Jenny, Thanks for the comments. I belong to a group, The Visual Arts Committee (VAC) of the Mountain Home Arts Council and we, as a group of artists, are working together to improve our exposure and marketing skills. The upcoming show is an example of how we do this. There will be 15 artists showing their latest work, the winery will be serving fingerfood and wine and there will be a jazz duo playing for the whole evening. This is a co-operative effort with the winery, in fact this is the 2nd annual, in which the VAC pays for the music, we co-op on advertising and the cost of etching a souviner wine glass that each person attending gets as part of their $20 cover charge, which pays for the food and wine, also. We also have an on-going program in conjuction with the merchants of Mountain Home called Arts After 5. Every 4th thursday of the month, participating artists and merchants are paired up for a 3 hour walking art show in downtown Mountain Home. The merchants pay for the advertising and put together a gift basket valued at $200. This basket is given away by drawing from tickets that each person doing the walk can enter at each artist/merchant venue. There are generally 18-20 venues and if a person gets his 'map' stamped at each venue, he or she gets an extra 5 tickets in the drawing. One of the drawbacks is that we get a few folks who are only interested in the gift basket and don't even stop to look at the art, but most folks spend so much time looking at the art and visiting with the artist that they never get to see everything. I occasionally sell a piece or to at thses mini-shows, but mostly I just get a lot of free exposure and a commission every once in a blue moon. Fortunately, I don't depend on my carving to support myself...it's just a lot of fun. Hope this give you some ideas. Knight http://www.knightscrafts.ws

Hi Jenny! Thanks for sharing the photos from your fair. It looks like it was fun. I haven't participated in a fair yet. (Still building inventory.) However a great source of information is The Crafts Report magazine. It's great for those business questions. Also it highlights different areas of the country and what artists are doing.

Hi Jenny!

I haven't really tried to sell them on Crafts Fairs yet. ;-)

I haven't time to make so many. It's just a hobby. I do "trade" them with other crafts-womens, for exampel I have trade many of them with a women who makes great pottery.

I also sell them to clients (I'm a shamanic healer) and to my "students" (I teach shamanism) and on my homepages sometimes.

More than that I don't have any time for. ;-) But I can tell you that I don't sell them to cheap. You can buy copies of dream-cathers for $8-30 here in Sweden. Mine costs about $100.

Best wishes
Mandra

Hello Jenny,

It has been a while since I participated in a art and crafts sale. We do have them on a regular basis in my area.

I enjoyed the pics you sent me of yours. It was interesting seeing the work of artists from another part of the world.

Rose

Hi again Knight

You have made me laugh

One of the drawbacks is that we get a few folks who are only interested in the gift basket and don't even stop to look at the art

Tell me about it!  lol

However, I am in complete agreement these events do give us exposure - even when we dont get direct sales. I have also received enquiries for comissions AFTER the event from people who didnt want to buy that day -  including several nativities for NEXT christmas. 

I am convinced that these kind of shows are very important for us artesans.

Saludos
Jenny