Open Shop

[Dan Blankenberg]

Hello,
Do any of you open your shop during the holidays to show your work to the public? If so, how has your experience been? There are a group of folks in my area that have done this but no turners.

Thanks, All!

Dan

 

[Darryl Fective]

Might be a great idea. My shop is near a corner and a lot of the neighbors go by, but several know that if I'm there, they're welcomed to drop in.

We had our club meeting today and we started talking about an open shop time like to gather a number of mini lathes and just have a few of us all turning on whatever projects. (but turning together, rather than alone)

 

[Richard Coers]

I don't. I participate in a holiday show at the nature center that lasts for a month. They handle all the money and pay for the sales tax. No way could I draw a crowd like that to my basement. An open shop in the holiday season would suggest free snacks and maybe wine? That gets expensive fast.

 

[Jim Reynolds]

I have heard of, but don't recall where, various artists and craftspersons coordinating open shop in an area / region once a month / once a quarter. This allows for cross publicity and possibly additional traffic.

 

[Dave Landers]

We have an artist studio tour group. All sorts of media (20 artists at 16 studios this year, 2 of us are turners) One weekend a year we open our studios. Its during the summer not holidays as that's when the tourists are here. We do advertising (print and social media), brochures, posters in business windows, signs at roadside and corners, maps and a big flag in front of each home studio.
This was my 1st year to participate, and had good sales but also had fun cause we setup the sales outside and inside my shop, and I got to turn a bit and talk about wood, turning, the process, etc.

 

[Dan Blankenberg]

I don't. I participate in a holiday show at the nature center that lasts for a month. They handle all the money and pay for the sales tax. No way could I draw a crowd like that to my basement. An open shop in the holiday season would suggest free snacks and maybe wine? That gets expensive fast.

All good points. Didn’t give the refreshments a thought!

 

[Dan Blankenberg]

I have heard of, but don't recall where, various artists and craftspersons coordinating open shop in an area / region once a month / once a quarter. This allows for cross publicity and possibly additional traffic.

Kind of what I was thinking!

 

[Dan Blankenberg]

We have an artist studio tour group. All sorts of media (20 artists at 16 studios this year, 2 of us are turners) One weekend a year we open our studios. Its during the summer not holidays as that's when the tourists are here. We do advertising (print and social media), brochures, posters in business windows, signs at roadside and corners, maps and a big flag in front of each home studio.
This was my 1st year to participate, and had good sales but also had fun cause we setup the sales outside and inside my shop, and I got to turn a bit and talk about wood, turning, the process, etc.

That would be great fun!

 

[Bryan Field]

We have an open studio artists tour the second weekend of October. It s the major arts activity in the Monadnock region of NH. I am on the Art Tour board and have opened my house and studio for years. We spend thousands of dollars on advertising and 65 open studios, of which two are turners. We get a lot of visitors. Several of us get about 700 people over the three day week end, I'm not one of those lucky ones
My shop is tiny, but loaded with equipment. I let people look in through the door, but for safety reasons, don't bring them in. I display my work in the living room.
We do make sales, but for me the joy comes in showing my work, meeting people and talking with the other turners who come by. If you are in the Monadnock area during peak foliage season come on by, here's the link to the tour. I'll be in studio 54.

 

[David Wyke]

I keep my turnings displayed in my basement. I don’t do a “Open House” because in this day and time I don’t want the wrong people showing up. I have had many contact me to buy and I always check them out as best I can before setting up a time for them to come by. If someone contacts me that is a little sketchy I send them to the gallery some of my work is in.
I do a 3 day indoor Christmas Show the first week in December, last year was my first show and it was very successful. I have already had people contacting me that want to by for Christmas and I have told them to come by before the show. If they come by my home they get a little discount since I’m not paying for a show and all the cost involved with it. If they come to buy at the show they pay full price.
If it was some kind of Artist Tour, I may reconsider opening my home.

 

[robo hippy]

Never even considered it. When I was still doing shows, the local Saturday Market had an indoor show from before Thanksgiving till Christmas Eve. I would never be able to come close to the crowds who would come by that show.

robo hippy

 

[Richard Coers]

Seems a couple agree with me on crowd size. Crowd size is an absolutely critical element of marketing unnescessary items. No one needs our work to survive, so we need to show in front of hundreds and hundreds to find a couple of them that see the beauty of our work and can afford to buy something that is just nice to look at.

 

[Dave Landers]

I would never be able to come close to the crowds who would come by that show.

True. However my observation from our studio tour last month was that everyone that came to my place was there specifically to see my work. Most because they'd seen pics online or in the brochure. If they weren't interested in tuned wood objects, they went to other studios. So while there wasn't the quantity of people walking by, the quality was better (interested, more likely to buy, etc). Worked out good for me, anyway.

 

[JeffSmith]

I’ve been participating in the local studio tour for the last few years now. They are scheduled for three or four times a year and are county-wide - about 50 or 60 people open up for the weekend. I live on a small island accessible via small ferry only. It’s a very rural setting, no commercial outlets here, and only one (currently) restaurant on island - not much reason for tourists to visit. The studio tour weekends bring in many people that would otherwise never see our work.
I tend to spend a lot of my time alone in the shop. A weekend filled with people enjoying learning about what I do is a refreshing change from the daily grind. While I do sell through a couple galleries in town, I’ve come very close to selling out every time I’ve opened the shop for a tour.
I rearrange the shop and cover tools to display my work. Some things I make benefit from some explanation, so I find myself in explaining mode a lot. It’s tremendous fun and thoroughly exhausting.

 

[Bryan Field]

Beautiful work. Where is your lathe hiding?

 

[Dave Landers]

FWIW, here was my setup from last month's tour (instagram video)

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[JeffSmith]

Beautiful work. Where is your lathe hiding?

I put the wheels on it and moved it out of reach with the grinder cart behind a make shift table…visible, but no one can get to the sharps. It usually looks more like this…only knee-deep in shavings.

 

[Gregg Zank]

Jeff, your shop looks fantastic. The right size and the fold away doors to let the outside in - well done. I can see why you would welcome people into a shop so well assembled and used!