Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Notes to Self - The Bead Show

Well, I'm back. I'm still riding the wave of excitement I had throughout the Show. What show?? The 'Almost Spring' Bead Oasis Show, 2009 of course. My very firstest show.

This Show is organized/sponsored/brought to you by NLM Glass Arts andNancy 'n' Sam took good care of us. It is directed at the artisan jewellery world rather than the fine art jewellery of the sort you see in Birks. The artisans are a wonderful group of people who watch out for, share, and support one another. Just for that alone, the booth was worth every penny it cost.

In monetary terms, I took a bath (that's a monetary term, isn't it?). For somebody on an incredibly small budget, it cost a lot of money just for the booth fees.


In practical terms, I roped in the sun!!

I had an incredible education that I couldn't get as an attendee. From my side of the table I saw some really gorgeous jewellery worn by the people who visited our booth. Great ideas from that. And many people stopped to chat and discuss. I gotta say it: we were invited into people's personal lives, shared our experiences, and gave and received hugs. These people were so brave and so trusting.
I met some people interested in my work and wanting to put it in their shops.

I received a wedding commission for bride's and 9 attendents jewellery. MMMMM You should see the pearls I got for this young lady.
I received the all time best deal ever from a young woman de-stashing. I was running my fingers through all those beads last night and dreamt of how I would use these beads.
I know how to present my kits better now. And I've been asked to write other kits I hadn't thought to do before. On top of all that, I had some of Joann's kits from http://www.beadkitsbymail.com/: her kits are stuffed with instructions, beads and even 2 beading needles. There's more. I also had the DVD of instructions for 5 projects from http://www.beadsbyu.com/: that DVD included a free kit of 1 of the projects.

The booth took almost twice as much time to set up as it did to tear down. That figures. And the glass bead artisan jewellery on sale needed straightening several times during the day. My trolly is still sitting in the kitchen: I'm removing things slowly with the good intention of putting it all back in its place. If you know me, that means piled high: nothing seems to have a proper spot in my PigPen Studio.


Artisan Jewellers are advised to wear their jewellery: they are, or should be, a moving billboard ad for their own wearable art. I am not very good at this but my sister is wonderful. Much of my 'big' artisan jewellery designs is worn by her because she has the personality to carry it off. And I, through her, received many compliments on what she wore. The lesson to me, aside from the obvious 'wear it,' is to have the big bold pieces in good supply.

I has been a remarkable 3 day show and I got home exhausted. Two days in bed, I'm almost 100% again, and still the ideas are swirling in my head. I have a lot of sorting and writing and ..... to do. A big lesson was to ensure my computer was working: it got moved and jiggled and disconnected and ........ I ended up losing one of my kits and I have to re-write it. To add insult to injury, my machine accidentally got pushed to the back of the keyboard shelf and it and the shelf fell down, went boom. On my foot.

There's another show in September and you really need to go: no matter what side of the table you are on it is worth the trip. And the entrance fee is only $8.00. Canadian money. It's worth the visit to Toronto.
Check back again soon. I'll be linking to my kits. You'll like that. Helen

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