Louisville is in just three days. Suddenly, the show is looking a lot different than it did even when I woke up this morning. Kim has backed out of the show. This means that JJ and I will be doing the show on our own.
I'm in the process of evaluating what I have to take with me. How much stock do I have? How much will I need? How much is JJ taking with him? As far as what I need to do to get ready for the show, not much has really changed. I still need to finish stringing the beads that I'm taking with me. I need to print and cut hang tags. I need to put price stickers on the hang tags. I need to organize my stock so that it is ready for quick replacement of sold items or for showing to customers who would like to see what else is available.
On a more mundane level, I need to do laundry and pack for myself and Mica for the weekend. I need to pack up the playpen and the portable swing from the studio. I need to pack baby food and juice, nipples, pacifiers and toys.
Most of the stuff that I took with me to the
Cincinnati show is still in the boxes. I won't need to buy tissue paper or paper bags. I have a receipt book that I've prepped by writing my URL on the bottom of every page. I still have the table covering that Kate made for the show folded with the batik bedspread that I used over it.
I was hoping to pick up a couple of clothing items in preparation for the show. I'd really like to get one(or two) camisole type tops to wear since I'll have Mica with me. I need something reasonably discreet for nursing, especially since there will just be JJ and I at the table. It looks now, however, as though that is unlikely for several reasons.
What I'm realizing, as I write this, is that it's not the bead show that I find most daunting. Beads, I've got aplenty. What I find a little more daunting is the prospect of the show **WITH** Miss Mica. I've traveled with miss baby. It can be either a pleasure or a trial. I sincerely hope that we are able to get the sleep we need, the show will be pure hell if we don't.
I've alread emailed the folks at Bead Mercantile to let them know that we won't be able to do the
Pittsburgh show. Traveling to Pittsburgh in mid-November with a baby is not something that I'm really up for, although I hate to back out after signing the contract. I don't know how much, if any, I'll get back. I still plan, however, on doing the
Dayton show. In either case, this has been a learning experience for me.
I realized last night that the real reason that I wanted to do these shows with Kim was that I felt unequal to the task of preparing for and setting up a bead show on my own. I didn't know if I could make enough stock to make it worthwhile. I didn't know if I could come up with a display that would be suitable. I just didn't know if I could do it. I now know that, if circumstances were slightly different, I'd be fine. I can make as much stock as I need, and more. The display will evolve as needed.
When Mica's older, this might actually be a good course for me to persue. But until she's weaned and I'm ready to leave her for a weekend, I think it would be best if I stuck to wholesale and maybe one or two local(ish) shows.
This is the last of the five pins that I wanted to show off. There's a 6th in my hair at the moment. I don't want to take my hair down to scan the piece so we'll have to wait until later to finish the set.
In the continuing saga of my crisis of self-worth, I mentioned that I felt like everythinging that I do in ceramics owes itself in some way to a friendship that I can no longer enjoy. Because of that, I'm revisiting something that I haven't done in quite some time. Specifically, metalworking. I've made quite a few of these bronze pins which I think will look fabulous with beading. I've wanted to do some finished jewelry for my Etsy shop and I think that this could be a wonderful direction to start moving in. I can still enjoy my ceramic beadmaking, but will be incorporating it into something that I also enjoy... Something that is uniquely my own. 
I did a ceramic beadmaking demo yesterday at The Bead Cage a local beadshop that I've been working with since they opened 2 years ago. It was the first time that I'd gotten my hands dirty since the opening of Helena's studio last month. I realized then how absent I've been in the last few months. I also realized that I wanted things to change. Which probably explains the new and improbable shade of red you see in this picture of my hair.
You'd never guess from the huge smile on Miss Mica's face that she was not so fond of Santa this year. I guess that she liked the Clifford hand puppet that the photographer was wearing and tickling her with more than she didn't like Santa.
Saturday was the grand opening of my friend Helena's studio and gallery in Middletown, Ohio. After a week spent pulling the space together, everything looked great. We had throwing demos and lampworking. I spent the day making agateware goddesses.
I sent tiny heart pendants to the Sampler for the November Sampler box. The picture (at left) was posted in the Sneek Peeks so I figured that I'd finally say something about them. The hearts are porcelain, strung on vintage rubber tubing that I picked up at Mendelson's as a vegan friendly alternative to leather. 
I decided to make some magnets to go into promotional packages with line sheets and samples and other materials to be sent to prospective wholesale customers. VistaPrint is having a sale right now. The prices aren't great, but they're better than they would be without the sale. I think that the design for the magnet worked out well.
Image and finished design by Shari Bonnin of Bonnin Designs
I got a chance on Sunday to take a couple of pictures of the table set-up so that I could post them here and have them for my records so that I would have a frame of reference for future improvements. Amongst other things, I'd like to add some levels to the tablescape so that the table has more drama. Eventually we'll get all the kinks worked out and have a pretty nice display. As it stood, we got quite a few comments on the "E boxes" and on the typesetter's tray.
Amongst other things, I'd like to replace the plastic compartmentalized trays that I have in the "E-Boxes." They're not really very attractive. I'd like to replace them with either wood or black plastic similar to the trays used elsewhere on the table.
We set the center box up on edge to add some height to the table. To take advantage of the frame-like quality of the upright box, we set one of the black plastic trays at an angle into the box. I would like, when we do the Dayton show, to add some of JJ's dolls as well as some of my own to showcase the faces that both JJ and I make. We got more comments on the faces, and they sold well for both of us.
The show contract specifies that we'll have 6-foot tables. Everything looks really spread-out on an 8-foot table but I'm reluctant to make too many adjustments to the display on the off chance that we'll have the extra 2 feet next time around.
I didn't say much, in my earlier post, about what I got done today while I was working at my "Clay Date." I added handles to 5 of the 6 mini-amphorae that I'd started. I ended up destroying the 6th by putting the handles on crooked and being unable to correct the problem.
I'm going to limit the strands to certain types of beads. I'll probably do them with my shell spirals. Maybe with some of the carved or polka dot beads. The strands will probably be $25 or $45 depending on how many beads are on them.
