Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

I'm off to my first arts and craft fair tomorrow. I think I'm ready–should be fun if nothing else. It's been a long while since I've done anything like this–last time was in France many years ago  :hap3:

Hope it goes really well :buttrf:

Good luck!

Best of luck!

Lots of luck. And don't forget to take some pics. ;D

Eire

Good luck  :buttrf:

I love doing fairs - even though this year has been so crap  ;D

Sending 'all goes very well' vibes for you today.  :buttrf:

I hope it goes brilliantly!

Wishing you loads of luck - enjoy!!

Very best of luck. I think a leeeetle bit of Xmas shopping is starting to happen ( our men's soaps are finally on the move) so hopefully you'll have a good day tomorrow - with good weather!

Good luck yomojo- hope it goes well :)

Checked out your website, it looks really good!

Ooh exciting!!  Pics are a MUST  ;D

Good luck and sell lots!!  :buttrf:

Best of luck!

Good luck!

Well?? ;D Pics?? :D

Eire

Hello Everyone!  ;D

Market was pants  :clueless: and not just for me but everyone there–some people have decided not to bother coming back tomorrow. It's a two day fair. I was not expecting to have much sales and I've not got anything to loose by being there tomorrow.

The art and craft fair was located in the wrong place at the market in Leciester–no one knew there was a fair either. Anyway met a few interesting stall holders and some strange customers too  ;D

I made enough to pay for the stall over two days–so tomorrow should just be profit–well you know what I mean.

You can see my super simple minimalist stall from the links below. Everything fitted into a over the shoulder large cycle bag! They were a bit jealous of my one bag set-up and I felt naked next to them! Maybe I was and that would explain why hardly anyone came?  ;D

http://d.pr/USNx (http://d.pr/USNx)

http://d.pr/tUj8 (http://d.pr/tUj8)

Will give more feedback tomorrow.

Thank you for all the good wishes  :hap3:

Oh, that's a shame. Seems to be the trend with markets at the moment though, everywhere. Hope you have better luck tomorrow. I like your set up, although it could do with lifting/highlighting a little. It's a little too organic to get noticed. That would attract me, but most consumers need something less subtle.
You have a good few jars, have you any short planks of wood to create a shelf type system, provide a bit of height. 
Also if you had a cream coloured runner, it would add light to the arrangement.

Eire

I wanted a simple shelf system (divided into boxes) but could not make-up anything in time or find one that I liked. Next time I will have one.

Oh the runner is not mine  ;D I was expecting a small table and instead had this huge thing–so one of the kind ladies next to me lent me some cloth. Tomorrow I will have some of my own cream cloth.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I've used stuff from the shed many a time. A small length of plywood or MDF, othe bits of wood as raisers, draped and tucked with a white sheet, shelves out of wardrobes, whatever works. Nobody ever knew the difference. If they came around the back of the table, now that would be adifferent story. :mwaha:

Eire

Doh!  The pages to the links won't open for me (I will try later).

What a shame it wasn't very good but at least you have covered the cost of the table so today it is all positive. 

Ooh wait, the page had just loaded while I was posting.....

OH I like your little chalkboards and baskets - looks really good.  Like Eire said, it might be worth adding some dimension to the table.   I do like the dark against that light background, it looks really effective.

Good luck for today and let us know how you get on  ;) :buttrf: :buttrf:

You've arranged the materials you have beautifully, and I do envy the fact that you can travel light. Our setup is becoming positively baroque!

Scent is a much overlooked dimension. An oil burner can really grab people's attention and get them coming over to investigate..

Good luck :buttrf:

I really like your display it looks great  :buttrf:

Today was a little worse than yesterday but I had good feedback again on the balm. That was the main thing for me to take 'it out' in the real world and see what people think. One lady came back for more! I had a beauty editor buy some and she took my card.

Overal it was worth doing the fair if nothing but for the exposure. The fair was located in the wrong place–nobodies fault there, as it was the first time they had come to Leicester.

I learnt lots everyone–so yes definitely worth doing. Oh yes travelling light helps hugely–I like my display hugely it reflects how like to do things–keeping it simple / minimal. I just need to add a small wooden case type thing. And it's so easy to set-up and pack-up ;D

Oh and I had an online sale today while I was at the fair  ;D

It's great to have all your feedback too!

 :hap2:

Oh Rajiv, it looks like there were lots of positives today, despite the poor sales at the event itself and lots to help motivate & keep you enthused.  Well done and well done for the online sales.  I hope that beauty editor gets in touch soon too  ;)  Well done!!  :buttrf:

Yeah, great news about the beauty editor - everything crossed for some good publicity.

I agree it is worth getting out there, especially in the beginning - you learn about market stalls, dealing with the public (!) - you can refine your display, your packaging and product (if necessary) your patter

practise makes perfect

That sounds like a pretty good start actually! Fingers crossed you hear from the beauty editor, and well done on the repeat custom!

I really like the simple set up, but perhaps the centre basket could be raised slightly. Getting out there is important, and it is great news about the beauty editor.

Ditto from me.