Monday, June 6, 2011

Providence Art Festival Round-Up

Providence Art Festival, downcity
my booth in the forefront on westminster street for the providence art festival before the crowds arrive for the day

The festival I've been working up to for the past month arrived this past Saturday and I am feeling pretty good about how it went. It was a long day starting with the hour drive down to Providence early in the morning, but the weather could not have been better and we had a lot of fun being a part of such a well-organized event. I would love to be able to do more of them as I had a great time selling my wares in person although I have yet to find any other ones on this scale that are reasonably priced and am still nervous about plunking down the hundreds of dollars that many fairs require as a vendor fee. I did pretty well with this one, not as well as I would have liked, but enough to cover my vendor fee plus some so a definite success, even if one does have to start small!

Lots of pictures to share so buckle up and hang on:

The Story of Kat at PAF—June 4th, 2011
patterns and pillows all set up


The Story of Kat at PAF—June 4th, 2011
draft stoppers, bunting, and sachets—o my!


The Story of Kat at PAF—June 4th, 2011
embroidery patterns to go

When we first got there, I freaked out a little because we had the one and only completely wet spot on the whole street and so we couldn't set anything down without it getting mud on it. It was a nice little spot on one of the corners but was situated in such a way so that we were at the end of a wind-tunnel and nothing we put out would sit still. o the joys of en plein air right?! haha, well all is well that ends well and my nerves definitely died down with some coffee and my husband helping to set everything up. Seriously, the man is quite the trooper.

The Story of Kat at PAF—June 4th, 2011
the lavender sachets were a big hit!

I felt like such a newbie and since I only had a month to churn out all the product I would need, I wasn't able to put as much time and money into the display as I would have liked but definitely want to make some improvements in that area going forward. It was a bit tricky being able to get around to all the other booths but I got to see enough of them that my head is full of ideas on how to improve my display and "set the scene" in a more streamlined way for my products. You live, you learn I guess and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so.

 Big Nazo
Big Nazo performance group do their thang at the festival (very cool and pretty funny too!)

And what better place to get some experience under my belt than Providence?!  I'd been to downtown Providence just once before and have really enjoyed myself on both occasions—it is such a cool little area that is very artist friendly with great architecture, local restaurants, shops, and people. The festival was very well run and chock full of a lot of friendly and creative folks.


The Story of Kat at PAF—June 4th, 2011
vintage suitcases for display—brought from home where they serve as coffee and end tables

I'm going to be listing several of the leftover pillows in my etsy shop this week so if any of these strike your fancy, keep those eyes peeled! I'm particularly smitten with how the Liberty of London dresden and patchwork ones turned out and am planning a little blog post to introduce them formally.

In the meantime, I kind of just want to sit down and breathe after this whirwind! I meant to take yesterday off and did manage to stay away from the computer for the whole weekend (quite an accomplishment in and of itself I think) but ended up working my butt off on Sunday to help take care of so many of the things I'd been ignoring around the house. My etsy shop is clamouring for some attention as well and I'm looking forward to replenishing it and myself as soon as possible!

10 comments:

Christina said...

It sounds like a great experience overall! Congrats! :)

Debra said...

Kate, your booth looked great, I see you decided to cover the red table ! I can't wait to check out the pillows more closely.

thestoryofkat said...

thanks christina! it is definitely nice to have this experience under my belt now!

hi mom...you are on blogger?! yep, at the last minute i had to cover it as those were the festival rules...sigh. i thought it looked better without but c'est la vive.

Meeling said...

Looks great Kat! I love you vintage suitcases as displays. Glad you did well. I haven't done a "booth" at a fair in quite some time, but I remember how much work it all is. Sounds like a success and the weather looks lovely!!

Unknown said...

Great job kat! I love the use of the vintage suitcases, and your stuff just looked so darn cute!

considerthelillies said...

your set up was great! I also enjoyed selling at a craft fair compared to etsy but also have only found one that isn't old lady or very expensive! Glad it was a good experience for you!

DK said...

Looks awesome! I'm jealous, I'd love to do a craft show but I can't find the capital to actually make inventory :( Glad you had a good time!

AbderianLaughter said...

Your knack for creative display never fails to amaze me...love the suitcase displays! I wish the fairs weren't so darn expensive to participate in, but it looks like you had a beautiful day and a successful first time, proud of you!!

Maureen Cracknell Handmade said...

I think your booth looked great! Love the old suit cases! I have only ever been to one big festival, Art Star, in Philly and it was such a learning experience for me as well.

Congrats!!!

thestoryofkat said...

you guys are such a huge confidence boost...as usual, I think I am my own worst critic and it's so nice to hear some encouragement to balance my inner voice :)

I was happy with the suitcases too, just want to amp the whole thing up a bit. The woman next to me selling soaps had her whole table set up like a bake shop (her soaps looked like cupcakes and slices of cake!) and I would love to strive towards that level of continuity—so great to see how other artists sell their unique wares!