Weekend at the Gallery
We just finished up a lovely weekend event at Gallery 141 in Lancaster city – the Open Air Etsy Fair. The event, which coincided with Lancaster’s Spring Art Walk and the Launch Music Conference, was chock full of music and fabulous art. We really couldn’t have asked for better weather, but we could have used a bit more foot traffic, to be honest. That’s partially why I’m taking the time to post about it now, when I should be working and/or soaking my sunburn…the Gallery is quite lovely, there were a great mix of artists on site and on display, and they’re hoping to have more events in the future, so please check them out!
We shared a tent with an awesome artist whose name is completely escaping me. I will dig her business card our of my stuff tomorrow and post it here. She’ll be showing her work at Gallery 141 starting May 1.
One of our neighbors on-site turned out to also be our (almost) neighbor in real-life – Kristen Von Hohen with her gorgeous ceramics. She’s based a few miles up the road from us, and there’s some potential collaboration there…watch this space for details.
On-site music included Innocence Rush (their lead singer bailed but their guitarist did a bang-up job filling in – he really brought in the crowds) and Becca and Jake, a young duo whose version of Etta James’ “At Last” blew my mind. Keep an ear out for some of their original music on an upcoming Braindouche!.
There were many other artists and musicians, but my brain is officially post-craft-show mush. One final moment of note: I smelled a durian milkshake.
Take a moment to check out Gallery 141 on Water Street in Lancaster if you’re in the area, or stop by their site, blog, or Facebook profile and give Alana, the owner, some love. (She gave me a caramel cupcake, after all.)
(And yes, I realize it would have been more effective to blog about this before the event…oh, well.)
Shh…Where is Everyone? (More importantly, where are the bon bons?)
It’s been a bit quiet around here – the blog and our Etsy shop have gone into relative hibernation, and we’re still enjoying a long winter’s break from the craft show circuit. But trust me when I say that we have not been sitting idly by eating bon bons. I’m putting the finishing touches on the Spring/Summer 2009 jewelry line, which sprang from a wide range of inspiration: the cool blue-greens and brushed metals of 1950s space mania (such as Space-Age Pop, above); faeries, forests, and the mystical side of nature; the rich, bright jewel tones of the traditional middle east; and the current state of the US economy. Yes, the economy – a subset of our jewelry this season focuses on beauty and glamour at extremely affordable prices. Traditionally I’ve posted pieces to the Etsy store as I finish them (or at least as quickly as I photograph them), but for now, I’m holding back a bit. Our goal is to hold the majority of the new pieces for the completion of our other project…
The Marketplace is finally almost here! The break from craft shows has given me the opportunity to put a good deal of work into our very own e-commerce site. We still plan to sell on Etsy (and probably ArtFire and SilkFair as well), but we are excited to offer a stand-alone shopping experience. Having our own site will provide us the flexibility to run sales (much easier than we currently can on Etsy) and also allow us to accept alternate methods of payment,such as direct credit card processing for our customers who prefer to avoid PayPal. For those technically curious, the site will run on a CMS framework (probably WordPress) using Mal’s e-commerce; our aesthetically curious readers can skip right to the preview at Flickr. (I reserve the right to redesign it another dozen or so times before I finally start coding – you’ve been warned.) We’re still early in the game, so I’m not setting a go-live date just yet, but it’s coming soon!
If you’re jonesing to see the new designs or some of the other things we’re working on (like new-and-improved ornaments), you have two options. Your best option is a home show – see the new stuff, party with your friends, earn free jewelry. Good deal. (The other option involves being our personal slave and taking care of pretty much everything so that I can dedicate my days to coding, and then cleaning up the mess when my head explodes…because I really hate coding.) To book a show, or volunteer for slavery, click here to shoot us an email.
I should go…my bon bons are melting. 
Indiemade Craft Market
Here’s the flyer for one of the shows we’ll be doing this weekend – be one of the first 50 adults and get a free schwag bag with excellent goodies! (You may even get a bag with a bracelet from yours truly…)
We hope to see you there!
Event Recap: Women's Fest
Women’s Fest 2008 was our first-ever craft show, and it was quite the learning experience…
The good:
- All those packing/prepping/hauling skills I gained running a part-time catering business served us well. We unpacked, set up, broke down, and loaded with very little fuss. Score one for the team.
- We sold enough to make our site fee back for the day, which IMO is pretty darn good for a first show.
- We met some lovely people, including Khara of Khara’s Creations. She makes some gorgeous jewelry called “Ties that Bind” that is made from old neckties. I bought a pair of her earrings and found out that she’s local to us – hopefully one day soon my lazy self will get around to emailing her.
The bad (and the ugly):
- There was, quite literally, no one there. We sold to other vendors (and to the security guard’s wife), but that was it. As far as we could tell, there were no actual attendees, in our area or any of the others. This event had a lot of factors to work against: bad weather (intermittent thunderstorms), picnics (Father’s Day, graduations), and it was the first year for this event.
General impressions:
- All of the vendors were split up into different rooms. It’s the only thing they could have done in that space, but it made for awkward traffic flow and not a lot of mixing between areas.
- In addition to the non-existent turnout, the event was full of chain vendors. My beloved blue Princess House salad plates will attest to the fact that I have nothing against those sorts of vendors, but it was overwhelming to see so many of them in one place.
We had a lot more thoughts about this after the event, but unfortuntately, the gut feelings and initial impressions of that nigth have been lost to the sieve that is my brain these days.
One of my dreams for this blog is that it can serve as a resource to other crafters, so I hope to capture a bit more of our post-event ramblings for the internet hive mind to peruse. To that end, and because Mer is an audio geek, we’ve acquired a portable digital audio recorder. It may be a podacst or a written post-mortem, but there will be more to come for future events.
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