A productive week

On Monday, just a week ago, I decided to take the plunge this year and apply to take part in large-scale craft shows for three full days to six full days rather than participating in small-scale, weekend shows. I also realised that my inventory of some 70 or 80 basketry products would not be sufficient for such events. So I plan to double my inventory. The results of my first week's efforts at inventory addition are shown here. In this photo are five of the items I produced this week: a sewing basket, a market basket, a waste paper basket and two bread baskets. And no blisters or abrasions to my fingers!
Here are an additional four trays for that inventory. The rectangular trays were made very quickly from unsold tray kits I had prepared for sale two years ago. The round tray was also quick to make since I had previously sanded the base in readiness for its eventual completion.




In the next three months I will work on more additions to the inventory. I do not anticipate I will complete nine items each week. My goal is five per week or twenty to twenty five per month.By the end of April I hope to have added eighty more items to the inventory!

Beginning to create inventory for larger venues

One of the consequences of deciding to apply to large-scale professional craft sales in the fall is the need to create more inventory. A six-day craft show with thousands of visitors is a little different than a tour where there may be 200 visitors each of the two days.

My current inventory is around 70 items. I will need to at least double that for the larger scale craft shows.

As suggested by Anne, here are the first of what I hope will be many additions to that inventory: two bread baskets and one waste-paper basket/plant stand.






If I can add perhaps five to ten items a week it should not take too long to double the inventory even with sales from my etsy site reducing it too.