Thoughts on FabMoTAB
A couple of months ago, I decided to spend less time on crafting and more time on writing. I planned for the FabMo boutique to be my last hurrah of sorts: the big splash before my quiet transition to writing and working on the graphic novel. I’m glad I made that decision, because (a) it left me much more relaxed at the show than I would have been, and (b) if I’m only going to do one show a year, this one is a wonderful choice. I had even more fun than I did last year, and my mood of happy inspiration has lingered for days and spurred me to update the Etsy shop with new items and improved old listings!
It’s always hard to corral my thoughts after a show, so I’m pulling out the ol’ bullet points again. Some quick thoughts on the commercial end:
- FabMo might not be the place to sell purses. Handbags are the single most common item made from FabMo fabrics, so it’s hard to compete with sellers who do purses exclusively (several of them had giant carousels or vertical displays just bursting with bags!).
- I needn’t have worried about my prices being too high. Last year, when I was just starting out, I did everything more slowly and clumsily, and I didn’t have a good sense of how much time things took. So my prices were higher than they should have been for what I was selling. This year, I made nicer things, and I also looked around at some of the sellers I’d envied last year, and realized their items took less time than I previously imagined. Now I’ve decided: my pricing is fair for what my buyers get!
- As always, it’s tough to predict what people will notice. Next time I’ll make a more specific list of “points of interest” about each type of item, and remember to talk those up to people when they come by.
As for my experience at the show, like I said, I really enjoyed myself. It was much busier than last year, but we still got lots of FabMo crafters, so I had the pleasure of speaking to many fellow artists. Getting an approving “good work” from them felt like winning a prize, every time. And then there were these two ladies… they got so absorbed in dissecting my brooches that they barely looked up when I interrupted their “is that a yo-yo?” “no, I think it’s a pleated circle” discussion with “yes, it is a yo-yo.” They weren’t rude, just so totally caught up in creative analysis that they forgot the artist was right there listening! I traded with Chelsea of CuppaFog for one of her delicious clutches, and also bought an adorable bird ornament from another seller. There were so many fabulous creations at the show, I couldn’t at all blame the visitors who floated dazedly by my table, eyes glazed, murmuring, “It’s so amazing! Everything is so amazing!” or “I’m so in awe of all you artists! You are so creative!”
My favorite part of crafting is always connecting with people, and this show provided that amply. Several friends came out to support me (Esther, Wei-Ling, Albert, EurJean, Tamara, and Dana: thank you!!), and my parents showed up around noon with a Thermos of piping-hot homemade butternut squash soup (and my mom sold three things for me while I was eating!). One of my favorite visitors was an adorable little girl who read every sign and bellowed (if a small girl can be said to bellow) its contents to the world: “YOGA MAT TOTES! EYE PILLOWS!” When she saw my braided rug, she exclaimed, “IT’S A MOUSE RUG!” (Which of course made me think of Mo!) She was a treat… and an awesome reader! I also loved the lady who bought a wrist rest, left, then came back just to tell me that she wrote on the visitors’ feedback form that she would attend any class I taught! I was so taken aback, I’m not even sure I said “I have no plans to teach,” but after the show a fellow seller asked if I’d be willing to teach a FabMo workshop on how to make hair ornaments! I said I would… so the lady may get her wish after all!
Updating the Etsy shop, post-FabMo
After the show was over, I rested for a day, then got straight to work taking hundreds of photos and listing new items in the shop. Standing behind that table all day, engaging with prospective buyers, really reminded me how limited an online retail space is when compared to the lively, multi-sensory experience of a show. I looked over my old listings and realized they weren’t doing my items justice, so I fixed them up by tightening the description and adding new photos.
In my revisions, I tried to more fully evoke the sensory experience of each item: the weight of the eye pillow or its scent, the texture of the fabrics and the subtleties of color and print. I think I also remembered how quickly a lot of people walked by my table, and connected that to web users quickly flipping through thousands of search results on Etsy. Just because someone’s sitting at their computer doesn’t mean a seller gets any more milliseconds to “hook” them!
So I reshot a great many of my items for brightness and clarity, and experimented with new angles and details. One brainwave led me to photograph my chamomile and lavender eye pillow fill mixtures, since people always like those at the shows. I’ve added those photos to some of my plainer listings to add interest. (Single eye pillows can be kind of boring to look at, depending how well the fabrics photograph!)
My goal is to have all new items listed by the end of the week… and then I can get back to cleaning the house, which looks like an artsy-crafty mini hurricane ripped through it. π
i have no words to leave, just smiles :). i’m so proud of you. i hope it’s OK that i say that alot… it’s true!
Alison!! I’m beaming at you! Of course it’s okay! Thank you for the constant encouragement. I’m so grateful to you β€
1. there really were so many purses/handbags/clutches on display!!! i’ll have to keep this event in mind when looking for my next clutch…
2. your goods were quite competitively priced, i think, based on my rounds π
3. homemade butternut squash soup?!?! i MUST have the recipe!!!!! i’ve been looking for a good recipe!!! β€ β€ β€
4. i've always loved browsing photos in your online shop, but you're so right: seeing/touching everything in person was a much more satisfying "sensory" experience. it's tough to convey that feeling via internet but i do love those new photos you posted!
I ditto all of the above! Your work is beautiful, Lisa! Perhaps crafting can be your *just for the fun of it* thing to do between writing and painting, and one show a year will be all you need to keep your house from overflowing with lovely things. (That was my problem with taking pottery classes. Of course, not all of it was lovely, but my house was definitely too small to keep adding these bits and pieces.) Anyway, by the time I figured out etsy this morning, the lemon verbena wrist rest was gone:( So I will wait until you have posted the new scented ones. But I’m happy that you are selling your crafts, so I won’t be sad too long!) P.S. – Will be out of town this weekend, so no internet. So don’t post too soon on etsy!!)
Thank you so much, Sherry! I think you’re right; crafting is a fun thing, and the shop/FabMo show are great just for getting my creations out there so they don’t sit around. π I actually started crafting a couple of years ago just because my hands wanted something tangible to work with, instead of just writing and drawing (though painting comes close). That’s how I know I’ll still be doing it even when it’s not my main work.
The lemon verbena rest is still there! An unscented one sold, but the verbena one should still appear in the shop (they had the same main photo so the listing looks almost identical).
Enjoy your out of town trip!
Tamara, I *think* this is the soup recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pureed-butternut-squash-soups I know Mommy said it’s super-simple and only has a few ingredients. It was the perfect thing for that chilly grey weather, and the Thermos was so good at its job, the soup was still steaming when the show ended at 5.
Glad to know my prices seemed reasonable to you. π And thank you for good thoughts on the photos too! I’m excited about them!
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I love the pictures of your booth!! It always makes me so happy to see a table bursting with colors, patterns, and handmade wonderfulness–and with a lovely artist standing behind it with a smile to boot! π
Hee. And I’ve totally had the adorable, little-kid-shouting-out-item-names experience myself, and it never gets old. I love that you mom sold a bunch of stuff while you were eating–go Mom!
I had so many other comments that popped into my head while I was reading, but most of them seem to have slipped away…Oh! Now I remember: Your new shop photos are STUNNING! Truly. They look like the breathtaking “after” photos used in the Etsy how-to posts that were taken by super successful sellers whose photos I just drool over. Amazing job! π
Thank you, Mo!! π Oh, the table was bursting with colors all right — sometimes I wondered if it looked too overwhelming. Not everyone’s as detail-oriented as we are. π
And thank you for the props on the pictures!! I think they’re quite nice myself. π They’re definitely a before/after lesson for me. I used to think it was impossible to photograph the eye pillows in an interesting way! That shows me!