Just got back from Windsor Connecticut, where Shelly participated in a doll house show for the first time as a dealer
She designed her pieces, then printed them out on our 3D resin printer. She then sanded and otherwise cleaned them up, and then hand painted them. The artisan aspects come from the design as well as the painting stages.
Shelly also taught a class on 3D resin printing design.
This is an annual show for artisans, and there is some resistance to 3D printing. We learned it's best not to display more than one of a product, and for special higher priced (meaning it takes Shelly longer to prepare and paint) items, she decided to make limited runs. Evidently, this audience is older and favor Victorian era doll houses and furnishings. However, to maintain interest in the guild, members feel the younger folks need to be brought in and will embrace 3D printing, and also will favor more recent eras of decorating. Quite a bit to this that I hadn't realized!
There is also a regional aspect to this business. Several folks suggested more New England themes might do better than Southwest in Connecticut. Something Shelly will take to heart for next year. Never-the-less, several folks bought not only her Southwestern style pots, but some of the cholla and juniper we used to display the wares.
Certain other vendors also had interesting advice: "You need to charge more"; "You need to charge less"; "you should sell to me wholesale: half price, and I'll sell it for you at full price"; "Dealers don't charge sales tax when selling to other dealers", etc. The last one, by the way, came from the same lady who wanted Shelly's art at wholesale. Since she's Canadian, I suspect there would have been customs duties ignored as well if Shelly decided to go into business with her. This is a complicated business!
Bottom line though, Shelly covered her expenses and then some. We consider that pretty good for the first time out. There are shows all over the country, and we'll probably be making more "business trips" in our teardrop!
Anyway, most of my tools are too big to do this sort of work properly (as are my fingers), but it might be fun to try some things with our scrap wood.
Tom
by twisted lines » Sun Sep 25, 2022 8:28 pm 
Shelly's pieces look really nice. She must be creating them first in some 3D software.... what program is she using?
)
(Of course, in this version I'd use harmless 3-12 vdc.)
