Bohemian Mermaid Palace

Well, the time has come once again to say Buh-Bye to another day job. Muaaaahahahahha! Yes, I've been at the peace sticker place for about a year and a half. Seems like plenty. I had planned on staying through the winter and leaving in the spring... but I don't think I can make it that long. A few reasons. One is that I'm just plain burnt. Much as I predicted when my coworker/supervisor started taking 3-4 weeks off at a time and the big boss didn't hire anyone else. I told them I could do it, but if the stress level stayed high for too long I'd burn out for sure. Hey, guess what? I was right. Secondly, the boss is freakin nuts. Which is fine in itself, most of my best friends are nuts. Yeah, it was fine when he barely spoke to me... but I would hear him sometimes go batty on my coworkers and I'd say, "good thing he doesn't speak to me that way or I might have to tell him to fuck himself". Then he started talking to me... and eventually in that way

...cuz it's time once again for the wonderful North Country Fair! Wooooooo! I hope all my friends and neighbors are gearing up for the big fall hootinany on the Arcata Plaza this weekend. Cuz man, it's the funnest thing around. Yes, funnest. Three stages of music and dance, featuring all our favorite local talent. 200 crafts, food and info booths. Two parades, one each day. Beer. Sun. Friends. I mean, what more do you want? I for one have been feverishly dyeing stuff, ordering booth supplies, getting ready for a great weekend. I have my new specially-made-by-Busam festival skirt... but alas, the rest of the goods she's been working on are not ready as I had hoped. We were so close, but now she has other life things to tend to and the Mermaid must wait. Sigh. Maybe I'll have them in the spring. But at least MY skirt is done and it's fantastic. Full circle with ruffles. Yesss. And of course I'll have some other new goodies to show off. Don't worry. Um, what el

Ok, well it's time to get ready for this next round of shows. Fort Bragg was a nice warmup. I dyed whatever random stuff I had here to dye. It was a lot, but mostly unusual special items... I didn't have all my stock up to what I like. Now, I need to do a full inventory and order whatever I need to fill it all out. About a ton. In fact, I should over order, since I'll have 2 shows in a row right away. I have 2 weeks until North Country Fair on Sept 22-23. woooo! I'll see you all there. It's the rockinest hootinany around. As I've mentioned before , the drama is over and this will be a great show for all I'm sure. Hey, looks like there are still some vendor spots available. The following week, I'm off to Caspar on the beautiful Mendocino coast for Caspar Fest. I loved this show last year, it was my intro to doing shows in this area. So it will be fun fun fun. Also they are adding more eco-groovy & community themes and activities, like demos and a din

I'm still here. Vacation was swell, thanks. My attitude was adjusted appropriately I think... just in time too. I'm back to work at the peace sticker place. Most of my coworkers left for a week or two, so I'm holding down the peace fort. I have skills. And it's been slow. Also, I refuse to be stressed. So it's working out fine. I also just scored a last-minute spot in the Fort Bragg festival this weekend... um Paul Bunyan Days. Yippee! I have wanted to do this one for a few years, but always miss the deadline somehow. I usually do pretty well in that area, and it is a holiday weekend. So I suspect the wealthy vacationers will be in abundance. Luckily, I have been reckless in my online ordering during my break, so I have lots of stuff to dye up. I'm a bit behind schedule, due to car issues and my own lame tendencies... but I can hear the washer finishing up a load of Ocean colored stuff as I type. I'll have a few things for the mendo throngs to adore. Worry n

Oh, yessss. I'm lovin it. After months of hard work and slaving away at the Peace Sticker place between c raft shows, filling in for other folks and whatnot... I now have a whole week off! Yippee. Can I afford it? I don't know. But that won't stop me from enjoying myself. Oh no. I managed to work o ut a Mom visit, which is pretty cool. She'll be arriving on Tuesday from North Dakota, and on Thursday we'll drive to Reno to visit my little bro and his wife in their new house. I'm getting pretty excited about the whole thing. I mean, Mom hasn't been here to visit for a couple years, hasn't seen the new digs. And I haven't seen my brother since his wedding over a year ago. Eesh. Way too long! It's going to be so fun!! So, for now... after I'm done basking in my vacation-ness, which means lounging on the computer in my pj's for hours at a time... it will be time to clean the house real good. Yip. I have a few things planned for Mom when she ar

Oh yeah, baby. One of the best things about vending at festivals with such talented artists is definitely the booty. I love to trade mermaid clothing for goodies on my travels. Sometimes I even buy stuff. Like the painting above. I bought it from the guy selling next to me up at that oregon show. I love it. sort of a cross between sunset at the beach up here and maybe some other planetscape. Plus the guy was neat to talk with (and he wasn't selling much I think). This bag is great and the fabric is fuzzy. Love it so much I made it my new magical money bag for the booth. I scored both of these at the fair on Clear Lake. The bag I traded for. The painting I bought from this little old lady who was so sweet! She was doing her booth all alone and it was painful to watch, she wouldn't accept much help cuz she said, if I can't do it alone I might as well stay home. The painting really reminds me of her. The card above was SUCH a score! I was at that oregon show, running to get so

I'm resting. But as we know, the Mermaid's work is never done... I have things to take care of. Let's see... uh, website stuff for sure. I haven't updated the inventory on it for months. Gotta do that. I also have a bunch of items not shown on the site. So, new photos and new pages are in order for sure. I think I'm going to hire my friend's daughter to help with a bunch of stuff. That will be fun. I have business crap to take care of too. This place is a mess! Gotta fix up my files and sales records and all that. Ick. OH, and it looks like I'm gonna get me a new VAN finally! Yipee! A nice big cargo van, just like the one I use that belongs to Barney. But newer and not creepy. THAT is freakin exciting. Christmas fair applications are showing up, so time to figure out what the hell I'm doing this year in that area. Sigh. Oh, and the designs I've been working on with The Buz are coming together. I should have at least 2 new pieces for North Country F

So today at work , as I slaved away over a hot keyboard/phone/stickerpile... we had khum on the radio as usual. At some point I noticed they were playing the friday songs. (Larry usually plays a few particular songs near 5pm on fridays and then announces it's officially the weekend. Sometimes he'll play them at like 2pm and just say he's 'calling it'. It's the weekend people, start figuring out your excuse to leave work early. Cute, I know. I love Larry.) How odd, thought I. Why the hell are they playing friday songs at noon on tuesday? Cruelty? I may have mumbled about it to myself throughout the set of songs... I'm not saying for sure. Well duh Mermaid, there is a holiday tomorrow and many many folks have the day off or even long weekends. Sure, ok. At the end of the set Mike says, "call me up and tell me what just happened, using the proper phrasing and I'll give you a cd". So I did. You called it, man! Then he asked if I had to work tomorr

Oh, let's see um... huh... maybe I might do ANOTHER FESTIVAL. Wooo! Tomorrow I'm off to the Umpqua Valley Arts Festival up in Roseburg Oregon. It's a 3 day hootinany with over 100 art booths, 2 stages, kids area, food, wine garden... the whole shibang. Sweet. So, it's about a 4 hour drive north. I'll be going alone, Barney has to be at work friday I think. I am splurging for a motel for the entire trip and that will be quite luxurious. Showers and beds and everything. Heehee. Barney might show up at some point, not sure yet. But, I have no problems with doing a festival alone, I've done it lots of times and it's a little more of an adventure that way you know. Yeah, I don't have much else to tell. Except that I have about a ton of stuff to do and I'm still sitting here in coffee mode. Yawn. Thanks for helping me procrastinate...

I've been so busy, I forgot to show off my new Bohemian Mermaid stickers! I've wanted these ever since I started working at the sticker place and now I have them... sweet huh? I have 1000, want one?

Ok, I might be getting a little tired. I've done let's see... 4 craft shows in 6 weeks, most of them out of town. And dyeing stuff while working 4 days a week. Heh. Yeah I know, I'm studly. But I wouldn't mind a day off really. However, as you well know, a Mermaid's work is never done, and so... Tomorrow I have a festival! Wooo! It's the 17th annual Oyster Festival right here at home. Sweet. There aren't that many craft booths, this is really more about the food. But, I will have a giant obnoxious double booth per Barney's encouragement (bah just go for it!). I'm feeling a little self-conscious about it. But I guess if it makes me more visible it could help my sales. And he was right about paying more for the corner booth in benbow, that paid off pretty well. Yeah, I really hope he's right. Cuz this little one day fair is costing me plenty. The booth is spendy to begin with, for the privilege of selling in the lovely town of Arcata. Double booth

No. So there I was, trying to recover still from the busy festival last weekend. I've been so tired all week, with work and all... when Friday I get a call from the chick who runs the Trinidad sunday market. She's saved me a spot at the Fish Festival and will I be attending? Uh, I wasn't planning on it... since I have a ton of dyeing to do and I'm still so tired like I said. But, then she says how it's the 50th annual and there are like 40 booths and how I don't have to pay extra since I'm already signed up for the market etc. Gosh, at that moment it sounded too good to pass up. Sure, ok I'll be there! Of course, as soon as I got off the phone I says to myself I says, "What are you nuts?!" But Barney, being the awesome supporter he is, says "Hey, why not right? You can make a few bucks and I'll go with you to help, I'd like some of those fish and chips!" Ok. Sure, I'm studly what the hell. I'll dye stuff on saturday an

Yeah, I really just wanted to see that title.... so I needed a separate post. For some reason, my booth was a place for weird items to be lost during the show. Ok, two items. But still it was odd. Saturday, a garbage bag full of popcorn. Nobody claimed it, we asked around the neighbor's busy henna booth. Nope. Everyone in the immediate area. No, not mine. To my knowledge, no booths were even selling popcorn. We left it there for hours. People commented on it, but nobody touched it or came looking for it. It was a mystery. Later, we closed the booth and went wandering... many hours and drunk people passed, and still the popcorn was there. When we were returning to the booth to go to bed, I saw a figure in the dark bent over inspecting the bag... I didn't miss a step, "It's popcorn!" and I disappeared behind our tent laughing. The next morning it was gone. Sunday it was a pair of handcuffs. They were first spotted by some kids whose parents were visiting the pottery

Well, we are off to the thriving metropolis of Lakeport for their Memorial Day festival thingy down on Clear Lake. Barney is packing the truck and getting a new airbed for the back. I'm printing stars on baby shirts and gathering sunscreen and water. Yip, got my big bag of peace buttons and my sandals... ready for the sun baby! I'm counting on the bay area vacationers to come through this weekend. Line up ladies, wrap skirts and mermaid tanks for everyone! Woooo!

Ok, maybe I went a little nuts with my latest supply order... wait. No. I have two shows in a row and I need a buttload of stuff. And that's what I got. Yeah, baby. That is one beautiful 53 lb box of dyeable goodness. Oh... then I also ordered a bunch of things that were on sale before we left for the last show. And again two days ago, when I was in a panic about having enough hats and T-shirts. Um... and last night I found a source for some parasols, which I'll silk paint. That probably wasn't totally necessary. I may be a little on the obsessive side right now... but alas. I have used all the money and credit available. So, I guess I'm done ordering for now. Time to dye all this stuff. Woooo! New colors for this time around are um... avocado green with black, a new purple with black. Black is tough, but what the hell right? I'll try it. Last round I came up with a beautiful burgundy color. Love it! I guess photos would be nice. Maybe later.

Crazy dog... she's pretty cute though, huh?

Get moving, Woman! Ok, well as you can see... the shows have begun. Heehee. So, for the next uh, at least 3-4 months I'll have a craft show every other weekend, sometimes 2 weekends in a row. Good thing I'm so studly. Yeah. Ok. So, this has been my goal right? This is how I want my life to go, shows all the time. Enough so I can eventually quit my day job. So I need to figure this all out. How to go to a show out of town, come home, go to work and still have enough stuff to sell for the next show. Normally, I spend about 2 weeks preparing for a show. Ordering and receiving supplies, dyeing them, washing, ironing, sewing labels and printing mermaidy stuff onto them. I like to do the dyeing in large blocks of time over the weekend, 8-10 hour chunks. Then it's done and I can spend evenings after work during the week pressing and printing. Obviously this won't really work if I have 2 shows in a row. My new strategy is to make the buying and dyeing more continuous. Order as

Well, I have to say the Spring Fever Festival this weekend was a success. Woo! I mean considering it's so new... and the amount I made last year at this fair. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did. I um, let's see... made about 3 times what I made last year. Yeehaw. I learned something too: the Power of the Discount. Holy moly. I mean, I always have a clearance rack going in the booth for flawed or discontinued things. But, I decided to have a supersale and clearance out a bunch of shirts I'm sick of... bam! half off! I also made all the skirts, pants and jacke ts $5 off. People bought stuff generally in twos, threes or more. It rocked. Oh, and I won a gorgeous pair of earrings in the door prize drawing. The chica next to me was doing her first fair and I picked her earrings from the prizes. They are so cute and sparkly! I also bartered for a handmade journal and scored some super sweet gifts for Mother's day. I want to tell more about them, but she might read th

See how cute the girls' faces are? Just ignore that weird one on the left... Here's the Lampgirl hanging out with Redballs in my bedroom. As you can see, his balls are no longer red. But, when I found him sitting next to a dumpster behind the thrift store... he had bright red balls and a magic marker bikini top. Leaving him outside for a while took care of that. And below you see Betty in all her glory, wearing my dress from The Buz's castle wedding in Prague. The ladies next to her are old fashioned blouse forms, with wooden ball-joint arms. Pretty sweet.