Saturday 4 May 2013

Displaying your wares

So the last week has been a bit crazy. Show weeks are always busy, there's the van to pack, then the long days at the show itself, then the unpacking, and dealing with the inbox and all the other things that pile up when I'm away for 3 days.

Things are approaching normality now, there's a shop update heading your way shortly, just need to get the camera out later.

My thoughts about this post came about while chatting on Ravelry. It's now a full year since I did my first festival and it's quite interesting to see how things have changed.


This was the very first year, it looks ok, but those white walls are very white, and very bare looking!


This year, much better. There's probably not a great deal more stock, but it looks much fuller. Mostly because of the samples. When I look at my Ravelry project page for the last year it seems rather empty in comparison to past years, but in reality I've made a huge number of samples for workshops and on the stand. They really help people understand how things look when spun, and fill up that empty wall space. 
I've also changed how I display the fibre. Far less is in plastic so people can touch and feel easily. It occasionally causes me slight headaches, why people think it's ok to dump their bags on top of a pile of batts is beyond me, but who can resist a bundle of bouncy loveliness!
At the end of each show I go through all the stock, anything that is too scruffy looking goes in to my pot luck pile, every now and again I do a 50% off sale using stock that has been to a show and come home a little worse for wear. 

One of the things I was really pleased to have with me this year were bags made by my Mum. She comes along to every show, covers for me while I go to the loo, keeps me supplied with food and drink and drives the van. I really couldn't do it without her, so it's nice she gets to share her work with others. If you couldn't make it to Wonderwool then she does have her own Etsy shop. so you can see all her beautiful creations there. 

Next up in Woolfest which brings it's own challenges, a single stall there is less than half the size of my Woolfest stall and it's a fine line between filling it so full you can't find anything, and not having a nice range of things...



No comments:

Post a Comment