BUST Magazine is now accepting vendor applications for the first ever Spring Fling Craftacular set to take place on Sunday April 27, 2008, from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. at The Warsaw in Brooklyn. This Springtime craft fair and ’90s themed dance will have 50 vendors, DJs, dancing, and drinks. How rad will you and your handmade goodies be if you get in?

You must fill out the online vendor application by March 30, 2008. There is a non-refundable $10 application and processing fee. If you are accepted as a vendor, your deposit will go towards the full booth fee of $225 due by April 11, 2008. That sounds like a pretty high fee for a craft fair, but the Bust Magazine crew know how to pack a show with shoppers. I was lucky to sell at their holiday show this past December and the line to get into the show went around the block for most of the day. My only problem with that show was that it had 200 vendors. This was really overwhelming for both vendor and shopper, so I think that this 50 person show sounds like more fun. But it will likely be way more difficult to get accepted, so don’t be a sad panda if you don’t get in! There is way more going on this spring in the world of indie craft, so stay tuned!

The 2008 Takoma Park Street Festival is accepting applications for craft vendors. The festival is Sunday, October 5, 2008, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fee is $125 per 10 x 10 ft. space.

The festival allocate spaces to eligible participants based on the order applications are received, taking into account, however, the need to offer an appropriate mix of participant/vendor types and items sold. The festival is usually filled by June. The application can be downloaded from the web site, here.

The Takoma Park Street Festival is entering its 25th year as a multi-cultural music and crafts festival in downtown Old Takoma. Check out their web site for more information.

Post in the comments if you have done this show in the past and what you think of this local opportunity.

Hey crafters! You can’t hide inside with your knitting and C-SPAN for much longer. Winter will be over soon and you will need a tent and sunscreen and it will be time to go out into the world and sell your wares. With that in mind, it is time to start applying for spring/summer shows. The first local opportunity that should be on your radar is the Ballston Arts + Crafts Market.

The need to know info:
Second Saturdays, May through October
Ballston Arts + Crafts Market
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Welburn Square, across from the Ballston Metro station.

I like this market because of the Metro accessible location, easy load in and out areas and nice neighborhood with really close smoothies and lunch options. It really is almost hassle-free. You will need a tent, though, so keep that in mind.

To apply to sell your items at the market, please download the 2008 Arts+Crafts Market application here, and be sure to note the guidelines and eligibility before applying. There is no application fee, and applications can be sent via mail or email as outlined on the application.

This year’s deadline for the first round of jurying is March 3, 2008. Applications received after 3/3 will be reviewed on a space-available basis. If you are selected, you can pick to sell your wares at some or all of the dates, which makes it really convenient.

For more information on this market, check out their blog at http://www.ballstonarts-craftsmarket.blogspot.com/

If you have been looking for a really cool show to sell your handmade goodies at in February, you are in luck! Crafts and Kisses, a Valentine-themed craft fair in Washington, DC, is looking for a few more vendors.

The fair will take place on Sunday, February 3rd, from noon to 5pm. The location is the Josephine Butler Parks Center, a gorgeous old mansion right next to Malcolm X/Meridian Hill Park on 15th Street NW. It’s situated a few blocks from both the Columbia Heights Metro and the U Street Metro.

This fair will feature 30 to 40 vendors, entertainment, edible treats and drinks. You are welcome (and encouraged) to make Valentine or even anti-Valentine themed crafts, but this is not required. BUST magazine is a media sponsor and will help to market the event.

For information about becoming a vendor at the fair, just email Moira or check out the website at http://craftsandkisses.wordpress.com/

The list of vendors already signed up is impressive! Check it out:

Vendors

* 60 bugs
* 8th Street Soap
* Amplifiche
* Art School Dropout
* bLuGrn Design
* bookish lady
* Bookwyrms
* Charming Vices
* De*Nada Design
* Erica Burns Designs
* Had Matter Art
* Imogene
* Jenafusion Fashion Accessories
* Karen Jabo
* Kristina Bilonick
* Leah Sturgis Jewelry Art
* Magpie DC
* Manatea Party
* Patch Ink Designs
* Peacock Blue Design Studio
* Penelope’s Spa
* Pile of Craft
* Raygun Robyn
* REALM Jewelry
* Rebound Designs
* Red Prairie Press
* Resurrecting Victoria
* The Devil Made Me Do It
* Tina Seamonster
* Trees
* Woolarina

Going out of town takes a lot of preparation and certainly getting ready for a craft market does too. Combine them both and you have a big project on your hands. Planning is essential. You have a lot of work ahead of you the day(s) of the actual market and you don’t want to be an exhausted wreck before you even get there. Your purpose during the market is to smile and engage with shoppers and to be ready to talk about your crafts. If you’re stressed or worn out just from the getting there part, the day is going to just drag on and you might not have as much success as you had hoped for.

Crafters usually don’t have a lot of extra money and unlike a vacation where the purpose of the trip is to have fun and consequently spend money, the purpose of traveling to a market is to make money (plus gain exposure, network with motivated crafters and market your creations). There is a careful balance necessary when traveling to a market out of town. Try to be frugal in as many ways as possible so that the show pays off, but allow yourself certain luxuries in order to make the weekend functional. An example of this is staying at a hotel that is more expensive than your normal budget, but is only a few blocks away from the market, thus making it much easier to get there and back.

Packing- Be really conscious of how you are getting there (flying or driving) while you pack. Instead of waiting until the night before to pack everything, find some spot in your home where you can start collecting everything you’re going to need. Once you’ve finished making a product put it in that corner. New business cards come in the mail? Put them directly in the corner so they are all ready to go for the trip. Buy new displays? Put them in the corner. Make a new sign for your booth? Put it in the corner. That way you aren’t scrambling at the last minute. And you’re not constantly trying to remember little things. Anything you see in your house that makes you think “I have to remember to take that with me to the market” just pick it up right then and put it in the corner. Don’t rely on your frazzled brain to remember it later!

Travel Plans- Once you’ve decided if you are driving or flying to the market start planning the details early.

If you are flying, determine if you can rent a tent, tables and chairs from the show. Most shows offer this for an additional fee and renting them from the show is going to make setup much easier. You should also determine early on how much luggage you’re going to have. Find out your airline’s baggage restrictions and how much they charge for oversized bags. Figure out where you are going to stay based on the location of the market. You may decide to rent a car, but chances are this is not cost effective. Figure out if there is a convenient way to take public transportation. Other options are a local car service or a cab, but make sure you have enough cash and have budgeted this into your costs for the trip. Multiple rides in a cab (four trips for a two day show) can really add up. However you choose to get around make sure it is going to work for the amount of stuff you have, and likewise, make sure you don’t have too much stuff that you can’t get from place to place with all of it.

If you are driving, you’ll probably feel like you can bring way more stuff than if you are flying. Make sure everything you pack is essential. Driving a long distance in an overstuffed car can be stressful if your visibility is obstructed. Make sure you have really good detailed directions to your destination and a driving map of each state you’re going through. You never know when a route is going to be closed for construction and you want to be prepared.

Whether you are flying or driving, before you leave home get a really good grasp on the layout of the city you’re going to. If you’re taking public transportation study their map and study a map of your route if you are driving or taking cabs. You need to be familiar even if you are taking a cab. You don’t want to get lost on the way to the market, it will just make the whole day much harder.

Fun- The number one most important thing to remember while traveling to a market out of town is to have fun! The whole ordeal is just that, an ordeal. You have to get ready to get there, you have to get there, you have to haul a bunch of stuff, you have to pitch a tent, you have to unpack all your stuff, you have to make it look pretty, you have to pack it back up at the end of the day, you have to deal with weather for an extended period of time, you have to figure out logistics, you have to get along with the people you are traveling with or you have to figure out how to make all this happen on your own if you are traveling solo, you have to smile and talk to strangers all day, you have to handle money, you have to get yourself food and you have to figure out a way to take bathroom breaks but not leave your stuff unsupervised.

Seriously, doing craft markets is really hard work and not for the faint of heart! If you’ve done one, you are a rock star. So just prepare yourself mentally that it’s going to be a grueling day. But so worth it! You get to show off your hand crafted work to the world, you get to meet crafters from other cities, you get to see crafty friends from all over the country, you get to talk up your product (when else is it really appropriate to brag?) and you get to take money from people in exchange for something you made. What could be better? It’s so exhilarating! So for all the grueling work just keep a positive attitude because this is going to be a great day!!!

So go get ‘em! Get prepared, get ready and then you’re going to have fun!

Additional Reading:
To read more specifics on how to get ready for a craft market in general you can read an article I wrote for Get Crafty a couple of years ago. All the info is still true, but notice the photo with a disposable camera. Now I don’t go anywhere without my digital!

HOW TO: prepare for a craft fair

Christy Petterson is currently preparing for her second drive to DC to participate in Crafty Bastards and her third drive to Chicago to participate in Renegade with her line a bardis. She co-organizes the Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta, co-produces the annual Starlets of Craft Calendar and co-edits Get Crafty.

Welcome to guest blogger Christy Petterson!

Christy is currently preparing for her second drive to DC to participate in Crafty Bastards and her third drive to Chicago to participate in Renegade (this weekend!) with her line a bardis. She co-organizes the Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta, co-produces the annual Starlets of Craft Calendar and co-edits Get Crafty.

When she’s not busy prepping for, travelling to and selling her goods at craft fairs, Christy will be dishing out tips and hints to help you get ready for your next craft show. To get a taste of the helpful info Christy will share, check out the How to Prepare for a Craft Fair entry (complete with checklist) she wrote for Get Crafty a couple of years ago.

Welcome Christy!

Hurry, hurry! Don’t forget to apply to these great craft shows…

Applications for Craftland 2007 are due tomorrow, August 31st!!! Get to it!

Deadline to apply to Handmade Arcade in Pittsburgh is by midnight this Saturday, September 1st!

Now accepting applications for holiday shows…

Charm City Craft Mafia’s Holiday Heap is scheduled for December 1st in Baltimore. Applications are due October 1st!

BUST’s Holiday Craftacular in NYC is now accepting applications. Show will be December 8th. Deadline to apply is October 15th.

Post a comment and let us know about any shows or deadlines we missed.

That gigantic super cool craft show is just a month away. What are you doing to prepare? Brainstorming new items? Buying a new tent? Building up stock? Asking your brother to fly 3000 miles to help you man your booth? (Yes, I did this and he is coming.)

Maybe you haven’t even begun to plan and are wondering where to start? My advice is to spend some time with your promotional materials. These are going to be important before, during and after that big show. Think you don’t have time for this? It shouldn’t take long and you will be happy you did it!

Printed materials. Do you have them? If not, get some! There will be so many people who want to remember you or show your stuff to a friend. Afraid of dealing with printers? I understand. There are a number of online companies that will help you design and submit postcards, business cards, fliers, etc. Use their online tools to create a piece or if you have some skillz, download a Photoshop template. I love Vistaprint.com, but be warned if you go with them, be ready to be spammed for the rest of your life. I have friends who swear by Overnightprints.com because you can get those fancy rounded corners on everything. There are many more places to get your materials fast and cheap.

Have you taken a good look at your promotional materials from the standpoint of someone who knows nothing about you? Try to avoid business cards with just text on them. We need to see what you make! I would also say try to avoid business cards in general. I always throw them away. They are too small and look like scraps of trash in my bag. I truly believe the postcard is the way to go.

Think about creating your postcards to double as products. Why not create an art card with a really cool picture of one of your items or perhaps with one of your designs? If you put your shop name on the back of the card, it turns into a freebie rather than an advertisement. I have a postcard from Glitterlimes.com on my wall that has been with me for 3 years. I took it to every new job and now it is on my daughters’ closet door. It is beautiful; like their products, it is art. Make a set of 4 different cards, package them up and sell them, but give one of them away as your promo card. People will want to take something that has value.

LemonCadet made these little felt bean stickers and added them to her postcards. I picked one up because I liked the bean. I promptly put the sticker on the back of my cell phone. There she is. My orange bean reminds me of LemonCadet every time I use my cell. How brilliant is that? Make your customers know that you like them even if they don’t buy something right then. That might be corny, but indie craft is about people. And the more you act like a person and not a used car salesmen, the more people will dig you.

Other things you could be thinking about are overhauling that web shop for post-show shoppers, clearing up your brand identity and oh yeah, making some stuff. These are topics for another post, though. Get to work!

The Crafty Crew is delighted to announce this year’s Crafty Bastards Vendors!

Take a peek at some of the handmade goodness that will be for sale at Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair 2007. See something you like? Leave a comment for the vendor on their profile page (comments are below the photos) and let them know.

This year’s Crafty Bastards is shaping up to be the best ever! Stay tuned for information on the entertainment line up and the on site workshops hosted by Etsy. Join the email list to make sure you don’t miss out on special announcements!

Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 30th and start compiling your shopping lists now!

You got in! You beat the 4 to 1 odds of making it into Crafty Bastards. Whether this is your first or fourth year, you must be saying, “Now what?!”Last year’s show brought in nearly 15,000 shoppers. This is a unique opportunity to reach an amazing number of people. What fresh and brilliant goodies are you going to offer them? (Note, even if you didn’t get in, the following ideas will work for all of the other rad shows you will be doing this fall!).

The biggest mistake that I always make is first concentrating on the old favorites. Of course this is important and will be done in the coming weeks; but a good thing to do first is brainstorm new designs, ideas and products. This way you can work out the bugs and figure them out long before the day of the event. Last year, I actually came up with my zombie design at 2 in the morning the night before the show. Seriously! I had one Gocco screen left, and 9 t-shirts. I remember standing there, exhausted from heat setting and pricing, thinking, “Should I just go to bed?”� I pressed on and made the new design. Of course, this design is all I heard about all day and I sold them all. Waiting to explore new ideas until the last minute can be exciting, but sad when you don’t have enough to sell!

Another thing that is easy to forget is to explore how you can turn your most popular items into new products. This can be super fun and you know that if someone liked a design in one medium, they will dig it in another, too. If you make a rad stuffed Ninja Fetus (Fort Cloudy) or a super cool Batty (MagpieDC), why not take his picture and put him on a pocket mirror or a badge? Designs for rings can turn into refrigerator magnets or pendants (see Block Party Press for examples of this).

Larger pieces of art that are limited edition like Rania Hassan’s “Knit XIV”� can be made into postcards or small prints. All of these ideas are good because you are offering your best work at different price points. A more casual shopper might pick up a $5 postcard set, but then come back months later for the bigger piece. Lower priced alternatives are also good for people who are buying gifts.

Think about creating something completely unexpected with either an old or a new design. I just finished turning my zombie shirt design into holiday cards. I know it is July, but it is never too early to start making holiday cards. I have rarely in my life sent Christmas cards to anyone for lack of an interesting card to send! I figured there must be other people out there like me. So, the Zombie Plague Holiday Card Set was born by modifying a current product.

Ok, Crafty Bastards, you have 10 weeks! Get to work! And be sure to post links to what you are making in the comments! We all wanna see!