Latest Craft Fair Results

[Tom McDonnell]

Salad bowls, I can't make enough. Not surprising. Highly finished spalted bowls were the first to go and that was a surprise. Larger decorative bowls weren't especially popular. Smaller bowls with nice grain hardly were noticed. Boxes..., I love turning boxes but they've never been good sellers for me. Scoops always do well but I made few this year and could have sold many.
Every craft fair is different though and I always wonder where I should focus. The choice between what I like to make and what sells.

 

[Richard Coers]

Salad bowls, I can't make enough. Not surprising. Highly finished spalted bowls were the first to go and that was a surprise. Larger decorative bowls weren't especially popular. Smaller bowls with nice grain hardly were noticed. Boxes..., I love turning boxes but they've never been good sellers for me. Scoops always do well but I made few this year and could have sold many.
Every craft fair is different though and I always wonder where I should focus. The choice between what I like to make and what sells.

Seems like an easy answer. What is your goal, make money or have fun? If both, don't change anything.

 

[Webb Willmott]

What was the most popular size and going rate for a salad bowl sold at a craft fair?

With zero knowledge on what you had for sale I’ll take a shot in the dark and guess that a large decorative bowl price exceeds the impulse wallet threshold and small boxes and smaller bowls feel expensive based on the cost vs size.

 

[robo hippy]

I specialize in daily use bowls and plates. Plain and simple, no detail work at all. I figure at a show I will sell pretty much equal dollars worth of larger family sized bowls and smaller "individual" use bowls and plates. So higher numbers of smaller pieces. Over $200 is pretty much not worth it for me to make. Most of mine are in the $10 to $40 range. I did see a guy at the only show I do, and he was asking $100 for a 6 inch walnut bowl, and I would have charged $20 to $30 for. He did have some nice big ornamental pieces. I know I sold way more than he did.

robo hippy

 

[EMCM]

I always take a2-3 big bowls to my shows, knowing most likely I will be packing them up. But every few shows someone comes is and goes to a big one picks it up and wants it.
Seems 14-16 inch is the sweet spot.

 

[Tom McDonnell]

Salad bowls were $50-100. Pricing work, I know, is everybody's quandary. I scrounge up most of my wood locally. The wood that I pay for is priced accordingly. I had a lot of items this time that hadn't sold at previous fairs. Wanted to blow them out but my wife over ruled that.
Another interesting thing was the number of young women who asked how to get started woodturning. I referred them to the local club.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

The few replies to this message are giving me a very narrow view confirmation that spending huge dollars on a 24" lathe may not be as popular/necessary of a need as many may think, if the goal is to turn lots of wood and sell lots of stuff. Maybe 12-16 inch machines are, as stated above, the sweet spot. Again, a very narrow view, lots of other data required.

Caveat- I owned a 24" lathe for almost 20 years, now sold. I now own a 16" and a 12" lathe. I do not sell anything, haven't in... 29 years.

 

[john lucas]

I envy you people that can sell bowls. I do a few smaller art shows and craft shows and rarely sell any items over $25. I do sell an occasional bowl or art piece. My hand mirrors quit selling. I used to sell a lot but haven't sold a single one in the last 6 shows. 80% of my total sales are items $25 or less. I still manage to $800 to $1000 but it's all small stuff.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Salad bowls, I can't make enough. Not surprising. Highly finished spalted bowls were the first to go and that was a surprise. Larger decorative bowls weren't especially popular. Smaller bowls with nice grain hardly were noticed. Boxes..., I love turning boxes but they've never been good sellers for me. Scoops always do well but I made few this year and could have sold many.
Every craft fair is different though and I always wonder where I should focus. The choice between what I like to make and what sells.

Thanks for the report, good to know what people will buy. Diameters (not exact x.xx”) of what you consider a “salad bowl”, “larger decorative bowls”, and “smaller bowls with nice grain” would provide a much better perspective.

 

[Tom McDonnell]

My "salad bowls" are probably 10" -14", made of hard woods. I get a lot of softer woods where I live here in the pnw, which I don't consider especially good for utilty/ tableware, so I try to embellish or color them etc, and consider them " decorative". Small bowls are well, small bowls. I think we all have lots of that wood, cores etc. They don't seem to sell especially well so I try to offer ones that have interesting grain.

 

[robo hippy]

I figure that if I want/hope to sell $2000 worth, then I need at least $4000 worth of inventory. Part of the reason I have good sales at this one show is a reputation for having them for so long.

robo hippy

 

[Michael Anderson]

The few replies to this message are giving me a very narrow view confirmation that spending huge dollars on a 24" lathe may not be as popular/necessary of a need as many may think,

The other benefits of a large lathe are power, more room for banjo clearance, default weight, etc… I know you know that, but wanted to get a bit of text in for anyone considering “upgrading”. I have an old Vicmarc VL300, mainly because I like riding the bedways like a horse. That’s a half-joke.