Saturday was a rainy, overcast day here on the VA Eastern Shore — perfect weather for an indoor arts and crafts festival.
Following our custom of the past several years, we participated in the Heritage Celebration held at the local community college. This annual events features the talents of local artists, crafts people, and musicians. It also includes speakers and performances and exhibits from various community groups. It’s a “freebie” for participating artists and the attending public — except, of course, when they buy from the artists, which we all hope they will.
Luckily, we were set up side-by-side in the same room. Grenville’s talents (one of many and I speak unbiased, of course) is wood turning; his former business was Wood N Thingz. My passion is photography (no surprise); my former photo card business was OnleyImages (pronounced “only”).
Since we are planning to relocate (once the Frog & PenguINN is sold) OUR goal was to slash costs on remaining inventory. We did NOT want to pack it. Making some sales would also be a very good thing.Happily, we accomplished BOTH goals! Grenville had a very successful day selling his wood turnings inventory. He really does beautiful work — another unbiased opinion. But, lots of others who purchased his turnings agreed; here’s a few examples:
The two items on the right can be used to drill a planting hole; the markings are in half-inch increments. The center photo are wine stoppers, if one doesn’t finish the entire bottle (do folks not do that?). The last item is a whimsical thingamajig, possibly a tree-topper for a (very) small tree. Bowls from large to small, and candle holders were also popular items.
Grenville set a one-price, your choice policy and it worked great. These pieces sold quickly.
I reduced prices on my photo card inventory and nearly sold out. Our mutual decision to cut prices was the best way to sell more as everyone likes a bargain. When anyone told me that my prices were SO low, I offered to take more $,but never got more . . . go figure.
This event is always a good time to catch up with lots of other talented folks. Out artist friend, Marty and hubby Robert were in the same room. Here’s some of her work:
Also sharing the rooms was a carver friend, Ed, whose colorful fish and beautiful swans are always popular.
Last year, there was a display of circuit board art, and it was there again. The baby is still in uterus, but this year “mom” had a new pony tail hairdo.Despite the weather, this was a wonderful and well-attended local event and a good way to spend a rainy Saturday; today it’s sunny.
15 comments:
Good to hear you "cleaned up" and had a great time as well!...)JP
i would have left bob tending both tables and snapped myself silly. so much to seeeee... i like his wood turnings, the bowls are beautiful.
Yes Grenville do beautiful things from wood! My favorite is the bowl in the bigger photo!
I do like those fish too :-)
Have a great day!
Christer.
Looks like lots of fun! And, you're right, Grenville does beautiful work and I know you take lovely images, too. Glad to hear you cleared your inventory for the big move. ;)
You are both quite talented, I think. Congratulations on your success. Sounds like a fun time.
Wonderful work ! Congrats on your sales ! Papa here is more of a hobbyist at his wood workings but has sold a few things and we both are amature nature photographers as well and have sold some photos ! One day we will try our hand at selling at a craft show or two but here there is a lot of red tape and $ involved to get into craft shows as they are a big business here ! For now we just sell by word of mouth lol ! Have a good evening !
Hi Beatrice,
Thanks for popping in on me at Living Life on Main Street and It's a new Life, a new day. so good to hear from you and on checking out your blog, I start following right away! Tried to email you but something is wrong when i try that... I get this Google search engine instead. Hope you'll visit and chat often.
Beatrice: Thank you for showing my artwork. I was so happy to see you and Grenville were able to sell so much. Thank you both for you help setting up and taking down my artwork. See you both soon. Love you lots and lots, Marty
And then I spent all my profits at the train show today..
Grenville
Excellent! And looks like some really great stuff.
Sounds like fun to me! you're right, his wood-turning items are beautiful.
Wood turning is the next thing I want to learn. When the basement is finished I am going to take some classes. You are right to be proud of him.
Beautiful work! Glad your sales were good--it's always a good feeling to go home with a lot less than you came with. Marty likes to work with wood too, but he's been building boxes, from tiny to jewelry box size. He did a couple of craft shows last fall and sold quite a bit.
It seems like a very successful event. Grenville is a talented dude.
When my husband was alive we usually finished the wine bottle. Now, I need a wine stopper ... a bottle can last 3 days.
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