Tucson Bound!

I have been so lax on updating my web presence. I was working madly on Christmas presents, then when it seemed like I could breathe easy, I got a phone call just a couple of days before Christmas inviting me to be a vendor at the "To Bead True Blue" show in Tucson... in February! Soooo, I've been holed up in my shop on my days off working like mad, crazy woman I am to get enough inventory put together. (I still can't believe I said yes with 4 weeks to get ready... argh!)

So, I used my saved up money for a big girl kiln to pay my booth fees and to buy a small kiln that would go to high enough temps to fire porcelain. My other small kiln has been firing glass every day and the new one has been working overtime firing porcelain.


So, here's a couple of sample pics of what I'm taking with me. I really hope to find some new customers and maybe take orders to help make up the gap in what I don't get finished in another six days! If you will be in Tucson, I'll be at the Manning House booth #SG175J from Feb 5 to the 10th!

Somewhere over the Rainbow

I'm continuing my summer of shows and working for the state.

The main thing I'm doing at the state job is "fixing" criminal histories. When an offense "disposition" is submitted by an agency in the state, if for some reason it can't match up to a specific person, it goes into a "suspense" file. I go through the suspense file and try to match it with a specific person. All I can say is, looking at some of these criminal histories is quite frightening! I happened to notice one individual who has over 140 different arrests! Geeesh! I wonder if all of those polititians who are soft on crime have any idea what really goes on out there?? The computer I'm working on is in the office where an "Amber Alert" gets broadcast, and I've been hoping I'd get to see it in action. (Not that I would wish that on any child, however!) They did issue one yesterday, but it didn't happen the way it was supposed to. However the word did get out and the child was recovered today, thank heavens! Pretty cool thing to watch in action anyway!

At one of my shows this month, up in the mountains, there was an incredible rainbow. I couldn't get the whole rainbow in one shot, it was too close! It looked cool, anyway. This particular show is at the top of the resort part of a ski resort. The farmer's market I posted about last month is at the bottom parking lot of the same ski resort. For being so close together they couldn't be more different crowds! I'm getting much more tourist traffic at the farmer's market. The people coming for the free concerts at the top of the ski resort seem to come for that reason; they're free! So, even though there are tons of people there, hardly any are buying. I'm dropping out of the last two weeks of this one. The organization seems to be a bit "off" too. They've had two major bicycle competitions that have interfered with us setting up in time (the finish line for one was exactly where my booth was supposed to be!) So... interesting lesson. It's not just the location of the show, but what kind of crowd will it bring?

At the farmer's market, wind is a problem. The parking lot it's held in is on kind of a plateau, and we get hit hard. I have 200 lbs of weight on my tent and I still have problems! I have a wooden earring display (on a turntable) and it's not that light weight, but it got blown right off my table and broke into about 3 pieces! It had been scuffed and looked a little worse for wear anyway, so after I rebuilt it, I decided to try my hand at mosaic. This pic is how the top turned out. At least all that glass should add a little more weight!

I was looking through some of my prior posts and noticed I hadn't posted pictures of my glass beads. So here are a couple of pics. I think I've now posted at least one picture of every medium I work in. I wish a plentiful summer/fall season for all who stumble upon this strange page. :)

The Long Hot Summer

I'm just trying to keep my head above water this summer, although that is a VERY non literal comment! Apparently the west has decided that this summer will be hot and dry! If I had power over the weather (huh!) I would make sure that some of that rain ya'll are getting Texas would just fling its way up here. There have been so many fires and temeratures over 100 degrees. I'm wilting just writing about it. And on top of that... I'm supposed to sit at a 1200 degree torch and/or light up a 1500-2000 degree kiln! Yep, let me get right on that!

I sold at the Payson Scottish Festival and thought it would be fun to include these pictures for those of you who have no clue what a "caber" toss is. This is where guys with more brawn than brain (just kidding!) try to flip a telephone pole end over end! The poles at this event were 16 feet long, 85 lbs and 19'3" long and 125 lbs. Yeah, it is as tough as it looks but it's one of my favorite sporting events at the games.

I've also been selling at a farmer's market in Park City, close to the area where they had part of the 2002 Winter Olympics. It's a beautiful area and I feel like I am able to find my target market there! Can you say tourists? I've included two pictures here, one was taken my first day at the market, the next was taken a couple of weeks later. There is so much smoke in the air in the second picture from all the fires in the state! Cough, cough!

That is NOT an overcast sky, folks! In between all these "fun" events, I'm trying to work part time at my husband's office for the state, it's temporary until the end of September, but I'm hoping to keep enough of the money for a bigger kiln! My poor table top baby is so tired now! So I hope everyone's summer is passing in a style they would like; mine's not too bad considering there is no vacation for me! Ah well!

The Northern Utah Scottish Festival

This last weekend I took my new stuff to a show I've done for 8 years now. I love the Northern Utah Scottish Festival, and always manage to have a good time. "Wicked Tinkers" from California usually come to the festival, and besides incredible music they always make me laugh. These pics are after a hard days work for the "Tinkers" ; Aaron and Jay are still in a good mood, but what in the world did they do to make Warren mad? For some reason, Keith decided to go for a "joy ride"... wonder if they've caught up with him yet?? (If you want a link to the "Tinkers" see the "about us" page on my web site!)

I'm not quite sure how the new stuff was received. I did sell a few of my new Celtic knot glass pendants and a couple of the ceramic pots (pictured in a previous post), but I know for sure I need to get my sterling silver rings into production fast! I had a lot of people ask for them, and I could tell I needed them by the ending dollar total! I did sell enough of my own stuff to not feel like a total reject! Here are a couple of new things I've been working on: glass windchimes! I didn't sell any of these, but am getting some nice comments on them!

One of the nice parts of the festival are the opening and closing ceremonies they have. All the pipe bands that are there to perform or compete march together onto the field (known as the massed bands) and usually play "Scotland the Brave". Always gives me goosebumps to see them all together like that. My hubby looks pretty good in a kilt, and they took our picture in our booth to use for promotional pictures for next year's brochure. That could be interesting! This festival is two days worth of good music, good food, good family history info (by way of the clan booths and also the LDS Genealogical services), lots of hard work, good people and fun! It's usually my best show, and something I look forward to every year.

I'm working on a new sign for the business, a mosaic of cut glass and ceramic of the business name. I'll post a pic when I get it finished. I'm just hoping it comes out as good as it looks in my mind right now! :)