Art Is Made To Be Shared

Art is Made to be Shared

 

www.sudsysoapery.com

 

One type of person you will encounter if you frequent as a seller at craft fairs is the one who could not care less if a product is hand crafted. They think they are going to a really big yard sale and that the prices should reflect that of used merchandise. They are quite shocked and horrified to discover that the fair market price for a hand crafted item is actually more than the fair market price of a similar manufactured item. You are all thinking ‘Of course,’ but there really are people who do not get it. They will pick up a piece off your table, gasp and say, “I could get this same thing at --- for half that price,” but you and I know that it is not the same thing or we would not be slaving to make it by hand. One way to avoid these folks is to only go to genuine craft fairs where you are required to demonstrate that your item is indeed handmade, as opposed to vendor fairs where you may be among home party type businesses. Sometimes vendor fairs are erroneously called craft fairs. If you are not asked to describe what you make and what part you have in its creation or to send in pictures, then you have found a vendor fair and may want to consider bowing out. Do not worry about sharing your art with these folks. They do not appreciate it. The folks that you want to share your art with are those who know that it is more valuable than the product at the grocery store. These people will carefully look over each table and value each item. They will check prices, because they need to (how many of us have an unlimited income). Yet they realize the product probably is truly worth whatever is being charged. For these folks, I would encourage my readers to think of their craft as something they share, not something they sell. I am not saying run yourself into the poor house giving away everything you make, but take some steps to get art into the hands of folks who appreciate it. Make some lower ticket items along with the scarf that you spent twenty hours to make. Offer testers and samples of appropriate items. If you have a face book page, do a contest to get ‘likes’.  The customer who sends the most ‘likes’ gets a free product. Use your product as Christmas and birthday gifts to those who would genuinely appreciate it. The fact is none of us are going to be millionaires making crafts. We do it for the love of it. Learn to love both aspects of crafting: creating and sharing.  As the original Creator has shared His creation with us, let us be willing to share our creation with others.