Art Fair daze

It’s been a good but weird year.  Overall the holiday art fair season went well, but the Holiday shows I was banking on didn’t do as well as in prior years. I only sold one piece at a time, rather than the two-to-three a single customer would pick up last year. The price points were slightly lower too, which changes the profitability of a show. Nonetheless, the ones I have been a regular at still did well, and the one new show that I lost money on was a good learning experience.

What helped this year is that I have made more year-round sales than before, so I am still showing overall growth in the business.

So now as I catch my breath and look for new opportunities, it is nice to see how much wandered away over the past two months.

The Evanston Pop Up Gallery is off to a great start and I hope their second year continues to mark growth and expansion.

The Downtown Evanston gift destination on Sherman Avenue is giving $5 off on my ornaments until I fluff up my shelf for Valentine’s Day.

My last-minute pop up at the Pop Up went quite well.

To spread the local price fairness, Sacred Art is taking $5 off the tagged price of the ornaments that are still there.

I don’t know what the current status is, but these are the ones I left their during my last visit.

I also dropped off some darker and naughtier angels in this quirky gift boutique full of creative locally made art.

Rainbow Dragonfly ornaments had a sudden surge, and I sold a few to friends via Facebook. Skull angels are also hard to keep in stock.

I enjoyed this custom order for my long-time friend’s children.

This year I also had a ladybug fan who kept picking up all my ladybug stakes.

My second Handmade Market was a lovely event, and I sold up until teardown.

Red was a theme color on that day. It is lovely to see some oldies flutter away.

Separate customers purchased a pupil and a teacher musical pendant.

At the Wilder Mansion, the first cold snap of the season encouraged a flurry of frosty sales.

Pendants and Keychains also found new owners.

In a moment of interesting vibes, a lady perusing my angel collection would ask what each carol was just as they were playing on the speakers. So clearly these two were meant to flutter away.

Pink was irresistible to a young girl, and other angels and dragonflies came out of the box to meet their new destination.

As I review all of these, it is fun to see how far my creations have come since I started developing angels in 2013.

Of course I made some presents as well.

And one friend proudly shared their custom angel atop the tree.

I am grateful for the support I received and excited to see what this year holds.