wow! I can't believe it.

[valis2]

Some of you may remember that I left some of my crafted pieces on consignment at a gallery neary my parents' house. I wasn't thinking it would do well; in fact, she only picked out a few things, and I was a little bummed, especially because one of the pieces was the Cursed Piece, a very expensive piece that I made about seven years ago and was certain would never, ever sell.

But I've received a couple checks, and today, I just received a wonderful check...the cursed piece sold. In fact, I'm a little worried that they have nothing left...I think they only have two pieces now.

Wow! Just...wow!

Comments

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Heh...I made about five pieces last year that were hideous, and at one show I sold three of them within two hours. Weird. I never put them out on display, they were that ugly, I just put them in the half-off tray and hoped for the best. I still have one left. wah!

It does amuse me when several of the same kind of item will sell at one show and then none at the next. Regional differences? Freaky coincidence?

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

Hideous pieces? The first to fly off the shelves? I've *never* dealt with that phenomena. (Said with a facetious wink ;-)

Long ago I learned that I could put together the most gawd-awful color combinations for a cloak and its lining, and somebody at a show soon after would go 'that's perfect!'. I know enough to merely smile and refrain from commenting 'royal purple and pumpkin orange is *perfect*?' as I run the swipe on their credit card.

I understand about that whole 'sells like hotcakes' at one show but 'couldn't give them away' at the next scenario. I simply chalk it up to 'different crowds - different tastes', and philosophically tell myself that at least I have inventory for the season. I try to stay focused on what the overall sales trends are for the year rather than dwelling on the disappointments of an individual show which might have been an anomaly. That's part of the reason why I usually will attend a new event for three years before I make any permanent decisions about whether to keep it on my show schedule or not. I let the law of averages rule - if one year at the new show is really bad, that could simply be due to a random one-time combination of factors - if all three years suck then it's time to cull out that disaster.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yes, I wish I could predict people's taste! It would make everything so much easier.

I do try to do shows multiple times, but there have been times where I was so discouraged that I never went back. :)

People are just so crazy, aren't they?

Royal purple...pumpkin orange...*shudders at the Lockhart combo*

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

Royal purple and pumpkin orange is far from the worst combination...

Once, to test my theory that people will buy anything, I made a reversible cloak that was black suedecloth on one side and neon pink satin on the other. Next show it was bought...by a stereotypical Harley biker (you've seen the type - beard, tattoos, scars, wallet on a chain, big, hairy, scary, wears leather, and thinks engine exhaust is a cologne). Being kindhearted by nature (and fearing future reprisals), I politely said "Excuse me sir. But you *do* realize what colors are in that cloak? I'm only asking because some of my customers suffer from blue-green or red color blindness and what they interpret as being grey actually appears as a different color to most people." To which he flashed me a big smile (missing one front tooth) and answered "Hell, yah! It's pink!"

I can only assume that Saturday nights at the local biker's bar were going to be highly entertaining...

[valis2.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA!! What a great story. rofl!!

Now I can't help but imagine the biker guy from the Village People in a cloak...