compensation for entertainment. Fortunately, my wife and her mother like to attend these types of things and help me out.

[Frosty]

Great advice George! I sure wish you were around the first couple times I demoed at the fair or the Scottish highland games.

Looks pretty good Mothman. But don't moths generally land ON things? The dents from behind would more accurate in a pattern. 

How about making the steel plate in the shape of a sweater with holes in it and mount the moth on the front? Another thought just occurred here, If you make the sweater main plate heavy enough you can form the arms into coat hooks. Hmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mothman_c3w]

Frosty, this one was so small I didn't bother with patterning the texture. With my big sign I tried to make patterns relating the the body/wing shapes. I think it turned out well.

To your point about moths landing on top of things, I considered layering the copper over the steel, but I like how the copper bulges out of the steel much better.

[Frosty]

Just sharing what my minds eye was telling me.

As is they look better than good now.

Frosty The Lucky.

[DavesIron]

Had another crafts fair yesterday, did alright as far as sales go. Not stellar but not bad, but had a very good time regardless.  Lots of interest in my stuff but a lot of the sales came from the folks who understand how much work goes into the items. 

Having a table runner for the first time definitely made my booth look more "professional" and had lots of compliments on that. 

I'm going to be focusing on more blacksmithing practice to really up my game, I spent a lot of this year recovering from a surgery that took a little longer than anticipated to recover from so that cut into my already sparse time I spend out in the shop. I know I can do better work if I dedicate myself to practicing more. 

(Btw, some of the bad looking bottle openers are a few years old, they'll sell eventually) 

 

 

[Frosty]

To post a picture you have to load it from the files on your computer. What you posted are links to a folder on your computer. (I THINK) Unfortunately those files aren't connected to Iforge so the links are dead.

Frosty The Lucky.

[DavesIron]

Oops sorry about the doubled up image. 

Anyways, it's always good to come back to this thread and see how everyone is doing. Keep up the good work guys, and thanks for all the good tips! 

1 minute ago, Frosty said:

To post a picture you have to load it from the files on your computer. What you posted are links to a folder on your computer. (I THINK) Unfortunately those files aren't connected to Iforge so the links are dead.

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, is this in reply to me? Everything seems good on my end. 

[Frosty]

Yes, I'm responding to the dead links and from my experience the mistake. It's good on your end because the files you linked are on your computer.

If you scroll to the bottom of your text window you'll see a button that says "choose files". Select it, then open the folder with the pics you wish to post. Double click a pic and a thumbnail will appear below the text window. Each thumbnail has a insert button, select it and the picture will appear at the cursor in the text window. 

You can adjust the size of pics by double clicking the picture and selecting the screen size in Pixels. 

Another method is to cut and paste pics or files but if it doesn't work you're back to selecting and uploading the file with the above method.

Posting pics and files on Iforge is it's own learning curve. We've all been there, heck every time the OS gets upgraded we get to enjoy a fresh hump, bump, twist in the learning curve.

Frosty The Lucky.

[DavesIron]

Oh yeah my mistake, been a while since I uploaded anything on here. Thank you for letting me know.

Here's the photos I tried to upload originally.

Focused a lot on copper work this year, as it was easier for me to work on.

Also, I've been making a few frames like this and incorporating metal into them. Wanted to show it to folks and maybe give some ideas. The cats name is coal, I use photos of my pets in frames I sell as people think it's cute. 

[Frosty]

Ahhh, there you are! You're welcome, it's my pleasure.

Do I see some fold forming on the table? I've always been fond of the more simple forms where the more complex fold forms start to lose me. 

It's a pretty nice setup Dave and some attractive work. Well done.

Frosty The Lucky.