The BeadWhisperer

Some Maille

2011-10-30T20:07:00.000-04:00

2011-10-22T21:25:00.003-04:00

Next week is the show the Yellow Breeches Chapter of the PA Guild of Craftsmen (whew) is having. We do not have a booth in this one, but will have several pieces in the boutique section. Come on out and meet your neighbors who are also fabulous artists!

2011-10-18T05:51:00.002-04:00

Maybe I was a little harsh with the last post. I was in a bad place that day, disappointed with just about everything. I'm better now, but there is still no excuse for bad manners at a craft show.

Oh, I said it. CRAFT SHOW. What exactly is wrong with saying CRAFT SHOW? Some people say, "Art Fair" or "Craft Fair" or "Art show" but CRAFT SHOW is taboo if you consider yourself a 'real' artist. It's been craft shows to me forever. The ACC show in Baltimore is the biggest, most professional, and I believe they refer to that as a Craft Show. The high school puts on a Craft Show at Christmas.

So get over the semantics people. Get out there and do your thing.

So much for not being grumpy...

2011-10-16T21:32:00.003-04:00

The last outdoor show of the year was yesterday. It was windy. It was chilly. I know I always say "Craft shows aren't for sissies" but for some reason this year was tiring. I won't whine, much, but it's been a hard year for outside shows. I'm glad we're done with the outdoor ones. The weather wasn't very cooperative this year. Not as bad as it was a couple years ago when it rained at nearly every event, but bad enough.
Joe calls this show the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. Everyone who ever read a bead magazine was there selling jewelry. This pair of trendy ladies were the best though. They had the whole set up, but about a dozen necklaces and a few pair of earrings. The ginchy and oh so trendy trays of lentils and black beans for display, but one or two necklaces draped over the beans. Why go to all the effort if you're only offering a few things for sale? Explain that to me please. They get the 'grain of salt' award too, as one of the trendy girls was standing in front of the booth texting every time I walked by. These chicks would be the same ones who would panic if it rained, and probably wouldn't think twice about bitching out the organizer if their sales were poor. (Even though the other 90+ vendors had good days and had nothing but nice to say about the show) (Put down the iphone and pretend you care about your customers) If it put it on a tray of black beans, the world will beat a path to your booth.

Then there were the Suburban soccer Moms in their hybrid crossover SUV raging at the lady directing traffic because they can't drive their SUV to their booth. Later I checked out the booth, and they were tentless, had displays made from narrow PVC piping, and were selling crocheted items.

No really. Their entire inventory fit in two tubs. TWO. Here's the sense of entitlement kicking in. Guess they all won a trophy at T-Ball too.

Maybe I just need an attitude adjustment.

2011-10-11T21:00:00.002-04:00

I love books. Jewelry making has opened up a whole new world of books for me. Thank goodness for Amazon, or I'd REALLY be broke. This came today, and oh man, I can't wait to play!!

Hammer, saw, patina...wheee!!!!

Beading Daily!

2011-10-09T15:43:00.003-04:00

Here's something I enjoy greatly. Beading Daily is an awesome resource for beaders and jewelry makers in general. Free downloads, tips, tricks, and the forum is a great place for sharing work, as well as techniques. It's a wonderful thing! Go check it out...

2011-10-09T09:41:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the Festival of Leaves in Front Royal, VA. The bar was set pretty high this year, as the pop up was badly damaged on Tuesday, and my car crapped out on Thursday. I bought a new tent and Joe rented a van to make sure we made the show. The hole was deep and red (as in "in the red") before we even left the house on Friday night.

The hole only got a little less shallow by the end of the day yesterday. The Festival of Leaves didn't seem to be as big a deal as it's been in the past. The booth set ups were weird, with large gaps between them, (dead space is never good) and the crowds were way, way down. We sold lots of kid necklaces, and a fair number of earrings and onesy-twosy jewelry items, but not a lot of anything.

Even if we didn't have to rent a van and buy a new pop up, we wouldn't have been terribly happy with the bottom line. I hate to put this one on the "Endangered Species List" of shows, but damn, this is supposed to be a money making operation. Breaking even is NOT making money.
There's no point complaining to the organizers, they got their booth money, so why should they care if anyone 'wins'? Oh well. No point in complaining and pointing fingers. If the weather holds, next week should be really good. No hotel, 5 minutes from home, and traditionally a big winner. Again, let's all hope for a beautiful crisp, sunny, fall day!

2011-10-04T05:41:00.002-04:00

The Fells Point Festival was a big success. Even though it was cold, damp, and windy. Joe sold a bunch of rocks, and I sold earrings and necklaces. Odd, though, while a lot of people picked up and played with the bracelets, nobody bought. That's okay. The 'Dread Pirate Roberts' necklace sold before we were even open. A gentleman was out and about getting coffee and spied it. He and his wife were married on Halloween, and he felt this would be a great gift. I had to agree with that. He also bought the blue mosaic turquoise necklace. I was glad to see that one go. The mosaic turquoise has come to irritate me immensely. Also sold was the green mosaic turquoise necklace & earrings. Again, so long...

We had nice neighbors, the people who put lights in bottles & glass bricks, and we got to talk to lots and lots of other folks. It was a good time. We stayed at the HI Express, as usual, but out at BWI. THAT ride SUCKED. It was raining, misting, and the defroster wasn't working very well in the car. I couldn't see, we got lost before we were even out of Baltimore. All I wanted was some hot soup and a warm bed! It took nearly an hour from the time we left the festival to the time we got to the hotel. Next year I'm paying the extra money and staying in town.

Yesterday morning, I could barely move. I couldn't put my arms above my head, and my whole body was stiff and still cold. The big bomb Motrin didn't even help, so I called off work. That, I'm sure, will have serious repercussions today, as it was an 'unscheduled off'. Hey, I don't call off sick that often, so they should know when I do call off, there's a damn good reason!

The downside to selling like this is that I have to bust butt this week and get more made. I didn't do anything yesterday. Making eggrolls and hot & sour soup was my biggest accomplishment. Tonight is Mom's Birthday dinner in Chambersbucket, and tomorrow is some cocktail party at the automuseum for Joe. (Too bad he paid for one ticket for that, because I'd dearly love to get out of it.) It'd be nice to have two days to make stuff instead of just one.

This weekend is The Festival of the Leaves in Virginia. In years past, we've done pretty good there, however all shows are down somewhat, (It's the economy stupid) and it's another hotel room night. I am NOT getting up at 3 am to drive down there to set up and sit all day, to drive back home. It's 'only' about 120 miles, but still. We stay over on Friday night and come home right after the show. There's always that "I wish we could stay tonight" as we're turning on to the highway, but knowing we'll wake up in our own bed on a Sunday morning is worth it.

Yes, craft shows aren't for sissies.

2011-09-28T05:43:00.002-04:00

The Hometown show last weekend went well. At least okay. The crowd was down considerably, probably because of the threat of torrential rain. I thought it'd be very crowded, since it had rained all week. The traffic picked up a little in the afternoon, once the sun came out to stay.

As usual, sold a lot of rocks. Joe kept busy with the kid necklaces, and I answered lots of questions and 'oohs and aahs' over the beaded pendants. Alas, this was not the crowd to actually spend a lot of money, so no pendants were purchased. That's okay, there's always the next show.

Our booth bores me. We've changed the table covers and the curtains in the back, again. But the whole set up has gotten stale. This is the fourth year of this particular configuration, and frankly, it's tired. I think for Fells Point we should change it up a little. I'll suggest this to Joe and get his input.

Actually, the whole jewelry thing is tired. So many people are selling jewelry anymore, and even with Beadwhisperer things being unique, it's still 'another jewelry booth'. Show visitors have gotten blase about seeing jewelry, and they just kind of breeze by. I'm trying to get the seed bead pieces out there for more people to see, so they at least stop. Earrings and bracelets are pretty much just booth filler. The strung necklaces do sell, but I have come to despise making them.

I read a newsletter from a well known jewelry selling guru who said "Don't make sets" so I quit making sets. Every single show someone says, "Do you have earrings that go with this?" So I'm going back to making earrings to go with the necklaces. Probably not bracelets, but definitely earrings. Also, that cuts down on the quarter strands or two-three beads I have left after the necklaces are made.

This weekend is the Fells Point Fun Festival. We were there last year and had a blast. I truly don't remember standing still very much. We can only hope this year is a repeat. Stay tuned for that update. Hopefully with photos.

Storage & Organization

2011-09-23T04:41:00.003-04:00

Obviously, I love me some beads. All kinds too. Stone, glass, big, small....everything. (Except plastic, but that's a different post) Being an unorganized person, it's a challenge for me to keep the beads corralled. Most times it does not work. The living room is piled high with beads, tools, books, magazines, all the jewelry making stuff. And that's not cool. Add in the plethora of cats, and you have daily disasters.

I have lust in my heart for the nice organized beadroom like I've seen. I have lust for the lovely plastic containers organizing beads by color and size. Too bad my attention span overtakes the lust. I can't imagine sitting down and redoing the whole place by size & color. I'm getting there though. It's a bigger process that you think. Again the whole attention span thing.

Right now I have the plastic file cabinets from rubbermaid. Four of them. Some drawers are actually labeled. That was short lived, but at least I did manage to get some semblance of order to some of the stash. Each drawer has a couple snapped lid organizers from the craft store. (I liked those while they were $1, but now they've gone up in price, and I'm not such a fan)

Clear plastic shoeboxes from the dollar store are also my 'organizing system'. Right now there are six large ones on the floor by the coffee table. "Metal", "Glass", "Findings", "Cabs", "Stone", and "The Big Mix" . For now it pretty much works. The Big Mix box is where all the odds and ends go to live.

Seed beads are a whole different ballgame. They have a whole drawer. Not organized, just tossed in a drawer. They also have a whole tackle box. In the partitioned plastic trays with lids, I do have a couple that are organized 'properly', with all the blues in one, the warm colors in another, purples in one and so on. But the little packets and containers are everywhere else. Which is vexing because I don't know what colors I have, don't have or what. Which is good for the LBS, because I just go and buy more.

Another thing I found that I really like are these scrapbooking organizers from Michael's. They're about 18 x 18, and I assume that scrapbook peeps store their paper in them. They're awesome for big projects. You can keep all the beads, needles, fireline spools, scissors whatever in them. When you're done for the now, close the lid and carry on. They're excellent.

Another cool find at Michael's are these photo storage cases. They're smaller, about 6x6 maybe, and they're great for on the go beading or chain mailling. Cut a piece of bead mat to fit in the bottom, glue it in if you wish (i don't) and there you go. I got all OCD and starting matching the color of the box to the color of the project. Green, purple, hot pink. Clear is the wildcard.

So now I've got all these boxes stacked all around the living room too. And THAT is definately a slippery slope. I need something large to store them in.

On one of our weekend rambles last winter, I saw an old beat up armoire at a junk store. It was in rough shape, but had a certain charm. I showed it to Joe, and explained about putting shelves in for bead boxes. He shook his head and walked away. I did not purchase the beat up armoire. And I regret it. I'm going back to the junk store, and if it's to be mine, it will still be there. I have a plan for it. I need one unencumbered weekend of no commentary, no company, no interruptions, just me and my beads to get a little organization going on.

No organization truly impedes the creative process. I truly believe that once I cut out all the BS clutter, can pick up a box of beads without cat hair (and other unmentionable icks) that I'll be able to ramp up my creativity.

Until I have to tackle the bookshelves!

2011-09-14T05:47:00.003-04:00

One of the ladies I work with brought me a bracelet to repair. She had gotten it at the mall, and had already returned it once. The jump ring to hold the clasp on wasn't closed properly, so the beading wire kept slipping thru the gap. I replaced the now mashed jump ring and life will be fine.

I do wonder why people buy crap jewelry at the mall and are shocked, SHOCKED I SAY when it goes bad.

Oh well. I hope it works for her.

In other news, we are overrun with fleas, and will have to bomb the house, basement included. That means herding cats upstairs and downstairs on bomb day. Should be interesting.

The Fall Show Season is rapidly approaching, and I have squat accomplished. I've spent too much money on booth fees to half ass a bunch of product, so I have to buckle down and make good stuff. It'd be nice for a whole day alone to do this. But I'm not holding my breath for that. I'll have to make due.

SNOW DAY!

2011-01-26T13:48:00.002-05:00

But I was off anyway, so it's not a big deal for me, weather wise.

I am off because my house is a filthy pit, the laundry is in piles, the cat litter need changed, and, oh yes, there's a gallery show the BS is involved in during the month of February. And as always, I don't feel I have anything to show. I have an ambitious list, including some maille, etched copper, and seed beaded pieces. Luckily, most of them are UFO's that have been laying around taking up space for MONTHS. I'm finishing them, and will have them hang in the gallery next month.

If nothing sells, that's cool too, because then I have a leg up on the first show of the year in April.

Photos may follow.

Another Year, Another Post

2011-01-16T10:20:00.002-05:00

Almost a year has passed since I last posted here. Lots of new things, lots of 'sameole sameole'. The consignment I spoke about in an earlier post ain't all that. But, it doesn't suck. I've learned a few new techniques, joined a couple art organizations. Eh. I've found I'm not much for meetings.

We participated in some really good shows in 2010, and of course, a couple stinkers. By now, we've got the hang of it, mostly, so we're not fumbling around like the newbies.

2010 was a challenge as my day job was a huge drain on my creativity. There were lots of high profile, high stress, high pressure jobs the company was involved with, which resulted in lots of tension and a lot of pressure to 'perform' from the Higher Powers. I was getting barraged with so much negativity daily, that it was hard NOT to let it affect me. Finally, in September, they decided that they would remove me from the managerial crosshairs (read managerial stress, not managerial pay) and I'd resume being someone who 'gets trucks' and moves the equipment, thus freeing me from the weekly meetings. Now, instead of reporting to The Bigs, I report to my supervisor, and she reports to them. She doesn't take anything personally, so their rants and raves roll right off her. For this I'm grateful. I'm getting my mojo back, slowly but surely. I'm hoping this year my supply of 'cool stuff' will be expansive and accessible, with all kinds of beautiful and unusual things in the booth.

I taught my first class in 2010 also. That was interesting, and I hope to do that again. Just on a smaller scale. Nearly 30 people in a chain maille class is absurd, as everyone deserves one on one time with the teacher. Another thing that irked me was that the woman who put the class together singled out one buddy student, and they spent the class talking to each other about unrelated jewelry making. I felt this was very disrespectful of BOTH parties involved, more so since the 'buddy student' is a teacher herself. She'd have a purple cow if someone did this in HER classes. But I wasn't teaching manners.

In 2010, I also took some classes. Two with the fantastic Sherry Serafini, and one with Diane Fitzgerald. I learned a lot, and had some fun, and in 2011, I'd like to take a couple more with other teachers. Praise the LBS who cares about her customers, and brings in the nationally known teachers.

Coming up in 2011, we have some of the usual shows, and in February, a gallery show, with members of the jewelry/bead club. Most people I've spoken with did not sell loads of their jewelry last year at this gallery show, but I'm always happy to 'get it out there', so if nothing sells, that's okay, as long as my business cards get out there.

The big shows are always in the Fall, so I've got a long way to go before I get all kooked out about those. In the meantime, we've got a couple good ones in the Spring and Summer, mostly for fun. We had a big one in June last year that TANKED, mostly because not all wine festivals are created the same. It's off the list. I'm not driving 200 miles and stayed for two nights in a hotel to try and sell one of a kind pieces to a bunch of slurring drunk college girls. No thanks.

A revelation I had in 2010 was that I am not going to participate in every high school-church-town festival craft show that comes down the pike. I don't want to be snobby, but I don't have to. There's plenty of bead-spacer-bead (But they're SWAROVSKI!!) jewelry makers out there that can have my $20 spot in the church basement. My time is valuable to me. I'd rather be doing something else....ANYTHING ELSE...than sitting in a church basement/high school gym having some 'beader' giving me the stink eye across her table of 'handcrafted murano glass pendants' (Buy Two get a matching neck ribbon!!) or listening to the soccer moms handle and admire a chain maille-glass bracelet exclaiming, "$50?!! I could get the beads at Michaels and make this myself!!" Yeah, no thanks.

Another revelation was NEVER EVER lower my prices. EVER. Some lady haggled me down $10 for a tiny byzantine maille piece. I wanted it sold, but after she got it for $10 less. I got pissed off. PISSED OFF. Pissed at myself for thinking this woman wouldn't have bought it unless I lowered the price, pissed at the lady who had actually come back three times to look at the piece, who really did want it, and would have paid full price for it. And pissed that I was so desperate to sell this time that I'd take less money for it. Screw all that. You don't like the price, don't buy it. I appreciate your business, but I'd like you to appreciate my time and effort in crafting this piece.

And that's the recap and look ahead. Maybe I'll come back with more posts in 2011 or maybe I won't. We'll see.

Consignment!

2010-02-21T08:08:00.001-05:00

Blame Facebook. Seriously. But I have been busy other than growing stuff on Farmville. Back story first (of course)

Last Spring, Joe and I stopped by a craft show. (As if we don't go to enough of them as Sellers) We spoke with the person in charge, and she said her Mom put this on as a benefit for the March of Dimes. I gave her my card and asked to be notified when the next show came around. A few weeks passed, and I got an email from the Mom, explaining she was going to be opening a store in downtown Carlisle, and would I like to put my things there? She outlined the costs, and that was that. I waffled on it for a long time, show season was kicking up, and I didn't have time I thought. At one of the local shows, the Mom came to visit my booth. "I would like your jewelry in my store. Think about it"

Long story bearable, after the last show of the year (A Majah Disastah, see previous post) I took all of my leftover stock to her and said, "Here, have at it" Since then I've gotten a check every month, and I keep taking more things to put in the store. Of course, now it's dead, because nobody's really shopping. I have to start making things for shows now, so my plan (uh huh) is to make doubles of everything. One for the booth, one for the store. Too bad I have to have a day job!

I'll tell you how that works out.

Mom Gifts

2009-12-22T06:24:00.001-05:00

My Mom always gets at least two "Amy Pieces" of jewelry at Christmas. At LEAST. The best, by far, was what she calls Sputnik, which is just bumpy beads and black size 6/0 seeds. It's a very simple thing, but she wears it a lot, and gets compliments every time she wears it. Again, "IT'S DIFFERENT" So I'm reaching into my bag 'o tricks for new DIFFERENT things for her Christmas this year. Stay tuned for pictures.

Trinkets-I think Not

2009-12-17T16:47:00.001-05:00

An acquaintance of mine invited us to a party this weekend. Yay, of course, we'll be there. He then posted on my Facebook wall for me to "Bring some of your trinkets as a friend of my wife is into that kind of stuff."

This irriated me to death. I hate the word 'Trinket'.
To me, a trinket is a junky little thing, and not worth anything. (Which is one of the definitions of the word) So I replied to him with righteous indignation, explaining that "Trinkets" are usually just worthless shiny things, and my jewelry have a great amount of thought, time, energy and myself put into them, and that I didn't think much of him referring to them as trinkets.

He said I need to take a Valium and relax.

Did I overreact?

Secret Santa 2009

2009-12-16T20:58:00.003-05:00

I like Secret Santas, and beady swaps online. I do tend to set my sights higher and challenge myself a little bit more too. I want to give away something GOOD. I'd hate to think that people would feel I'm giving them something 'not so special'.

For this year's forum Secret Santa, my person said she liked orange and green. Two colors I do NOT work with. But I thought I'd give it a whirl. I also decided to try a new technique. As a crisis motivated person, I waited until the last minute, and that bit me on the butt. I had gotten the book "Shaped Beadwork" by Diane Fitzgerald. At first glance, it was going to be easy, but I kept having problems with my corners and then the whole 'zip it together' thing. Which I've done hundreds of times, but managed to screw it up every time with these project. I have several components I did, before I settled on one kind I really liked. I rolled along without problems, until I read the REST of the instructions. Oh. Make a BACKSIDE to all the components. Well DANG. (When will I learn to read it all FIRST?) Since I did green and orange on one side, I decided to do orange and green on the flip. I think it looks very cool. Since they spin, you can wear green-orange-green or whatever combo you like. It was a small bit of whimsy on my part.

Once all the beads were beaded, stringing it together was the next mission. Of course I didn't think about this while I was making all the beaded beads, so I had to make that up as I went along. In the great stash, I had some very thin Accuwire in a coppery color, so I wove that thru the woven beadwork and added little tiny carnelian buttons in between. A toggle clasp competed the gift. I will make these again, maybe in varying sizes for a necklace.

2009-11-29T09:22:00.001-05:00

Sadly we ended the show season on a low note. I had high hopes for the new show the Zembo Temple was putting on, and the price was right for a two day event. Alas, no matter how good the price was, when no people show up to shop, the purpose is defeated.

But I'm always trying to look for the silver (sterling silver that is) lining, I was able to put almost all of the necklaces and bracelets into a local consignment shop. That was on Monday. By Saturday, a necklace and a bracelet had been sold! This shop has two options for payment. One is to pay $50 a month for space, the other is to pay commission. I'm opting for the $50 a month. Sure, it'll be slow in Jan/Feb/March, but December's Christmas shopping should offset the cost. At least, that's what I'm hoping will happen. I've also prepaid for a year of premium service on ArtFire. It's $100 for a year prepaid. I'm thinking about using that store for beads and calling it The Beadwhisperer Merchantile. I have been stockpiling beads (buying multiple strands when I have the opportunity) with this project in mind. We'll see.

The applications are rolling in for the 2010 shows already, and Joe and I have to have our end of year 'staff meeting' to discuss 2010. Every year we get our act together a little more. 2010 may be the best yet!

2009-11-01T06:02:00.002-05:00

I blame Facebook. I've got two blogs that I try to update, with varying success. The first one caused me a lot of grief after it was discovered by my work cronies. I sanitized that a little, and have been using it as my place to post about craft shows and such. However, due to my addiction to Facebook, I haven't been updating that like I should. And this poor blog has completely fallen by the wayside. No good.

Fall wasn't bad. We did 7 shows from the time I got back from the beach, (Sept 12) until October 17. Pretty much every weekend. We were graced with rain during 4 of them.

The two day show right after vacation turned into a nightmare:
I came home from the beach on 9/11, Barney was sick and had to go to the vet. As it turned out, he had a urinary infection, and was hospitalized. On 9/12, we drove to Maryland, found the site, IN THE RAIN, dragged all our stuff across a muddy football field to get to our booth site, set up (still raining) and we stood there for the day (drizzling) with me phoning the vet for hourly updates. After the show (day one) we went to our hotel, only to find that there was some snafu with the room, and we were moved to another hotel. An upgrade, but at the time, I was not amused. I slept very little that night, even in a posh hotel room. The next morning, the sun came out, and while it didn't dry up all the rain, the people came out, and we actually did okay. We got back home around 9:00 on Sunday night, went to the vet to visit Barney, then home and crashed. Barney ended up coming home two days later, and cost a fair amount of money.

As if my head wasn't already on the verge of exploding, Monday the landlady showed up, and apparently had been in the house while I was on vacation. She noted that I have too many cats (agreed) and that I need to do something about that, or I'll be evicted. I agree that there are too many cats here, and something needs done, but they've already been thrown away once, what am I going to do? Throw them away again? That's a story for another day.

The show the next weekend was okay, nice fall weather, clear, chilly and sunny. We did all right, and got interviewed by the local paper, and ended up on the front page of the Sunday edition. That's a small town festival show, and we've had a good time the last two years we've done it.

The next show was my hometown festival, and we always kick butt there. This year, it rained. But we did pretty good, despite TORRENTIAL downpours. There were a lot of mad vendors. But people have to understand, a promotor can only control so much, and the weather isn't one of them.

By now, we are into October and we had another local hometown festival. Last year, this one was very good, despite me leaving the cashbox at home (D'oh!!) This year, eh. They've torn up all the sidewalks in the town, so there were big pits along the street, with boards across the pits to get into the stores. The brains of the festival didn't think to close the streets to traffic during vendor set up, so we're putting up the popup while large semi trucks are cruising by. It wasn't a stellar day. But after the show, we had dinner and beverages with my best buddy from high school, and that made everything a little better. The next day we took a road trip to Baltimore to check out the Fells Point Fun Festival, which was an absolute BLAST. Maybe we'll try & vend there next year. My favorite beader and good pal Erin was there, and we hung out. It was all very great fun.

The second show of October was in Virginia. Another great location, and previous shows have always been fantastic. This year, RAIN, and not a great location (partially due to getting the app in late, because we were waiting for another huge festival to 'jury' us in, alas, it took them four months to say no thanks and return the check, more on that later) Anyway, it rained in Virginia.
And we were sandwiched between a guy selling bathroom renovation, and a guy hawking spaces in an assisted living community. I was afraid it was really going to suck. But we prevailed, with humor and good attitudes. We didn't do badly, but not as great as past years. The bar is set pretty high with that show because we spend at least one night in a hotel. No way I'm driving 100 miles at four in the morning to set up for a show! We did go home right after the event, however, which saved some money. Both Joe and I were ready to be home though! The day after, we went to Maryland to check out this giant festival we had heard so much about, and had tried to get into. The town closes down for two days and becomes one big festival. There are a couple venues that are 'official'; and then there are a couple venues that are craft shows put on by the fire dept or VFW or any organization with a big space. It was nuts. They shuttle bus folks in all weekend long. There is a lot of kountry krafts, and lots and LOTS of crap. We got turned down by the 'jury' for one of the official spaces, but we saw at least five buy-sell vendors, and several open spaces on our walk through on Sunday. While I'd like to do that show just for the sheer numbers of visitors, I'm put off by the tons of touristy garbage and crappy buy-sell stuff being touted as HANDCRAFTED. We have to discuss that in a staff meeting.

The last outdoor show of the year was a complete rain out. Which is a bummer, because it's a real good time, put on by classy people and is well organized. We do exceptionally well there every year. While I always say "Craft shows aren't for sissies", torrential rain, high winds and temps in the upper 30's is stretching it a little. Nobody is going to come out to shop in that slop, while should I risk pneumonia for a couple bucks?

So now we're down to three shows left. The one next weekend is huge, and I'm hoping we do well, (as always) I'm distracted with the creating of stuff, because the landlady is making a walk thru of the house this week, and the place is trashed, as it usually is after the fall show season. We're using this opportunity to do a 'deep clean' and trash a bunch of unneeded junk and redo the floor in the utility room. We've taken THREE lawn & leaf bags full of clothes to the homeless shelter, and I threw away 8 pairs of shoes. Hoard much?? Hopefully we'll be done today, and I can use the rest of the week to make jewelry. This is a good show, and I want us to look great!

Stay tuned for the recap of the last shows of the year. I promise I won't wait two months to update.

Oooh Goodies!

2009-08-24T13:17:00.008-04:00

Joe and I went to Beadfest in Philly on Saturday.

Wow, talk about sensory overload! I think next year we're going to break it into two days. We were so fried by the time we got to the end, that neither one of us could look at any more beads or stones or glass or ANYTHING. Which makes me sad, because Beyond Beadery had it's big ass traveling roadshow of seed beady delights in the lobby. I couldn't concentrate on any of it, and that makes me very sad.

Before we glazed over, though, we managed to snag these from the dollar strand guys:

and these from S&S Lapidary (they're really nice people)

A neat button from David Christensen (The Furnace glass KING) and cool guy

A few stone beads from Cherry Tree Beads:

But the coolest stuff, we bought first. Both came from Artsian Glass ( a PA artist!)

My birthday present-Maille or seed beads?

and I bought this to make something to sell, but I think I'm keeping it for ME. Because it's freaking COOL.

2009-08-01T07:24:00.002-04:00

Part of my problem is that my 'work space' is in heinous disarray.

I started organizing the bead portion of my program two weeks ago, and I've corralled most of the seed beads. MOST. There are a lot of stragglers. Of course it does not help that I keep buying beads. You see, this is the first time in my life that I can afford to buy (most) of what I want. Which has led to massive piles of stuff. Some stuff I've forgotten I've purchased. I read all these wonderful things online, and go off to get the supplies. I've got the full compliment to make soldered pendants, including sheets of cool scrappy paper, cool 'found' things, solder, microscope slides, glass, foil-the whole bit. Alas, I've sold one pendant this year. I need to rethink how I'm selling those. Although I've seen them for $19 online, show patrons have shown no interest in purchasing them for that. Even with a spiffy ball chain. I guess I really have to do a cost analysis on them to see exactly what I can ask. (Lazy, I just used the price point from online sellers)

Back from that tangent. I seriously need to clean up this mess and organize things. I think it'd help my creativity.

2009-07-30T21:13:00.002-04:00

Last year, I made a nice beaded cab with a piece of pink rhodonite, and some old pink seed beads. It's really pretty, but I never finished it as a necklace. Lately I've been fiddling with all kinds of different necklaces for it. The latest one is a neat herringbone necklace, but it's going really slow. REALLY slow. So I'm exploring other options.

Again.

2009-07-18T10:37:00.002-04:00

I've been really bad about keeping up with this blog. Sorry about that. I'm having a hard time keeping up with the other blog too. With the day job, and all the shows, I'm kind of busy. No more shows until September (at least for now) I'm trying to make a lot of stock so I have less 'panic' before the show. Yeah, we'll see about THAT.

And so it goes. Stay tuned for more pictures of cool things I've made, and works in progress.

2009-05-31T19:04:00.002-04:00

It's been an interesting weekend here at the Groundhog Ranch. Yesterday we went 'junking' at a local twice yearly flea market. Junk is the operative word here. However, I did manage to find a shopping bag full of stuff. A box of colored crushed glass; a bag of watch parts (for a buck); three small boxes of tiny shells; some glassware that will be repurposed (a secret project) and a cool little corner rack for the boof. All in all, a successful junk hunt.

We then visited a couple other yard sales and got a couple cool rocks for the display (35 cents) and ended up in a little town 'up the river'. There's a neat art gallery there, so we swung in to check it out. There was the usual ridiculous amounts of jewelry, and various and sundry other artsty stuff. I got an application package to see if my stuff would pass muster to be able to be displayed. Now I have to come up with five kickass pieces to go to their jury. Of course, the five kickass pieces will need to be made AFTER I make a bunch of kickass stuff for the booth. The stunning success at the Virginina Craft & Wine festival, has left the cupboard bare. And last week, I was too strung out with the great refrigerator drama to even try and make stuff. So this week I kick into high gear and get some stuff made. I have three pieces that got broken in Mercersburg, so fixing them is the first priority, THEN filling up the rest of the spaces with goodies. I'm still boggled by the Wine Fest. In the fifteen years of selling stuff at craft shows, I've NEVER come that close to selling out of stuff before. I've always made fun of people who stress over have doubles and triples of all their stuff 'in case they sell out', well, no more. Dang!

We dug the garden today and planted those poor broccolis who have languished in big pots out back. Also put in some tomatoes and basil. Once I get the peppers, we're good with the garden.
I hope so, because there was lots of digging and 'forking' (aerating the dirt with a pitchfork) today, and tomorrow is going to HURT.

Before I start really hurting, I've got to get another box of glassware out of Obbie's car. I didn't want the whole box, really, but the guy didn't want to haul it home, so he sold me the whole banana box of odd glass for two dollars. Dear goodness, I thought I was out of the glass junk collecting phase. I keep telling myself it's for a project, it's for a project. We shall see.

I'm off for an Advil, and to fetch the box before I seize up like a rusty hinge.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

2009-05-04T13:43:00.002-04:00

And here's the schedule until fall, when more are added:

May:

Mercersburg Home & Garden Festival - May 9th
Virginia Arts & Wine Festival - May 16th

June:

Middletown Fair June 13 & 14
Westminster, MD Arts in the Park June 6th

July:

Waynesboro, PA July 4th Jubilee July 4th
Carlisle, PA Summerfest July 11th

August:

Off for now

September:

Mount Holly Springs Holly Days September 19th
Mercersburg Townfest September 26th

October:

Thurmont Colorfest October 10 & 11th (Pending acceptance)
Dillsburg Farmers Fair October 17th

2009-04-29T12:54:00.003-04:00

Holy Moly! I can't believe I haven't posted here in so long. Blame Facebook. Lots of my pictures are posted over there. Not to mention Mob Wars and Mafia Wars (Join my mobs willya? I need the help)

Here are a couple highlights of the past months:

Blue aluminum foxtail (or box) weave with crackle glass & vintage glass beads. This is really slinky and cool.

Another view, with cat hair for realism.

Back in January I took a class on making these slide pendants.
Of course, I fell in love right away, and now have all KINDS of stuff

for making pendants. This is an old stamp commorating Pittsburgh's

Steel Industry. On the back is a little piece of map showing Pittsburgh.

Way cool. Way mine.

I wish the quality on this is better. Completely made by hand.
(except for the gawdawful clasp which has been removed) Links

forged from 14 gauge copper, and hammered. All the little dangly

doo-dads hand wrapped with love. I need more doo-dads on there,

though, so it's not for sale until it's more 'doo-ed' up. (heh)

I have a ton of shows lined up too. I'll post them on a different entry tomorrow. It's going to be a fun summer!

Some other things

2008-12-30T06:05:00.002-05:00

These harken back to the first earrings I ever made. The ever popular brick stitch. Tiny AB glass bubbles on the fringes, blue lined clear 11/0 seeds. Handmade wires.

This was an experiment. Right out of the Bead On A Wire book from Sharilyn Miller. Turquoise and copper beads, with wrapped copper. The supporting wire was too flexible and it was really bendy. I was trying to fix it at a show, and a lady spied it and wanted it RIGHT NOW. Who am I to argue with RIGHT NOW? (Especially with cash in hand) I even explained to her about the bendy-ness (nice word) and she wanted it anyway. I whipped up a quick 'S' hook clasp and she went about her merry way with it. Just one more thing that astonished me during the shows of 2008. I plan on making more, just with heavier gauge wire.

Christmas Around My House

2008-12-24T06:09:00.008-05:00

Finally! The Secret Santa is done and headed North. I hope the giftee likes it! Teal, silver lined green and silver lined gray size 11 & 15 beads. A 6mm AB round in the middle.

And my Christmas tree! It's the Christmas cactus who's lived at my house for years. He's a trouper. The cats enjoy dining on him, as evidenced in the photo. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Hi Remember Me?

2008-12-05T20:32:00.003-05:00

Yes, I started this new blog with all intentions of keeping it daily, updated with fresh projects.

Alas, during the past six weeks or so, the good intentions were merrily tossed out the window as I frantically kept up with beads and chain maille throughout the busy fall season.

I'm finished now. So hopefully, I can start blogging again, since my life isn't work, eat, bead, sleep, bead, work.....lather rinse repeat.

I'm planning next years shows already, and my New Years resolution (besides the usual 'lose weight') will be to make something sale-able every week, and NOT panic when show time rolls around. That wastes time, and literally makes me ill. That last show almost made me quit. I slept about five hours at night for several days, while dealing with the day job, and beading like a crazy person. On the Saturday of the show, I was up again at 4:00 am, drove 75 miles to the show, set up, and was 'on' all day long. At some point, all the color drained from my face, and Joe was afraid I was going to pass out under the table. No good.

No more of that stuff. Plan ahead, and don't stress so much. This is my fun job, not my real job (which is no fun at all) and when it starts being as stressy as my real job, it's time for changes.

So there.

Right now, on the seed bead table, I've got an African Spiral necklace, with a stained glass pendant going on. I need some copper cones to end the necklace, and I'm working on wrapping the piece of stained glass with a right angle weave bezel. It's a Christmas gift. When it's all done, I think it's going to be pretty impressive. At least to me. I'll post a picture, and you can be the judge. On the metal work table, there are a couple piles of copper circles, waiting to be domed and polished. Bracelet and earring set I believe. And a couple other pieces of copper that will be soldered and polished into pendants. I'm very excited about the stained glass. A couple years ago, one of the designers at the day job did stained glass on the side. I asked for, and he gifted me with a large Country Crock tub of stained glass pieces, from teeny tiny to pretty nice sized. I shelved it and promptly forgot about it until Monday morning while I was in the shower. (Great place to think) So I dug out the tub, and WHOO WHEE! Lots of goodies! I'm excited to use them in some earrings and necklaces, both with seed beads and some soldering/metal work.

Stay tuned.

Take care, and carry on!

Right Angle Weave

2008-11-09T12:32:00.003-05:00

Oh this is just killing me. I have a 'recipe' for Right Angle Weave done diagonally. I'm okay with RAW, but the diagonal thing isn't registering in my little head. And to make matters worse, I was doing in with 15/0 seed beads. They're annoying enough because they're really small, but to try and do an unknown technique, with printed directions with them is some teeth gnashing fun. I tore it all apart AGAIN. I think I'll just do something that I know already and quit wasting time.

Here's a picture of Pete and Grunt instead. The Nappers on Saturday afternoon:

Lazy or Burnt?

2008-11-05T19:55:00.002-05:00

I haven't made anything in at least a week. Anything for the shop, that is. I'm trying to figure out if I'm burnt out from shows or if I'm just being lazy.

I have to make at least two 'Epics' (grand seedbeaded necklaces) two dozen pair of earrings, two dozen bracelets, and a dozen necklaces, and several chain maille pieces.

AT LEAST.

This show coming up is going to be big. Granted, there will be lots of jewelry sellers there, but it would be nice to make 5x booth. We'll see. Last year 10,000 folks came just to shop. No kettle korn, bungee jumping, pony rides or face painting here. This is a shopping show, baby.

I've signed up to take credit cards, laid in a stock of new boxes and gifty bags, had another name stamp made, and am shopping for new table covers.

Stay tuned. I'll update my progress with photos, and then the recap of the show.

Tick tock, three weeks and counting.

Hm

2008-10-27T06:10:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I wonder why I do what I do for fun.

This weekend was not a total bust. But it could have been. At least we made booth on day one, and day two was 'gravy'. Not thick, rich yummy gravy, but watery thin gravy. S'okay. Some people didn't sell anything.

The most trying part of the weekend (besides trying to keep Joe from sleeping in the chair) was the two lovely ladies down from us. I know them, and they MAKE JEWELRY TOO. (as does everyone and their dog it seems) Anyway. They spent the whole weekend trotting back and forth between our booths asking if we sold anything. This annoys me because it's nobody's damn business WHAT we sold or what we made.

Alas. The situation lends itself to some exaggeration sometimes.

Then there was the financial advisor guy next to us. With the personality of a carp, and the people skills of an iron skillet. Cutting up egg cartons with scissors to make 'planes' for the kiddies while he tried to talk their parents about 401Ks and investments. The planes didn't fly, and neither did his pitch.

There were clowns too. This was the Fellini Craft Show. Seriously.

Three weeks off, then the big one. We're going to Philly for some culture (and smoked Provolone, AND a Nicks Roast Beef) next weekend. After that, don't bother me, I'll be in crisis.

Almost There

2008-10-24T18:30:00.005-04:00

Long time no postie.

This craft show madness is coming to the end.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a two day event. I don't know if it's outside or inside. I do that (a) it's going to rain like hell all day (allegedly) and (b) I got nothing to sell. How dumb. And I have even less motivation than I do inventory. The shows of the past three weekends kicked my butt. I'm very tempted to just not go, and write off the $60 it cost for the booth. I hate that, though, I've got this thing about obligations.

What will happen is this: I will make three strung necklaces, six bracelets and some earrings tonight. I will get up and leave at oh dark thirty tomorrow and go to the show. Once I get there is when it'll be interesting. I'm NOT going to sit outside in the rain all day. No way, not me. (Or Joe) If we're supposed to be outside, we are going home. We can stop for breakfast, and then go to the Amish grocery store, then go home. But if it's an inside thing, we'll set up, and hang out, and leave when it's time to go. Joe has a seven am meeting at work. (7 AM?!! Whot?) and my mom emailed me today pretty much saying, "I'm busy, no dinner for me on Friday or Saturday, sorry see ya bye" Well then. So that rules out THAT social obligation! We'll be back here, warm and toasty by the time the Penn State game is on. Now. I must work. Here's an oldie but a goodie:

One more down...

2008-10-12T19:43:00.005-04:00

And the Fall Show Series continues! Four down, three to go. I'm trying to figure out how to get out of the one in two weeks, though. I don't think it's going to be worth my while to spend a whole weekend there. This one we just finished was a two day event. At least it was 9 miles from home.

I've had a bellyful of helicopter parents, snotty kids, aloof teenagers, and slack jawed yocals. A woman, who bought a custom chain maille bracelet and earrings back in March, came up to me and announced SHE has learned to do it too, and she'd LOOVE for us to get a booth together. Are you shitting me, woman? I was so mad I could have spit, but a day later I've calmed down sufficiently. It was nice to be the only one in the are doing chain maille in colors, and so now there will be two. I'll just have to make sure we don't have overlapping shows, I guess.

I'm ready for bed and it's not even eight o'clock. Joe's snoring on the couch with Grunt, one of the barn cats, they look very comfortable, and that's making me even sleepier. Yaaawn.

Back to the grind, gotta make more stuff this week. At least earrings. Not much of the high end stuff is moving, I guess it's the economy stupid.

And after two consecutive weeks of Obama signs, Obama stickers, and Obama supporters, we saw some McCain signs. This was the hotbed of soccer moms and good ole boys, so I'm not surprised. I AM surprised, however, that semi-intelligent adults think Obama is an Arab (say it, A-Rab) and that he's a mole, sent to infiltrate the country and turn it over to Bin Laden and friends. That's how he got thru law school, you know, his family was poor, yet he wen to college.
HAVEN'T YOU IDIOTS EVER HEARD OF STUDENT LOANS?? Bah. I'm not arguing with anyone about it anymore.

2008-10-09T06:07:00.003-04:00

Long time, no post. Sorry 'bout that. Just a little crazy around here.

And crazy is good.

What do I have to show for all the crazy? Not a heck of a lot. Lots of receipts from buying stuff.

This is a copper & turquoise lariat I threw together a couple weeks ago. It's sold now, along with the matching earrings. It got lots of looks, but I don't think anyone 'got' the whole no clasp thing. Finally someone understood it and loved it. Bye, bye turquoise lariat. Guess I better conjure up another one of those!

Whoosh

2008-09-28T06:30:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the hometown festival. Loved it. Although I was kind of worried about the day, since it was raining buckets at 6:15 when we left for the show.

The day cleared and was beautiful, and all day it was a constant stream of people I knew, people I used to know, and fans of the Beadwhisperer (oh snap! I've got fans!)

Poor Obbie didn't stop all day, the kid section was swamped all day long.

The copper domed earrings....gone.....Chilly the necklace....gone.....the turquoise & copper necklace....gone, among others.

I better get cracking, there's another show this weekend, and there are lots of bare spots in the booth!

Busy Bizzzay

2008-09-16T18:23:00.005-04:00

The first Fall show is coming up on Saturday the 20th...Holly Days, second fall show the NEXT Saturday, September 27th-Townfest! Whoo! The Hometown Show! The fall season has started! Tonight I'm making earrings and taking pictures.

I bought some neat glass and some really nice pearls at the rock & mineral show last Sunday, so I better start cracking! Also some silver solder, and other bits & pieces for the manipulating of the metal. I had lust in my heart for the silver sheet, alas, since I had to give the garage the bulk of my paycheck to fix the veeehickle, no silver sheet for me. Maybe next time.

Back to the beach...er, um, BENCH. (I was I was still on vacay) But looking at the mess on my desk, can I really do anything? Gah!

Redundant Much?

2008-09-13T19:01:00.003-04:00

After it's been posted all week, I realize that my pricing rant was a repeat of a pricing rant I did when I started this blog.

Oh well. It sticks in my craw, that's all.

Here's the final piece to the Seed Bead Challenge over on the forum. I'm glad it's done, but I need to do something better with the clasp. Which you can't see, as it's cleverly concealed. The theme is "Big Black Horse & the Cherry Tree" (whoo hoo, indeed)

Thinking Out Loud

2008-09-10T09:21:00.004-04:00

I spend a lot of time surfing Etsy looking at stores. It's kind of funny that some people take so much time taking the right pictures, having great headers and tags, making the store look purdy, having the best descriptions of their goods as possible. It's a pity that they don't own a dictionary. The misspellings are awful. Not everyone mind you, but there are a fair number of 'big words' (not really THAT big) that are misspelled in their lovely descriptions. "Occassions" is the word that prompted my ire this morning. 'Occasion' is the word. 'Occasions' is the plural. In my dictionary, occasion gets one 's'. If you're going to go to all the trouble of selling on Etsy, make sure your words are spelled properly.

Pricing is another thing that irritates me. Now I know that pricing is a really big deal, and gets a whole lot of people a whole lot of fired up. I understand that the artist needs paid properly for their work. Thats fine. I'm totally cool with that. But if you're buying wholesale (and if you're selling retail you better be buying wholesale) why do you need to mark up your supplies ten times? If you insist on paying yourself the hourly rate you feel you deserve, and then tack on materials x 10, be prepared not to sell much. Sure, there are plenty of folks out in the world who are willing (and can afford) to shell out $65-75 for a semi-precious bracelet. I know how long it takes to string a bracelet. I know how much material goes into the bracelet. Granted, the general public might not, but since making jewelry has become such a big deal, it's not a secret society anymore. Anyone can go to a bead show and buy strands of SP gemstones. Anybody can buy Bali sterling for a decent price (decent as in 'all things considered') so don't be alarmed when Jane Q. Public and her friends whisper among themselves "$65?? That's crazy! I can make three bracelets for that!" and they do. Almost every month you can find a bead show (or rock and gem show) nearby, so what's stopping them from going there and buying? Not a damn thing. And that should scare you to death.

If you're making your own glass beads (boro lampwork, whatever) , metalwork, wirework, chain maille, seed beading go ahead and price it high. Those are skills that not everyone can (or wants to) do. But for your more 'pedestrian' items (and honeys, if you only carry 'high end' stuff, do yourself a favor and make some pedestrian pieces, your overhead will thank me) lower your prices to where anyone can afford your glorious piece, while still making yourself some money. Greed kills. Remember that.

If anyone actually read this blog, those particular paragraphs would get me into a world of shit. But it's my opinion. And that opinion has been formed from YEARS of craft/art shows. I'd rather sell a dozen $20 bracelets than one $60 bracelet any day of the week. Unless of course, it's a maille bracelet. My whole philosophy is thus: I hate it when I see something beautiful that I want, but can't afford. I keep my prices affordable, but the quality and beauty are still there. (yes I use some plated findings, but not always. I NEVER use plastic, ever...except I'm seeing more and more vintage acrylic goodies that are making me rethink the never use plastic deal)

I'm just sayin'.

New Pictures

2008-09-08T12:26:00.004-04:00

Finally! The Greeni Cellini is DONE. Now I've got that out of my system, I won't do another one again. Unless of course, someone WANTS one.

Since I'm a bad blogger, and I haven't kept up with this blog like I've intended. Here are some new things:

Copper swirls, hammered for texture, and big blue crystals added for sparkle. How cool is it that the linking aluminum rings are almost exactly the same blue as the crystals?

Playing around with copper is so fun. This pendant was the result of some hammering, some soldering, some filing, and some general screwing around. For size purposes, the green crystal 10mm. This has been given away to a friend of the family. Don't worry, if you want more, there are some in the works.

Stay tuned...

Dome, Dome on the Range

2008-08-12T05:41:00.003-04:00

Copper domes, hand cut & polished, with some funky squiggly solder on the bottom piece. I'm just playing around with the techniques right now...

Copper and the Greeni Cellini

2008-07-21T19:33:00.003-04:00

Work continues on Greeni Cellini. It's only about five and a half inches long, and NOT working with my attention span. But I'm determined not to let this one go into the UFO project box. I've seen 22 inch cellini spiral necklaces on Etsy, but I'm NOT going to 22 on this one. It IS easy once you remember that you add the same kind of bead as you come out of. Three sizes, 11's, 15's and 8 triangles. I've probably also ripped out three to four inches of it to correct errors. Ahem. I'd like to finish it off with a big ole gaudy vermeil magnetic clasp. Or I could make a clasp. I have some large gold vintage buttons. It might work.

Here too, are some copper domes I finally made. They're not done, but they've finally reached the next phase of their lives. For a month or more, they've laid around as just copper circles (cut out by hand with crash cart scissors) but I just got around to doming them on Saturday. They need more grinding to soften the sides, and get the burrs off the holes, then either they'll become earrings, I'll punch more holes, and make a bracelet OR (drum roll) I'll try my hand at soldering them together to make hollow beads. I never did that before, but I have directions! Yes! Directions! And copper solder! Yes!

Carry on!

A Few From the Box

2008-07-13T14:11:00.002-04:00

I love this. Icy & Cool, everyone has to touch it. It still needs a home. Amthyst & crystal. Yum.

This was created at the last show, where the temperature reached a balmy 103 degrees. Cracked blue glass and blue daggers. I was think CHILL and COOL.

Elephant skin Jasper. I bought the pendant years ago because I liked it, and just found the big beads at a LBS. You can't see the detail on the little copper beads here, but they're stamped with celtic designs. The blackish beads are jasper.

Oooh Boro!

2008-07-08T05:35:00.001-04:00

More awesome boro glass beads from my friend Brandie at Meadow Sky Designs. Check her out on Etsy.

I'm torn between making something to sell, and keeping them for me to admire and play with. "Oooh my presshus!!"

Display Hell

2008-07-06T11:00:00.005-04:00

We attended another uninspired craft show yesterday. GAH! People...listen to your Auntie Ames...if you're going to try and sell your product, DISPLAY THEM PROPERLY. Craft shows attract lots of folks. Some come there to buy, others come to look. You have to make the lookers into buyers.

Every single one of the high dollar necklaces I sold last year were bought by people who were cruising past the booth, and stopped dead in their tracks when that certain necklace caught their eye. The most commonly heard line, "I have to have THAT" is music to my ears kids. Sure, lots of other things sold because they were there, and were picked by browers, and that's all well and fine. But theres a certain thrill is seeing someone stop dead and rush over to a piece and be totally and throughly enchanted with it.

Do NOT lay anything FLAT on a table. Elevate things. Put them so people can see them. This business of carefully laying strung seed bead necklaces in rows on a tabletop annoys me to death. They're taking the time to align every one of them properly and evenly, but nobody is seeing them! They're flush with the table.

Do NOT lay carded earrings on a tabletop. Put them on some kind of display. The interweb is fine place to find all sorts of great ideas for displays. RESEARCH! People are more apt to browse when they don't have to pick things up to examine them. It's also easier to catch someone's eye from 'down the way' when they look up, and your things are glittering in the sun!

Be creative. Bead crystal bead isn't cutting it anymore. Nobody wants something that is the same old boring thing. Expand your techniques!! There are TONS of free online tutorials, so there is no excuse not to expand your creativity. Slapping a pendant you bought onto a bead-crystal-bead necklace is not being that creative. Pendants are easy to make. Get some wire and a bead, and some accent beads, taa daa...you've got a pendant.

Pricing. Ah, the evil pricing. How do you do it? That's up to you. I've heard that you charge yourself and hourly rate of what you'd expect to be paid at your full time job, then triple your materials. Triple your materials, Gracie? Considering ONE good Bali Sterling bead can run what? 6-10 bucks wholesale? Yeah, triple that, and triple what else you're putting WITH the one good Bali bead, then add your hourly rate. Good luck with that. No, really. Okay, I'm done being a smartass about pricing. It's up to you how you do it. I either pay myself the hourly rate, or triple the materials. Not both. And that's a sliding scale. Look around online, and see what people are asking for similar things. Again, it's about the research.

Craft shows are work. Hard work. But they can be really, really fun too. Don't get the idea that you're going to wing into a craft show, throw all your stuff onto a table and sell every piece. Give it some soul! Give it some life! Be friendly! Have fun! I know it's hard to smile when it's 98 degrees with 75% humidity, but smile anyway. Nobody wants to buy from a sour puss.

And that's my lecture for the day. You don't have to follow any of my tips. I'd almost prefer you didn't, because at the next show where we both are, I'll be the happy one with a crowd of happy people buying my stuff, and you'll be the one who is slamming around and grumbling at at the end of the day because you didn't sell anything.

The Purple Choker

2008-06-27T21:28:00.003-04:00

I really like this one. Mostly, anyway.

Purple and white lined clear 11/0 beads. Chevron chain with A/B glass drops on the fringe. I did mess up and I used 14 pound test Fireline. 14 POUND TEST? What was I thinking? It's not like I was going to land a salmon with it or anything. Commentary aside, the 14 pound line combined with multiple passes made for a little stiffer construction, and the fringes don't hang the way I'd like. I've convinced myself that the more it's worn, the more broken in it will become, and the fringe will hang just fine. There's enough weight there, thats for sure.

I'm stuck on a clasp now. It deserves way more than a metal toggle, and as a matter of fact, that thought never crossed my mind. I'm torn between a vintage crystal button from Lulu's or a bead/button combo.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Yummmmmmm

2008-06-26T05:49:00.002-04:00

A couple years ago, I went to the Philadelphia BeadFest (the last one in Fort Washington) and they gave away a bunch of free beads in the welcome bags. I've hoarded them because I love them, so now I've actually done something with them. They're from Unicorn Beads, and I finally found them online. (Although in my opinion, the website isn't steller, and the prices are pretty much the same as they are at the LBS)

I mixed them up with some furnace glass (another thing I just LOVE) and it's made for one very cool bracelet.

The colors are inside the beads, so it's like a drop of water with an image inside. I do need to solder the jump rings holding the beads onto the chain, because I'm afraid to lose any of the little beauties.

There's a bead show coming to York, so I might have to go down there and find more of these,
to replenish my stash.

UFOS

2008-06-22T08:22:00.003-04:00

I have lots. I guess it goes with the attention span thing.

There's a suede amulet bag that needs a strap. The green/turquoise spiral disk necklace that need three more disks and assembled. The double drop peyote bracelet I started yesterday. The purple & white chevron chain choker with the iridiscent glass drops that needs a clasp. The next Blingy chain maille bracelet. The fantasy netted fish necklace that's gotten as far as the spiral necklace part. (a long way to go with that) The necklace for Joe's co-worker, which is done, it just needs a clasp, and earrings made. The big wide piece of copper I cut to etch. The copper domes that need etched and outfitted with ear wires. Two beaded cabs that need fringed and necklaced. And that's what I can see from here.

I wonder what the psychologists would say about starting projects and not finishing them?

I don't think I'm lazy. It's just the follow thru that gets me.

New Book!!

2008-06-18T20:58:00.003-04:00

I'm not a big fan of swarovski crystals. Just because they've been used to death by so many people. HOWEVER. There are swarovski crystals, and then there are SWAROVSKI crystals.
For those who know, vintage swarvs are marvelous little things. Absolutely freaking gorgeous.

Laura McCabe made some amazing things with Swarvs, and this book pretty much showcases her incredible work.

I already know how to bezel almost anything (Not bragging, just sayin') so really I bought this book for the beaded beads. She calls them Crown Jewels. I won't be perfecting them anytime soon, but it'll be fun to learn something new. The 30% off coupon at Borders helped a lot too...

Some From the Vault

2008-06-17T20:12:00.004-04:00

The great transfer between blogs continues.

Kambaba Jasper, pearls, and seed beads. The first piece I made after Dad died.

Mooakite, ocean jasper and bone. What kind of bone? I don't know. Nice artsy fartsy staging too. The rainbow effect on the cloth was an accident. But kinda cool.

A nice aluminum maille set, made for a friend as a custom order.
Czech crystals for the dangles, anodized aluminum for the colors,
and bright aluminum for the silver color. Light, airy, and really
unique.

Sooner or later I'll get around to putting my favorite artists' blogs and favorite beady places here too.

The Recycled Necklace

2008-06-17T20:02:00.003-04:00

The copper came from the old fluorescent light ballasts at work. When they change the ballasts, they throw out all the copper wire! HORRORS! Now the guy who does the change outs knows to give me the copper. It's 20 gauge, I think, and after I strip the coating off, and straighten it out, I've got some great FREE jewelry supplies. Too bad the fluorescent ballasts aren't wired with sterling silver.

The glass beads are from recycled glass, I'm told. Last year at Townfest, I sold a bracelet in the same style to my Aunt. Since then, she's commissioned the earrings AND the necklace. Maybe I'll just cut to the chase, and make the whole set for the next group of shows.

And the staging of the photo came out way better than I imagined.

Aluminum Maille Set

2008-06-16T20:01:00.004-04:00

This was very fun to make! Byzanityne maille made with blue anodized aluminum & bright aluminum. The small drops are facted Czech glass, the larger drops are blue lampwork discs, some more Czech glass, and some sterling, and the 'focal' drop is a white & clear lampworked sweetie, with the Czech AND the blue discs. The earrings are the blue discs and the Swarvs again. I like this one very much! If you click to embiggen, please forgive the GIANT picture!

For Fun

2008-06-16T19:49:00.004-04:00

Unchain my heart! I did this for a forum challenge. The red glass heart came from a gifty shoppe in Lancaster, PA. There's a hot pink one in my stash. (Meaning, it's here somewhere, but where?!!)

Beaded Beads

2008-06-16T19:45:00.003-04:00

I liked these a whole lot! They are very, VERY easy to make, and become very addictive once you get the 'rhythm' down. I found them in the marvelous book, The Art of Beaded Beads' edited by Jean Campbell. I have some ideas to make more, and use them as elements in some jewelry.

BeadWhisperer Blog V.2.0

2008-06-15T20:49:00.003-04:00

Since my other BeadWhisperer blog is connected to my bloggy blog, which I'd not like to share with everyone, I've decided to start this one.

Pictures are forthcoming. Stay tuned. This time, it's for real.