For the Fun of It - some thoughts on craft fair set ups

sustainable ways to sell your art

I did another craft fair! Since last year's low-key craft fair (a holiday market at 826LA), and the launch of my shop Art&Fluff, I've been on the hunt for some craft fairs I could do. I had a booth at a weiner dog race!

One thing I've been focused on with my art store is sustainability. I really don't think that I want to run a small business, necessarily. Social media marketing and scaling isn't really exciting for me. What's exciting is drawing, painting and giving people I know a way to buy my art without it being too stressful or overtaking my time.

So here's what's been working for me, particularly in the context of craft fairs (or artist alleys, or convention booths!)

Be self contained

This particular maker's market was required to be fully self-contained, which meant I had to have a table, umbrella and chair all on my own. This made me think of my base:

Here’s what I needed). I got a simple foldable table (make sure to confirm your fairs size requirements, 6 or 8 is popular), foldable bar stool from Ikea, and clampable umbrella. I have a whit base tablecloth and a fun check one (wish I’d ironed them before I left home, lol, sorry mom!!!)

For this craft fair, I sold:

• My books

• An assortment of my tiny paintings.

• A few polymer clay figurines. (I haven’t written about these yet! Soon)

• Stickers. (that I made myself!)

• Printed Greeting cards and a few of my hand painted ones from last year

• Prints!

• I did bring my originals, but I'm not sure if I would bring them again. No one ever wants to drop even 50$ at a craft fair! You should definitely know your market, and this vibe was very casual people dropping by. Smaller things like stickers definitely tend to do well, and $2, $5 with a max of $25 seems to be a sweet spot for people.

Space is precious in a city like Los Angeles, so if you're planning on doing fairs, set aside a shelf in a closet that you can keep one or two boxes. I use a wooden box as part of my set up that can also work to store my tablecloths, cash box, and other wrapping things. I know it's annoying to store things, but I think having a small space set aside for you craft set up will make it feel very easy to do more because you know it's ready to go!

Creating levels is important at craft fairs, and there are a lot of really affordable options! Amazon of course has earring displays, plate racks that can hold books. I also recommend dollar store bins and bowls. I have some amazing wood place card holders that were gifts from my mom (similar here), those are really snazzy for holding price signs (and you can swap them out if you want to change prices!)

The other thing you'll need is your catch all "stuff". I got little metal box for this- pens, tape, cash/change, your square reader if you have one, business cards,and wrapping tissue were all very useful for me. Also it’s pink T_T.

Print your venmo code ahead of time too, that’s so useful!

I also got a cart to carry stuff from my car. This was the unexpectedly most useful item of this fair. Being able to set up and take down on your own without too many trips is awesome.

Here's my whole set up again!

For me, selling my art in this way is less about the growth and the business aspect. It’s more another avenue, a hobby, a chance to connect with my community and see real human people engage with my work!!

If that resonates with you, and you’re also looking for at least one way to sell your art that doesn’t involve running an Etsy store, I totally recommend this way!

I was lucky enough to have a lot of great examples at the Pender Island Farmers Market. My parents loved being able to go a buy postcards, paintings, and many things from the artists and farmers there. Susan Taylor of the Blood Star Gallery remains one of my favorite artists, and her practice is so sustainable and true to her craft.

Look for examples in your community to see! Most markets are more produce-focused, but there are more places than you might think that offer places for you to set up shop.

And I PROMISE you- if you enjoy your art, there’s someone out there who will too.

How to find fairs

This is actually a weirdly difficult task, particularly in LA.

One thing that's super annoying is that fairs in LA can cost 500$ for a booth. For me, and the way I do my art, that's just not worth it. When you’re selling tiny one of a kind paintings, your margins aren’t exactly popping.

I think ~100 or less per day is a sweet spot for me. I was lucky to find RCPalmer, and they are great dudes that I can't recommend enough. I also have a little spreadsheet. If you are needing to apply to fairs, I think spending an evening building a spreadsheet with applications days can be useful.

There are also sites like I Heart Indie Markets and Find My Markets that list some, so just keep an eye out.

One benefit to building your set up, and being ready to go is that often the best fairs are the spontaneous ones. Breweries, volunteer places, and schools, will sometimes have weekend fairs (my 826LA one was how I got started!). And if you make the set up as chill as possible for yourself, all you have to do is show up will your little crafts!!

I’ve spoken about

Geoffrey Golden

‘s special narrative newsletter Adventure Snack here before, well, he’s got a new Newsletter (A newnewsletter?) called Equip Story! It’s on Wordpress, and it’s loooooking good!! Follow him there!

r

I've been playing with my Prixel!! And oh no, I love it.

It's very meditative! I know I recommended this quite recently but I recommend it again. So theraputic, and I'm curious if it would work well with those people who say "I Can’t Draw!”

ok love u bye