Revisiting Aileen Clarke Crafts
This week we got to meet up with one of our first ever guests that we interviewed, the incredibly talented crafter and felting artist, Aileen!
The full interview replay is available to watch inside the membership, which is now open to new members, but read the overview of the interview below to learn more about Aileen and her super crafting business!
On her creative days, Aileen can be found in her beautiful craft room in bonny Scotland where she creates felted and mixed media artwork along with other gifts, which she sells on Etsy, local shops and at in person events.
With nearly two decades of experience, Aileen has carved a niche for herself and has found the formula to creating a successful business in the crafting world.
Some of Aileen's stunning creations:
Navigating Craft Shows and Events
Aileen is now a dab hand at exhibiting at shows and events and although the amount she does has reduced since the pandemic, she still attends a few well established events each year. She shared with us her experience and some helpful tips for anyone wanting to branch out into selling at craft shows and events:
Event Selection: Aileen emphasised the importance of choosing well-established events with a good reputation and effective advertising to ensure a good amount of foot traffic. She avoids charity events where customers may not be inclined to spend on higher-priced handmade items.
Stall Layout: Over the years, Aileen has honed her stall layout, ensuring that higher-value items are prominently displayed, and lower priced items are given less space. Her set up is really beautiful and she includes a range of products to cater to different customer preferences and budgets.
Aileen's set up at the Aberfeldy Show:
Customer Engagement: Aileen explained that she feels engaging with customers is a really key part of attending events. Conversations can lead to future sales and connections and people love to meet the person who made the items and ask questions.
Preparing for a show: The most significant challenge Aileen faces is preparing the stock needed for each show, which requires considerable time and effort. To help with this, she tends to remake similar items that sell well and follows a checklist to ensure she remembers all the necessary items for her stall.
Taking Payments: Aileen has embraced technology and has used an iZettle card machine (now Zettle) for many years to take payments, which has become essential as consumer preferences have shifted towards cashless transactions. There are also other app based payment options such as are Sum Up and Square.
Words of Wisdom: For anyone who hasn't yet tried in person events, Aileen's advice was to go for it. She advised to pick a well established event and check what advertising is being done, and said not to worry too much if you don't sell much because it's not always about the sales on the day as the people you meet can lead to other things. (So it's a good idea to have business cards handy!)
Adapting to Change: From Events to Shops
Following the pandemic, many in person events were cancelled which led Aileen to find put more of her focus into alternative ways to sell her items. One such method was selling through shops which helps to provide her with a more stable income.
Aileen tends to avoid producing needle felted items for shops because it is very time consuming, but she does include things that are easy to batch produce or that she can afford to sell wholesale, such as her cards and iridescent jewellery.
For anyone who is considering selling through shops, it can be really beneficial as it can give the shop a wider product range for their customers whilst also providing you with a new audience for your products, and depending on the arrangement with the shop, can help to give you a steady income.
Navigating the Online Marketplace
As well as in person events and selling in shops, the third avenue Aileen utilises is online selling, which she ventured into by opening her Etsy shop. She acknowledged that some people complain about Etsy, but she feels that the benefits far outweigh any negatives and her Etsy shop allows her to reach a broader audience and adapt to the changing landscape of craft sales.
Aileen's Etsy shop is beautiful and she always includes a handwritten note to the customer which provides a lovely, personal touch. One tip Aileen gave for Etsy was to create items similar to those that have sold well, which will take advantage of Etsy's algorithm and help boost visibility.
Aileen also has designed a beautiful calendar for the upcoming year featuring some of her designs from this year. Why not get yours from her Etsy shop.
Aileen's Calendar available in Etsy Shop:
Looking Ahead
Aileen has been asked if she would considering teaching workshops or creating kits. She has created kits in the past but found that the inventory was difficult to store, but she has not ruled out creating some again at some point.
She also has no plans for teaching workshops at present, but keep an eye out as in person workshops may be an avenue she will explore in the future, and I am sure if she does pursue this in the future, she will have just as much success as she has with the other aspects of her business.
Conclusion
It was a pleasure to get to meet up with Aileen again and see how her business has gone from strength to strength. Thanks so much again for joining us Aileen. We look forward to seeing your new designs and products in the future! 😍
To keep up with Aileen, you can find her at:
Website: https://aileenclarkecrafts.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AileenClarkeCraftsTextileArt
