Tuesday, May 6, 2014

The rain passed us by

The toy corner, with my new "flat cat" pillow animals
As always, Go West was a really fun day.

Considering how much rain we got all week, including the day before, that 20% chance in the forecast had me worried, especially since I was being thrifty (or cheap) and got a smaller-than-tent-size space for the day.  Though after the deluge I went through last summer, even having a tent doesn't save you from the rain if there's any wind at all.

But the craft gods smiled, the weather was gorgeous, the trees were in bloom and the crowds were abundant.  The photos below were taken early in the day, while we were setting up, before all the vendors (or the crowds) were there.  There were over 100 vendors at the show, so set-up started at 8:30 and went all the way until 10:30, though I still saw some people dragging their things in after the official 11:00 start time.  Tsk, tsk.

Still early.  Don't you love the huge old trees?
I often wish at the end of a show that one thing or another would be overwhelmingly popular, so I could narrow my focus a bit, but it never happens.  And truthfully, I'm not sure I want it to -- right now, I have to be narrow and make up specific things for this Saturday's show, which has really limited space, and all I want to sew is everything BUT the things I have to make.

Which are, of course, freaking elephants.  Somehow, customers must sense how much of a pain it is to turn those little woolly trunks right side out and then stuff them.

The totals for Saturday:  3 dresses, 4 elephants, 2 giraffes, 1 teddy bear, 3 of the new flat pillow animals, a set of potholders, one fringed t-shirt scarf and a load of the felt flower hair clips that I keep in a basket to catch the eye of small children.  Except it's usually adult women who buy them.  Go figure.

The neighborhood's favorite jogging track . . .
right in front of my table.
I was thrilled to have sold the dresses -- especially the new yellow and white one with the daisies -- but I have something coming up soon which will require me to have a stock of dresses on hand, so logic says that people are going to want to buy them now.

We loaded in at 9:30 a.m. and I got home again at around 6:00.  There was a brief moment of yearning for wine and a horizontal surface, but then I asked Mario if those orange signs down the street meant that the thrift store was having a half price day.  They were, he said.

Before the words were out of his mouth, I'd grabbed a $20 from my profits and dashed off down the street in search of new materials.  (Not that I don't have enough to clothe an army, but half price day . . . well, some things can't be resisted).  I came home with 10 new pieces, having spent a total of $18.53.  Those pieces are now washed and well on their way to becoming something else.

This coming Saturday, a pre-Mother's Day show at Tattooed Mom at 530 South Street from 1 until 6.  Crafting and cocktails, it's a win/win.

2 comments:

Vicki said...

Sounds like a pretty successful day. The weather makes such a big difference. My niece makes candles and she was selling them last weekend at a mothers day market but alas it was cold and it rained. Everyone stayed at home :(

Anonymous said...

People collect certain animals - elephants, cows, turtles, pigs. You may be tapping into the collector's market (as they say on Antique's Roadshow) rather than just the baby toy market.