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08-06-2006, 11:04 AM
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Craft show booths, do they make any money?
Ok guys, we have all been to one of these shows (sometimes dragged kicking and screaming) there are dozens of booths, if not a hundred as in the biggie here in town this weekend. They have everything from little figures of golfers from welded together nuts and bolts to stunning paintings or photos of Italian fishing villages to "sock banks" made from tube socks with a lid of a can with a slot attached to the top and your name painted on the side. There are true artists making bronze sculpures to an old guy with wooden rubberband guns. Tie dyed shirts (paid 20 bucks for one for my five year old daughter, if my sweetie wants a God awful tie dyed shirt, my sweetie gets one.
 ) to wind "spinners" with a glass ball in a screw shaped wire that looks like the ball is going down the screw as it spins. All I kept thinking as I walked around this place eating a four dollar churro was do these people actually make any money (other than the churro guy)? I mean, some of these booths are pretty lame, and there isn't a soul in the booth looking, let alone buying. They are sitting there staring into space with a "I could have been at a ball game" look on their face. I mean, with the cost of fuel, the rent of the space, the time to set up and put away three hundred frogs made from toll painted rocks....I just don't see how there is any money in it. I have to assume the "hot" booths like the beforementioned tiedye shirt place make a few bucks. But even they had HUNDREDS of shirts, skirts, shorts, etc. in stock that had to be paid for before they sold a thing. I have to assume that some of the older people are retired and don't have to make a time, they just entertain them selves by doing these shows. But there were some young people who certainly need to make a few bucks to make it worth their while. Does anyone know of anyone who does this? Brian 
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08-06-2006, 01:15 PM
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my wife makes crafts out of things found in the woods..pine cones..grapevines..branches..even sells little cactus plants in a little pot painted fancy...bird houses made out of branches & stuff..around Xmas time she'll make several pine cone reefs...make the ring out of grape vines & hot glue the pine cones to it..sometimes decorating them all up with other decorations...the city folks FLOCK to them..she makes good money & rarely has any money invested
i used to bring home dunage..or cribbing as others call it from work..its the wood used to stack the steel on the trucks for hauling & we use it lay the steel on the ground..most of it is oak 4x4's or even some 6x6's..i bring em home..stack em all evenly with spacers in between each stack with weight on it to keep it all straight..let it sit in the georgia hot sun..kiln dried in a few months..ive made ALOT of furniture out of it such as entertainment centers..coffee & end tables..little jewelry boxes...never had to haul anything back home..all sold because i can sell them at a low price because i have very little money invested..mainly screws.nails..glue & stains and poly coatings... there is money to be made at them but..just gotta have what everyone wants at a good price i geuss
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08-06-2006, 02:24 PM
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My mom used to do this several years ago. And made quite a bit of money on it.
The thing is though, you have to have the talent to craft something people like. Most of those things are just crap people put togather that others think is ugly, so those people don't make much. My parent's made several christmasy type things that were a huge hit around this area. We had people calling us constantly because they wanted little christmas trees we were making at the time. For every show, we would literally take 100 trees we made, sell out, go home that night, make even more, sell out again, and then start taking orders for people onthem! This has been almost 6-7 years, and everyonce and a while someone will say how they missed seeing my mom at the craft shows, because everyone loved her stuff. But then theirs other people who take stuff to them like a garage sale and don't make enough to cover their booth rent. So it just depends if you have something you can make alot of that people want bad enough, just like any other business. Brad
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08-07-2006, 02:17 AM
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Craft Shows?
YEH! theres Money to be MADE--but--its a lot of WORK!--I SOLD Heat "T" shirts--w/ Car stuff printed on E*M--Inventory--"T"shirs--Prints--Car PINS a VAN--GAS Insurance & Taxes-- & to make Money--You Gotta get there Rarley--sit UP & attend as many as Possible-- as theres more than ONE Show each week end so YOU Gotta Pick which One? --which means leaving HOME at Midnight & driving all Night--working All Day--& Tearing Down--& loading & driving back Home!--& I worked a 60 hour Week-- WE as it was a Family Affair--WE met a Lot of Great People!--& it was Enjoyable!--but WE reached a Saturation Point!--as most HOT RODs Custom Cars & Street Rods--are Owned by the Same People each Year!--Thus! the Shirt business fell off!--as Most Car Buffs had bought what ever? Make Car Shirts WE Had!--OH WE made some MONEY!-but WE Earned It-- as We only SOLD Top Quality Stuff!--HAINS & FRUIT of the LOOM Shirts--& the BEST Prints We could BUY & finally our Inventory got Low & being early FALL I the Next Spring!--I started calling! & Prices had Risen--on every thing!--so I*D have to Raise My Prices!--& I consider myself as an HONEST Man-- & What I*D PAY for a Printed Shirt?--& figuring?? My COST & what? I*D have to get for ONE? & still Make a Small PROFIT?--it just was NOT there! So I SOLD what I had Locally!--at Small Shows-- & SOLD the VAN--the Press & gave a lot Away--to Old Customers--I guess? if You some Parts? & Car Stuff? & Don*t Mind? Busting Your Hump on week ends?--getting UP Earley & Loading UP--& driving to where Ever? & Paying for a Spot--usually $20.00 for a 10X20 Spot--& Dickering w/ People!--& Hopefully? making enough to PAY for Your SPOT? & a Couple of HOT DOGS & a SODA or Two?--& Hopefully You will Sell something??--as its FUN even if You Don*t--but--after getting All your Stuff Together & Loading UP & Driving there--& staying all Day & If YOU don*t Sell much??-its Pretty Discouraging!-- I Did better than MOST-& SAW a lot that Didn*t-I*D Go & BUY some thing from Them!--I still have a Set of Hub Caps I have NO IDEA? of What they Go ON?? NO Name--just Plain Chrome!--SELLING is a GIFT? as Some People can SELL any thing! & theres Others that Couldn*t Give Away a MERCEDES--I DONO? --Ole JIM--
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08-07-2006, 03:15 AM
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Quote:
Later, WEIMER
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08-07-2006, 10:46 AM
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Its hard to read your post with all those capitol letters Jim every other word.
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08-07-2006, 05:59 PM
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Quote:
musta been some good brownies you ate while typing that one....
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08-07-2006, 06:27 PM
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Quote:
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08-07-2006, 06:40 PM
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I wonder Jim, now, I know NOTHING about computers or the internet. But I don't think your equipment has much to do with what you put on the screen. I may be wrong, but you are not using any "micro soft" equipment for instance when you type a post. All the "software" is provided by the web site as far as I know (which admittedly isn't much).
You can click on "Edit post" and change anything you want if it doesn't look good to you. Brian
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08-07-2006, 06:50 PM
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Quote:
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08-07-2006, 06:58 PM
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I understand what you are talking about because I have copied and pasted stuff from my MS WORKS or WORD onto different forums and all kinds of strange stuff happens. So I guess that certainly could be happening to you.
Brian
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08-07-2006, 08:11 PM
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We've had some previous issues with people using WebTV. I've never seen it change letter capitalization, but I know that the double-hypens and asterisks are a telltale sign. He also may have inserted commas, periods, line breaks, or other punctuation in his posts that are not visible to us.
WebTV units interpret and display websites differently than computers, sometimes to the point that they "slim down" the features available on a site. Webmasters generally dislike them, because they are difficult to design for. While WebTV is an inexpensive tool for introducing people to the internet, it's not suited for interactive websites where you are communicating with other people. I would recommend a cheap bottom-of-the-line computer with a warranty, and an introductory computer course for adults at a local college or community center. You should be able to do this for under $500, and the 30 or so hours spent in a computer class will save you a few hundred hours of frustration. BTW, regarding crafts, here's a popular ebay-type site specifically for handmade products: http://www.etsy.com .
__________________
HomemadeTools.net -- Thousands of Homemade Tools
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