I have taken the summer off from cards to do some remodeling and work on more of the fine art and graphic design side of things. Fall is coming and it is time to start thinking about the craft fair season coming up quite quickly. So today begins the first post in this years craft fair series.
One of my top sellers last year were stamped travertine coasters (I just love the look of those imperfect tiles), so of course they will be back on my table this year. Let's take a look at a few of my designs:
Apparently they were so popular that the girl with the table next to me at the first craft fair (she was selling knitted goods) decided she wanted in on the action. The next month I'm setting up at another fair and she was positioned next to me again. Low and behold I look over and there are some knock offs of my coasters sitting on her table among the knitted items. Judging by her sales, and the looks of her finished product, she should have just asked me for instructions.
Here's what worked: So I know that every market is different but, for me, I sold these last year 1 for $5 or 4 for $15. Not one person purchased less than 4. Was that because the pricing made it appear that 4 was much more of a bargain? Or because no one really wanted to have just one? Even though no one purchased an entire set of the same design. Everyone wanted the option to mix and match. Initially I was going to only put out the pricing as pick 4 for $15 but I think I have talked myself out of it. I'm going to put the pricing the same and see how it goes. I also know which designs I sold out of so I will change up some of my designs this year and take out the less popular ones, as well as incorporate a few new designs.
I did really well on these last year but that doesn't mean they will be as popular this year, especially if more vendors in my market are doing them this year. Just in case, I decided to come up with a twist. Are you ready for it? Here it goes, I'm turning them into desk art:
Now don't judge, this was just my test piece I used to get the placing figured out. I had a bunch of quarter round left over from when we got our floors done and was racking my brains trying to figure out a use for it. I decided to cut a piece off and see if I could use it as an easel backing on some tiles. In my craft studio I do use the travertine tiles, ceramic tiles, and even acrylic blocks with different mediums. I stamp on them, I paint on them, I do acrylic pours, resin, and alcohol ink. Having a simple way to turn flat tiles into desk art gives them a whole other use without having to mount them to expensive boxes or frames. Although I love the look of those as well, they don't necessarily fit into a kitschy craft fair.
Here are the deets: What I found worked best was a one inch section of the quarter round for these 4x4 tiles, if you are doing something larger you will need to adjust accordingly. I then spray painted it black but feel free to use any color you like. I will say that on my test piece I grabbed whatever was handy, it happened to be chalk paint. Don't do it lol, use something that is going to dry and not budge. No es bueno. Also important to note, you need to leave appx. a 3/16 inch of a gap at the bottom so that the piece will lean back slightly while not falling over one way or the other. If you do it flush it will never stand up. I attached this onto the back of my tile with e6000 glue. You need something strong, and permanent. It did take a little longer to dry than usual but I'm not sure if it was because of the chalk paint or because of the tile. I just left it overnight to dry and it was fine.
In case you missed it: For doing these stamped tiles all you need is stazon ink. I simply clean off my tiles with alcohol, stamp my design with stazon, that is it. I have seen a lot of misinformation out there on these. You do not need to seal them, you do not need to bake them, you do not have to do anything else. You can buy stazon in many different colors these days so you can change up your designs that way (I happen to like the black). Travertine tiles (which I buy at Home Depot quite inexpensively) are very porous. When left in their natural state they act as thirsty stones, which is something that you want in a coaster. If you use any different type of ink and try to seal these bad boys they will no longer absorb water, instead the water will run off onto the table if your glass gets really sweaty. Don't forget to add some heavy duty felt feet or rubber bumpers (which you can also get at Home Depot) to the bottoms so that they are lifted from the table surface and won't scratch. Last year I used the felt because I liked the look of it but I will be switching over to the rubber bumpers. You will find that the felt slides quite quickly across a table top. Both will work for it's purpose, and the felt costs a little less. Oh, and I highly highly recommend buying from the pile of loose tiles instead of the packaged ones. That way you get all of them with character and yet still have a good stamping surface. Picking up more on short notice last year I decided not to pick through, now I have a few more "test" pieces laying around than I would like. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions!
Keep it crafty,
~Sherry
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