What's Trending at the Craft Shows?

[Mort Tenon]

About 4 years ago, I sold my woodshop because it was just too expensive to continue for the small return I was getting. However, I kept a miter saw, a benchtop drill press, and my Excalibur, just in case I needed to relieve the boredom of retirement again. 

My wife makes jewelry and insists she has to attend the outdoor market every year. As we are there anyway, I thought I'd try to put out a few scrolled items. Used to be my biggest sellers were the bird houses and feeders, but I have no table saw, band saw, or large drill press anymore, so I thought I'd just do a limited number of tchotchkes of some sort and see what happens. I used to make key racks from various patterns I bought or got for free online, but I'm wondering if there is anything trending today that I could put out that would be attractive to the tourists.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[rjweb]

Sorry I don't do sales, its a give away for me, RJ

[preprius]

Here is post from April that might help your answer.

 

 

[barb.j.enders]

I haven't figured it out yet.  It will vary from show to show, which can be two weeks apart.

[Mort Tenon]

11 hours ago, preprius said:

Here is post from April that might help your answer.

 

 

Thank you, but that's much too high-end for me. I don't have the tools anymore for those elaborate chessboards and I have never turned bowls, etc.

Edited May 30 by Mort Tenon
spelling

[Mort Tenon]

2 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

I haven't figured it out yet.  It will vary from show to show, which can be two weeks apart.

We do a weekly market that is mostly for the summer tourist trade and there is very little high-end artwork here. I know that every area will be different, and tastes vary.

[dgman]

Ornaments of all kinds always sell. 

[Roberta Moreton]

People and Pets, compound cut ornaments, word art. Small boxes, baskets,

This is just a sample. I usually set up three, 8 foot tables. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 02:29 PM by Roberta Moreton

[Mort Tenon]

On 6/1/2025 at 7:24 AM, Roberta Moreton said:

People and Pets, compound cut ornaments, word art. Small boxes, baskets,

This is just a sample. I usually set up three, 8 foot tables. 

 

 

 

 

 

Very, very nice! Do ornaments and the small boxes sell well? Artwork like the Native American example never sold well when I was doing this[, 

[kmmcrafts]

I don't do in person sales but do sell online sites like Etsy, Amazon etc. I've never had much luck with wall artsy type things.. I've always did pretty decent with things that are useful and artsy such as desk or wall clocks, dog leash racks, hat racks, key racks, puzzles and as has been mentioned ornaments.. if you're into taking custom order for personalized things then wedding or anniversary things with names and dates do quite well too, however a lot of people don't like to get involved with having to custom cut each persons names and wedding dates..

Kinda wrong time of the year but I've been wanting to make ornaments that double as a gift card holder.. I've seen some on a few of the laser sites where they make a spot on the back for a gift card but it also can hang on the tree as a ornament..

[Gonzo]

On 6/1/2025 at 9:24 AM, Roberta Moreton said:

People and Pets, compound cut ornaments, word art. Small boxes, baskets,

This is just a sample. I usually set up three, 8 foot tables. 

 

 

Holy moly! Did you hand carve the infinity heart?  If so, that is impressive and very beautiful!

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 11:38 AM by Gonzo

[barb.j.enders]

11 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

I don't do in person sales but do sell online sites like Etsy, Amazon etc. I've never had much luck with wall artsy type things.. I've always did pretty decent with things that are useful and artsy such as desk or wall clocks, dog leash racks, hat racks, key racks, puzzles and as has been mentioned ornaments.. if you're into taking custom order for personalized things then wedding or anniversary things with names and dates do quite well too, however a lot of people don't like to get involved with having to custom cut each persons names and wedding dates..

Kinda wrong time of the year but I've been wanting to make ornaments that double as a gift card holder.. I've seen some on a few of the laser sites where they make a spot on the back for a gift card but it also can hang on the tree as a ornament..

Steve Good has a pattern for gift card ornaments.  I found it needed to be a bit bigger for the credit card style gift cards.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

As someone mentioned, trends are only good for one show at a time and any show things can be totally different as to what sells. My theory always was to try to make everyday things that are not season oriented and can be displayed year round and still blend in. Also I found clocks of all types to be useful but that trend sort of slipped away when digital came out. heck people can not even write script any more and telling time with use of no numbers is a problem too. I liked gearing items to occupations and sports or religious aspects. Also military projects can zero in on  specific groups. Some times the location of the show plays a roll such as if doing a church show, school show, military base show and so forth. But doing open ended shows then anything goes. I believe those animal puzzles still hold value because they can be done easily, sold for cheaper money and kids love them as well as pet owners. Doing personalized items do not do well because it is personalized. You can pick up one or 2 sales but you will have to do orders or use some sort of device to customize right there. I tried that and got burned a couple times and stopped all together. It has to be a very special person if I am going to add names. I think using people's initials is not personalizing. (just my opinion) Others do not know who that is unless a family member looks at it. Ornaments always work well and doing themes can enhance the effects. 

[Wichman]

8 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

Steve Good has a pattern for gift card ornaments.  I found it needed to be a bit bigger for the credit card style gift cards.

Just curious, how much bigger does it need to be?

 

[Joe W.]

19 hours ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

animal puzzles still hold value because they can be done easily, sold for cheaper money and kids love them as well as pet owners.

I've had good sales of animal puzzles the past couple of years.  
The Penny Drop game and Dice Tower have also sold well.
I try to make/sell items that can't be found at the large retail stores, such as Hobby Lobby.
I find myself also getting into making Dough Bowls and such.  
Just got a Rikon 10-3061 bandsaw and will see what I can do with making bandsaw boxes.

[barb.j.enders]

14 hours ago, Wichman said:

Just curious, how much bigger does it need to be?

 

I don't know specific %.  I recall just tracing the card to create the middle layer.  It has been a number of years since I made them.  Another item that didn't sell well for me!

[Mort Tenon]

On 6/4/2025 at 8:57 AM, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

As someone mentioned, trends are only good for one show at a time and any show things can be totally different as to what sells. My theory always was to try to make everyday things that are not season oriented and can be displayed year round and still blend in. Also I found clocks of all types to be useful but that trend sort of slipped away when digital came out. heck people can not even write script any more and telling time with use of no numbers is a problem too. I liked gearing items to occupations and sports or religious aspects. Also military projects can zero in on  specific groups. Some times the location of the show plays a roll such as if doing a church show, school show, military base show and so forth. But doing open ended shows then anything goes. I believe those animal puzzles still hold value because they can be done easily, sold for cheaper money and kids love them as well as pet owners. Doing personalized items do not do well because it is personalized. You can pick up one or 2 sales but you will have to do orders or use some sort of device to customize right there. I tried that and got burned a couple times and stopped all together. It has to be a very special person if I am going to add names. I think using people's initials is not personalizing. (just my opinion) Others do not know who that is unless a family member looks at it. Ornaments always work well and doing themes can enhance the effects. 

I have done some personalized-to-order stuff, and while it got good feedback, sometimes it was difficult to find images to make into patterns for things like the specific military groups you mention. Even if I could find a badge for your specific squadron or AFSC, making a pattern of it could be difficult to impossible, and in any event, too time-consuming to be considered practical. One had me combine an artillery group with a nursing unit. They loved it, but I never want to do that again.

My wife agrees that practical, every day items are better than yet another 8x10 fretwork to hang in the bathroom. I sold a ton of key racks, some pet food bowls, tissue box covers, napkin holders...but I was hoping for something different that would appeal to the Farmer's Market crowd. Maybe I'll just do some more cribbage boards. I still have a few hardwood boards, but my planer is gone, and I've never been any good at hand planing.

[Wichman]

Two items that have sold well for me.

A small compound cut reindeer out of 1 x 2 pine. In addition to the regular cut I drilled holes with a #65 drill bit between the legs on both sides and did not cut from the outside at all. This leaves you with a block of wood with the 3 dimension reindeer hidden within. I take out the reindeer, brush off all the sawdust and small waste pieces, then reassemble for sale. My customers appreciated that when put back into the block the fragile legs can't get broken in transporting to it's final destination.

https://www.woodgears.ca/reindeer/scrollsaw_plans.html

The second is a small ( 1 1/2" cube to start )  heart shaped box that features a sliding dovetail on the top with a magnetically  held pin. Customers loved the magnetic pin because it held while they were on vacation and didn't have to worry about losing an expensive pair of earrings ( or at least losing one ). The original pattern came from Wood magazine years ago and I made several modifications, but it's not my plan and I can't share.