Step 1: Clean up

Good morning...alrighty today is the day I start getting ready for this art fair. Yesterday I spent the day wrapping up orders and things that really needed to get done. I sent out jewelry catalogs to shops that had requested them, got some holiday orders ready to ship, photographed some new Etsy items, and so on and so on. I wasn't going to be able to think straight unless I cleared everything off my plate.

This morning is going to be spent cleaning up my studio. Seriously, I have beads everywhere. I am hoping to find enough to start working on jewelry. I don't have tons of time to make beads so I will start with cleaning. Above is my work table...what a wreck. Below is a tray of beads from a project I was working on. I have lots of trays like that. I am going to clear off my work table and start grouping beads together that will work for bracelets, necklaces, etc.

After I get organized, I am going to order supplies. It's going to be tight to get them here in time to make jewelry. I might just have to pay extra for faster shipping.


Here is a tray of unfinished bags. I can get those sewn up pretty quick. The show director specifically asked for bags and wall hangings in my booth as well as my jewelry. I would have probably left them out otherwise. She saw the new Jangles Emporium and that's what sold her on asking me into the fair. I am happy to bring them, but it does throw a hitch into the designing of my booth. I was going to go with one long table but that's a lot of different work to combine in one spot. While I am cleaning today, I will be thinking of display ideas.

See you back tomorrow,

When Opportunity Knocks

I moved to Athens three years ago and I have to admit I am terrible at getting out and trying to get the local people to know my art. I don't have a gallery in town that carries my work, I am too big of a chicken to walk into a store and ask them to carry my things. I have applied to a little show in town for the past three years and can't get in. They have their set list of local artists and I guess I am too new to be one of them. It's not that I really want to do art fairs again, they are such hard work. But, I would like to have one to look forward to in the fall, I don't get out much in the fall, (for Jangles).

So yesterday I got a call from the woman who runs the Norcross ArtFest, she had a booth available and loves my work. It's an hour away from my house in a really cute town. Nice hours, good food, super cool artists, etc. The only hitch, it's October 3-4th! That's in a week and a half. It's not every day you get invited to be in a show, so I had to say yes.

Now that leaves me with a huge task over the next week, I have to make art. I need jewelry, small flowers, supply bags, and wall hangings. Plus then there is the whole display. See that picture above? That was my last art fair display. I was 23 in that picture, now let's just say I am older. Luckily, I have always used black in my displays and I have saved everything, seriously I could outfit a store in displays, I have so much stuff. It's just the digging out that will take awhile. So if you don't mind, for the next week or so I will be taking you on my fast paced, getting ready for my first art fair journey, via the blog.

Have a great day,

A Blast from the Past

I was cleaning up my studio the other day and I found a few photos. These are from the second art fair that I ever did. I was twenty three, just out of college. I had quit my job as a corporate floral designer and needed to come up with something to do. I have my BFA in ceramics and was making some tile tables for fun. People kept telling me I needed to sell them. I signed up for a few art fairs that summer and thought I would try it out. My first show was in Chicago and I did alright. This picture is from my second show in Royal Oak Michigan. I sold out in the first hour. I had to sit there the rest of the weekend with nothing. On one hand I was very excited and on the other hand, I was kicking myself for not making more. That summer is what started my careeer as a self employed artist. I have been in business for 11 years. I started making beads six years ago, but that's a story for another day.