October Show and Tell

This has been a busy month for me!  I am working to build up my inventory for Holiday shopping.

Silk Scarves

Trivets in 3 sizes

I also taught my first Lids, Handles and Embellishments bowl class on the 13th.

I had 5 lovely gals in class, and they took off running with these new techniques!

And I have continued to add items to my Artfire Store, for those who are not in the Flagstaff Area.

Weather-wise, we had our first snowfall of the season:

I stayed home and thoroughly enjoyed watching it come down... love the changing seasons!

Last week, my friend Cinde and I took a day trip through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona and ended up in Jerome, a quaint art colony located in an old mining town.  I didn't get shots of the town, but did get a shot of the San Francisco Peaks in the distance:

So with just a couple of weeks until the Holiday Expo show November 3, I'm busy working on what I will bring to sell.  The show will be at the Flagstaff Mall from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and there will be a number of Artists' Coalition of Flagstaff Artists there to show and sell their work.  If you are in the area, I hope you will stop by!

Satisfaction!

Well, after allowing the scarf to almost completely dry, I decided to remove the rock salt, scrunch the scarf in a ziplock bag, and nuke it. Because there was very little moisture left, I put the mostly closed bag into a plastic container with about 2 inches of water for the steam bath. That upped the moisture level and kept the scarf from being damaged by the heat. Then a quick rinse in cool water with a few drops of synthrapol, a bath in hot water with synthrapol, a few rinses, a short hang in the bathroom, a quick press with the steam iron and... ta-da!

The silk salt actually did better than the rock salt as far as markings go. I couldn't see them very well until I had laundered the scarf, but I got a real nice 'freckled' look... not too much, just enough to add to the visual interest. I already have more candidates to experiment with! I

'ice-dyed' a scarf awhile ago, and it came out too pale, so I figure an overdye and some salt should perk it up nicely. And I have 2 scarves I tried to do batik on last fall, then steam after ironing out the wax, but they really don't have a lot of 'pizazz', so better to play with them than leave them hanging on the rack! I promise to post pix as I go!

The verdict is in!

Well, after 2 days at the Mountain Campus Holiday show, the verdict is in... the scarves were the biggest seller of all! I sold 20 of them! I think maybe next year, I will leave most of the tie-dye at home and make lots more scarves! They have been good sellers for the past 3 years, but I made a lot more this year, and only have about a dozen left, so that's a sign! And of the 5 years I have participated in this show, this year's sales topped my best year, which was 2 years ago... maybe the economy is finally starting to come back!

Meanwhile, my friend Cinde who makes yummy beaded jewelry did better this year than a year ago, which was her first show ever, and that makes me really happy, since I practically shoved her into trying her hand at craft shows! She has been beading for about 20 years, but just kept what she made or gave them as gifts. Here are some closer shots of her booth:

My goal is to help her get an on-line store set up next year, so more people can enjoy her talents! Stay tuned...

Mtn Campus Holiday Show - day 1

Yesterday was the first of our annual 2-day show at No. Az. University. This is my fifth year participating in this show, and it's the biggest show I do each year in sales and attendance. As usual, Friday attendance is lighter, since it is a work-day, but I had my second-best Friday sales yesterday, topped only by my sales in 2008! My scarves flew off the rack, as I expected... sold 6 to one customer for gifts!

Here are pix of my booth, and my friend Cinde's... we are sharing 2 spaces.

This is Cinde's second year at this show, and she did pretty good yesterday as well. She makes beautiful hand-beaded jewelry, and people are very complimentary about her pieces... very labor-intensive, but real eye-catchers! I will try to get some close-ups today to post. Meanwhile, I need to get ready to go... the show starts at 9am today, and I look forward to a busy happy day of it!