displaying at a craft fair

[Former_Member]

Hi everybody,

Next month I will be in a craft fair displaying my buttons for the 1st time. Do any of you have some good ideas on displaying pinback buttons?

Thanks!
Stacey

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

I do a lot of craft shows,
I usually use mid century stainless steel trays and dainty holders (think Kromex salvaged from garage sales and thrift stores) to display my buttons. I find people like to dig just a bit to find the perfect button. I sort them by types, words in one, maps in another, vintage kids books, comics etc etc
for me it all fits into my reuse recycle upcycle theme

I personally don't card my buttons individually as to me that is an excessive use of paper that may or may not be recycled and I'm not comfortable with that

I have seen other crafters put their buttons onto bulletin boards or clothe stretched items like picture frames, screens etc so the buttons display in a single layer

there's a picture on my blog in this post
http://periwinkledzyns.blogspot.com/2011/04/vincent-massey-unesco-conference.html

Good luck Stacey!

[Former_Member]

thanks so much for all this great info! I'm going to check out ur blog now:-)

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

let us know what you decide and how it goes Stacey
it has to work with your vibe to be effective!

[naniwear]

At anime cons, we use ribbons to string them up on the fixtures. We also have 2 plastic containers, about 2" in depth, to hold the excess in. People love to dig through them.

[panduhmonium]

Yeah I agree with naniwear. I usually just dump all my buttons into a cute little ceramic dish. People love digging through them! But I also usually only do anime conventions so I am not sure if it is the same with craft show folks.

[Former_Member]

thanks again everybody! these are some great ideas!

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

@naniwear - I love the ribbon idea! do you have a picture?

[naniwear]

Periwinkle: no, sorry. What we use is 2 1/2" wide ribbon in herringbone design. that way, the holes the buttons leave are never seen.

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

great tip!
I tried hanging some on 1" ribbon last night and I struggled with not only holes showing after moving them but it flipping over, I will definitely try some wider ribbon

[naniwear]

oh, we put the buttons on both sides.

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

I just finished a 3 day craft fair, thanks for the ribbon tip!
I put out one long black ribbon with dictionary word buttons along the side corner of a large shelf display at the front of my booth and sold 250+ buttons off of it and a couple of other small displays
(I also sell jewelry made from recycled items, buttons are just one of my lines)

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

this blog post has lots of pictures
http://periwinkledzyns.blogspot.com/2011/10/scattered-seeds-button-report.html

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

that bad? no one has looked??

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

thanks Bayleaf, was starting to feel paranoid hahahaha

[Former_Member]

Hey everyone. I'm glad to see my initial tread has generated to more! I'm here to respond to how my craft fair went. It didn't go good. I had one sale and it was a print of my fine art. I didn't realize until I got there that the show also included home based businesses like Mary Kay and Partylite. the fair was a slow one. 90% of the time their were more vendors than customers. But, now that I've had time to sit back, reflect on the situation, it was a good one. People did look and sift trough my trays of buttons. But the most important thing is, I got myself out there, so now all I can do is go up! I got the 1st craft fair jitters out of the way.

I do want to try the ribbon next time too. So thanks everyone!

[Former_Member]

Sorry to hear it was a disappointment. Last year was my first attempt at a craft fair and it surprised the hell out of me. I split a table with a friend because it was 50 dollars and I didn't know how well I'd do. I was selling pocket mirrors and zipper pulls. I came with about 200 premade of each. Sold through those, and I couldn't keep up. I was glad I brought my machine and extra prints/fabric. I was making them on the spot while my friend (who didn't sell anything) took orders/money from people. This year I got a booth to myself, it's on the 19th- lets see how well I do!

I've never thought to just sell buttons at the craft shows. What designs are people interested in? All of my button sells are custom orders of their own designs. I suppose I could have samples to get my name out there so people know I make them as well. This year I am adding keychains. I have 3 machines, 1" 2.25" and 3.5". I wish my BAM had the bottle opener backs, has anyone had success selling them? Maybe I need a terce machine... anyone want to buy the electronic BAM machine... ?

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

Oh Stacey! that's a great attitude to have! so sorry sales were poor, those craft sales where they let in trades are a bummer and shouldn't be advertised as a craft fair imho. Sometimes we learn more when things go wrong than when it goes great, I know I've had some very expensive learning exercises hahahaha!

[Former_Member]

Can you only use fabric in certain machines? I have never tried that.
And I love the idea of using images and print from books ect :)

My husband bought a large piece of fridge magnets, its the same thing that is used for large decalling on cars, and my buttons stick to that, without a magnet on the back (I offer both pin and magnet) - it worked great! Before that I also had some trays that ppl do love to sift through. The only thing, I found they get scratched badly sometimes.

I love the cake tray idea!

I would like to find some old vintage frames, larger ones, put my fridge magnet in those, and have them on my tables. I will update if I ever get to this point :)

I would love to get a bigger machine! - Thoughts on the Badge a minit?

[PeriwinkleDzyns]

I have only used my Tecre, I wouldn't trade it for anything

I haven't noticed a lot of scratching on the buttons but maybe I'm not looking closely... the pins on the back fold in so I don't even know what they would get scratched from?