A question for those of you who sell your work, or go to art shows.

[curtis rosche]

there are a couple of art shows i was planning on going to, and selling work. what kind of things sell best? i.e. platters, bowls, goblets....ect. and what size? i have a couple of individual things i am plainning on selling but figured theres probably one thing that sells best that i should turn a lot of. so what do you sell best other than pens? If you find pens sell then best do you think it would be worth it to try turning some of them?:confused:

[Reed Gray]

Curtis,
I haven't found any one thing that sells best at any show. Mostly I sell bowls, from small ones to keep your pocket stuff in, to individual eating bowls, to party bowls. They account for half of my business. I do furniture as well. Boxes will sell well at one show, and not the next. Same with hollow forms, but mostly with these, the smaller ones sell better. I also sell basting brushes, spurtles (for the kitchen that thought they had everything), rolling pins, pen and pencil cups, and a few art pieces, like natural edge bowls. I have never sold pens. Have as much variety as you can. One week one thing can sell well, and the next week, some thing else will sell. You never know, but that is show business.
robo hippy

[Bruce McElhaney]

Have to agree with Reed, bowls of all sorts have sold very well for me. Vases and bottle stoppers do OK also. Segmented work does very well. Pens not so good. But the real disappointment I've had was with selling peppermills turned from commonly available woods--Even with premium mechanisms

I believe the problem is, anyone can go into a store like, Bed Bath and Beyond, and buy a decent wooden peppermill cheaply. The only peppermills that get any attention at my shows are the exotics, turned from woods, like Cocobolo, Bocote etc. Of course I have to price those items accordingly.

[Allen Neighbors]

You've heard the old saying, "Don't take a knife to a gunfight." Well, don't take very large bowls to a show where most of the customers are RVers. DAMHIK.
Ring keepers, especially those with little dishes for ear studs at the bottom of the post, sell well. Biscuit cutters and coffee scoops also sell well. Natural edged bowls of all sizes will sell also.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Agree with the above Curtis. I went to a show last fall and my lidded boxes sold out but didn't really sell much except some bowls went pretty good. Went to the next show and couldn't sell one but sold all my potporri pots. It is hard to figure. So take a little of everything. Depends on the people, weather, etc.

[ROY DICK]

Take some time to visit the art shows and take notes, talk to sellers and see what sells best in that area.

Good luck.

Roy

[George Guadiane]

there are a couple of art shows i was planning on going to, and selling work. what kind of things sell best? i.e. platters, bowls, goblets....ect. and what size? i have a couple of individual things i am plainning on selling but figured theres probably one thing that sells best that i should turn a lot of. so what do you sell best other than pens? If you find pens sell then best do you think it would be worth it to try turning some of them?:confused:
The things you love most will sell first. Turn what you like and let your audience find you.
That's how I have decided to go.

[curtis rosche]

its one of those judged art shows where you have to submit a couple things youve done and how you will display them and price. how do you guys display your stuff? what would be a good price for, say that apple burl bowl i made?, or the spaulted cherry burl?, or just a regular 6x5 bowl?

[Keith Burns]

Curtis, I suspect you may be putting the cart ahead of the horse. You need a good supply of things to sell, as has already been stated. If you have a display and a good stock of items to sell don't forget it costs money to do the show. Granted, if you sell a bunch you get it back, but if not, you go in the hole. This is my display.

[Russ Peters]

I see about 50 pieces in your display. how much backstock do you bring to a show to refill the display?

[Keith Burns]

I typically take everything I can fit in the car. I'm doing a one day show this weekend they tell me typically has 15,000 people attend. I turned 40 Bottle Stoppers for it and will carry about 70 or so turnings. Hope I don't carry it all back home:eek:

[George Guadiane]

its one of those judged art shows where you have to submit a couple things youve done and how you will display them and price. how do you guys display your stuff? what would be a good price for, say that apple burl bowl i made?, or the spaulted cherry burl?, or just a regular 6x5 bowl?
Show them your favorites and tell them you are new to showing and they might cut you some slack (they did me).

[Toney Robertson]

George,

That display is very cool.

I like the way it appears that the pieces seem to float in mid-air.

How much did something like that cost?

How long does it take you to set it up when you go to a show?

Toney

[Frank Kobilsek]

Curtis

As with turning there are always more than one way to do something. When it comes to shows there are a 1000 ways to do it.

What to take: its a crap shoot. Stoppers have paid the bills at more than one of my shows but the last show I did only one sold. The best answer is to do work you enjoy and you think is good quality. That way your enthusiasm for the piece will sell the piece.

Pricing: Price your work at levels you are comfortable with. But you must be in a mysterous range where too low people think you are a hack and too high they think your a nut job.

Display: the more professional looking the display the better you will do. So build or buy the nicest set-up you can afford. A good turning friend of mine has built a new display for 2008 and we were one row apart at an Easter weekend show. His new display is first class and takes him about 5 hours to erect. He claims my work to be better but lets call it a tie for this story. He out sold me by about 8% certainly not worth the investment me made in his display.

Show selection: Art Show good, Craft Show not so good, anything connected to a Town festival is bad. Corn dogs and good sales of wood art doesn't go together. I have developed a Corn Dog enjoyment System that I turn and decorate. I put one out at a low end show for $50 mostly as a conversation piece. Its a gift I use within my Lions club which makes the best corn dogs in the world.

Good Luck - Shows are either exciting or frustrating very little middle ground.

Frank

[Russ Sears]

I have developed a Corn Dog enjoyment System that I turn and decorate.

Frank, any chance of seeing of picture of your CDES?

[Frank Kobilsek]

Russ,

Sorry That one is a closely gaurded secret. Truth is I don't have any in stock and I can't figure out how to shrink picture size to post on the new computer/camera/software. I had hoped to enter it in the Turned for Use exhibition but just never got it done. Someday.

Frank

[curtis rosche]

i dont want to sound like im trying to scam people or anything but how nice do you have to finish these things? i know there are people out there who would think tearout is part of the grain and that 150 grit makes it as smooth as it gets, do you spend a lot of time on the regular ones that sell like you do the couple of unique peices?


for the show comming up in june i can give my stuff to my art teacher to sell because he has a stand but it to late for me to enter. but there is one in september that is a judged one that he is a judge for, that i can still enter, that one is in neffsville. is there any one near neffsville that would let me borrow there middilathe or what ever size fits in the 10x10 space and runs from a regular outlet? the teacher said you get more people to come look when there is actually something that is happening like making a bowl than if you are just standing there. he normaly takes his pottery wheel.

one of you guys asked about stands and tables, what my teacher does is he gets big bambo poles and stiks the end in a cement bucket, put some decoritive rocks on top of the cement, then takes a board attatches it to the top of the bambo pole, stains it bark brown and then displays his stuff on top of it, then at the end of the day he sells the stands too, or he sell the work with the stand as a package. now being a woodworker you couple get a litttle more creative with this and display them on a table made of spindle work for example

[George Guadiane]

George,

That display is very cool.

I like the way it appears that the pieces seem to float in mid-air.

How much did something like that cost?

How long does it take you to set it up when you go to a show?

Toney
Toney,
I made that table top display. When everything goes right, it takes about 45 minutes to unload and set up the display, and the rest of the show moving stuff around to get it "just right."
I made it from nestable sonitubes (I think that is what they are called), 2X3s, peg board and a roll of black paper. I use cheap 2 sided tape to hold the paper in place (edges only), then put the pegs where I want them. I COULD have used square platforms, but I turned a bunch of curly maple pedestals and drilled to be level.
The paper covers the holes which gives the appearance of a flat and finished wall. I can then set up a different design at each show, just by applying fresh paper.
I designed it to be flexible/variable and easy to use. It takes no tools for assembly now.
Including the lights, tables, table covers and stands, it came to about $500.00 plus a bit of labor on my part, and my wife's (table covers).
I adapted table lamps from home depot for use here ($20.00 each).
It could have cost more or less. I already had the tables and I buy peg board pegs at garage sales.

[Frank Kobilsek]

Curtis

Show only your best work and it will pay off in the long run. 3 half-hearted pieces and one masterpiece won't look right together. Just put out the masterpiece, it will sell, you'll have a happy customer, that will come back next year and buy another masterpiece.

Half of doing shows is educating the prospects about yourself and your work. Most often they buy the whole package when they buy. Seldom does someone walk in and say that's neat I'll take it. They want to talk about the wood, the process, your training and experience, some go to personal attachment and motivations toward this craft. Worst visitors at shows are other turners they want the 'tool talk' and when you got your artsy mojo going, we tend to distract each other. (Somebody out there just gagged but others nodded) It is two completely different crafts: making and showing 'art'. Try a show. You'll either like it or hate it. Go easy on the pre-show expenses and sales expectations, just try to enjoy the day talking about woodturning.

If you do like it, be prepared for the frustration of jury in and understanding that process, which is about the pictures of the turning not the turning and a bit of art politics to boot. Good Luck

Frank