Gallery Demo

Well, the past few weeks have been scheduled almost to the minute.  With running the kids from activity to activity, getting the new booth shelves finished, attending a workshop, and now preparing for a gallery show starting in a few hours.

The ice storm a few weeks ago stopped us in our tracks waiting a week for electricity, but we have met all deadlines so far. Whew!  Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, our bisque shelves are empty.  I guess the next two days doing demos at the gallery will have to go to replenish the stock.

Also with all the rain, the fire danger may be down enough to allow us to do a pit fire.  We did not do any last year and the selection of pit pots is very limited.  I hope I can get enough thrown before it gets too dry.

Its been several, several weeks since I've spun a pot.  I hope I don't make a fool of myself throwing in front of an audience.  I will have my trash can close just in case.

2012 update

Well the 2012 festival season has ended this past weekend.  We have now put the booth away, and put all the remaining inventory back on the shelves for now.  It has been a challenging year, most shows level, few were down, few were up.  Gallery sales have increased which is good.  Since we introduced Obvara in our last 3 shows, it has comprised of 70% of our sales.

Fall is the time we submit to a few exhibitions, We currently have two active now the 5th biennial South Dakota Governor's Show that opens in it second venue, SD State Art Museum, later this month on its 18 month tour.  Also the 1st Juried Exhibition at the Washington Pavilion is going on now, where we have 1 of 60 pieces selected for the show.

Tonight I'm finishing our annual Paint the Night Pink submission, it's a great night, 10/19/2012, of fun, food,drink and art.  If you are in the area I strongly urge you to purchase a ticket and attend.  Also working on another one, but we have never been accepted, maybe this is the year, submitting two Obvara pieces.

Fall is also the time of year we look for additional galleries, I think we are looking at trying to add one or two  this year.  We are also in negotiations with an interior design firm to market our work to their clients, may have that finished by the end of the month.

With the extreme dry conditions in South Dakota, our fall pit fire is cancelled, so the pits on hand is all we will have until next year unless it is dry again.

popularity of old work

It was very odd last weekend at ArtRocks and I have been thinking about it all week.  The pieces that created the most buzz and got "petted" the most were from a couple years ago.  They were foil saggar'd tiles in wide wood frames I had made from scrap wood.  Even a couple of fellow artisans who see at many festivals over the summer commented on them.  I had these in a box for the last year or more, never even crossed my mind to grab them, but I did for ArtRocks to save space.

I will bring them again next weekend(Sept 10) to Sidewalk Arts, but it was just odd how pieces from a few years back, and didn't go over very well then, made and impact now.  Here is a photo of a group of them.

I remember reading a post on Ceramic Arts Daily from Chris Campbell regarding the sensation of people asking for her old work.  I guess I know what she meant, not that I totally understand it.

Also its that time of year to look at expanding our gallery representation, which is something i've neglected over the past year or so.  We would like to keep within a 4-6 hr radius from Sioux Falls, but may consider elsewhere.  So if you know a gallery looking, or would like to see our work locally where you live, help me make a connection.

ArtRocks

Another year is done, and finished. Wanted to thank all the people behind the festival. The Artist reception was great, I noticed much more advertising this year. Crowds were light, so artists were never overwhelmed in their booths, but there were serious buyers in the crowd.

This year I personally scored a couple great pieces of artwork to adorn my studio walls. (at least when I have walls) One print from Jennifer White, and a couple small canvases from Chris Francis. Speaking of Chris if you are in Sioux Falls this weekend, he has an opening at Eastbank on Friday, His work is fabulous.

As for the update regarding credit cards, less then 20% of the sales from the weekend were on plastic. Doesn't help the Pro credit side.

Two weeks to Sidewalk Arts, and I'm already preparing.

Holiday Show

It is August, our typical show seasons wraps up in 6 weeks. We have not found a winter/holiday show falls in line with our goals. there is one that is relentlessly badgering us to pay the $300-$400 to partake in theirs. I gone as a customer, I would never make the money back. We are looking at one in a new market, but waiting for a little more, we may do it just to have a show to do.

Which has led us to do our own holiday open house/ open studio. For those of you on FB you are getting this twice since this will post to the FB account as well, but for those in webland, if you'd be so kind to offer your input as to the hours we should be open.

The poll has been up for a couple hours and have gotten great feedback, much different then we expected. And a few great messages/IM/ comments/ emails on the subject.

Thank you in advance for your input.

Bemidji Art in the Park

I know I'm a little late, considering the festival was last weekend, what can I say it has been a crazy week. between the W2 job and kids activities pottery has been on the back burner. I did get an order shipped, does that count?

Anyway, I am now a believer that credit cards help increase sales. We increased sales in Bemidji by 125%, of that 88% was on plastic. We even had people buy multiple pieces! The weather did not cooperate otherwise i believe we would have had even more growth in the sales category.

The weather, what can you do. On Saturday the police ordered the park evacuated due to a thunderstorm, by the time we had battened down the hatches so to speak they gave the all clear saying the storm had broken up. Well it was late enough in the afternoon that people who had left didn't return, but there still some people who ventured out, but the crowds were much lighter.

On Sunday the storm did hit with 90 mins left, at which point the vendors including us, decided to pack up. No last minute sales this time.

Alas, credit cards are good for sales, i know most of you are saying DUH! but I'm set in my ways. We are now exploring the possibility of online sales via paypal. I'll keep you updated

Credit Cards

a little more on the credit cards. We have a square, for those of you not familiar with it, it is a small, square(if you can believe it) device that plugs into your headphone jack on a smart phone. This device allows me to accept payment from the 4 major credit card companies at a flat per use rate. This is awesome for those like me who do business only a few months out of the year. If I do not swipe a card, i pay nothing for the gizmo, or the service, only when I use it. the gizmo was free as well.

There are some limitations to it, it can only process $1000 a week, or anything over $1K will be held for roughly 30 days. I'm told i can get that adjusted, but so far don't see the need. Payment from the company to me is a couple days, so for a Sat/Sun Show...I get the 1st payment on tues, and the rest on Wed. Manual entries can be a little tedious especially if you are typing on a cell phone keypad with knockwurst fingers.

I am not promoting Square, just speaking of my experience so far. There other similar services out there, such as intuit go payment. I will continue to update on the experience and see the impact if any on sales when you accept Credit cards.

CC or Not

Well the 2011 BSAF is over and in the bag. The big question for us was "if the acceptance of credit cards increased our business? Or better put Did not accepting Credit Cards hurt our sales?

Well here are some facts in 2011 our sales increased by 226% over 2010. Of the sales we made, 82% were done on credit cards. This year we have also sold more of our larger pieces, and less of the regular or normal sized pots. This trend was supported during both of our major shows.

I did notice in both of the shows, roughly 1/3 of the customers asked if you took credit cards prior to handing it to you, the other 2/3 either saw the 3"x3" sign or just assumed. I did have one person say after they asked if I took credit cards "good, cause they were out of cash." So that is one sale I would have missed out on.

In the past I was certain we didn't miss many sales due to the lack of credit acceptance, but after this weekend i'm not certain. I know personally when all i have left if my debit card, or short on cash I double check for the familiar logos of the credit conglomerates prior to purchasing or even going in.

We have another show this upcoming weekend, and we will see what it brings.