Tuesday 7 April 2009

Craft fair planning...

On Sunday I had a run-through of my table layout for my forthcoming craft fair (less than a month away, argh!).  Having made the requisite lists :D I thought I'd have a go, to see what still needs to be done.

I've also been planning how exactly to get my stuff to the fair, as I don't have a car.  Current plan is bus, suitcase and rucksack!  My plan is to take all my items inside their wee boxes, to protect them.  This is quite good as it means I can pack them inside cardboard boxes that I will then be using for display purposes (see below photo on the right - I'll cover the box in black felt and plan to do a neater job than this on the day!).  Height and interest are two things I'm aiming for for my table - I don't want it to be flat and boring!

So, the items I've decided to show are:  fibre art cards, kumihimo bracelets and earrings, and my felted, embroidered and beaded brooches and necklaces.  The table at the fair is 6ft, but my kitchen table is only 4ft, so I know I'll have a bit more room to play with on the day.

It was difficult to decide how to display my greetings cards - should I have them all laid out, all  in a box, or half and half?  I think I'm preferring the half-and-half idea at the moment - saves some space but also allows people to get a better look at the cards.


In the middle of the table are the necklaces - some in boxes and some out of boxes.  Down at the front are my yummy Moo minicards.  I tried several different layouts, but this is my favourite at the moment.

And on the right hand side are the kumihimo bracelets and earrings, and some more brooches.  The brooches are on a picture frame sitting in a plate stand, covered in black felt - which again I will do more neatly on the day!

I quite like the 'wheel' layout for the bracelets.  My only concern is that people won't know what they are!

So here's my planned layout to date - I was surprised that I managed to fill the space!
What I still need to do is make a wee banner with my shop name on it for the front of the table, and wee labels for the different groups of items saying what they are and their price.  I think I will also have a small table mirror so people can try on the necklaces and brooches and see what they look like.

There will be more room on the table on the day, so I think I'll have another felt-covered cardboard box to display more brooches, and there'll be more room for necklaces.  Now I just need to get down to making more brooches and necklaces!

So, what do you think?  Does the bracelet 'wheel' work?  Any ideas for the greetings cards?  Do the kumihimo earrings look ok just laid out on the table top?  Any comments or advice gratefully received :D 

Thank you~!