The show is over... Nothing to see here...

I've survived my first bead show. In many ways it was a great experience and I can't help feeling as though I've somehow passed through some imaginary barrier and I'm now, officially, a **REAL** bead artist. (Thank you, Velveteen Rabbit) Having Sprout with me was wonderful and she really is an amazing baby. She was so well behaved and sweet tempered that I doubt anyone knew that she was teething, let alone that she cut her first top tooth this weekend.

The show was not all that I might have hoped. Having done everything to get ready for it in the space of two very hectic weeks, I walked in the door with a list of I should have's and I wish I had's. I had some very clear ideas about what I wanted the display to look like, but wasn't really able to pull them off. The boxes need to be better sealed so that they don't develop splinters during the show. Everything would have looked better if I'd had tidy, printed signage. There were too many price points on the table. There weren't enough containers or ways to distinguish items from one price group from those of another price group.

That said, I've learned a lot.

• I honestly think that the current set-up can be improved and worked with, rather than feeling like it should be scrapped, all knowledge of it erased, and any mention of it denied.
• Because what we have to offer the patrons at these shows is so different from what many of them have seen before, the opportunity exists to really foster some enthusiasm about artist-made ceramic beads and jewelry. (Yippeee!!! Jeff is almost won back over to the earth side... We may yet seduce him back to the mud, away from polymer clay...)
• Because what we are offering is outside the "mainstream" we need to offer our customers more and better ideas about what can be done with artist-made ceramic beads.

I talked briefly with Kim. Jeff seems interested in doing the fall shows with us. I'll try to arrange for the 3 of us to get together and do a post-mortem on the show. All of that will have to wait, however... I am beyond tired and Sprout is hungry. I'm going upstairs to bed and if I don't write again for a month, it may just be because I haven't gotten out of bed yet.