'closed' for the season

its sunday, the last day of the last show i'll do this year. so time for a little reflection!
-its been a tough year to break into the craft market, at least that's what other artist have told me. i have received many compliments on my work by fellow artist and the general public, if only that payed the bills.
- i have some new ideas which i'm excited about getting started on in the new year
-i decided it was time to make a serious attempt at getting into the wholesale world (as stated in an earlier post).
- some areas that need work: my web presents needs at least one full studio day spend on web markets, my site, stores etc.
: working on a client list, mailings etc.
: streamlining my line- getting rid of some styles, developing new

just some points to think about for myself

ode to the midwest

i am in ohio for the next few weeks. this is where i grew up and went to school. i drove back in my slow, old pickup from wyoming. here are some photos from the three days on the road.

BUST ad debut

today i got my new BUST issue with my ad in it!
(the colors are different??)


check it out yo'self!

its been a while....

didn't realize i hadn't written in over a month!
the past two weekends i've done shows. my Casper show was pretty disappointing monetarily, but worth it weight in golden knowledge i learned from my neighbor!! one plus to the shows!
i have set a major goal for my craft company... i am going to try and get to the buyers market of american craft by Feb. 2010. seems far away, but not really. Feb 2009 I'm going to attend their wholesale classes, then apply as a vendor for the next year. i feel this will give me time to develop my product, learn how much i can make and get a more regimented studio work schedule. so I'm feeling really inspirited and hopeful about achieving my goal for being a full time studio artist!
now i'm off to ohio for two big shows. hopefully these go better!
also on the horizon. corey and i have set a wedding date 9.3.09! so that will be going on as well throughout the next year. yay!!!

run off

yesterday corey and i did another photo shot up in grand teton NP; that is until these guys ran as off. we waited in the car til they moved on. then continued and got some nice shots.
other than that, i've been dragging my feet about doing work to prepare for the upcoming shows, but hopefully today and next week i can get that motivation back!

new pics

last week corey and i went out and shot some photos of me in my hats for my sites! here are some of the better ones. the background is north of jackson, mormon row in the grand teton NP.
hopefully this week we can get more!

something new

here are photos of some scarfs i put together to sell along side my hats. i thought that they would sell like hot cakes, but no one hardly looked at them. i think they're really cute, but what do i know, i'm just the designer. look for them soon in my etsy shop!

a little down

it's monday, the day after my second sale and it did not go well. this seems to be such a hard time for everyone. so i guess you just count the pennies and keep moving forward, right? good thing for waitressing, which is what i'm currently doing!
anyway last week i got my first order of wool, as i am now a wholesaler. so i have about 50lbs. of wool in my house now. hopefully going to start selling some on my etsy page. it looks like big caterpillars!
i also found a new website i'm going to try out, called smashing darling. its for indie fashion designers, so hopefully i'll have more luck there. also i figure its time to wholesale out some of the inventory left over from the sales.
also, a few weeks ago was my 1 year anniversary for quitting smoking! to celebrate, a necklace i bought from my friend and mentor ms. amy tavern!
so it's back to the grind stone as i have three more sales in the coming months!

Art Wear Fashion Week

after a late night on tuesday and an early morning on weds. the hats for the Art Wear Fashion Week are done and were mailed on weds morning. here are some photos


above 'the ice queen'; below 'aries ode to spring'
below 'the leave are falling'

above 'the bustled bride'; below again 'april showers bring may flowers'

and a few from production line: the 'ruffled jen'
the 'judy'; the 'chuck' in pink

my latest project

in addition to my art and hats and working almost full time slinging ice, i also do alteration. here is one that came in by Corey's co-workers wife. she needed this dress to be part of a wedding and it was too small. the parameters if the dress: must be yellow and must be formal. so here's what we started with....
somethings you can't see. the skirt is totally sheer, we could not even zip it up, it looks a lot better in this photo then the real dress (they always look better in a size 2 as opposed to a size 20, the size i was working with)
and here are the photos after i worked on it......

what i did... sewed in an underskirt so it was not sheer, cut the single shoulder strap off, sewed it to a strapless bodice, put thin straps with the organza sewed on it, removed the sequence and the hip ruffle thing, moved the zipper to the side seam and cut and placed a new nude colored back panel to acomodate the size difference. i think it looks better.

still here...just busy

i have discovered i'm not so good at this blog thing, but here's the latest news. i'm still a little disappointed in the first show... but i realize life moves on and so have my oppurtunities. i have been excepted in the Art Wear Fashion Week in fort collins, CO. they have asked me to display 5-8 hats like my 'april showers...' hat (above).
i also just found out that i have been excepted in both Winterfair shows in ohio, one in cincinnati and columbus. i'm not sue if i'm going to do the sales or not, but it nice to know i have the option.
some other sales this year are 'taken it to the streets' here in jackson, wy part of the fall arts fest and 'November Art Sale and Show' at the Nicolasysen center in casper, WY.
in other news, i have returned to the work force here in the hole. doing what you ask... no, not slinging booze or coffee (though i've always thought 'krista the barista' is too cute) ... i'm slinging ice and meat. that's right, i'm back working at jackson whole ice and game. in the summer we make and deliever ice all over the valley, in the fall we process the game from hunting season. i think i'm the only veg-head who would work at a game processing plant!!

here i am in my new western hat!!

the aftermath

my first show is over and after a few days to recover, here's what happened. i was happy with my booth layout and also the fact that besides the table in the last 20 mins of the show blowing over, everything else held. people liked the display stands, one women wanted to buy them!!
my sale were reasonable, i guess, since i don't have anything to compare it to. i did make enough to cover my costs, which is good. i do think i will get a part time job just to bring a little money during the down time between the next show.
i only sold a little over 20 hats, so with having 200 there..... you know. but now i have the inventory for the next show and to wholesale some out,
that was the biggest question i got, do you have a store?, where do you show?, oh... you're local! seemed to be a plus!!
i did find that most people have no idea what i do. most thought i knitted then put the hat into the washer to shrink it down. so i explained that that's fulling not felting. some understood, most didn't. i had a few people walk and say they could do that! go right ahead then little lady!!!! and tell me how to make a successfully business at it too!!!
but all in all, the show was good, the weather was good, no blown away tents, covered my cost what else could i ask for... a little profit but maybe next time. here's corey and i at the end of the show!

i have to share this...

it's early here, just past 9am and i had to share this story. i was still in bed, not fully asleep, the in between stage, when you aren't quite ready to face the daily stuff but not in a dead sleep and my business phone keeps going off. 'i'll get the voice mail later, who calls before 9am anyway!' but i get up and return the call. its a young women looking for my store!! 'i work out of my house' i tell her, but invite her over as she was just around the corner. so here i am in a lovely pair sweats with some slogo written across my ass, a hoodie and my first hat, a forest green elva. this young women was trying to help her younger sister with a 4A project and has looking for something domestic made i.e. my stuff!!! she bought a hat that i hope she really wanted, i hope not out of obligation cause i was standing there in my PJ's!!! i told her to contact me if things don't work out. anyway it really was a nice way to get woken up, someone seeking my work out!
here are some photos from my building a display rack last night!!
Jennifer Beals (flashdance) eat your heart out!! but i think she had better hair!!!!!

on your mark...

so here it is , the monday of the week of the big show and i find myself surprisingly calm.
as of right now, it feels like its all coming together!!! i have about 200 hats mostly done, just pressing, steaming and photos, which is tomorrow. today is pin making, getting supplies, dropping off another show app, and working on displays tonight.
tomorrow photos, which will be nice to get posted!!!
weds. getting tags on and final prep. also the weekly local paper which has made me their art section cover story comes out!!!
thursday show set up and thats it. that night i plan on fully relaxing before the three days of the show!!!!

the countdown is on

time is coming to a fast approaching end. i have scaled back to about 200 hats, which i really hope is enough, so i have time to focus on other aspects of the sale, new cards, banners, artist bio, etc.
i have about 25 hats to finish by this weekend, then the rest of the time is for get everything ready for the show. here are some photos of the first of three racks that Corey and i designed and built.might not look like much now, but filled with hats, i think it should look really good!
i getting excited about setting up my booth. for what i envision, it should be really sweet!

the past couple of days....

i know i said this blog was for the ups and downs of my artistic pursuits, but sometimes life gets in the way. with my trip to portland this weekend, i had set the goal of have 200 hats done!!
and then this happened.
friday night my fiance, who is a stock car driver on the weekends had a race, so i went. and he was being a guy, pissing me off, so he and i get into it at the track. not that big of a deal, right. not untill his 14 year old son, that's right, i'm a step mom to a teenager, gets in my face and runs off. we figured he'd return after the races were over, no. so we had everyone looking for this kid, town police, county sheriffs, other parents and friends. finally he is found, and doesn't want to come home, because of me, i'm the evil step mom. that is really hard to hear, especially when you've opened your home, and cooked and cleaned for him. so it's me, the problem!! finally we get home, try to work it out but to no avail. have you ever tried to make a teenage boy talk, i'd think it be easier to pull out my own teeth.
ok so the weekend passes, i'm trying to make up for lost time, then this morning i'm up and working, feeling good and productive. then i see a county sheriff wrapping the yellow crime scene tape around my neighbors house, suicide!!! this guy has three young children and a wife and he kills himself, they think last night. i'm watching from my window, the wife pulls up, screaming and crying, i don't know where the kids where, but how terrible. in their house too. it actually makes me mad, how could he leave his kids like that!! then i feel sooo sad for the wife!!! just offal. some other neighbors were coming home and there we were all standing in the street, watching as they took his body out. and they're all talking like they knew it was coming, did anybody do anything?
this morning had really shaken me and changed my perspective on suicide. i can hardly get any work done, because i feel so distracted. i don't have much else to say, just needed to get it out of my mind

here it is

here are some photos of my shibori dyed wool felt. i have mixed feelings about them, i think once i get better with color and how the dyes interact, i will like the shibori wool better.
the rest of this and next week are commited to nothing other then sewing my brains out. i'm going to PDX for a wedding on the 27-30 and would like to have any hat that is laying around my studio, sewn and done. GOAL: 200 hats done before friday 6/27!!!!!