Bohemian Mermaid Palace

Wooohoo! It's officially a GO!  Back in Feb I had a brainstorm to do an extended craft show trip this summer. I have talked about doing this for years. Although, my fantasy is more like a year long trip... but this is a good start! Somehow I managed to find 4 shows in a row, both by time and geography, that are juried and look quite good. AND happen to lead up to the big craft show in Bismarck, ND where I have family. Then I waited to see if I would be accepted to at least 3 out of the 5 to make the trip for sure. I mean, the gas alone will cost about $1000. If I'm going to do it, I need it to be worthwhile money-wise. ND is far away! As of yesterday, I have been confirmed in 4 of the 5 shows. I've yet to hear from the last one, but my fingers are crossed!  Now that I'm talking about it as a reality (rather than a possibility), I'm getting more and more excited. You can see the individual show details on my Facebook page over there>>>  I'll se...

I was reading an article the other night about selling crafts wholesale. It assumed you would have plenty of orders, and asked basically 'Are you ready to do your craft constantly day in and day out to fill orders?' The production end of things can be tedious and possibly ware on a person over time... makes sense. For many crafts, the creative art part is a small percentage of time compared to the crafting of the item itself. You choose media and materials, sketch, design, maybe draw or paint elements of the final piece... the rest is molding, firing, sewing, beading, dyeing, (insert your craft here) and then finishing, packaging and the like. So I started thinking about the past week, up to my elbows in dye every day for hours. I'm doing 10 batches which is about 100 pieces. Oh it's repetitive alright... but not only don't I get bored, I actively enjoy it. I find the routine soothing, almost meditative. I listen to music, often dancing and singing. Or I listen...

   I've been having fun playing with some new print designs. In the past, I've had some color issues with printing on the Moss colored fabric. These prints I think look perfect on this background. I'm also combining these with my other designs for different effects...  I'll take more pics after I do some printing next week.  Currently, I'm preparing to head up to Gold Beach, OR for the Art, Wine & Music Festival next weekend. This will be my third year and I am really looking forward to it. Beach camping, nice people, high quality crafts... and I'll get to see my friends at Moose Creek Bath & Body , who have been carrying my clothing for the past year.  Super nice ladies! My man is considering joining me on his new motorcycle. Huh. If I knew it'd make him want to travel with me more, I'd have been on board long ago. Ha. For now, back to the dye tubs.