Saturday, April 23, 2011

Return of the Markets

It's official - we kicked the season off today with a return to City Market.  We love that market - it's like a carnival, and we're one of the carnies.  And if you think "I bet that's not what you thought you'd be doing when you graduated from law school 14 years ago" - you'd be right.  But if you thought that I'm a hundred (million?) times happier as a carnie than a lawyer, then you'd be right too.

I meant to take a bunch of pictures of the market - but turns out Sam's opening day of little league was today too, so Clark and Sam went to the game and I was flying solo for most of the day, and thus my picture taking opportunities were limited.  And then when they came back I forgot.  Oops.  So here's our market setup:



Note the brown table drapes that have replaced the ratty ones of last year.  (What?  Who says "table drapes" instead of "table cloths"?  Carnies, that's who.)  If you're wondering how one gets custom table drapes made for display tables - turns out you can either buy very expensive pre-made ones, or buy very expensive fabric with which to make them, or buy table cloths from Target and bribe your mom with jewelry so she'll piece them together into custom table drapes.  I chose the last option - with pretty good results, if I say so myself.

If you want to know what sort of magical items are filling our shelves this year - here's the preview.  Note that if you got my newsletter this week you've already seen these.  (See?? I did remember that I'm a business owner and not a full time mountain biker - and I sent out a newsletter to prove it.)

And if you didn't get the newsletter, but you're intrigued by what sort of awesomeness must go into a Spotted Dog Farm newsletter - then sign up in the box to the right of this post.  Lots of awesomeness.  You'll see.

Beeswax candles - old favorites, still going strong.

Glass tile jewelry - still with beeswax and botanicals mounted on a glass tile, but now with a layer of resin too.  Super sturdy, and also I love the shapes the resin produces.  A little more flow.

The latest project - resin block necklaces with botanicals.  Lots of layers of resin.  Fun.

And the next-to-latest project - table lamps.  I took the shells of our tea-light lanterns, and installed an electric lamp assembly that burns a small bulb.  Plug it in and. . . light!  Totally rocks.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

It's that time of year again - when the markets open up, and I realize I need to have sent in 5 art show applications last month (and didn't!), and I remember the one tent that I can put walls on still has 5 broken pieces from my lack of patience with it at the last market in December (but really, who would have thought I could break the dang thing??)  In other words, it's April.  It's also when I realize that while I have greatly enjoyed having my Saturdays free, my bank account would like it very much if I went back out there and actually sold something. Go figure.  So the fun begins again.  It should have really begun this morning, at City Market, but the forecast yesterday scared me off.  Thunderstorms, 2" of rain and high wind do not make for a good jewelry display.  So I chickened out.  Or used my better judgment, depending on how you look at it.  But next weekend - we'll be there!  (Partly because by then I should have the parts to fix the white tent.)  We still went over to the Market today - it was great!  Maple bacon cupcakes can't be beat - seriously, and I don't even really eat cupcakes.

In other business-type news, we're in at the new space in Woolworth, and LOVING it!  My friend Leslie at Roost Interior Design totally made all of the decisions on how it should look, and to be honest it looks way better than if I had figured it out myself.  Turns out there's a reason she's a design professional.  I've tried to take some pics, but they all look awful (in other news, the phone on one's camera may not be sufficient for all photographic needs.)  But if you're downtown, go look for us - we're near the back of the soda fountain, in one of the pass-through spots.

I've also got some new jewelry ideas going that are making me happy.  And I've tried to take pictures of those, too, but - well, see my observation about the camera phone above.  At some point I'm going to have real pictures taken, and then I'll show you what I'm talking about.