The nights are drawing in here in the UK and once again we are coming to the most productive period in the year for clock making.

The winter months are the time most amateur woodworkers give time and effort to new projects and ideas, locked away in their workshops, sheds and garages as the outdoor facilities come to an end with the deterioration of the weather.

Call me an old romantic but I can almost hear the sound of chisels and plane blades being sharpened on oil stones and I’m sure I get the faint smell of freshly sawn oak, and animal glue drifting across the autumn breeze as thousands of craft people get their stock together for the oncoming winter craft fairs.

In my early years of making clocks this was a very important part of the year as all the off cuts from my bigger projects were turned into small economical clocks for sale at Christmas with the aid of very cheap inserts.

I made the blanks and off cuts into turned wall clocks, wag on the walls, small bracket clocks and I used anything I could apply a quarts movement and dial to. Every year these were given as presents or sold and in either case helped to pay for Christmas.

There is an old saying if you can’t sell a clock at Christmas you never will.
“And I’m sure its right”.

There is something you have got to remember when selling lower priced clocks at craft fairs or markets and that is, especially at Xmas, that clocks are an impulsive buy.

Customers are looking for presents, and Christmas presents have a budget ceiling i.e. £10 for Auntie Margaret, $20 for brother Fred and so on.

Everybody is looking for a present that looks something special and expensive for the least amount of money, right?.

So here’s the trick.
Make sure your clock is in a box preferably white with a good picture on the front.

You can easily do this by sourcing a local box supplier and with the technology we have at hand, digital cameras and printers you can soon produce a stunning photographic label on demand and at a very low cost.

The hardest thing to accept as a clockmaker or craft person at this time of year is customers will not pay more for handmade goods and therefore are not buying your clock they are buying your box as it gives more perceived value.

It took two seasons after being given this advice from a very successful marketing man, for me to accept this and try it out. By putting my clocks into a box with a picture on the front of the clock, increased my sales by over 200% at Christmas.

You could say I’m a slow learner but my wife will tell you I am just stubborn and will not listen to anybody, unfortunately she appears to be always right.

So if you are doing the Christmas fairs with clocks this year give a little thought to the packaging and it will almost guarantee you will pay for Christmas, if not it will certainly go a long way towards it.

Barry Share
http://riversdaleclocks.com

Clock Case Making Manual…
http://riversdaleclocks.com/casemaking/