selling stuff at shows??

Me and my friend Dave are planning on a road trip in 2 years and we're going to a bunch of festivals. We figure we could learn how to make two or three things really well and sell them, just to make a few extra bucks since we'll be there anyways. I don't need advice on travelling or anything like that I just want to know what you guys think I should try to learn how to make to sell? I know that there are vendor fees at a lot of shows and we're going to split the cost if it isn't way too much. I have two years to practice and to go to festivals to see how things work but if you have experience and suggestions let me know. Thank you

 

Obviously, if I were you I would save up a good chunk of change before going on any kind of road trip... trust me, having an EXTRA $1000 in your account over and above what u plan to spend will do you a world of wonders... and it'll also help cover your craft expenses.


Festival sales vary... it really depends on the type of festival, usually, as to what sells and what doesn't. A collection maybe of some unique tie-dyed things may help (I have spent $ on tie dyed cotton baby outfits, very cute!)... unique jewelry with nice beads work well... one summer in highschool I made quite a healthy profit on just making embroidery-floss hair wraps while just hanging out down town Toronto... just a few ideas.

 

i'd say find something low cost and easy to make that you know people need or want. are you talking music festivals? if that's the case, something as simple as bottle water or some easy food like grilled cheese can get you from one show to the next.

or if you want to make something, i used to do good with padded pouches and patchwork clothes - i took mostly apron tops. is there something you already make?

 

I haven't learned how to make anything yet, but I have until 2008 to practice and get good at making something (that's when I graduate and go on the trip) ... I'm willing to try anything. My cousin is really good at making hemp jewelry so I'm going to try to learn how to do that, my gram can show me how to knit hats, scarves, mittens etc, and my buddy zack's mom is really good at tye-dying so I'm going to try out all three and hopefully I can get good at one or all of them. Also my mom wants me to try making candles with her too so I could possibly sell those. I've got a lot of ideas about what I could make & sell, but I was hoping you guys could give me even more ideas .

 

I don't think candles will sell real well at music festivals. And mittens and scarves are not going to sell in the summer. You could learn to knit hacky sack balls. And tie die usually sells well, especially if you have baby stuff. Also the hemp jewelry, but everyone is selling that.

Good luck. And I agree with the poster who said to save up money before you go.

Kathi

 

Kathi had an awesome idea with the hacky sacks! Those can either be crocheted or you can make them from patchwork. I bought one about a week ago that had a Dead Bear hear on it... Pretty Phunky.
Your best bet would be to come up with something COMPLETELY origional but really trippy so people would be like "Whoa man, that is the cat's pajamas man! No one else is selling this! I will take 5!"

You could tie-dye things other people don't usually. Like sofa covers, curtains, CD cases, and things like that. Also, using eco-friendly or natural dyes instead of RIT would probably sell better, and in general be better for mother earth! And something else is you could sell all natural home made soap. God knows the hippies at those shows need it! (kidding).

And you could also provide some sort of service, like giving people Dread locks or braids, hair wraps or something, if you would be willing to try. It would deffinately be a cool way to meet people and you could get pretty dang good at it after a while. Also, you could charge quite a bit without being unresonable because it is a time consuming process.

 

Well although the people who DID reply to this post were very helpful (Thank you!!), i'm not really impressed with the fact that out of 215 people who looked at it, only 6 gave their advice....

 

haha yeah you're right it is somewhat depressing. No i haven't began working on any crafts yet except my friend mike is teaching me how to make hemp jewelry. And my grandmother is going to teach me how to sew/crochet when she gets back from new mexico, that should be fun I love her oh and my friend's mother wants to show me how to tie dye sometime in the next week. Hopefully i'll get going on this soon... also my mom would like to learn how to make soap so maybe I could do that too? It's different.
I plan on practicing with a few crafts along with guitar over the summer and my goal is to be good at these things by the end of the summer. I think it's going to be so much fun once i start getting good at it

 

okay so i'm at my friend mike's right now. I made my first hemp bracelet!
it was so easy too. I've found some pretty cool beads online I wanna get better at this... just thought i'd update...

 

okay guys, i've been going crazy with hemp jewelry!! i've been making a lot of stuff, ive learned how to do different kinds of knots and i bought a bunch of beads, i've made some really cute stuff for some of my friends, and now word is getting around school and people see me doing it in my study hall and im starting to make some money from it i'm getting really good, and fast i love it. I just sit in my room, usually listen to the Grateful Dead's American Beauty album b/c it puts me in a good mood, and i just get creative haha... also tomorrow my brother is bringing a bunch of my things into school to sell to his little girlfriends.. im letting him make like a dollar off of whatever he sells...
*Also, I found out that my friend Mike goes to festivals like every weekend in the summer, which is what I planned to do anyways so I'm glad I have a guy to go with me and protect me now lol, and anyways, he makes money selling hemp and like pipes (he blows glass).. so i guess I'll be doing that with him.. get some experience.. it should be fun! What else should I learn how to make?? I'm thinking hacky sacks would be cool and I really want to give tye-dying a shot.

 

I haven't read much in this forum but crochetting works well. i met a girl last summer who made hemp dog leashes. sold em for $25, she did fairly well. you're gonna need more than hemp jewellery. depending on the festy. corduroy pants, split up the side with patches is another idea. don't do it the way I did it, i just showed up with not a penny in my pocket, a dog, some rocks and wire, but it helped me develop my wire wrapping alot skills.

 

Yeah, I'd go with the tye-dye and patchwork. Thats where you can make the most cash with the least expenses and time. Face it, theres TONS of people selling hemp everything, so yeah its fine to have a few necklaces or whatever but don't plan on selling much. Don't forget tye-dye bandanas. Just go to some festies and see what people are slinging and ask the vendors what they have done in the past and what has worked for them.

On a side note, at wakarusa last year my buddies and I bought like 6 or 7 cases of heady beer and like 5 cartons of cigs and made a profits of like $300 and basically drank tons of good beer for free. I guess thats kinda risky though if you get caught by the 6up I'm sure you get fucked over.

 

it also depends on where you are, east or west coast