Out Of My Control

The weather, that is...

Today is Saturday, traditionally a reasonably busy day during a craft fair.  But a weather front moved in during the night, the temperature is cold, the wind blowing the light snow horizontally and there was no line up at the door when the show opened.

I fluffed the display after Doug vacuumed the floor and we are spelling each other for breaks.

As I've said before, I'm an introvert and this final essential interaction with the public is the most challenging aspect to being a weaver who must sell her product.  It is even more disheartening when the crowds don't materialize and there is no one to even try to sell stuff to!

OTOH, what the inclement weather does is filter out the lookie-loos so I need to stay upbeat, smile on my face and trust that the serious shoppers will make their way downtown, hopefully to spend some time in my booth, too.

It isn't over until it's over.  Thankfully today is a 'short' day; we close at 6pm, not 9pm.  I see some serious vegging happening this evening.  Maybe even a great big steak for dinner?   

Primping

Spent a few minutes this morning changing things around.  It's always a good idea to change the display to keep it looking 'fresh'.   Different markets respond to different colours but red always seems to snag the eye more effectively than other colours.  So I changed the displays to burgundy (because there weren't any red shawls left) and the other to yellow/orange.

Now it's a waiting game.  Waiting to see if the public comes.  Waiting to see if they like my work well enough to buy it.  Waiting for another 11 hour day to end.  This is the hardest part for me but the job isn't done until the weaving is sold.   With any luck the sale season will be successful enough to allow me to keep pursuing my passion. ;)

A New Week

And a new show.   Coming to you this time from the convention centre in downtown Calgary, Alberta.

The plastic wrap will be removed from the carpet in the morning.  There are still people setting up, some crates and hand trucks in the aisles.

I sold so much red I don't have much left to display so I went with blue to start.  It is always interesting to see which colours sell in a market, and which don't.  I don't remember if there was a particular colour at this show last year so I will change my displays to see what attracts attention.

The weather is supposed to be fairly nice for this time of year so hopefully people will come.  And ultimately buy?

Sihpromatum

A blessing that initially appears to be a curse.

One of the things I enjoy about craft fairs is meeting other creative people.  As artists we are balanced on a knife edge - months of isolation as we plunge into the creative process and weeks of high density interaction with the public as we try to sell our work.  Along the way we sometimes have an opportunity to get to know other exhibitors a little bit.

So it was with Savannah Grace.

I'd passed her booth several times but wasn't quite sure what she was all about.  First, I didn't know what Sihpromatum meant.  Nor did I understand what growing boobs in China had to do with anything.  Her booth always seemed to have lots of people around it, so I would just walk on by.

But one day, in the exhibitor lounge, I sat across from a 20 something woman and we started chatting.  Hearing a little about her story, I stopped at her booth and bought a copy of her book.  It didn't hurt that I was getting nervous about running out of reading material, and here was a book that intrigued me after hearing about it from the author. :)

It's a coming of age story.  And after meeting Savannah I am looking forward to hearing more about her journey.

I rather suspect you might to.

For more info:

All Over

Well almost. Doug has gone back to the hotel to get the van. Then into the queue to enter the loading area. And then we have to figure out how to push/pull the cart there with the aisles filled with crates and carts.

I'm hoping to be out of here by 9 pm but what can I say? I am an optimist after all! I am also hoping for dinner yet sometime tonight.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Evolving

As items sell the display changes. Today I am in a teal mood?
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Reading List

Second Watch by J A Jance
Children of the Revolution by Peter Robinson
Dead and Buried by Stephen Booth (currently)

Waiting in the wings Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear and the core curriculum for Olds Fibre Week level two.  I will be teaching level two next year.