First Monday Trade Days, Weatherford, Texas, May 30, 2009

Saturday, May 30, 2009. The birthday of Tony Bartolowits and Jamie Ezell, two people you've probably never heard of. It was also the date for the June, 2009 edition of First Monday Trade Days in Weatherford, Texas.

Rachel Bates was there, in her usual location (K44) with her TileSmile wares, brightening up the scenery with her beautiful smile.

She had lots of foot traffic at her corner of the pavilion, though lots of that traffic was male. It seems that men stop and look at her tiles all the time, but they never buy them. When women stop there is a good chance they will make a purchase. I'm not sure why that is, but it could be because the men want a closer look at Rachel. That's only a guess, mind you.

I was also located in my usual spot, that being #K3, under the pavilion. I had company, this time in the form of Ellen Kreager instead of my wife, Debra. Debra was home, resting after a hectic week of school, and Ellen wanted to test the waters in Weatherford, selling her leather pillows, which are also available online under the name of Thunder Moon Designs. She has some absolutely beautiful pillows for sale, most of which I had not seen before.

Once again, I used my tie dyed t-shirt display as a flag pole, if you will, to call attention to our shop. It can be seen for a long distance, which is perfect in a crowded place like this. I have a hole already drilled into the top so I can add an actual flag to the display later. This will be a tie dyed flag, naturally.

I've decided I need a different display so my candle holders get more attention. I have a couple of tables set up at every event, and I built a small display to show off some of my products and separate them from the mass of wood and wax on the rest of the table. What I need, though, is to get the candle holders up in the air, in multiple layers, instead of all on the same plane, sitting on a flat table top. The way I have displayed my wares at every event I've ever attended, no one can really see them clearly at a medium distance, much less from across a crowded parking lot like we have in Weatherford.

I need to catch the attention of passers-by at a reasonable distance, and to do that I need to build a new display fixture. And I have drawn inspiration from the "step-ladder" fixture Ellen set up to show off her pillows. It spreads out wide, so it's fairly stable. Her version holds three shelves, so it can display lots of merchandise. And the ladder folds up for easy transport and storage. I figure I can have a slightly wider version ready to go for the next show in Weatherford, which will be on July 4. I'm looking forward to getting in the shop and building this thing.

Last time we were in Weatherford we had, for all intents and purposes, a yard sale next door. It was unpleasant. This time we were graced with Sheree Gailey and her cousin, Sarah Gailey, and later with her daughter, who's name I do not remember (sorry). They were selling purses, designer sunglasses, wallets and keychains. And they were fun to be around, easy on the eyes, and good company when we weren't talking to customers. I honestly hope they show up again, and I wish them much success. They had more sales than just about anyone in our area, and all of those sales were to female customers, obviously.

I had four sales Saturday, three of which occurred after I had packed almost everything away to drive back home at the end of the day. I sold two shirts and two candle holders, and I took a picture of the lady who bought the first shirt of the day. I don't know her name, but she was in her 60s, was really cool, and she had bright red hair with hot pink highlights! Unfortunately the pink barely shows in this photo.

So, next time in Weatherford I should have the new display built and ready to put to use. And I would love to have Ellen with me again, and to have the lovely ladies selling purses and accessories next door.

Rachel will be in Tennessee on the Fourth of July, so her space will be empty. But I will be in attendance, candle holders and t-shirts at the ready, to help bring a bit more beauty and joy to the world as we know it.

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DSG North Texas

On Saturday, April 18, 2009, three of the charter members of the DSG North Texas group met for the first time at La Madeleine on South Cooper in Arlington, Texas. And there was much rejoicing.

Present at this meeting were Ellen Kreager of Thunder Moon Designs, Liz Ballard of Lizardo Art, me, Liz's boyfriend, Ben, and my wife, Debra. Soup and sandwiches were eaten, tea consumed, and we talked for 90 minutes or so about DSG, Texas, our North Texas group, how to go about promoting each other's work, craft shows, interior designers, etc.

La Madeleine was a surprisingly good place to meet, even if they didn't have a private room. When I was still a member of Etsy Texas Crafters we met at a different La Madeleine, in Fort Worth, and we had a room to ourselves. That works better, but this was fine. On a Saturday afternoon there are lots of people stopping in from the Parks Mall, but they don't stay very long, and nobody bothered us while we were talking.

What will come out of this meeting and a couple of discussions in our online networking group is a plan of attack, a flexible idea of how to sell our own work while promoting the work of the other members of DSG North Texas. And one of the most likely ideas to come out of this will be attending en masses the various craft shows in the area. This will require reserving booth space next to -- or at least near -- each other, talking to customers about how something from another member shop will go well with whatever they are looking at in our own shops, and having fun with the customers while taking the whole concept seriously. I know this works because I've seen it very successfully demonstrated at comic book conventions and science fiction conventions.

I have really good feelings about this group. A few more members will help us spread the marketing message out to enough customers for the idea to take hold, and I have some candidates in mind, but this can work even with the three members who attended this meeting. We're all intelligent, we all want to increase our sales, we all produce high quality consumables, we all have hair on the tops of our heads...

Okay, not really sure where I was going with that, but I do know we can succeed, that this will work for us. I left this meeting with a big smile on my face. I can't wait to tell Kristina Law, our Design Style Guide Big Cheese in Charge, all about it!