Rough Start

This past weekend was the Decatur Holiday Market at The Clairemont School.  I was told this was a great show by other crafts people but they were people who make jewelry and soap and stuff like that. Pottery can be different in that type of show, many people with elementary school age kids don't like to buy pottery, probably because it's breakable.  I understand and had normally had some other show to do that weekend anyway.  This year was different so I sent in my application and crossed my fingers that it'd be a good show.

Set-up for this show is rushed, you have an hour and a half to get everything carted in, unloaded and set up.  With 2 people on a good day I can do this, but by myself is a different story.  I was told the school had a lot of volunteers who would help.  Great, maybe I can do this.  I got there a few minutes early to get the room assignment, get my truck unloaded onto the curb and moved out of the way.  Then I got a couple of hand truck loads up to the room when the elevator broke!  I told someone about it and they assigned me one man to help me carry my shelves and several bins of pottery, a 6 foot table, etc. upstairs.  After the first load I was ready to pull up the truck, pack-up and go home.  I was contemplating this the elevator was fixed.  That was fast.  And they got another person and another handtruck so we were in business.  I finished setting up just as the first customers came into the room.

Friday night I sold two pieces.  That did not even cover the booth fee.  The other people in the room seemed to be selling.  So I thought this was just not my market.  Oh, well, live and learn.  It was still really nice to just leave the room at the end of the night and know that it was safe and would be exactly as I left it when I returned on Saturday.

It was also nice to get to the show only 15 minutes before the door opened and not have to do any set-up, I just rearranged a few pieces to make them look better.  It must have worked because Saturday was a great day.   Lots of people from Friday night returned to purchase pieces they had admired and lots of new faces were present also.  And everyone was really nice, they asked meaningful questions about the work, nobody wanted a discount, they shared with me how they were going to use the pottery.  It just made me feel good.  The other artists in the room were fun and supportive and helped to make it a good show.

At the end the parents swarmed in to help us pack out so that happened in record time.  It was a good show after the rough start.  I'd do it again.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support the artists and the school (it's a fund raiser) and to all the volunteers who really busted their butts to make it easier for us.

Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery by Lori Buff