Church Rummage Sale (not quite)
This blog is for those interested in the vendor experience I had.
Home base is in Karlsruhe. About 1.5 hour drive is Hornbach. It is about 10 miles from the French border. The church or Kolster (cloister) was built in 745. They built a new church on the ruins but you can still see the ruins. You can see my video of the ruins on my beyondmirays facebook page.
The majority of the event is inside the abbey/cloister structure where the hotel is. They put vendors in the meeting rooms and down the halls. The event starts on Saturday at 2pm. .. YES 2pm and goes till 7pm. We arrived at 11 and set up our table. It was about 9ft long. We were in one of the meeting rooms. They gave us a ticket for a coffee/drink and a cake. OH MY the cakes were great. There was cheese cake and Linzer torte and a chocolate one. I took the linzer torte and a Kinderpunch drink, children’s punch.
The traffic pattern was odd. An American fire Marshall would have had a fit. There were waves of super crowded moments. Many many people once they found out I was American wanted to practice their English, it was cute and I was honored.
The customers were not ones to buy my purses. They would say they are not big enough, those Germans want functionality. But they did appreciate the skill level to complete the purses and my doll dress necklaces. Once I showed my teeth purse they had a good laugh. I could have sold the teeth purse many times. One lady said that the past week her mother had just got new teeth so all the conversations in her family for the past week were on teeth, so my purse just made it a great funny moment for the end of the week. She would have bought it if I could have sold it.
Siggi had a good show, she sold many of her necklaces. She has done this show about 5 years. Her customers return. It was good to work with her and see how she demonstrates her beaded crochet.
On Sunday the show opens at 12 and ends at 6. Toward the end of the day I overheard some people speaking English. When they turned to our table I asked, English? The woman said Ya but then spoke in German, I was confused. Then she switched to English when she turned to her male friend. Turns out her friend is from Delaware and visits every year he is retired from being a costume designer for the Delaware opera. Oh I would have loved to sit and chat with him a while.
On Sunday I finally sold 2 items. One purse and one doll dress necklace. The man that bought my purse was giving it as a gift to his god daughter or her wedding next September. He wants to send me a picture of the purse when the lady opens it. Very nice man. But I find it funny (odd) that the purse frame was one of my favourites. I had put a bag on it about 5 years ago and it never would sell. So 2 months ago I take the bag off and made a new one with Linen and lace from Dresden and then beaded it. It was a tree of life design. I make a little change and suddenly it sells. Might have to consider that for next time.
So now I can say I am an international artist.
The other vendors span food (Sausages & salami, Bread, Cookies) to knitted shawls & hats. There was a soap vendor, several wood carving vendors. Of course jewelry but most of them were the simple silver kind. My video is posted on the beyondmirays FB page and you can see the walk through.
While there our friends Elke & Rudi and Vivianne came for a visit. On our table you can see my display. Jerry made a wood display for me that breaks down to fit in my suitcase. But Siggi had this wonderful chandelier lamp that worked perfectly. I think I will need to look or make something like this for my future tables.
Look for the videos of the show on my beyonmirays facebook page.
I might need to do this show in the future, it was fun and informative.