Show Prep

I'm having a bad pain day complicated by having to deal with a naughty customer who backed out on an order. So instead of more fresh glass, I thought I'd show off my show prep tray where I'm stringing sets, getting beadies ready for their closeups!

And for more glassy goodness...check out what the last three days look like in bouquet form!

Pretty fun, huh?? Wish I felt up to torching today...but it was already 90 when I got up!

Custom Work Keeping Me Busy

Good Morning! My wire work class at Glendale College was AWESOME this past Saturday! Everyone got it and made a lovely bracelet and earrings! It was such a fun group! And none had tried wire before! Eight new wire workers out in the world now!

 

These custom boobie pendants went to Sweden!

My 2nd bakery show was a bust. Zero sales. I had pre-arranged to sell an earring display, so by the time I paid my breakfast / lunch tab, I had a profit of $8. Well, I always thought my stuff was a little to ritzy for this area. But it was January...people are in shock paying off Christmas. There was almost NO promotion this time. It was cloudy and breezy. We had one less vendor so the sidewalk didn't look as full. I left early because my sinuses were killing me. It was an experiment. C'est la vie! I know I'm going to busy with weekend classes for the next several months so maybe I'll try again before Mother's Day.

I still feel good about it. I always share the show with the fan page for our local paper. This time, they showed up and took pics! And, asked me to write about my Memorial Glass Beads! So that's really good!

 Scenes from the Bakery Show

And I made significant progress on a bracelet I've been doodling with for years! 

I still have a couple of custom orders to wrap up and I'm waiting and waiting for the next steps in my "real job hunt." I'm told I just need the final hiring appointment but... no word as to when that will be. 8-/

Scenes from the Bakery Show

I thought I would share some booth photos from my local show at the Back Door Bakery. I was very pleased sales-wise although it was fairly slow until the end! I had one sale within minutes and another shortly after... and nothing until the last hour of the show! That hour was steady and busy and I was thrilled for a little pre-Christmas dough!

 I always believe in making use of vertical space. It's great to create different viewing planes...more space to capture the eye of your customer. I placed a 18 beads on my "neutral" gray business cards and velcroed them to fabric boards.

I have several jewelry displays are a female form draped in a formal black gown. You can always find these at Ross / Marshall's / TJ Maxx / Home Goods.  I draped bracelets on them:

This Teapot is from my cake show days...made by an old business partner. Take an old teapot. Form spirals on several pieces of 16 gauge armature wire and feed ends through the bottom end of a funnel. Plop some glue down the funnel so the wire doesn't come out. Glue funnel upside down on teapot  and glue the lid off kilter on front... I used this for card displays at stamp / cake shows but it's awesome for earrings! I elevate it on a plastic display and keep extra earrings of a similar style stashed under there.  You can see the under side in the photo above.

Out front, I use baskets filled with rock salt to display necklaces. Many beaders use rice but I find that makes my jewelry "scummy." Salt is much cleaner. There was a kid there that had had the stomach flu and squeamish me kept reminding myself, "Bacteria can not grow in salt!"

I took some of my Christmas fusing pieces and displayed those in another basket with some pendants:

I collect small metal trays every time I'm in China town and I use these to fill in holes on the table:

I always carry an antique saucer that I use for all my Sweet Treat beads...they just look happier on something more formal!

My emergency addition for this show was something to display my wine toppers. Am I ever glad I had it cause I sold so many! I took a 4x4 and drilled 1.25" circles in it! Worked fine...not that sophisticated but eye catching all the same!

 I hope all of you have a wonderful and blessed New Year and I'll see you on the flipside of 2014!

Final Show Prep - Tagging & Inventory

I finished up the few pieces of jewelry I had to make yesterday. I've been slowly making the switch to steel in my jewelry with silver running $40 an ounce. It just doesn't seem right in this economy to charge so much more for sterling.

I really love how my mouse ears came out:

OMG! Creating tags by hand is PITA! I spent over an hour on photoshop trying to print the front and back in alignment. Once that was working, I printed the tags on heavy matte cardstock and that left cutting. I got out my Sissix... but I didn't have a 1.5" circular punch. I tried a heart shape... too small and weird. Then I tried a Christmas ornament and hand cutting off the top part... too crooked and weird!

Back to the craft studio and a found a HUGE punch by emaginations. I got lots of supplies gifted to me working on a crafting tv show and this punch was one of them. I had never used it. I made ONE punch in my cardstock and the bottom broke! By the third tag, the whole thing came apart. emaginations appears to be out of business and if this is the quality of their products, I can see why!  I saw someone re-selling some of their punches but even at a buck apiece... they are OVERpriced!

I finally found another square punch...not the look I was going for but... whatever...I'm on deadline!
Here's one of the round tags:

I thought I would share with you the inventory sheet. It's not unusual for any boutique to ask a supplier for an inventory. But I've found, when others are selling my work, it's best to have a photo of the piece in the inventory as well. So I took the form supplied by Beads of Courage and flipped it on it's side to add another column for the pictures.

Looking at this picture reminds me of one more thing I need to tweak. Since I was too busy with taxes to deal with a lot of new inventory, I pulled jewelry or things I wanted to wrap from my existing glass bead shops. The first two letters of the inventory number were to be my shop name; the next two digits are the number of the item (we are each allowed 25 items). But I added one more letter. h refers to HollysFolly.com, a refers to Artfire... so now I know which inventory box to return them to! Only, I stopped doing that about halfway through my prep.  I better get back to work! 

Fresh Glass 4/13/11 Wordless Wednesday

Still deep in show prep and mailing taxes, etc. Made a few beads yesterday...most of which I hated! It's been too long for me to be away from the torch! I did end up with a few perfect "that rat" ears and a decent puppy paw print bead. Gotta get those cleaned and wire wrapped for the show!

Goofed

Since I will be sharing booth space with many other artists in the Beads of Courage Boutique this weekend, I felt I needed smaller tags to save on precious real estate on the table.

I got busy and designed something smaller and simpler than the business card and bookmark size cards I already use in my own booth. The plan is to use those when I'm alone but they would not work for this next show.

My favorite printer is GotPrint.com... you cannot beat their pricing and I've had tremendous experience with their quality! And, I can pick up, saving on shipping. Best of all, GotPrint added some new custom shapes to their repertoire. They are a bit more costly but... they are really eye catching!

I quickly designed the front of a circular card:

And the back:

I left a nice area in the middle to write the name of the piece, the stock # and the price.... all required by the boutique. And I ordered it on matte paper instead of my usual high gloss. 

The bad thing is... my usual speedy printer has no instructions letting me know that those choices take more time. They won't be ready in time for the show! (Since Beads of Courage now has a home in So. Cal, I think I will be doing more of these...so no biggie!)

But what does that mean for me now??? Hand making logo cards for the show! OY!

Lessons Learned: The Outdoor Show

Welp, I did my very first outdoor show in conjunction with our local Sunland -Tujunga Art Association and, needless to say, I learned a LOT! Here's a rundown:

1) Ask if the location is handicapped accessible. That means there will be ramps for you to roll your gear on instead of lugging it up steps. Our location was a historic museum from the early 1900s...no ramps!

2) If someone else is providing your tables, be sure to ask what size they are. I "assumed" I would have one eight foot table. Instead, I had two four foot tables, meaning I needed an extra set of risers to have a taller table.

3) Ask is the ground is close to level. We were on a mountainside...no where close to level. I'm not talking inches... close to a foot! I had to dash down the street to a hardware store to buy plastic planters that were twice the size as my risers. I ended up with a tall set on the downhill side and the regular risers on the uphill side! The land was so uneven under my other table, I couldn't use risers at all. And, I had to climb through their flower beds to find a thick rock to level out the second table. Which leads me to...

4) Bring a change of clothes. I got filthy setting up! I did a quick wipe down with baby wipes but really couldn't do anything about that grass stain on my knees!

5) Stick some carpenter's wedges in the car. These are little slivers of wedge-shaped wood to level out lumber when building a house. They work great on tables on uneven ground!

6) Think about shade. I don't have a tent for the simple reason: I live alone and have no one to help me set up at shows. I've yet to find a tent that can really be set up by one person. But, I'm thinking a nice big sign that could be moved could provide some decent shade. Still, on a lovely fall day, this wasn't a big issue. It only got hot when we had to pack up and leave.

7) Snacks... always pack something to eat. Some shows have food on the premises. Some don't. One show I did this year had the caterer back out the night before! They would have bagels but no cream cheese. Coffee but no cream and sugar. You would go back an hour later and they would have cream cheese and no bagels; sugar and cream but no coffee.

8) Be open to custom work. I will make more from custom orders following this show than I did at the actual event! Don't be afraid to take on a challenge. Someone else may see something in your work that you don't see...yet!

Bead Show Prep

I'm still processing what I've learned from the two bead shows I did this summer. One of my Lest Beads Team members, Inferno Glass posted a few great tips from her recent experiences - all wonderful points and I wanted to add a few more.

1) To pick up where Inferno left off, I cannot emphasize enough the Be Friendly part. I recently attended a local show to see if it might work for me in the future. A local beader I know had purchased a craft kit and sat there working on her new project. The booth right past hers had much simpler beads but the artist was so engaging! The line at her booth only proved the point!

I find myself a bit shy at these things. It's easy to sit there and think "No one likes my beads. Why am I here?" So I give myself a chore to get me out of my own head. I make a goal to add at least 40 new people to my mailing list every show. How do I get people to sign up when we're all on email overload??? I have a drawing in my booth every hour!

2) Which brings me to marketing secret #1 - Gift Certificates. I used to give away jewelry and beads and my rubber stamps for PMC but I ended up mailing them after the show which cost me more money. Then I remembered the great gift card secret. Depending on which survey you believe, anywhere from 10 - 80 % of all gift cards are NEVER cashed. On my own websites (Sweet Stampen and HollysFolly.com), it is closer to 80%...seriously!

My beadie buds have very mixed feelings on this. I give certs out to my winners in amounts ranging from $10 to $50. My friends all fear their online shops getting cleaned out with give aways... but it rarely happens like that for me or my best friend (who runs a golf business. She too estimates that over 90% of her gift cards are never redeemed.)

I look at it this way: It at least gets them to my store to look around- possibly several times. Do I care if they cash it in? Heck NO! I WANT them to! What better advertising is there than, "Hey, where'd ya get that cool bead?" "I won it on HollysFolly.com" ??? NONE! It's priceless! But that has to be a risk you are willing to take. I'm still new at this and have nothing to lose.

3) Table Height - Bead shows are tiring for everyone. Most shoppers are bent over tables for hours on end. It's one thing if you're looking at piles of stone type beads where they're all kinda the same. But lampwork requires more attention. You want the customers to linger. They have to if they're going to see everything. If you raise the table so they don't bend over, guess what? They stay longer! They stay longer, they buy!

4) Visual Interest - Make your booth interesting to the eye. Find something to add vertical height (and increase your sales "real estate") and interest to your booth. My friend Bindy Lambell uses palm trees. I found some interesting jewelry trees shaped like women (more like Barbie than any actual women!). I mix those in with the boards I mentioned in an earlier post. I even have a card display made from a china teapot from my rubber stamp show stash. The wires that hold cards, hold beads pretty well too. It's dead center in the photo...in front of my chair.

While I did not raise my table at this show, I did have some interesting vertical displays to make the most of my real estate at the table.

5) Show length... ask around to other friends in the field... is the show too long? Too short? My last show was a two day show but day two was dead. I made exactly the amount I needed to pay the second night of my hotel and no more! I would have been in the same financial spot to go home the night before. Others were in a similar spot. Sellers were wandering around, not even concerned that a customer may pop by... it was that dead! This show could clearly be one day only.

6) Food and water - You will never get to take a break when your tummy tells you it's time for lunch. Pack some almonds, a protein bar cut into bite size chunks and some water bottles. Throw in some wet wipes too. Handling money is a filthy job!

7)Booth sitters - some shows provide volunteers to give you a minute to get some food or run to the bathroom. But not all allow their volunteers to handle money. Ask before the show. At my last show, I was told they come around regularly. They didn't. The first day was busy and one made an appearance around 2:30 - 4 1/2 hours after the show opened. I had seven shoppers in my booth with beads in their hands and trays when she asked if I needed a break. I motioned toward the customers as I said, "I desperately do, but not NOW." She didn't return for hours.

If possible, arrange to have a friend or customer you trust come by and relieve you. Or make good friends with your booth neighbors.

8) If you are a beadmaker, you MUST have some jewelry made from your beads. Finished jewelry at a bead show??? Yes! It inspires them to create something similar with your beads. It makes them buy! And, there are jewelry buyers at bead shows too. One of my biggest sales came from someone who just had to have my sample bracelet!

One lampworker friend confessed, she really doesn't care if her jewelry sells or not. It's there to sell her beads and if the jewelry does sell, she looks at it as a bonus but knows she'll need to make another display piece.


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Panic Is Here

Today was spent in sheer panic. This is my first show alone.

I suddenly realized this show attracts alot of PMC people. I have a line of stamps I made for the PMC corp and now just sell on my own. They were designed with PMC in mind.
I checked inventory and duh...wouldn't just know it? Not a set of stamps in sight! So I had to press a few dozen of those.

I also even made a few beads today. I have a new style of cupcake, cake and fish that I'm just loving. But no photos yet.

Considerable time was spent going through my show boxes and cleaning and repacking. Box #1 has to have my tablecloths, acrylic risers, my large female form jewelry holder, a tea pot I've adapted for beads, towels, my calculator, forms for my contest and basic office supplies.

I will also have boxes and bags, basic jewelry tools, packing tape and an assortment of other "necessary items" which are almost packed.

And the very last thing in the jeep: my dolly. Can't lug all that crap with my back! I'm amazed that people actually show up at a show like this without one and want to borrow mine! Plan ahead people!!! I once loaned my dolly out and spent the show tracking it down. UGH!

Anyway, I'm about to collapse and I still have beads to clean, price and pack.

See you in San Diego!

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Packaging and Display

Today, I cleaned bunches of beads, finished my "Showcase Piece" and continues packing show supplies.

I thought I would do a little show and tell of one of my favorite ways to display things for the show. It's always a good idea to give your booth a little vertical display. It adds interest for the passersby and gives the seller more "real estate" to present their wares.

One of the best uses of vertical display I've ever seen was by Bronwyn Heilman. She uses little business cards with her name and website on them. She punches a hole in the card and runs an elastic barb through the hole, into the bead and back through the hole. She adds a little Velcro dot and places several of these onto a vertical display.

Here's my version. I photoshopped the card with my name, website info, email, etc. I chose neutral gray so it wouldn't clash with any of my beads. I also designed a bookmark along this size to hold bead sets.


Here the bead is attached and ready to go.


On the back is the name of the bead and the price.



Here it is on the display.


For travel, I wrap bubble wrap around the board both vertically and horizontally and all the boards get packed in a plastic box. At the show, I unwrap, pop the little display lock into place (keeps the board from falling over) and place it on the table.

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Fun with Fire

Today was a major torch day. I've lost track of what I have in the kiln. I know I made a few big hole beads, some focals, more gingkos (I'm loving that shape!) and I do remember was last focal came out really small... I tore the bead release pretty early on which dictated size. I thought it was rather lovely in spite of my not liking tiny lampwork focals at all.

I started dealing with lights for the show. The last show made me realize that the lights I had were too small and dim. I found new ones I really like and now have to clean the shades and make sure all the bulbs fit and then bubble wrap those.

I also started inventory on the supply boxes from the last show. I like having these hyper-organized before the show. My pet peeve of show set up is when people walk in and lay crap on the table. It makes double work. So I have my boxes numbered and box #1 MUST have table cloths and lights. After that, I don't care what gets put on the table!

Here is one of the focals I made and cleaned the other day.


And, I thought it would be fun to show you the necklace in progress I keep referring to. Stay tuned for more info on that one.




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Slow Going

Well, my day job called today. I had some pressing issues to deal with in the shop... like paid for rubber stamp orders. And Sales Taxes are due, so it was a packing and shipping and paperwork day.

It's 5 p.m. and I'm just getting to work on show stuff. The one thing I did accomplish during all the tax paperwork was getting my mailing list / contest entries all printed up for the show.

I like to use the face-to-face customer contact as a way to build my mailing list and email lists. I offer free beads and special deals to my email clients only....their reward for allowing me to put a couple of emails a month in their in box.

And one of the ways I entice them and new customers to my booth is to have something going on in the booth ALL the time. I do that by having an hourly drawing. I give away zipper pulls / cell phone charms, earrings, friction clasp necklaces and even gift certificates to my website. I keep a big board with winners names listed during the whole show in the back of the booth. That makes it fun for me and keeps people coming by the booth.



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Countdown to Panic

Updated with photos 6:05 p.m. 7/27
I will be leaving for the San Diego Bead Show in exactly one week. And what wonderful, productive things did I accomplish today? NOT A DARN THING! At least that's the way I feel.

I'm still really tired recovering from my bout with bronchitis / pneumonia. And by 10 a.m., I couldn't hold my head up. I napped until around 2. That's not to say I wasn't productive there... while sleeping, I worked out an issue for a necklace design.

Does that ever happen to you? You wake up with a solution front and center in your mind? It happens to me a lot. O.K. productive nap. Check!

It was way too hot to torch or work on the stamp orders I have so I simply couldn't get out to the shop. I did get a few beads cleaned from my marathon torch session. Clean beads. Check check!





Then I realized that my buddy brought all the tissue paper (to wrap up sold beads) to our last show and she's not coming to this one. So I cut up tons of pretty purple tissue into little neat rectangles. Check!

Now, I'm executing that necklace design and made some more zipper pulls / Cell phone charms. Check!




So maybe, I don't need to panic...just yet!

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Getting Ready

A large part of getting ready for a big show is assessing what you need. I'm always torn between what I want to make and what I think may actually sell. And then, this close to the BIG DAY, I just want to make sure something, anything is on the table! LOL!

Since it was late the other night when I came in from the studio, I spent my time going through my extensive collection of beads and then making simple but cute zipper pulls / cell phone charms.



I can whip these together pretty fast as long as I have the right color Swarovski.

Yesterday, I had a blissful day on the torch. I literally torched for hours and hours. No interruptions, no customer phone calls. Those beads are soaking and need cleaning so I thought I would put a batch I thought I would get listed on my website... but there is no time when my show stash needs building.

Big Hole Bead with lots of florals.

My latest cupcake designs

I'm still stuggling a bit with cased florals and this will be my last practice bead before the show.

I'm loving making these seashells!

Focal versions. I love the glass that makes the mollusk part... it's so shiny!

And my new favorite... off mandrel abstract gingkos!

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