Just curious if anyone here sells their work at like craft fairs, farmers market ect. If so id like to ask a few questions.
Thanks
We normally do the Farmers market every Saturday but this time of year there’s some extra craft fairs . This weekend we did the farmers market on Saturday in town and Sunday we did craft fair the day in another town.
Sell a lot of the generic metal shapes at the market but this is where we take in our custom sign orders as well.
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Nice setup @TinWhisperer !
Im thinking of doing similar kinds of pieces out of the leftover odd bits not good for much else beside art. Seeing how im doing this as a weekend hobby level activity what do i need to know ahead of applying for one of these shows or fairs? Looking at my states website, they make it sound as if i need a few different licenses and permits. This just dont seem right for non buisness owners when i could have a yard sale with nothing required. I know every locale is different sometimes even varying in the town your in, but if its this much hassle ill take those pieces to the scrap yard first.
A farmer’s market or a craft fair I think you have to be a real business with the tax number.
Under the radar you’d be looking at doing flea markets and yard sale style sales.
I created a entirely separate company for my art metal sales. Which has its own tax number and business number.
I try to make very tight nests to limit the amount of scrap.
Those bigger squares are 32x48 1/3 of a full sheet. I like to be able to load a sheet in there and once it’s done on the machine everything that’s left over is scrap. I hate cutting around in skeletons after the fact.
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I’ve asked everyone I’ve sold to to spread the word about what I offer and the word of mouth seems to work pretty good for someone who does this on the side. They post their stuff all over social media and it spreads from there. I’ve made everything from sunroof latch parts to semi trailer repair plates and I only post occasionally on Instagram…
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Didnt know that about the fairs, very interesting. Of course in Maryland, known as the tax state" to locals, not only do we have state tax we also have county and local income taxes as well. Maybe 10 years back they even tried to tax the rain!
I nest whenever i can but with most of my stuff being 1 offs, nesting isn’t always possible. Sometimes the stock is leftover from a buddies fab shop so odd pieces are a way of life for me.
I had business cards made up sent a few with everyone that bought from us.
Every store around that has a peg board I will leave a few.
