Too Much Jewelry!
I’ve been asked to address this topic many times by jewelers themselves and promoters. It’s something that affects every event and artist in some way. Events with too many jewelers come across looking like a poorer quality show that those that have a more eclectic variety of offerings for patrons. Customers notice when a show is starting to go downhill and will stop frequenting yours if they sense that it has become an indoor flea fair, and sense it they will! At some shows the jewelry booths all but fill the isles these days!
How many are too many? I know opinions will vary wildly and I think the show and audience itself need to be taken into account more than anything, as a higher percentage of jewelry at very high turnout outdoor festivals will not be as devastating as at an indoor juried art and craft show with only a few thousand attendees. I think at least, that jewelry tends to be more of an impulse purchase, than say, a bench, a shawl, or cutting board. While the others might be an impulse too, there still has to exist a nitch needing to be filled by that item that caught their eye initially, whereas with jewelry the need and impulse never goes away, or so it seems!
At indoor school shows of abt 100 vendors, any more then 5 beaded jewelers is too many to me. I’d even put it at 3 beaded, but YOU might be able to find a wide variety of styles, MOST can’t/don’t. The next most common is probably silver. So much of this is not hand made for the simple reason that SO few artisans or craftsmen actually do their own metalworking any more. They buy rings and earrings already forged and usually with all stones in them even. Ask for workshop photos of items in progress….
There are some real unusual jewelry categories out there, and if you can find a wide variety of them, I think you can get away with quite allot of them, percentage wise, because of their uniqueness. I’m talking jewelry made from cut porcelain from dishes, pressed flowers, polymer clay, pewter dichroic glass (although becoming more popular), etc.
At an outdoor show, you might get away with up to 10% jewelers if you are a large festival with 20k+ folks, but not if you are an outdoor fine art show where you get fewer but better clientele. For these events, you’ll want fewer but higher quality jewelry.
I’m not even sure percentages are the best way to describe this because 10% means a very different thing to a large music fest with 30 vendors and a town anniversary day with 200 vendors, but both with 10,000 in attendance. 3 vs 20 for the same 10k number of customers….? You probably want more at the music event and less at the town day.
Whatever you decide is right for your show, set your limits per category initially and STICK TO THEM. Don’t give in and let ‘just one more’ in. That’s just too many in’s! If there are too many of one category, then they all suffer lower sales. Some of these jewelers can be very push to get in after you try to put your foot down, I am told. Please make me aware of any such leads you get from me. It hurts my reputation when hoards of jewelers harass events that have clearly indicated that they need no more jewelers, and so I will take any action I can to prevent it. Every event listing is now asked what types of vendors they still need, and what types they need no more of, and most are filling those 2 fields in. If the event says they do not need any more vendors of your type, it’s probably inappropriate, but circumstances vary, to apply online or call them about it. They do not want any more of your type, even though I understand you want to get in and want a chance at the show, your calling them is irritating to some of them when they have tried to avoid it and they complain to me. If your category is listed as NOT NEEDED, I suggest you mail them a letter describing your craft (or printing your crafter profile here) with a few photos and ask to be put on the mailing list for next year’s application. If you do decide to call, which I am not saying you can not do, I’m just a minority of you to be more considerate, do not badger them if they tell you no.
FYI: About 1/4 of the 50k registered CraftLister.com vendors have selected Jewelry as a craft category for their work.
I’ll be adding a section online to help promoters identify what is NOT hand made. Please feel free to forward suggestions, photos by mail, wholesale source website links, pictures, etc. The section will include photographs of the most common import items passing as handmade and tips on what to look for to identify non-handmande! Artists and Craftsmen: please, pass in the suggestions!
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