Recovery NOW!

What is exhausting, I've discovered, is standing in one place for hours during a show.  A week later, despite good shoes, despite sleeping with feet raised, and despite being off salt for years, my otherwise skinny ankles are still a bit puffy.

The Ann Arbor show ran 4 days, opening at 10 am each day; closing at 9 pm but for the last day, when it closed at 6 pm.  That's four 11-hour days (not counting partial setup and takedown each day.)  It also doesn't count the heat and humidity and the RAIN!  [Mercifully, when we had a deluge overnight, my neighbor had a sump pump.  He used it to bail out the backs of both of our booths.  Apparently, we were in the lowest part of the street, and the water rolled downhill right into our booths.  So glad I'd picked up the carpet!]

Nonetheless, it was a very successful show from many perspectives.  My work was validated and valued by my colleague artists, which is most gratifying.  Sales were better than they've been for at least the last 18 months (but then, again, so were the crowds, probably since it's a free show of very long standing).

And Ann Arbor is a GREAT town!  Stucci's ice cream (so fresh, such unusual flavors, so MELTED!).  The pilgrimage to Zingerman's  deli where they serve corned beef that is the next closest to New York City's that I've ever had. Wonderful dinners at great restaurants -- including two meals I received in boxes after John went to dinner with our midwest relatives who visited.  Clam pie from Mani Osteria was particularly remarkable --even tepid/cold!  And we met the most incredible, friendly and wonderful people, whether other artists or locals.

I must say, the shows really know how to make it comfortable (relatively, given that we're talking an outdoor 4-day show) for the artists.  Breakfast is available for us in the morning -- coffee, bagels, muffins and other goodies.  Staff bring around ice cold bottled water during the day without asking.  Booth sitting is readily available and the (ahem) facilities are very clean and tidy --and include sinks and recycling, too.

What you see to the right is the view I had from the BACK of my booth. It's the University of Michigan "Diag"(I assume, short for "diagonal.")  Out front, in addition to my wonderful "across the street" neighboring artists, is a stunning old church (barely visible in one of the pictures).  How much better could it get?!  Not much!

I do hope to return next year.....perhaps at a different place to lay my head.  The B&B was nice, but the large dogs, turn-of-the-century AC (and I mean 1800 to 1900!), shared bath, and the fact that I left before breakfast made it just OK. [That, plus the fact that being accepted late meant we wound up sharing a double bed.  We're small, but it was small for even us!!] But all of that is a year away......
In the meantime, I continue to rest my sore tootsies and stretch my seriously compressed spine, a problem that I can't afford at only 5' tall!

BEAUUUUUUUUTIFUL NEW PIX.....

My most fabulous and creative photographer (a rare combination for a man whose daily life is as a nuclear engineer!) has beautified some of my latest work into magnificent photos.  They're so new that I haven't put them up on the website yet!

When I get back from my travels to Ann Arbor, MI, for the 4-in-1 series of shows that run from next Wednesday through Saturday (with 11-hour days in the booth for the first 3 days!), I'll probably be putting a new area up on the website for items that are "hot off the beading table," such as these pretties.  Wait until you see my latest "under the sea" creation with an all-bead ammonite!  I haven't gotten a picture take of it yet; I only hope it doesn't sell before I do. [No, that's not true.  At its high-end price, I sure DO hope it sells and fast!!]

I'll be blogging from my perch on State Street (booth C04) in Ann Arbor.  That is, I'll be doing it IF the weather (yes, both heat and thunderstorms are in the forecast, gulp) and the crowd (yes, let there be a large crowd) permit, and my level of exhaustion doesn't catch up to me too quickly-- a big ask at my advancing age, LOL.  If you're in the area, stop by -- but you MUST bring me a cold drink if you do so.  I wilt very rapidly in warmth, particularly when combined with humidity.  [No pictures of the artist are allowed under such circumstances; the appearance is much like someone emerging after 15 minutes in a warm sauna!

Let's all keep fingers crossed that the weather holds, the crowds are legion, and we have a bang-up successful show.

Stay tuned.

Can It Be That the Muse Has Returned?

     Now I KNOW I shouldn't even lead with a header like that, since it's really tempting fate, but it seems that the muse may have returned -- along with the first hummingbird of the season!  Both flit in and out of my life in the spring and summer, but I'm hoping they'll both decamp for a while and become a part of my life.
     The picture appended to the left is the latest goodie--a beaded wave in my under the sea collection.  What you can't see very clearly in this rendition is the changing nature of the necklace beyond the wave or that it's offset, with the clasp close to the shoulder, not the nape of the neck.
     Even better, I've been creating some chain maille/beaded bead necklaces in multiple colors and looks..They're part of the "just what the doctor ordered" collection.  With loop and bead closures in the front, they're designed particularly for individuals who have trouble with arthritis in the shoulders, elbows or even hands.  In fact, they've been "test driven" by several friends who, sadly, have limited mobility in these ways.  Let me know if you want to see some of them.  I'll load them up.
     I'm now working on a few "finish ups" that have been in the works for quite a while.  Stay tuned.  It's getting exciting to see NEW THINGS.  And I hope to get them up on the website for EVERYONE to see.
     Challenges for the rest of the summer:  getting new pictures shot of a few special pieces; getting instructions written for a few bracelet kits; getting instructions for a different bracelet AND pictures to a beading magazine for consideration as a published article; getting materials together for a class I'm teaching at the end of the month, and getting show applications for 2013 started. Hard to believe when we're just halfway through 2012!  And oh, boy, do I have a lot of work to do.
    Hope those of you in the heartlands (or those who want a great town to visit!)  will find time in mid-July (18-21) to come to the Ann Arbor Craft Shows. FOUR different shows all at the same time!  And I'll be there -- at the Guild Show -- State Street, booth 4!  Drop by!
 

 

And I was just minding my own business......

So, there I was, minding my own business, editing a newsletter and checking my e-mail.  Got an invitation from the American Craft Council to apply for the 2013 season.....ok....nothing to jump up and down about, just something to which I need to pay attention.

BUT THEN.......
I clicked on the following attachment, the prospectus for 2013 proposed exhibitors

http://craftcouncil.org/sites/default/files/2013-Exhibitor-Prospectus.pdf

Well, you need to go there and turn to page 4!!!!!!  THEA FINE, BEADING DESIGN is in the prospectus!  OMG, OMG, OMG.
While I do like MY picture of the necklace better than the one taken gratis by the ACC folks, this is SOOOOOO cool.  WHADDA YA THINK????


Here's MY picture to compare.

More show news!!!!

NEW SHOW ON THE WEBSITE CALENDAR: Check it out! October 19-21, 2012. I'll be at the National Guard Armory in Morristown,New Jersey for the 36th annual Morristown Craft Mart. Don't know the booth number yet,but stay tuned. Check out the website for further updates on this and other upcoming 2012-2013 shows.

I'm on the WAITING LIST for Fall Paradise City shows (Massachusetts) and WAITING LIST for One-of-a-Kind Show in Chicago (December). Let the show organizers know you want to see me there if you can!!!

Spring shows over: The chicks have flown

     PHEW! I am tired!  Sugarloaf was a good show this Spring. Not heavy traffic, but good traffic for me.  Many projects went off to good homes.  I ONLY send them to good homes, of course.   The mailing list has grown markedly; web contacts, too.
I'm only sorry that I won't be able  to participate in the Timonium show the last weekend of the month.  It would have been a good event.  Next up?  Ann Arbor in July!  I'm now wait-listed for Sugarloaf fall shows...hope to get in....
     Given the relatively light schedule, it gives me much time to stock up on supplies AND to get existing projects finished, kits completed and up on the website, and some classes scheduled.  REMEMBER, I am teaching at the Baltimore Gem Cutters at the end of June.
     The other major step I need to take is to update the website photos, and get a shopping cart up there!  The new line is launched...."Just what the doctor ordered" is alive and well....Medic-alert bracelets in 12-in-1 Japanese chain maille in a variety of colors.  I'm also getting some other versions ready in other media...stay tuned on that one!!!.
     And while I was away, the birds have flown.  As you may recall, I have a tiny barn finch nest at the top of the column that holds up my front door's porch roof.  We last saw mama bird feeding tiny babies.  Just before I headed out to the show, the young 'uns were beginning to take test flights.....Here's a picture of them as they were about to launch themselves.....And now, like my own young 'uns, they've flown the next.  Time to clean up the guano and wait for next year's fledglings.
     Tempis fugit, as they say!
     Off to work I go!!

One day more.....Come on down!

Sugarloaf continues. I'm cleaned, dressed, pressed, bedecked and bejeweled and ready to grab a bit of breakfast before heading to the show....and ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!  The clock radio in the hotel room is off by an hour.  It SAYS it's 7:24, but, in reality, it is only 6:24!  No wonder I'm still so very tired!

The solution?  More beading time!  I can finish up a necklace before I head off to the show....It has been busy, but nowhere close to the definition of busy during the fall holiday season.  I've even got a "booth-and-a-half".  While in the middle of a row, I've been able to configure the space to provide the illusion of a corner booth, allowing beaucoups of additional sunlight streaming in from the window nearby.  Wonderful!!!  AND I've got a bit of extra "leg room" behind to provide a nice little storage area!  Wowzers!

The only thing that's missing is YOU!  So come to visit!

Set up at Sugarloaf Craft Show complete!

So, I'm at the hotel, with my feet up, having spent the better part of the day setting up the booth at Sugarloaf.  PHEW!

Poor John had to go back home on a "pick up what Teddi stupidly left at home" mission.  The velvet shelves on which the jewelry sits were left in the basement! DOH!  So everything WAS good to go EXCEPT what was necessary to display the jewelry!  Double DOH!

But we're all set up now; he's on his way home. I'm trying to figure out what to do for dinner....perhaps a salad from somewhere or other....MUCH to drink -- water, that is!

I'm surprised by how empty the show seems to be; but I remain hopeful that this will be a good one for me.  On the bright side, the booth is larger than usual, leaving me storage space and the ability to create the illusion of a corner booth.  Sunlight streams in and helps reduce the need for extra lighting.  A good thing!  HUZZAH!  A freebie, too!

COME TO VISIT! BOOTH 107!  Sugarloaf Craft Show Montgomery County Fairgrounds, Gaithersburg MD!

Taking the show on the road this weekend

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I'm going to be at the Sugarloaf Craft Show at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg Maryland this weekend.  Friday through Sunday.


I'll be upstairs in building 6A, booth 107.  Do come to visit!  I'll be looking forward to seeing friends old and new, and making new acquaintances, too!

It's just the time to pick out things for Mother's Day and for graduates and brides.  Stop by early for the best selection or to special order in time for the wedding or graduation!

Sing Along...."An-ti-ci-paaaaaa-tion....."

      There's only one thing more disconcerting than receiving a "Thank you for applying; it was a hard decision, but, we're sorry to say..." letter from an event.  At least when you get one of those you KNOW where you stand.
      I just got ANOTHER of those "waiting list" letters!  OY VEY!  It's neither a "yes" nor a "no" and that leaves you....well, nowhere.  So how does one plan?  Simply put, one doesn't.   BUT having been scooped off the waiting list for ACC, I'm hopeful that the One of a Kind show in Chicago (December 2012) will do the same!  After all, I sent along the same pictures and text as I did to ACC....
     And while I wait to hear about this waiting list, I'm also waiting for Craft Boston in the fall (another waiting list!) and whether I'm in or out for a number of OTHER shows beginning Labor Day through the end of the year.
    The GOOD news:  I'll be in Ann Arbor, MI in July for their HUGE four day show.  A series of shows occur simultaneously and totally overrun the University's main campus.  I'll be there!  On State Street, booth 104....YAY
    The even BETTER news is that I've got a wonderful barn finch nesting at the top of the pediment that holds up our porch roof.  It's the second year the pair have graced our home.  I can't wait to see the little ones!  [And I can't wait until they leave and I can clean up the guano, too!]  I also think a duck may be nesting in my holly near the house wall -- if not, they're just visiting my little front yard more often than ever!  I'll try to get a picture.
   EVERYTHING is GREENING!  And that's so very wonderful.  Even my tiny indoor fig tree (sent bare stemmed just 2 weeks ago) has leaves AND a tiny dwarf fig.  So cute....Perhaps I'll do a bead shaped like the fig leaf; so unusual and undulating......
     Keep thinking good thoughts about future shows for me.....I'll think good thoughts for everyone else!!

   

Cover Girl!!

I just learned that the Circle the Stone necklace that graces the front of my website (www.theafine.com) is the cover picture for a beading group--Beads and More (BAM)--on Yahoo.  It's a group of several hundred bead artists of varying experience who exchange knowledge, share solutions, and undertake bulk purchases to realize economies of scale.  While now a "closed" group due to the large membership, my selection and the kind words about my work were quite the honor (albeit, something about which I was unaware until I went to look at something on the site!)  By the way, the cabochon focal around which that piece is based is by Marsha Neal whose porcelain cabs and earrings and pendants are absolutely bodacious!!!

Yes, this blog entry features a DIFFERENT piece in the Circle the Stone line,  -a hidden-front-closure piece that features a wonderful apatitie cabochon and stones. I barely got a photo of it. No sooner did I finish it than it found another home during the ACC show. I hope my client wears it well and with great joy, since I had a blast creating it!

I show it  because I'll be teaching a weekend class--Circling the Stone Times Three--June 30-July 1-- at the Gem Cutters Guild of Baltimore on three ways to create beaded bezels around their freshly cut gems.  In the area and want to participate and get more info?  Check it out, and check out the other classes, too, on their website (http://www.gemcuttersguild.com/classes.html) and check it out.

Monday, Monday......again

And the weeks go around and around...It seems as if I just finished the ACC show, but, no, it's already been two weeks!  The creative juices are flowing...at last!  AND the desire to sit and bead coincides with the flowing of the creative sap in my veins....No pressure to create; just the free flow of ideas to try and test. No pressure to be done with something; just the relaxation of one bead following another in a new pattern or a new design or a new color combination.

The best part, the RELAXATION of beading is back.  As a real type A personality, I've found beading to be my zen, my substitute for repeating a mantra over and over....but the pressure of the shows tends to change my outlook, making beading as much a chore as a joy....How wonderful to be back in the realm of the joy of beading.  The next show is local--Sugarloaf in April--so far less pressure than occurs when doing a NEW show in a NEW location.

BY THE WAY, I'm in booth 107 (upstairs in the first building!)  So come visit the booth.

Other than the wrinkled purple drapery on the left, whaddya think of the booth?  Yes, my name is missing on the banner -- needed to do that for future show applications to keep the slide truly "blind"....

I'm absolutely thrilled by my new pix....Think they're large enough?  LOL

Welcome to Sunday morning before leaving for the show. Dressed, packed, coffee-ed and ready to go.
     Yesterday was, in a word, "meh."  Lots of looking; lots of ooohing and aaahing, but not so much BUY-ing.  The usual "oh, I bead, too" comments (or substitute "my daughter," "my daughter-in-law," or "my sister" for the first person singular!)  Many asked me for lessons on a particular item so they could make their own.... Perhaps when I decide to end the particular items in the line they'll go on-line as kits....way to do it, methinks..... or perhaps now? 
All will become clear today, I hope.

     Pictures coming AFTER the show of some of my colleagues -- and that is the BEST part of the show for me!  I've met some wonderful artists -- primarily wonderful young women.  It's been a joy to be around them.  

     Tearing down is at 5 pm after the show closes.  Collapse sets in thereafter.....but with a smile on my face because I made it through the BIG TIME ACC....for the first, and I dearly hope, NOT the last time!

Off to the show!!!

Wholesale might better be titled "No Sale" for me.  While my next-door neighbor Danielle -- a long-time artist at the show-- did gangbuster work on wholesaling her work (wonderful, whimsical felt pins, scarves and outrageous necklaces), I sat or stood, smiling, chatting, and NOT getting a single wholesale order.   This was not entirely unexpected; it WAS boring, however. 

Some contacts WERE made with stores that carry Judaica (so I better get off my bottom and finish up the two other parts of the line!) Once I get them photoed, I'll get pictures to the folk who were excited about it and, perhaps, just perhaps, they'll place orders for the three items I've got planned.  One is a reality; the others are a-comin'.  
What made the day good?  Well, first and foremost, many of my fellow artists! What talented, generous and warm people.  And so many of like mind, politically, socially, intellectually.  It's a joy, and a wonderful change for solo work at home with the cats for companionship. (I love them, but great conversationalists they are NOT! LOL)
Fingers crossed for retail days beginning tomorrow!!!

setting up; sitting down for wholesale

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the booth -- better picture to come tomorrow. Doesn't my new sign look great?

Well, the booth was set up over the course of Monday and Tuesday.  I spent Monday  night making a "pole condom"  (thanks to the artist who told me this name; it's forever stuck in my mind for better or worse).  It's a covering for the corner pole required to ensure the new configuration of a corner booth didn't fall down.  And, because I had to do a full square of  header so I could put up my lights, I made pretty little valances to hid the metal poles running across the top of the booth.  I thank my 8th grade home economics teachers for teaching me how to stitch straight and my grandmother for the vision to find ways to use minimal tools to create beauty.

---

Now, Wednesday and Thursday (today and tomorrow) are wholesale days.  Buyers, generally unused to bead art jewelry, don't seem entirely sure what to make of my jewelry.  As in the past, a little demonstration helps.  [It also helps keep me awake! The traffic is slow in the extreme, but I was warned it might be!]  I'm not expecting much by way of wholesale, but the contacts, particularly for my Judaica work, should well be invaluable!  

Sana, my "buddy" (a long-time exhibitor paired with me to act as a mentor and advisor) has been fabulous -- as has her husband.  They've provided me with invaluable advice and sent folks in my direction who might have an interest in the quirky work that I do.  In fact, most of the folks in my environs have been wonderfully helpful to this newbie!
Gotta go put my tootsies up -- perhaps a nice warm bath will be a good thing.  Just thinking about it makes me feel warm and cosy!
Later, y'all.

It's strange to be so casual about putting together the booth and materials to cart to the Convention Center. Perhaps it's because I have two days to set up everything in a manner that makes me happy.  Or perhaps it's because I've done the set-up so many times before. Or, could it be that I know if I've forgotten anything, it's not hard to run home to get it?

Whatever the reason, it's been far less the hassle than past efforts to get ready for a show. The new carpet has me excited -- but also requires a small van, instead of my CR-V.  An 8x10 rug just doesn't make it in the car, and I'm not ready to tie it to the roof this time.
So, a small van it will be. That 'll make it possible for me to simply load the pre-constructed display into the van and download it at the show. It'll require minimal additional knocking together once there! Huzzah!

Tonight MUST be an early one -- gotta DVR my Masterpiece Theater soap opera (Downton Abbey), since I've set the alarm for 4:00 am  I need to leave at 4:30 to arrive at the local NBC affiliate (WBAL-TV) in Baltimore by 5:15.  I'm on camera at 5:45.  Then home, breakfast, and a ride to get set up going.  Mercifully, my DH and younger son will be toting barges and lifting bales for me.
I'll take pictures and post them tomorrow when we're done!
Here's a picture of the "old" set up. The new one has large beautiful pictures of some pieces, a magnificent logo banner and a lovely new carpet.  

A quiet, but productive day

The "let's get the booth organized so we can transport it to the show" effort became a basement clean-up as well.  There IS a floor down there and there actually IS space that isn't covered by boxes and books, display items and wine bottles!  We've organized and tossed garbage and made a huge pile of gently loved items that will go to the local recycle/reuse group.  Oh, and there are two other piles -- one for each of our children.  They will be required, as adults living on their own, to assign to one of several piles:  "pitch," "give away," or "take."  Ultimately, it all leaves our basement!  Huzzah!!

We've cleaned up the booth materials. The drapes have been washed and gently rolled and bagged for the show.  Not sure if I'll go all black or use my purple surround.....Guess I can try both ways....Ironing is in order for the purple, however.  The new  overhead lighting has been tested (it works!) and boxed with some extra light bulbs.  The multiple (!!) extension cords, surge supressors and heavy-weight cords have been coiled and velcroed into submission.  And the new carpet-- bamboo -- will be perfecto!

Tomorrow, I lay out the booth in 2-D on the basement  floor, rather than in 3-D. Once happy, I'll get the 3-D display put together so we  just carry it in in several large pieces on Monday at set-up.   
And on Tuesday evening, I pick up beautiful live flowers for the booth. With luck, they'll be good for the entire show; if not, we can easily get some more.
PHEW.....now for a cup of nice tea and some beading to relax...
AND WATCH FOR ME AT 5:45 ON WBAL-TV ON MONDAY!  I'll be on, promoting the ACC Show!  What fun!!!

Shredding

Today was a day for shredding.  After half a day of work on a bracelet with a wonderful handmade copper cabochon, I took my tiny sewing scissors to it....beads and thread everywhere.  No more bracelet; only a magnificent cabochon searching for a home on a wrist.  But it has to be the RIGHT home to put on a wrist and today's effort was NOT.

Unsatisfactory products such as this  yield the need for rethinking, revising, and reworking. Never mind that I'm days from my first huge show.  Never mind that yet another project has been brought up short.  If it doesn't pass MY muster, it's consigned to the "think again" pile.  And that pile is getting larger as the show gets closer!

It's time to stop producing and start packing, which is what I will accomplish tomorrow down in the basement.  AND I must make a few pole tubes (what a colleague refers to as "upright condoms") to beautify the poles that aren't adequately "draped" with my curtain material.  That and an ersatz curtain for the track light pole, too.  Velcro works wonders!  Whoever invented it is deserving of great praise from artists everywhere. [That's in addition to the thanks of mothers who no longer have to tie and retie their toddlers shoes!]
I must research the history of velcro -- but AFTER the show.

First Post

It's time to start blogging...and its about time, too.  I made my living with words for so many years, it's hard to stop painting pictures with them and to rely on the pictures crafted with my beads.

Let it suffice to say that I'm waaaay past panic mode. With my first participation in the American Craft Council show at the Baltimore  (MD) Convention Center less than a week away, I'm deep  into the  "I can get this done, somehow" mode.  Perhaps by Saturday, I'll evolve to another more realistic state?   Who can tell?  
 I hope to blog before, during and after the show to share the view from Booth #428 and beyond.  Stay tuned!