After 3 straight days of craft shows, I was very happy to have a lazy day. Thursday and Friday were spent at West Chester University, participating in the Handmade Arcade as part of a conference. It was a small but select group of vendors and I met some really nice people. I got some holiday shopping of my own done, thanks to my fellow vendors and made some good trades. Got some really great gifts from my neighbors at Rogue Theory, who make fun fabric items – clutches and pouches, as well as the very practical reusable coffee cozzee.

Rogue Theory & dawn boyer jewelry at WCU Handmade Arcade

I also made friends with Good Bling Jewelry, full of fun necklaces and earrings and A Natural Approach, maker of wonderful soaps and skincare items.

Good Bling Jewelry

A Natural Approach

Saturday’s show was the Christmas Marketplace at Wayne Presbyterian Church. I had a nice spot with lots of sunshine coming through all the windows. Again I had a nice neighbor, Chester County Soaps and I enjoyed the fresh scent of her soaps all day. Sales weren’t as good as last year’s show, but I did have a couple of good sales and once again got some trading done ( lots of presents for the holidays!).

I don’t have any shows for the next couple of weeks, so I will be spending some time getting new items into the etsy shop. I have some new bridal designs and bracelets as well as lots of earrings, so check back to see what’s been added.

book light for display

I’ve been trying to figure out a lighting scenario for my show Thursday at West Chester University. It’s indoors in the ballroom at the Sykes Student Union, so I know the room will be lit, but I don’t have a lot of experience with indoor shows. I know the importance of lighting especially indoors, but since the vast majority of my shows were outdoors, I never really worried about it until now.

I’ve looked online at so many different types of lights, and also have the concern of perhaps not being near an electrical outlet, that I was ready to give up and hope for the best. However, while at Barnes and Noble today, I was looking at the reading accessories and saw the little clip-on reading lamps – and a lightbulb (pun intended) went off. The lights are super-small, come with an attached clip and run on AAA batteries – what could be better? I bought one to try and I think it will do the trick, at least until I can find something that really will do the job. The light clips on to my wrought iron earring display, and the light is very flexible so I can play with moving the lamp to best light the display.

I’ll let you know how it works…

I’ve been trying for the past hour (without any success!) to put a Facebook Fan Badge on the sidebar, so I’m going to do it this way for now: here is the link to my Facebook Page – be sure to take a look and become a fan.

I’ve been working quite a bit for the last 2 days, making up some new pieces for the upcoming shows. After pricing everything tonight, the number of new pieces: 3 necklaces and 7 pairs of earrings. I also have a few pieces left unfinished, because they weren’t working out as hoped and one I got tired of wrapping tiny rondelles (I left off at 1 dozen/each earring. I’m still trying to figure out a few pieces that are “holiday” in theme – I don’t work well in themes but I’m going to try. I still need to make some lower priced earrings and some bracelets (even though they don’t always sell so well).

I was able to take a break tonight by going out to dinner with friends. We went to an English pub called The Whip Tavern, which is located outside of Coatesville, kind of in the middle of nowhere. It turned out to be a great place – it looks like an old schoolhouse, but inside was a big fireplace with a cozy corner sitting area, several small tables around the bar and a dining area in the back. The bar had an excellent selection of beers, foreign and domestic, and spicy peanuts. It’s a pretty traditional pub menu: bangers & mash, shepherd’s pie, fish & chips, but also some really nice specials: pork chops in a Strongbow glaze, ahi tuna steaks, curry with basmati rice. A couple of my friends are brits born and bred, and David says that this is the closest to an English pub outside of England. We were so full after a starter of baked brie in phyllo with an apple and cranberry compote and shepherd’s pie, that there was no room for dessert. I highly recommend The Whip Tavern and can’t wait to go back when the weather’s nice to sit outside on the back deck!

I’ve been searching the Internet for years – craigslist.org, Google, jewelry business sites, as well as print resources and word of mouth, looking for retail opportunities. I even created an artist’s bio to send to prospective retailers, with the extensive input of my friend Judy, of Juma Jewelry (with her extensive retail experience) and my sister Gina, who is a great writer and editor. I had everything in place, except the courage to send out all this information about my work.

Since I’ve had time on my hands the last few weeks, I decided that now is the time to finally start contacting shops. I sent out 2 prospectuses today, and applied for 2 holiday shows.  I also spent some time today at AC Moore and Jo-Ann Fabrics, working on a holiday theme for my show set-up. I found a pretty holiday paper at AC Moore in blue, silver, gray and white – basically the colors I use anyway, so I’m keeping it simple and using touches of shiny silver for holiday displays.

holiday paper

I also found a pretty silver basket for holding marked down jewelry and luckily I already have some silver shimmery ribbon for draping.

I will be able to use these at my upcoming shows:

Thursday & Friday, November 5-6, Pennsylvania SSHE Women’s Consortium, West Chester University Sykes Ballroom

Saturday, November 7,  Wayne Presbyterian Church Christmas Marketplace Wayne, PA

Stay tuned for further updates about the retail experience!

I’ve gotten a few things done the past few days – since my show last weekend was rained out, I stayed at home and got some new pieces made. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad I wasnt, able to photograph anything until today (you can see the new pieces on flickr).  I also have some design ideas rumbling around in the back of my head – I may need to do some research this weekend at Intergem ( I received a bunch of free passes!). I’m also looking for one or two more holiday shows, since I have some free time on my hands, so I need to come up with some holiday designs. It’s hard for me to think of designs and using specific colors, but I have some pretty green onyx beads I bought last year and lots of pearls.

a couple of the new designs!

Since I now have some time on my hands and I was actually at home today, I thought that I should get around to stocking my etsy shop, since the website is now up and running. I posted some earrings to the shop (finally got some bridal pieces online) and wrote up and sorted forthcoming designs. I also tidied up my workspace a little and did a custom order and started a project to refresh a pair of earrings for a friend.

I also have some designs in my head, so I may sit back down at the workspace – my best designing happens late at night!

Participated in a new show yesterday – Homegrown: Manayunk’s Fall Festival. It was quite a day, I arrived in Manayunk at 7:14 am, thinking we had to been in by 7:30, and discovered I was the first vendor there – they were still towing cars off of Grape Street so that vendors could set up. Got everything set up and met my neighbors and then the rain started.    

Grape St. after the rain

t-shirt and scarf by Trish Siembora

 

 

 

 

My next show is the Fall Festival & Craft Show in Haddonfield, NJ, on Saturday, October 17th – see you there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing really exciting today. Spent some time on Facebook and email, making the announcement about the website launch. I also updated my shop announcement on etsy, so now I have to start posting new items to the shop. I also have to repack my vendor supplies for Saturday’s show in Manayunk.

If you’re in the Philly area on Saturday, this is a new show  – Homegrown: Manayunk’s Fall Festival –  ”The festival is a family-oriented, day-long party along Main Street, including sidewalk sales at which “homegrown” merchants will display their locally-produced items, organic foods, prepared dishes (featuring locally-grown ingredients), and environment-friendly “green” and recycled products.”  There will be music performances all day, as well as vendors, the great shops along Main Street, and of course the Farmer’s Market.

Manayunk's Fall Festival

Once again, I let some time pass – actually almost the entire summer! To make it short and sweet, I did some craft shows, bought beads at Bead Fest and Intergem, found someone to work on my website design and re-organized my workspace.

beads from Bead Fest

The website was designed by Tiffany of  by Masselyn. She did a wonderful job of taking my rough idea and making it look just as I imagined – elegant and unfussy. She took my existing logo and blended everything into a smooth, seamless website, so please visit and look at other work she’s created. Tiffany is a fellow shop owner on etsy, so check out her website when you need graphic design work.

Next up: I will be showing my jewelry at a new show: Homegrown: Manayunk’s Fall Festival. It is an outdoor show in downtown Manayunk and the Bacon Brothers will be there, as well as all kinds of locally made and eco-friendly products. The date is this Saturday, the 10th, from 11-5. Hope to see you there!