# What I leaned at the art fair.



## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

We had the May First Friday Art Fair this Friday and Saturday. The weather was drizzly and about 36 degrees so not many people came out. The gallery owner said that mostly the only people here are friends and family of the artists. 
So I had to switch my objective from selling to figuring out what people like.

As you know, I slave over the stuff I make. Striving to make it all perfect. 
That did absolutely no good. Everyone went to the stuff that I'm actually too embarrassed to show online.

Here is an example of what they looked at most.



















This sold which got me my money back, but that's all.










They like the rustic stuff and the inlays.

So guess what I'll be doing?

This was my display.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Congrats Russ


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

Extremely smart to watch what they pay attention to what they are interested in. Too many people make what they want and hope it sells. You need to make what THEY want. Then your not wasting time. I will also always believe that people like unique individual pieces. It makes them feel special.


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## rtriplett (Nov 25, 2009)

My stuff would never sell at this type of show. I am not artistic and I have never filled a crack with anything but epoxy!! Glad you made your money back. You do good work, but it can be hard to find the right show. I make what I like and I have very little left over at the end of the year. BUT, I cheat and use beautiful wood.


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## Puzzleman (May 4, 2010)

Hello Russ. What did the people actually purchase from you? You have some very good items that people looked at but didn't buy. I would make more of the items that sold.

However, since the crowd was small and consisted of friends and family, I would not give too much credence to their input. Need a larger crowd to give a fairer perspective of interest and sales.


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

I had a sale last month and sold a lot of stuff but sold zero compound cut flowers. The next sale was this past Sat(same place) and I sold less than 1/2 as much but all my flowers sold….go figure.


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