Almost a year's worth of non-blogging. That's a lot of time for a pity party. I HAVE been blogging, just for an organization, as my contribution to the club. Which is fine with me. I haven't had a whole lot to go on and on about over here.
Facebook is a great time waster. And by great, I don't mean it's an awesome growth promoting thing, I mean a large time sucking device. But hey. It's like TV, you are welcome to turn it off.
So back to jewelry making and craft shows and that kind of thing. We did a couple this Spring/early Summer. Okay sales. We were locked out of the first show of the season, that we've done every year for 5 years. But I'm okay with that. New people running it, more jewelry people than ever. Inside a high school gym. By and large, not my favorite. I don't think we missed it.
I also sent a check and got into a supposedly juried show run by a church near Philly. I didn't go. Yes, that's two punked out shows in my career. But the car finally just gave up the ghost, and renting a van would have added that much more cost onto an already spendy proposition WITH an overnight hotel stay. Nobody I know had ever heard of the show, and there was blanket skepticism about doing it in the first place. Shouldn't have even applied, but anyway.
The rest of the Spring events went well. The next to last one in the beginning of June, a biggie, was during the hottest weekend of the year, and was miserable. Sales were good. Load out was a nightmare. We usually just sit and wait until all the loonies who HAVE TO LEAVE NOW, get packed up and out. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of the in/out section, so no matter what, we had to wait on people leaving. And 'ready to leave' as specified in the application/rules of engagement, apparently means different things to different people. To us it means, totally broken down, all displays put away, all jewelry put away, tubs in a row, chairs folded up and tent folded up. Not so for others. We had vans & cars lined up in front of our space, waiting to pass thru as Mrs. Cutting Board was still loading her precious cargo into the tubs for transport, and Mr. Cutting Board was idling the van in the middle of the street blocking traffic. You know them well, I'm sure. It was hot. And stinky. And we were very tired (heat and tremendous sales will do that for you) As we were finally able to start loading the van (which was parked downhill a half mile from the booth) Joe tripped over one of the tool bags and went down, carrying a box of display stones. He almost fainted, since he landed on his bum leg. After he composed himself, we loaded up and got the hell out. Sunday he spent laying around in great pain, fortunately he had a doctor's appointment the next day.
Good thing too, for he was immediately admitted into the hospital for an extensive battery of tests and antibiotics. Four days later he was released, with a strict diet & exercise plan, as well as lots of drugs. He was a sick, sick camper, and I'm happy to say he's much better (and 25 lbs lighter) today.
Later in June, we did another street festival with a great reputation. Well deserved too. Great promotion, great people, great visitors...the whole bit. We did pretty well and hope to be invited back next year. We ended up having 2 nights in a hotel for this one. It was only 100 miles away, but went from 9:00 am to 8:30 pm. Neither of us was up for a long drive home. It was worth the luxury of sleeping in a big bed with a nice hot shower in the morning.
At the end of July we did a little nature festival, which ending up being very good. Sold a bunch of things I didn't expect to sell, and had to close down an hour early. The organizer actually came around and told every single vendor to pack it up, because a big storm was showing up on their radar and heading this way. Talk about being grateful! We were well on the way home before the torrential rains came, and later on the news, there was a report of downed trees and flooding in the general area where we just left. Thank you responsible organizers!
That brings us to almost now. We made the decision last year to start taking summers off. Anyone who comes to a festival in the dead of summer comes early, has a funnel cake or snow cone than goes home to the AC or the pool. While we're stuck in the muck. No. Just no. I've been spending time making components, practicing the torch fired enamel, and doing a little beadwork. I've promised myself I'm not having a meltdown the week before the first big show. I'm not staying up all hours trying to do impossible projects, and ending up with unacceptable drek. Not doing it.
So stay tuned. I may blog closer to the time and show you what I'm up to. There's beading and enameling.
1 comment:
Are you the one I saw at the Front Royal Wine & Craft Festival over the weekend? This is a long shot because I don't know if you're the right person, or if you still get notifications from this blog, but I meant to get your contact information, then had a pregnancy brain moment and forgot. I was looking at necklaces with little wire nests filled with beads, and you said you made customized ones with birthstones for mothers. I am due on the cusp of two months but have been looking for something exactly like that. I found one thing online but would love to have this customized and made locally if at all possible. Right now I have a necklace that you may have made - it was given to me as a gift by someone who browses all the craft festivals who come through the area - and love it! If you get this and are willing to help me out, please respond. No time limit...I've been searching for this exact thing for a long time and so far you're the only person I've seen who makes the kind I like, so I'll just sit and wait with hope. :)
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