more notes on an art show

This weekend was a whirl wind.  A dragon birthday party and then a sick 3year old.  Milwaukee for the Bead and Button show, and then Saturday was working Mom's first art show in Hinsdale IL.  I've talked about Mom's painting before and I'm a big fan of her work.  I came to the show to help, but I learned a lot that day and thought I'd share some of that.  And hopefully use it toward my big show coming up here June 29th and 30th.

First signage is IMPORTANT!  I would never have guessed it, assuming people would just know.  They should just know that paintings are original.  They should just know that they are even paintings and not photographs.  That you don't let your kid pick them up and walk away from the booth, even to just show Dad.  I learned you can't assume anything.  I am thinking of exactly what signs I need and want in my booth.  I'm thinking something that says "Original Hand Beaded Flowers, " and something about yes I do take commissions.  I'm also hoping to have a slide show on my ipad showing photos of all the commissions I've had so far and how they were used.  Like the Mimosa bar, and wedding bouquets, and baby shower flowers. 

Second lesson, layout and design is important.  The display needs to catch your eye.  You need color and shapes, especially if your work is small.  That something needs to stop a person and encourage them into the booth.  I have no idea of how I'm going to translate that from paintings to flowers.  But I need to figure it out.

Third, it's way easier selling someone else's work.  I felt pretty comfortable sitting on or near the booth and discussing the paintings.  The colors and themes in them.  But they weren't mine...I wasn't selling myself.  The biggest lesson was more of a dose of reality.  It's scary selling at art shows.  You are really putting yourself out there.  It made having an Etsy shop look like a breeze.  I can hide behind my keyboard and monitor, type big thoughts, spell check them (or not).  In person it's putting a part of yourself out there for someone to buy, critique, scowl at, hate, or love.  And you have to watch it.  You have to learn to see that they are interested and somehow close the deal.  I'm now officially petrified by my upcoming experience in a couple weeks.  I don't know how to prepare or practice for this. 

Rethinking the feasibility for bigger Chicago area shows.  I like the idea of doing shows.  Despite my fear, part of me wants to really give this a try.  But I finally recognized a huge obstacle I have and need to conquer before I move to Chicago area art shows.  Booth fees alone for Chicago area shows are a few hundred dollars.  I need to be able to make at least that back to attempt to break even.  That means I need to sell A LOT of flowers/wine charms, or make some bigger ticket items.  I think my flowers will already be bordering that art vs craft debate and lower prices will encourage that.  I have no idea if this obstacle is even possible to overcome.  Hinsdale show was nice.  They had a pleasant variety of arts, and the people were all very nice.  I'm sure I could jury into the show.  But if I had done it this weekend I doubt I would have come close to making back the booth fee.  This will be an internal debate for a while.  I'm hoping to find a good solution. 

bead and button show stash results

Back from Bead and Button and it was something else.  I knew it would be overwhelming but I'd forgotten how crazy it can get in there.  I was expecting more people...I remembered more people.  But I was glad that it wasn't horribly packed. 

The big shops I like to hit were still there as usual and it was great to restock on my favorite colors.  Some of the smaller shops that we'd hit in the past were still there too.  But some of the unique shops that had tons of hanks of seed beads weren't there.  I wonder if they are even in business anymore.  I did find a couple new gems. 

And I didn't have any trouble finding stuff to buy.  And I didn't have any trouble finding ideas of all the possiblities that I could take my flowers.  Ideas like stamping sheet metal to make a little tag or to personalize flowers.  Or using some amazing gemstones to take a flower to the next level.  Or maybe to keep expanding the bracelets I've been playing with. 

I had to try and keep focused.  I mostly stocked up on seed beads I needed or those that inspired me.  I don't think I came home with as many different beads as I once did.  I think a portion of that is that my stock has gotten so big that I've seen a lot of what is out there.  Newer stuff is a lot harder to find. 

We packed up the car and tomorrow we leave at the crack of dawn to Mom's first art show of the season.  Should be fun to scope out the Hinsdal Art Festival.  If you're in the area you should definitely stop by. 

calm before the storm

Prep for last week's show left Crymson Flower on etsy a little lacking.  The good news is that now that that show is over I have lots of new stock to share and list.  Wednesday was sorta sunny for an hour or two so I was able to take pictures of a bunch of new stuff.  Now it's just me editing and organizing. 

click here for Golden Dahlia purchase information

The month of June will be just as busy as the month of May was.  I'll have new inventory, but I also need to be making new inventory for the Botanic Garden show on June 29 and 30.  I have to make sure the canopy and canopy walls work and set up one if not two more tables to fill the space.  I started my to do list and I might even put dates next to items to that I don't start to fall behind.  Despite the fact that the wreaths didn't get much attention at the last show, I'm going to make some more wreaths.  I'm thinking themed wreaths.  Maybe a sunflower wreath, one or two fall inspired wreaths, and definitely a Christmas wreath. 

I've been inspired to turn some flower and petals into bracelets recently.  I'm very much still in prototype mode.  But I'll share what I have in the very near future.

 click here for Rose purchase information

Next week is R's birthday.  We've been busy with party prep and gift buying.  We also head to Chicago for an extended weekend.  I'll have to close up shop for the weekend, but it's sort of a working trip.  We'll take R to the Brookfield zoo on Thursday.  Friday Mom and I are going to head up to Milwaukee for the Bead and Button show.  I'm so super excited about this.  I'll be stocking up on lots of seed beads, checking out wire vendors, and just try not to get completely overloaded or overwhelmed by the shear about of inspiration and bead love.  I hope to come home with lots of goodies.  Then over the weekend is Mom's first art show of the season.  She'll be selling her paintings at the Hinsdale Fine Art Festival Saturday and Sunday June 8 and 9th from 10-5.  If you are in the area stop by.  Her paints are amazing.  And if it's on Saturday I'll be there helping her out. 

After next weekend I'll be back in art show prep mode.  It's a full month.  But lots will get done and I'll learn a ton for future shows and selling in general. 

 click here for Orange and Teal wreath purchase information

Today I'm listing this wonderfully summery wreath.  Bright oranges and teals truly pop against the natural brown grapevine wreath and green beaded leaves.  Orange and teal is one of my favorite summer color combos and this wreath is an example of how well they can play on each other. 

I hope you have a fabulous weekend.  Hopefully the sun will come out and we can do some outdoor adventures. 

recovery

It was a crazy last two weeks prepping for Friday's show.  I'm glad I did it.  I was thrilled with how everything looked on Friday.  But I got home from Door County (which I spent a good part of beading) and landed on my feet running.  I had a to do list that didn't end until about 2 hours before the show. 
So I'm spending this holiday weekend relaxing.  Mentally letting go.  I have lots of questions about my next move, and a few ideas of where to start.  But I'm giving myself some time before I get going.  It's rained every day of this long weekend and we've spent it together as a family.  Reconnecting, since I felt I couldn't give 100% to it while I was in prep mode.  We've gone puddle hunting daily, C built me a compost bin, I read a book, and drank wine with friends.  We've gone shopping and spent money.  We're setting up family pictures for next weekend.  And in a week we celebrate R's 3rd birthday.  We're planning a small dragon party, which has been a great creative outlet.
In a little bit I might dig out some wire.  Just to play and experiment.  Prep for the next show will start soon.  It's a bigger one and I'll need to fill the canopy.  So I need to make sure my walls fit and fill another table maybe two with inventory.  And this week I'm going to give the shop some much needed attention.  But today I'll finish my relaxing weekend.  I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend.

into the wild for wreaths

 This weekend was a big weekend.  I cranked out the exciting beginnings of a new wreath on Friday night.  Saturday we went to my brother's and SIL's house for a turkey fry.  Then Sunday morning me, C, R, Mom, and Dad took a hike in my back yard.   We back up into an unofficial nature preserve.  It's where all the strange critters that visit my house live. 
It's also very wet and wooded.  Back in the day Mom used to make baskets.  She would go hunting for natural plants and trees to use in her baskets.  Mostly grapevine, dogwood, and willow.  She came up with the marvelous idea of me trying to make my own wreaths for my flowers instead of buying them.  So we went on a little adventure.

 Mostly we found lots of grapevine.  The wreaths I buy are made of grapevine, but a very different kind.  The store bought ones have very small twigs and tendrils and are not really woven together.  The wreaths we made with the grapevine we found were thick, and heavy.  Mom taught me how to twine them, I wasn't very good at getting them nice and tight.  She did a much better job. 

 We also found some grey dogwood, red dogwood, and willow.  Dad was able to identify them for us so hopefully I can remember where and what each looks like.  He also showed me how to ID poison ivy when it's in vine form.  Don't want to mistake that for grapevine!  The red dogwood and willow were the most flexible, but that really didn't make them the easiest to work with.  I still managed to snap the few good branches we got. 

Here's me attempting to twine some grapevine.  The grapevine is interesting.  There's really no taming it and getting perfect circles.  You never really know what shape or texture you will get from a piece.  This is kind of exciting.  We just made round wreaths but the idea of maybe a tear drop wreath or even just an abstract shape could be fun. 

We didn't find much dog wood and willow so we were only able to get one wreath out of it.  Below  you can see a smaller wreath toward the right with a touch of red and green in it.  The red is the dogwood and the green is the willow.  I wish I  had more dogwood, red wreaths really appeal to me.  Plus the bark is smooth which I like as well.

 

These handmade wreaths are a lot more rustic than the store bought ones.  The wreath on the far right (above my foot) is a store bought wreath.  It's lighter weight, probably dyed so that its a darker brown, and it's mostly perfectly round.  Fresh grapevine is heavy, gnarly, and the bark is very loose and looks messy.  I want to spend some time with these wreaths, maybe picking away some of the loose bark and laying flowers on them.  I think there is definite potential here.  I just need time to refine the process.