Green Options

I don’t have a natural affinity for interior design, so it’s taken years of work to keep finally coming closer and closer to a craft fair display that is pleasing, unique, manageable, and effective.

Two long tables with all my stuff piled on? Nobody could see anything from outside my booth, and thus didn’t bother to enter. Two big hinged display boards for vertical display? People could see them, but they were hugely heavy to haul and couldn’t actually hold much. Store-bought displays? I don’t buy new things, and I don’t pull enough profit to spend that kind of money, anyway.

And thus, over time, I’ve come to my trifecta of craft fair display requirements: 1) It must be made primarily of recycled, salvaged, or scavenged materials (just like the items I sell). 2) It must be a VERY effective display, ideally taking up little space and able to display more than one item. 3) It must be AWESOME.

I am currently a Midwesterner. I stand in line for sweet corn every Saturday at the farmer’s market. Every April, I cheer on my students who ride in the Little 500. Heck, John Cougar Mellancamp lives in my town–is that Midwest enough for you?

As an indie crafter, I’m always bummed that the majority of awesome indie fairs–Maker Faire, most of the Bazaar Bizzare locations, three-fourths of the Renegades–choose to operate on the peripheries of the continental U.S. (it’d probably suck even more if I lived in Hawaii, but I’m willing to bet there are compensations to make up for the inconvenience of living in Hawaii).

So I’m always extra stoked when there are good, national-level indie craft fairs that operate right here in the heartland (occasionally known as the “armpit of America”). Here are two good ones, and how to get involved:

My first craft fair of the season was this weekend, and it suuuuuuucked. Well, partly sucked. Most of the stuff that I really like about craft fairs was still there–checking out the other vendors, gossiping with customers, my daughter drawing with permanent markers on brown paper bags at my feet.

There was really only one thing that didn’t happen: the buying.

There was looking, mind you, from the fewer than normal customers who attended the craft fair. There was admiring. There even was buying, of some of my items in the $1-$5 range. Overall, though, it was slow, slow, slow.

It was a pretty conventional craft fair, with a few fair trade craft  or indie craft vendors like myself. And it left me wondering–is this whole craft fair season going to suck?

Here’s my letter to Senator Richard G. Lugar, Senator Evan Bayh, and Representative Baron P. Hill about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008:

Dear Senator Lugar (I wrote each member individually, but Senator Lugar went first),

I’m a stay-at-home mom of two little girls, and in my free time I make hand-crafted toys  out of recycled and/or natural materials. I sell my work at craft fairs and online—my girls are able to be with me, playing happily, and the small amount of money I earn is one of the things that enables me to stay home with them.