Building Inventory.  Craft shows are a fantastic way to gain exposure for your work and feedback from people who appreciate handmade objects – if a design is successful you know immediately!  I like to have a variety of products and price points to stimulate more interest and conversation with future customers.  If given choice, I would prefer working on larger, furniture-type projects, but sales of those are not as spontaneous and impulse-driven as a reasonably priced cutting board or business card holder, for example.  This may be obvious, but working a show is more fun when you’re selling things.  I don’t think I would enjoy the experience as much if I only had 4-5 furniture pieces on display and maybe sold 1 or 2 at a show (which is a reality for many woodworkers).  For me it’s more interesting to sell a number of smaller items, gain some exposure for my work, and meet new people.  So for the past few months I’ve been making, making, making…

 

 

Displaying your work is almost as important as the work itself.  My previous craft booth displays consisted of a couple of wooden book shelves from Ikea, a rented 6′ table, and a cool self-standing, folding lattice display screen for hanging pieces.  I designed & built the latter and it was an efficient and interesting way to display cutting boards.  Overall the booth displays looked good and I received a number of compliments on my booth design and layout.  For this show, my display needs changed due to the changing mix of my work – I now have a several smaller furniture pieces that I want to display and gauge interest.  I also needed new shelving and a new display for cutting boards (I sold the lattice display screen prior to our relocation out west).  After searching Google Images & Pinterest for inspiration, I designed and built 3 new displays for my craft tent.  All 3 displays are self-standing and foldable for flat, easy storage and transport.  The new display tri-fold screen is a re-design of my original.  The pictures of my tent and displays were taken in our driveway just to practice setting up and taking down everything.  Not shown are the products that will line the shelves, staging for the products, and curtains for the sidewalls.  My wife made the curtains and will be helping me with all of the product staging.  I’ll post pictures of my booth at the show, can’t wait to see how it looks with all of the finishing touches!