Sheer and Utter Disappointment

that was the results of this past weekend Annapolis Arts & Crafts Festival. I had exactly zero sales!?! I've had lack luster shows before, but I've never come home so defeated. While I sat out in the blazing heat, luckily with my mom who decided to go at the last minute, I was glad to have the company, I was pondering why...

• Is it my jewelry? Price point? My booth display?
• Or was it the show? The fact that I couldn't find an artist who participated last year? Or all the jewelry that was there? What I felt like was a poorly attended show, while show staff said they had never seen it so busy? Really?

I wasn't alone. Over the two days there was plenty of opportunity to chit chat with other artist and there was plenty of disappointment to go around...low sales, just covering expenses, but no one who stated they were having a good show.

I hate to complain, so I won't bore you any longer with my woes, however to make up for this past weekends fiasco I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop, 15% off any purchase through June 17th, use coupon code: overit.

Shelby

Show Time

The days are just whizzing by, I can hardly believe that May is over and June has been banging on the door for a couple of days now. Meanwhile, I've been busy out in the studio and on the business end trying to get ready for the Annapolis Arts & Crafts Festival this weekend. This will be my first time at this show and I'm nervous, apprehensive, hopeful, and excited all at the same time...if that makes any sense.

These are some of my newer pieces

This past week was spent trying to get everything photographed, tagged, and priced so this coming week hopefully there will be time to create a few more new pieces before it's "go" time.

On a side note, be sure to check back on Thursday as I'll be revealing the earrings that I received from Lori and Diane for the Art Bead Earring Swap.

Show Recap

My dear...October came roaring in! We went from shorts and t-shirts on Friday to jeans and sweaters on Saturday. This totally threw me for a loop! I had a show on Saturday and dressed for the 65 degree weather, not considering the wind and froze. But at least shivering burns calories, right?

The show was more of a craft fair/family day. There were not a lot of sales, but I did get some commissioned work. I had the opportunity to talk to people I haven't seen in a while, as well as people I see regularly, and met a lot of new folks. It was a spendid community affair. One lady, relinquished her beloved shell that she picked up from her trip to Hawaii. She explained to me how special the shell is to her and entrusted me to create a simple pendant for her. It's going to be bezel set, I'm excited (and nervous) about creating something special for her...I'll be sure to share the outcome. One of the few sales was this ring that I recently finished.

Arizona Flower - Dinosaur Stone & Turquoise set in Sterling Silver

This was my first experience trying to set two stones on one piece. Of course it was my new favorite! It's not perfect but I put it out none the less and it was the first to go! I have a feeling I'll be creating some more similar to this ring.

There is another local show to look forward to this coming weekend. I've done this show before and typically it's pretty good. They do a great job with PR, and once again I'll get to see myself and my work, in the local paper. This is great, considering the holidays are coming!

As the shows wind down for the year, I look forward to getting out into my shop and being able to create at my own free will, without wondering if I have enough pieces to present. Of course, then I have plenty of time to test drive a new favorite too.

Can't Win Them All

 I've finally recovered from the show I exhibited in this past weekend. I hate to complain but...it stunk like bacon out loud! Really! In years past I've attending the art show as a spectator, and it's always been a nice show so this year I wanted to exhibit, even though it required me being there on Father's Day.

Friday was set up. This makes it nice because all the hard work is out of the way. However, me being such the planner that I am, the weather Friday night was a little iffy, so I opted to only set up my tent and tables. Good thing! A terrible thunderstorm blew through on Friday night, so bad that I scooted on down to the park to find out how my tent fared through all the wind. I was lucky, others not so much! There were tents blown over and in crumpled piles.

Saturday...rain to start, but it cleared off and the temps quickly climbed to a balmy 91 degrees. There didn't seem to be many people in attendance, surely not the 10,000 they touted! But there were some fabulous artists! I was really disappointed when I left on Saturday, but I tried to remain optimistic for Sunday.

Sunday...more rain! Once again, it finally cleared off around 11:00, still a little overcast but otherwise nice. People came, but not the expected crowd, however my excitement for the day was when Melissa Meman visited. I was ecstatic to see her and her family, and of course I wasn't busy so we had a chance for a brief chat. Later in the afternoon, it started to rain again. I made the decision to leave early. Normally I would never leave a show early, but with the rain and lack of sales, I was very discouraged!

The one thing I was happy with, were the tweaks that I made to my booth. I changed around where I positioned the tables and used most of the same displays. I really liked the set up a lot better. I made myself my own private space.

Looking back I begin to question, whether the show was well advertised and promoted? was it the weather, too hot and rainy? is the lack of attendance because of the economy? And the biggest question of all...Will I reapply for this show next year?

Hoping for a better show next month.