Bohemian Mermaid Palace

Ok, on to something more uplifting. Spring! It's again time for the Spring Fever Festival at Redwood Acres this weekend, Apr 26-27. Wooo! The theme is luau and folks are encouraged to wear their loudest Hawaiian shirts or mumus. Again there will be hourly door prizes, donated by the artists. This time it costs $1 to get in, but that gets you into the prize drawing and the prizes are always really nice. This is a relatively new festival in its 3rd year, and it's really a fun family scene. Mostly it's a craft fair, featuring wonderful quality handmade goods from local artists. I have been impressed with the quality and variety of crafts. There will also be non-profit booths like a photo booth & face painting, food, beer & wine. Oh and music both days. I have had a great time at these shows (spring and fall), although they aren't very well known yet. This year there's an ad on KHUM, so maybe that will help. Really I'd love to see these shows take off and ge

Never a dull moment around the Palace. Adventure is my middle name. Or is it Panky ? One of those... Yep, worked hard all week to prepare for this big awesome show down in Bodega Bay... about a 5 hour drive from here. Packed up the Shiny Van by noon with a big smile on my face. Ready to go! But, Shiny Van wouldn't start. Made noise like it wanted to, but no go. Fighting back panic, I called Barney who sent our friend Bob over to help with some male mojo or whatever. Bob shows up, looks under the hood (just looks, doesn't touch anything), casually turns the key and tada ! Started right up! I was baffled. I may have felt a little dumb. But hey... it's running and I'm behind schedule. Thanks Bob! Barney suggested I take it by his mechanic for a quick look-over... but after driving it around town doing my errands with no problems, I decided to get going. Good thinkin . Driving down 101 was great fun... the sun was shining, the ipod & I were singing, the van was runnin

Wooo! Man, I am sooo ready to hit the road next weekend for my first show of the season, the Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival . As I mentioned earlier, this is my first time vending at this show... but I have art buddies who do it and say it's great fun. I've been checking the weather, and right now They are saying 76 degrees for next weekend. What? 76?? At the coast?? Ok, sounds good to me. Since it dumped rain last year (and last night), I'll take warm and sunny no problem. I wonder if I can embed a little weather doohicky that will update itself... hm let me see for a sec... Bodega Bay Weather Forecast, CA Ok, that didn't work. I guess blogspot doesn't like java script... huh. Anyway, back to the festival. Lots of neato activities happening there... um, a wooden boat race, blessing of the fleet by a mermaid lady (at least that's what I read someplace - I sure hope I get to see that), boat parade, kite flying, pet parade (and me with no doggy T-shirts grr),

At long last... it's time for the craft shows to begin. It's been a long dark winter in the depths of the sea here at the Palace. But now it's time to rise up to the bright surface and do some serious Mermaid work. I am SO ready to get moving! First round of shows begins in 2 weeks, here's the confirmed line up so far: March 28-30 - Spring Fair - Douglas County Fairgrounds, Roseburg, Oregon. This is my firs time at this show. I didn't do spectacularly well my last time in Roseburg . But, it's a nice drive and an indoor show so at least I won't get rained on. I plan on having lots of little girl dresses and clearance items at this show. April 12-13 - Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival - Bodega Bay, CA. I've been wanting to do this one for the past few years. Last year I heard it poured rain... but maybe I'll be lucky. Looks like an awesome festival right on the bay, boat parades, boat building, kite flying, animal parade. Sounds like fun! April 2

I think I'm just about ready to get going on some festivals. Lots of planning and purchasing going on here at The Palace. This weekend though, I mostly hung out with Barney. He started working in the bay area, so I only get him on the weekends for a while. Sigh. We did lots of movie-watching and snuggling... and I made so much jewelry I got a blister. I'm a machine, I know. Well it really started with a flower garland I made to decorate my booth. The wire in the flowers was hard to cut and I worked on that thing for like 3 hours. I was having so much fun I didn't care that my hands hurt. Then I made jewelry for 2 days. I can't help myself. I got a couple of neato packages yesterday... one full of hats! I'm excited to have found these cotton hats to dye. I want one of each. I also got my first shipment of shirts from the Buz finally. They are sweet! I'll get a photo at some point...

Ok, this is a new festival at the Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka taking place in April and October. It's put on by an artist who thought we needed a show to do during these two slow months for crafts vendors. And she's got the right idea here... again, I'll say how well she put it together, how I like the non profit activity booths, the themes, the quality of vendors, the beauty of the addition of beer to the festival. It's all very good. But, people just don't really know about it yet. I guess. Because attendance is still pretty low and slow. I did pretty well at the spring version... but this time not as well. My neighbor didn't show, so I even had a big Mermaid clearance area (in the empty spot) which didn't really yield results. Oh well. There was music. There was beer. There was a diverse selection of art and crafts. There were some friends to visit with. IF YOU LIKE TO GO TO CRAFT FAIRS, YOU NEED TO ATTEND THIS ONE AND BUY STUFF NEXT TIME! APRIL.

Holy crap, what a fun time!! Maybe I have mentioned it before, but I LOVE going down to the Mendocino coast! It's so much like Arcata and home. The people are so cool, the area is so beautiful, the vendors are so talented. It rocks. Caspar Fest was no exception. We really lucked out with the weather, sunny and beautiful... while it poured rain at home on Sunday, I heard. A bit of wind and pretty cold at night, but overall nice nice. Now, there were a few adventures on my way down. I was running pretty late getting out of town Friday, so I thought it would be smart to book a room in Willits for the night. I couldn't set up the booth until Sat morning anyway and the van was full of stuff, which makes sleeping in it a challenge. Also, I wouldn't stress so much about getting there by dark if I wasn't driving all the way. Smart. Yep. I found a good deal online and booked it. Well, when I got there that night I found I had booked it for the following night. Smart. They said

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...

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!

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

Woo! I'm scheduling a ton of festivals this year, and I'm pretty set up through July at this point. Here's how it's looking (if you really care about exact dates and locations look here )... I have one at the end of April here locally called the Spring Fever Festival. It's very new and not yet very well attended. But, it's put together by a local art chica and it has great potential to really take off. There's also a fall version in october. Good quality crafts, non-profit booths, activities, music. So, this is my second time doing it... who knows if money will be made there. But it's my first chance to visit with some of my craft buddies and see what other festivals people are doing etc. AND it's literally right down the street. May will be interesting, no local festival really during May. So, I'll be going to Shasta for an Old Time Fiddle Jamboree. Then for memorial day weekend, heading down to Lakeport right on Clear Lake. I'm looking forw

Man, my head is spinning. Lookit all those applications! But see how organized I am? Yeah... I know. I made a map and everything. Yep, tis the season for planning out the craft festival season. It's fun! I'm trying to do as many shows as physically possible this year. It may kill me. If so, please give my mannequins to my boyfriend. I'm looking at doing all the usual local fairs... oyster fest, north country fair, 4th of july, trinidad sunday market. Also some things in oregon and mendocino. Sweet. Check out my web site if you care about exact dates and places. (Don't bug me about the crappy width of the screen ok? The html edit thing stinks.) Really, I can't think of anything else right now. Must... do ... more ... fairs...

O k, well you can all relax now. I got my confirmation in the mail yesterday... whew. Not only that, but it looks like I have a killer spot! All alone on a little island, in the middle of the show. Sweet. I did this show once before... when I was doing Wax Hand job. That is, the job where I worked in a kid's wax hand booth in college. As I recall, the quality of crafts was mixed... not too high end handcrafts, mixed with buy/sell goods. Well populated, large festival with a difficult setup. I also remember hitting some bars at night and having fun. I think it's a sort of historic section of town. Anyway... I think I'm set up to do as well as possible, which is all I can ever do. At the very least, I'll cover my expenses. Not worried about that. And I'll get some quality time with my little sis, a rare treat. Get a little visiting time with Dad, also fairly rare. AND get out of town to someplace warm where I'll be doing my thing. Good times. But first, I have app

This could be a blues song... But I hope not. Any day now the Dandelion Days - Lions Club guy is going to call me back and confirm my booth space. Yep. Pretty soon. Festival is this weekend. Ha. Anyway I'm proceeding as if it's a go. My first ever double booth. Yessss. I've got bead kits, hat kits, dye kits, lots of new jewelry... oh, and some new goodies for my booth set up. Extra baskets, better dressing room and awnings! Oh, I'm ready. And clothes . I always have lots of those. Jackson is waaay down near Stockton, so there's a bit of travel involved. I'm getting excited to leave town, now that spring is starting to spring forth. It's gonna be in the 70s! Plus, my little sister will be my sidekick for the weekend. That will rock. So... yeah... once I can get this all uh firmed up... that will be cool.

(Hey, there's my booth up in the top left corner... see that purple spot?? That's me!) Ah, the saga continues. You can see my previous posts about this on my Craft Fair Reports list over on the right there... and more recently, here . So, the other day I got a letter and email from the Same Old People, the traditional organizers of the North Country Fair. They seem more than confident about reclaiming the fair from Washington Whatshisname. So, that's good. Apparently, they both have submitted applications to the city to use the Plaza for the festival this year. No decisions yet. But, I see also that the city has adopted a new policy of only issuing permits of use to non-profits. That's pretty cool, considering the SOP have now attained that status. They had always worked like a non-profit, but never really felt the need to officially get the papers... because things just worked very well as they were. Anyway, that might be a help. Also, they have issued a letter to What

Well, I just got the first issue of my new subscription to the Craftmaster News . Wooo! It's been a few years since I subscribed, and they've really done a lot to it. This is a giant list of fairs and festivals, including all pertinent info. I mean lots of info... fees, deadlines, contacts, type of show, types of crafts, whether or not commercial items are allowed, if there's camping available, everything. Now there are lots of emails and websites too. Sweet! Used to cover mostly California and a few surrounding states... now it includes shows all the way to North Dakota and Texas! Also some articles, indexed ads for supplies and shows. Each issue used to cover 6 months, now it's almost a year. Pretty cool. I remember hunting around for a craft fair list a while back and many cost hundreds of dollars. This one, I think, is a good value. They send you an updated version every other month, and now you can get updates online and via email. All for the low low price of abou