I know we bat this subject about a lot but I am feeling more down about it than usual. I came home with more dolls from DOTW than I had expected to. I am totally convinced that the horrible heat we faced in the show room deterred people from making it all the way round to all us tables and we lost sales because of it. I don’t have another show table to take them to so I am left up to online selling now. Nothing seems to be moving. Reborns dot com is full of other babies left over from the show too. I have already lowered all my prices from what I normally charge. I am seriously questioning how much longer this art is going to last for me? This is my 20 year anniversary reborning but I wasn’t ready to stop.
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I can relate. Sales are really slow but I’m pricing mine as low as I will go and no more. I can’t spend 2-3 weeks painting for nothing. The market is oversaturated, the economy stinks, and it’s summer. Not the best mix.
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I know how you feel as I had those feelings last year (especially after people wanted to reseve almost all my babies), but I sold a lot after the show to people who saw them there. Last year no one could get to my table on Saturday.
I did very well this year and had several repeated customers, as well as new customers who were willing to pay $1500 for dolls (my highest prices yet)
What I noticed: most people bought either very expensive VINYL dolls ($1800 - $4000 range) or in the $450-550 range.
Also, the funny observation, as a vinyl artist I think people are more into silicon dolls now (I cringe every time when I read ‘my daughter wants FBS baby’), but I heard from the silicone artist that they think that people buy more vinyl babies.
I think so many people paint silicone now that the market for those artists is not what it used to be.
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I hear ya…I can’t get rid of Quinlyn…I guess she’s not a popular sculpt.
Hopefully Gracie Mae will do better…and…we have Christmas coming up…so fingers crossed things will pick up!!!
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I think silicone dolls are out of reach for the average person because they cost so much to make. J love them though and wish I could afford one of Romie Strydom’s.
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We were talking about the show and majority collectors had their silicone babies at the lobby gatherings.
I saw and hold an amazing silicone baby that cost $7,000.00
So I don’t know what is in reach or not in reach for some people.
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Was the a/c down or something during the show? That is not good. 
Yep, AC went down on the hall where the showroom was and in the showroom only half of the room seemed to be getting cooled. Thankfully, my side was the side with some air but it was still miserably hot. I cannot even imagine how bad it was on the booths side to be sitting all day. It was that way in the showroom the 1st day last year too but worse this year. We had even more people in the show room this year so the combination of the cramped space and the failing AC made for a hot sweltering first day. People coming through were literally pouring sweat. To be honest, a couple times I kinda freaked because how sweaty people looked who were wanting to cuddle a baby! Many said they left before they got to all the tables because they were about to faint. 2nd day the crowd was way down from the first day so the temperature of the room was better but still very hot and not comfortable. We were all still fanning. People wearing neck fans etc. Vendors went and bought box fans who were near outlets to plug them in and the hotel sent in a few fans too. It moved air around but it was still hot air.
The other frustrating thing to me was that in order to rearrange and add more vendors, we were all way more cramped up than last year. I had an end corner table and literally had only about 3 feet between my table end and the lady’s table behind me for everyone on our entire row of tables to get in and out. The lady behind me and I were bumping chair backs all the time and there were a lot of people standing around the entry way to our row blocking one whole side of my corner table. Thus people could not even see I had merchandise on there as well. Many even commented the 2nd day that they did not see it. I did start selling my accessories on day 2 and mostly that was what I sold on day 2. I was thankful for that!
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Yep the heat was awful! I had people message me after the show saying they never even made it to my table in the far back corner because they got so hot they had to leave 
they show itself was amazing and once they get to a new venue next year I think things will be much better!
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I totally agree on how amazing the show is! It is a fabulous show, very well presented and a lot of fun. I felt bad for all the table vendors who were back against walls too because you all had little room to move as well. Poor Yelena was crammed up against a door and wall and had so little room! I am hoping that the new venue will be larger but that she will not add more vendors so that the ones we already have will be able to move about better as well as the customers. I know everyone would like to be a vendor at the show, but I think that there is wisdom in not over flooding the visitors with too much as well. It can become overwhelming and hard to navigate.
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She said she may add some but not a lot more. I asked because I’m interested in vending next year.
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At the entrance wall we didn’t have space to sit either. I set 5 min on each day. And to make it worse my table was half-blocking the emergency door, which is not how it was mapped on the floor plan when we were picking out spaces. At least my hubby and I were able to lean on the walls.
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LOL, I didn’t see it, but just commented about it.
We were constantly bumping in between our tables also with Meg Denton and her helper. 1 foot between tables just not enough!
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Geez ladies that sounds miserable! Sounds like it affected your sales too. Maybe a bit of a refund is in order?