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| From:  EddyMcFan1 (Original Message) | Sent: 8/27/2004 2:22 PM |
1st let me start with a BIG Thank you to those of you who responded a while ago to my post of getting discouraged at shows. I have taken all of your advise and I'll be D... if it didn't work! In return for the great advise I am passing on a few tips myself. The types of shows you do really make a difference. I have now found that doing shows where the Arts/Crafts are secondary yeilds bad results. Secondary meaning, the Show is not the main event ie. 4th of July events where there are family fun and games and alot of things for kids to do. I found that the parents spend their money on the kids and are left to broke for anything they may want. You get lots of people all of them gawking about how cool your stuff is but the kids spent all their money! As far as price for the show, the last 2 shows I went to were only $50.00 & 85.00 Both yeilded 10 times my space rent!Both were large annual events. One was 5000 attendance the other claimed 90,000 but I bet it was closer to 20.Both shows were Arts/crafts as the main event and no Mart Merchandise allowed. A few months back my hubby talked me into investing a bit of $$$ to my display to make it look more professional. I bought some grid walls and a brochure rack as well as a decent tent with 4 walls.I did not go with EZ-up as most have as the price was out of line for my budjet. My display turned things around for me. It is way cool and my sales have increased 5 fold! The other thing I have done worth noting is... I am now offering portraits matted but not framed. I do tiny matted to 8x10 on up to 16x20. Matted only runs $10-$30. Regardless of the difficulty in the cut I charge small 10.00 med. 20 and large 30.00. This keeps the folks who don't have the money to spend on Art, happy. However, On my grid walls I hang the nicer higher $ items. My framed portraits are displayed in high end frames and matted very nicly. My prices on framed work runs as low as 45.00 for a 11x14 and as high as $125.00 for a triple matted 16x20. I carry a very wide varity of Portraits and home decor scroll work. SPORTS is a huge seller. What has been really nice in the last few shows is that other then a new Hall Of Fame portrait, the best selling items were very wide in varity, not depleting my inventory in any one catagory. Selling unframed but matted work and displaying them in a Brochure rack gives me the space needed for displaying around 150 different portraits of varying types.This has made all the difference in the world! To put it all in perspective, my advice is: Carry a wide range of prices but make your high end stuff the center attraction. When folks are looking be aware of their body language, if it appears that they love your stuff but can't afford it, point them to the unframed work. Talk to your customers! Do not sit around hoping your Art will sell itself. HOWEVER... no power selling and no car salesman tactics. Friendly and helpful is all they want to hear. Dress professionally! This is funny for all you female scrollers. My hubby goes to shows with me and he really likes it. When customers are gawking at the work, alot will automatically say to my husband, WOW, Do you make all of this yourself? He responds by pointing to me and saying no, she does. I wear mainly dresses to my shows so this is a pretty dramatic responce! These guys are extreemly surprized! Alot of times they respoind with "Wow, Are you kidding?" I really listoned tot he responces people made and because of the studdly guys, I made the desition to wear dresses to put the explation point on it! LOL Back to the advice... Display professionally, this is the most important factor from my experience. Pick shows where the Arts/Crafts are the primary event. This year I have not done any juried shows but have picked ones that do not allow mart merchandise.I did just as well on a 5000 attendence as I did on the 20,000. Varity in inventory as well as price ranges is key. I have posted pictures of my set-up in my photo album in SSP2 page 3.My hubby was mad I am sharing these pictures but I have gotten sooooooo much help from all of you with your great advise that I felt I needed to repay with my experiences. One more thing before signing out... This is my 1st year sharing space with professional show goers. Allot of them are VULTORS!!! I found this out the hard way. I am pretty open in sharing my experiences and love talking shop at my shows with other crafters. Turns out alot of them are trying to steal your gig! They drill you fro info on where you get your patterns from and what shows you are doing and on & on & On. I had a great neighbor at one of my shows come up to me and told me that it is in your best interest not to share your secrets. The advice was good and true. The last few shows I was the only one doing this kind of work. That is also a key factor in sales. Sharing info will hurt in the end when scrollers show up with all your patterns to the next show. Your responce to my pictures is greatly appreciated as well as more great advise! I love you guys and thanks so much for all your help! Here is the link to my photos: http://groups.msn.com/SSPPhoto2/eddymcfanswoodentreasures.msnw?Page=2 Deb |
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Your cuttings are great. What I was really surprised with, was how much the matting dressed up the pictures. Your set up looks very nice, liked the idea of selling the pictures unframed. Do you have the pictures wrapped in something to keep them from getting dirty and messed up? Thank you for your advice and good luck with your up coming shows. Mightychurchill |
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Deb Congrats on the shows. Really happy it's going good for you and you're finding your niche. Still love your Harley photo. How did the Harley deal work out? Dave |
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Hi Deb,
Thank you, for all you have recently written on doing shows. Confirms what I had thought, stick to the Arts/Crafts type. Thought your brochure rack was brilliant! Now I'm kicking myself for the times I've seen those on sale and didn't grab one. Like Mightychurchill, I'm curious how you protect the unframed portraits and also wondering where you get the corner protectors for the frames. ( One of my pet peeves is dinged frames)
I have a couple of questions about shows in general for anyone : if its a two day show, do you take down everything at night, or is there some 'security'? (or do you sleep in your booth??!) and if your a one person 'show-er', um..... how do you take potty breaks?? I'm looking to do a couple of big show next year and will probably be alone most of the time, so I'm real curious!
Christine |
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About doing a show by yourself, it is very hard. You would need to make friends with the people in the booth on both sides of you first thing in the morning. They will understand you being by yourself. I have had my nextdoor sellers offer to get me something for lunch when they went, since I couldn't leave for long. As far as leaving my stuff over night, it would depend on the set up of the area. My Ez-up came with the 4 sides, I would close it up and make sure everything was laying down so nothing should fall. What I usually do, is look to see how many others are leaving their stuff. Mightychurchill |
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like it was aready said you get to know the people around you and if u need to go somewhere just ask if they would keep a eye out hell i have had some people sell things while i was gone for me that was nice of them as far as leaving your stuff in most places you just close up and do your thing most people will know if it is a show there will be someone around at all times just like the carnival the police guards or just another vendor i never take my stuff down at a 2 day or more show i wont do 1 day shows good luck on your upcomming shows i got a big 1 this laborday weekend a central state fair suppose to be 30000 people there hope to make a killing __________________________________________________
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Thanks to everyone with the replies. I will attempt to get everyone answered
.I also appreciate all the great advice. I love to learn how to improve both
my shows and my scrolling. Isn't it great having a group like this to share
ideas and tips!
Here are a few answers...
I was lucky on the corners and found them on Ebay. Best purchase I ever
made! It helps so much to keep my frames looking nice as well as shipping
them also.
As far as doing show son your own...
I am really not in a position to go it alone. I am disabled and can not do
all the lifting required in my set-up. I am truly blessed to have a hubby
who is my biggest fan and who helps me out with the shows. He is an over the
road truck driver and is only home for a few days every few weeks. I have to
go by his schedule to schedule my shows. So I put him to work on his only
days off. I promised him a break soon LOL. I was so busy my last two shows
that I do not know if I could have loned it even if I did have two good
legs.
Protection of the unframed portraits...
I put cardboard backing on all my portraits. I attach the portraits to the
cardboard with adhesive spray. I spray the piece not the cardboard. This
assures all your fine cuts are basically glued down so they do not catch on
things.I just store them in a tote for safe keeping. When they are
purchased, I sandwich them between two pieces of cardboard and wrap them
with self clinging shrink wrap. When mailing them I also just sandwich them
between stiffer cardboard used as the mailer.Not shone in the photos are my
wildlife plaques. I still have not found a good way of packing those up. I
wrap them in shrink wrap for storage but it is a pain in the butt to unwrap
them to display in shows. Those dang things take more time to set up and
break down then the portraits do. They are the only clitch to my system. Any
ideas on solving this problem is greatly appreciated!
Regarding the matting and framing...
I started upping my game just in the last 8 months or so. Upping my game
meaning, If I am gonna do all this work making piles of sawdust, I need to
make sure it looks nice when the package is finished. I consider the matting
and framing just as important as the cut piece. The finishing touches really
show case your hard work. Right now my sister in law is cutting my fancy
matts.I only use her matting for about 5-8% of my framed work.
The best way to purchase standard matting is off of e-bay. I contact the
seller to see if I order alot of matts if they would give me a deal. I would
rather buy them straight out then to get in a bidding war. Doing this I
found a gal who bought out all the matt board from a store going out of
business. She had marbled, Swede, vinyl, and all kinds of textures. She
charged me .25 on my 8x10s and .45 on my 11x14 ( most popular) Do take into
mind the that shipping is high on these but still a great deal. I know she
was starting to run low the last time we talked. I will contact her to see
is she has any left. If she does I will pass on her e-mail addy to you all.
One more thing to pass on. At one of my shows I did come across a fellow
scroller who did portraits. They were professional show people and did
mainly Patriotic / military type items. We did share a few alike patterns.
They were one of the ones I spoke of that were drilling me for info. They
came over to my tent like 5 different times checking out my stuff. They also
did very well during that show but I beat them out because of the variety I
carried. I do not want to look like everyone else. The best way to do that
is to do your own patterns or hire someone to do them for you if you can't.
I am a dumb.a.... on the computer and still can't figure out how to do these
dang patterns. My pattern maker is , I feel, the best out there. He makes
all my original patterns. I pay 7.00 for Celebrity portraits, 15.00 for
single personal portrait patterns and 25.00 for two people in the portrait.
If you want, he will do a celebrity portrait and allow you to buy the rights
there for no one else can use it. You can contact Rancher on this site or go
to my photo album and click on the Elway portraits or personal portraits to
get his web address.
I hope I covered most questions. Again, I shall repeat, We are all stilll
learning and I do appreciate all helpful hints, one can never learn too
much! What a great tool this site is. As I have found out, most people in
here are more then happy to help out if you just ask.
Deb
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Thanks for sharing your experiences Deb, Great thread with loads of information. One other thing that may help a bit if you have room is to set up your saw just for display with a blade in it or a selection on the table. Customers that see the thin blades and machine appreciate the work that goes into them. Also have a small piece that you have just started on with a half dozen or more cut out areas. When people ask if you use a laser or how you made them just point to the saw and say, "I use this scroll saw. Take a look at it." A couple progressive pictures to show you scrolling helps also. I share any knowledge I can with people that want to learn scrolling. Most scrollers or people that find an interest in this new market are just curious and feel like you have when you first saw this type of work. Dont be afraid to open up with customers but I would keep it short or you may be stuck talking with them for an hour when you can be working the crowd for sales. It also helps to have small printed up signs for customers that say stuff like, " Ask me if you are looking for a certain image" or " Ask me about custom portraits". Just getting the customer to talk to you will open up the doors to possible future sales and orders. Some people are reserved and if not prompted like this they may just blow it off and continue on. Gary |
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Great advice as always Gary. I do have a display for advertising personal
portraits. I have a place for the flyers which show the steps from photo to
pattern to cut piece. I also have the price listings and all contact info as
well as a time frame needed to complete the work. Another thing I have added
is a laminated book I made showing pattern work that can be ordered. I have
gotten alot of work from the bookelet set out.I have a demo lined up in
front of the gift shop my Art is displayed in.
I have also recently gotten a large order for 51 LARGE NFL inlaid logos. The
order needs to be completed by Octobers end. Actually I will have it done
well in advance due to having up-coming shows.
I had a bit of a delay this week as my oldest daughter, my grandsons and my
son-in-law, who is in the Navy stationed in Penacola Florida, had a bit of a
mess this week. The area they live in got hit pretty hard as it was far west
Pensacola on the Alabama border, 25 miles east of the Guld Shores landfall.
I am trying to raise a bit of cash to help them to at least get the roof
repaired before heavy rains hit. Mail should resume in their area Tuesday
and I am getting a care package sent out with food and drinks. It is too
hard to wait in those long lines with babies ages 14mth and 28 months. My
son in law , is a Corpsman, 1st Class petty Officer, and has to report back
to the Naval Hospital tomorrow. They have had a hard time emotionally as
Eric did serve over in Iraq and will be sent to Cuba in March. for 6 months.
I could not have hand picked a better Man for my daughter! He makes me
proud.
Sorry for being winded once again, I am just now so hyper after receiving
news yesterday that their house fared well considering the area they are in.
I mise well add to this regarding hte patterns for the NFL inlaid Logos
folks are requesting. As soon as I get a moment to catch my breath I will
get them sent out to all who have requested them
May the Lord be with you and yours,
Deb
My show next Saturday will have to due with my current inventory as helping
the kids out head my list.
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An interesting question for me...You say the person who does your patterns is willing to sell you the "rights" to celebrity patterns, but is he/she actually licensing the "rights" from the celebrity, or the agent or agency that handles the rights? I don't have a real command of the issues here, but it seems to me that the celebs have some rights in the exploitation of their images. I know there's the legal principle of "de minimus non disputandam", i.e., "don't bother me with this trivial garbage" that may apply when an individual artist is making a handful of images. That covers the practical, but not the legal or moral, aspects of the issue. |
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No one said anything about rights being sold, only the patterns which anyone
else can purchase as well. No different then any of the other pattern makers
out there. There has been a few portraits that I could have soley purchased
meaning, The pattern wouldn't be sold to anyone else leaving me with sole
use, not rights. The copyright issue can be talked about till we are blue in
the face.If you want to be tech about it, all the portrait patterns on any
given site probably should not be used for resale.Maybe ask Gary about how
he obtained the rights to the Celeb patterns in his books. Maybe he can give
a clearer answer to eand this never ending copyrights battle.
Deb
>From: "CarrotCreek" <[email protected]>
>Reply-To: "scroll saw portraits" <[email protected]>
>To: "scroll saw portraits" <[email protected]>
>Subject: Re: Show Advise
>Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004 21:39:13 -0700
>
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Deb I have a question for you. You say you use NFL logos in your patterns. Are these something you purchase or is this a pattern of yours?? The reason I ask is there legal rights to the use of such sports teams logos and such and if there is can you explain. Have you looked into this?? If it is a pattern of yours do you have to get permission to use it or is this just considered an interpretation of the real thing. I am thinking of making clocks with team logos and was wondering if you looked into the legalitys of this?? Thanks for the response!! |
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The NFL logos are my own pattern work. I basically make them like a puzzle
cut from 1/2 inch birch. The painted ones go over much better but personally
I prefer the stains.I round out all the corners and inlay the pieces then
glue and clamp.
As far as the legality... I take my chances. In the past I rented out a
booth in a large craft mall chain called Coomers. They stay current on the
copyright laws. Example, we were not allowed to make anything Disney as
Disney did check and they are very strict. Reguarding the NFL, they are very
loose. They were fine as long as someone wasn't making a living off of their
logo. Coomers said the best thing to do was to change the logo just a hair.
I have never had probems, even selling on e-bay.
I also do celeb portraits and there is a finer line there. I do alot of
country stars as they are popular on e-bay as well as my shows.I had to pull
a few from e-bay however. It is up to the indivaual stars as far as who
allows it. Their "people" do check. I have to pull Toby Keith and Keith
Urban as their "people" would not allow it. I was doing only 5x7's matted
out to 8x10and selling them on a but it now for 10 bucks. I guess Toby
wasn't making enough money LOL. I haven't had problems with the other top 10
I do. E-bay notifies you if the item has been pulled and lets you know why.
I kinda use them as my guide line since they do have rules to abide by.
I also sell alot of Bronco Desk toppers and door signs iin a gift shop that
displays my work. My NFL Star Portraits are also on display there. They have
never had any probems there either.
I hope this answered your questions. The bottom line is " AT YOUR OWN RISK"
dEB
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thanks,,, do you have any patterns for packers colts
49ers yankees or orioles or a pattern of bobby allison
with his car or can make one for me.. there is a card
show comeing up here in february that i want to do a
few as a fund rasier for a youth program.. thanks any
help i would like..
Michael
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