Post-mortem of Deceminate vending

That was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, my microphone wasn't working well enough for people in SF to hear me talking, but I could hear them, so between that and the IM client, I had some conversations with the other people at the craft fair. Andrea (another friend of mine who was there) took the laptop and webcam around to all the other booths at the fair, so I got to see a bunch of other neat things. It was an awful lot to ask of Sasen to vend for both of us, but Andrea being there to help vend for me made it a bit more reasonable. I need to think of a suitable thank-you present to give Sasen when she next visits!

Sales were not spectacular, perhaps because of the rain, but I didn't *lose* money, and I got to sort-of-meet some neat people, so I think that on balance, it was certainly worth it. Plus, it was good to see exactly what my production rate can theoretically be when under pressure, though I don't plan on working at quite that rate again in the near future.

Jewelry rebound

I think I am reacting to the pressure and craziness of putting together a bunch of jewelry on a deadline last week by gravitating towards fiber arts. I ordered a bunch of yarn (though not as much as I might have) from yarn.com, mostly for knitting a dual-tone Noro stripe scarf, but also some bamboo yarn for sculptural crochet. (Their Noro Silk Garden Chunky was almost half off! How could I resist?) And now I am drooling over pretty fabric remnants and reverse appliqué techniques. But I will be good and play with the fabrics I have now before flipping out and buying more.

I've discovered a style of T shirt that's a little more fitted than the boxy Hanes that I have so many of from college, but still really comfortable, and I'm thinking about buying several blank ones and doing cool things (like reverse appliqué, block printing, embroidery, etc.) to them. We'll see if this actually happens or not.

I'm currently crocheting a cloche style hat in Lamb's Pride yarn. I'll be felting it and then probably embellishing it with smaller crocheted things and/or embroidery (depending on whether I decide it's for me or for my mom).

Mailed a box to Deceminate!

Things that I hadn't previously photographed got photographed this morning and uploaded here.

This was a crazy, awesome, and tiring experience. I wish I had decided to be in the craft fair earlier so that I could have gotten more done without staying up so late. But I'm glad that I made so many things! Sometimes it was a fairly simple, mechanical process, and sometimes it was very creativity-filled and challenging.

Photographic highlights:



I had wanted to make some earrings that were one continuous piece--no break between ear wire and the rest of the main structure. These were a lot of fun (though the spirals were essentially shaped free-handedly, so it was a little tedious to make lots of them).



Labradorite is hard to photograph well--it's a grayish stone with iridescent fire in a variety of colors (blue, green, and yellow seem to be the most common). This pair of earrings has yellow fire that (I think) matches pretty well with the gold-toned gears.



Meanwhile, the highlights in these beads is a bluer color, matching the silvery gears.



These necklaces were fairly simple to make and turned out fairly interesting-looking.



The hanging purple droplets here make me happy :)



Bracelet made with typewriter hammers! I figured out a clasping mechanism: a magnet! The hammers are the right kind of metal for the magnet to stick to them.





Lots of OM NOM NOM bracelets...



Cute little bubble glass magnets! One issue I ran into with them was that the gears are sometimes magnetizeable, so they will drift around on the magnet while the glue is drying.

Virtually vending!

I'm going to be vending at Deceminate from across the country! Sasen will handle the in-person interactions, and I'll be using a webcam and chat to interact with customers. I'm mailing a big box of stuff to California next Monday. Having a deadline is great! I've done more crafting in the last week than in the last several months before. I'll take pictures as I'm boxing up everything on Sunday.

Things I am definitely selling:
-gearrings (earrings with gears)
-watch movement pendants (both plain and with silver decorations)
-OM NOM NOM bracelets
-a crocheted hat

Things I am probably selling, assuming I finish working on them:
-small glass magnets with gears sandwiched between the glass and the paper backing
-bracelets involving typewriter hammers (just need to work out a good clasp mechanism)
-linocut prints/bookmarks (still trying to come up with a design, but should be quick to carve and print up once I've done so)

Things I might sell:
-paint chip bracelets, if I decide they're not too time-consuming to make a few more of them
-gear-related rings?
-more complicated gear/watch movement assemblage necklaces, if I feel creative in that direction