New items, New Shows and more economic thoughts...

So of course after the rough weather at last weekend's outdoor craft show, I came down with a cold. The good thing is that since I had sick time to use & I've able to take some photos of many of the new items I didn't sell this past weekend, while getting them ready for my Etsy shop.

I used a piece of cobalt, milk glass and a weathered piece of frosty clear/white glass to make the piece. The sea glass sit on a 18" sterling silver chain.

My next show is next weekend, on Nov 8th in Point Pleasant, NJ at a yoga studio. The owners of OM Baby was very kind to allow us use of her facility and almost every vendor is a part of the EtsyNJ street team. It's an indoor show and we are promoting it as a group, and in the media. It's an indoor show. No tents, no winds and hopefully I can sit there sipping coffee and selling everything on my table... : )

A few vendors in other states have noticed that there are re-sellers at some of the shop recently. I think this has a lot to do with the weak economy. People may be finding it tough to find a holiday job and what better way than to be your own boss. No boss to yell at, you get to set your hours and if you pick the right event, you stand to make a lot of money!

With all the work involved with prepping for a show, I'd still rather be doing a craft show than working at my JOB.... any day of the week!

May all your shows exceed expectations.

til next time...

R

Featured On the EtsyNJ Team Page, WeirdNJ ad, Sea Glass Festival...

Another busy weekend ... a Saturday trip to Delaware for the North American Sea Glass Association's annual Sea Glass Festival.. and Sunday, a marathon session at my crafting table as I tried to finish a few projects and build up my Etsy shop inventory and try to get my craft show inventories back up. 2 weekends from today, I have 2 shows (at different locations) and following a one week break, I have shows on back-to-back weekends.

After my all day creating spree, I took a short break to check out a few blogs and went over to the EtsyNJ team's page and what a surprise I received when the page loaded! My Blissful Autumn bracelet staring me back at me. It seems my bracelet was nominated and selected for a weekly promotion.

It's a nice little promotion because our street team's advertisement in the October edition of WeirdNJ just hit the news stands. The ad links interested customers to both all of the team's Etsy shops and the EtsyNJ website ( http://etsynj.com/ ), where my bracelet is (proudly) displayed.

So back to the Sea Glass festival. If you're new to my blog, I'm into sea glass. I love getting out on the beach, walking block after block to see what the ocean left behind. I love using sea glass in some of my jewelry creations and I also have jars filled with sea glass displayed around my house.

So finally, the Sea Glass Festival was on the east coast and only an hour away. My hubby and I originally planned on attending both days, but because of my upcoming show schedule, I knew it'd be best to limit the festival to one day.

The festival was held in a small-ish facility that was part of the University of Delaware and the turnout was HUGE. If I were a vendor at the show, I would've been very excited by the volume of people pouring into the rooms and then a bit angry as the crowds kept coming. Each room was just a huge log-jam of people.

There were many times I was trying to see specific exhibits and was just stuck in the same spot for what felt like 10 minutes or more. During these times, I couldn't move more than 6 inches in any direction, much less get near the table I was trying to see. The few tables I did get to, I was trapped once I was there because the people also trying to get to the table were 3 and 4 people deep and there was just nowhere to go!

Had the fire department arrived, I wouldn't have been surprised to see them close down the whole building. I don't know what the building's occupancy was, but I would venture that it was exceeded by 3x or 4x the amount and that doesn't include the folks outside hoping to get back in!

For myself, the highlights of the show included meeting a few exhibitors that I have purchased sea glass from on the Internet and I was able to meet Richard LaMotte, author of a book on sea glass that I consider my "bible on the subject". He signed my book and evaluated 3 pieces of sea glass for me... telling me my black piece dates back to probably the mid to late 1800s and the latest exciting find from this summer, a beautiful, frosty teal piece that I found on Long Beach Island, looks to be at least 100 years old and is rare in it's coloring. When held in the light, the piece exhibits more blue tones than found in most teals. He called it a rare find and one he hasn't come across but once or twice. (this one has already been made into a necklace...wire-wrapped and will remain in my personal collection)

Overall, it was an okay day. I had a chance to see a few colors of sea glass I've never seen before...lots of beautiful reds, blues and lavenders and even several pieces of the the ever-elusive orange color. I like many other people who went to the festival were disappointed by the small rooms. Unlike many of the people, I stayed for a few hours trying to get to see all the exhibits.

Unfortunately, many people left after a few futile attempts to see the exhibits and many of those vendors would probably be disappointed to see that many potential customers take their money home with them.

I know, as a vendor, I would have been more than just a bit upset. Oh well, maybe next year.


'til next time...

R