Brooklyn report

We had 2 beautiful market days. It was hot, sunny and there was a little breeze. Well actually, there were a few BIG breezes which were a tiny bit too exciting but my tent weights kept me safe. I was happily situated next to several friends which is so helpful when you need to borrow some little thing.

Here is the first day set-up.

This was the fantastic view out the back of my tent in the morning as we were setting up.

This is a few hours later- the grass was covered with sunbathing bodies.

Then on Sunday, I rearranged the dolls on the panels. I always think it might make a difference but really, it never does.

And packing up at the end of Sunday- the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

We drove home yesterday (Tuesday) after having some recreational NYC time. We had a great time away from home. Brooklyn is such a fun place to hang out for a few days. I loved meeting blog readers (you know who you are and Hello again!), people who were seeing my work for the first time, and all kinds of enthusiastic Market goers. Today, I am back to work. I’ve got a lot of computer stuff to do- emails, etsy (I’ll be listing some of those dolls I finished up during the weeks leading up to the Market), blog stuff… all that not-studio work. My next big event is San Francisco Renegade, July 21 and 22.

 

 

Renegade Brooklyn 2011

This post is hard to write because there is just so much I want to say- so I will split it into 2 posts- Renegade and the rest of the NY trip.

Brooklyn is fantastic- I love being there! There is so much energy, the venue is wonderful people watching, the other vendors are as nice as can be and the visitors to my booth make me feel like a crafty celebrity! People in Brooklyn “get” my work.

Here is the tent, just set up on Saturday morning. To be honest, Saturday was a bit of a bummer. It rained and was cold and many of the visitors seemed to be speed looking. I gave away a ton of business cards so I hope that some come back to my Etsy shop. At the end of the day, we had a carload of damp.

Sunday was a lot better- mostly  warmer and drier. On the second day, I always seem to put out a lot more items- like it is their last chance!

In the end, I didn’t sell as much as I’d have liked, but it is now all in my Etsy shop if you’d like to check it out. Because things were slower then last year, I had a chance to walk around and see the other booths, see some crafty friends and former show neighbors and talk to lots of people.

I had wonderful booth neighbors- Elena Stonaker who came all the way from Colorado for her first ever show- wow!

And Hero Design Studio on the other side (sorry, no pic). I’ll be hanging this up in my studio.

I got to meet Argyle Whale who I only knew through Twitter before. And Ashley who I always enjoy seeing at the various shows. She wrote up a super nice review of Renegade Brooklyn here.

Some of my Boston Crafty Biz meet-up friends were there- Eling, Jen and Laura. I like Laura’s top ten post here.

I got to have some seriously fun plush biz talk with two monster makers- Phil Barbato and later, Joshua Ben Longo. And, I rode the elevator at the hotel with Jordan Elise! I came home with a stack of business cards of shops I want to explore, once my brain has unfogged. I have uncovered one so far- Tidiworld. I am very interested in her approach to dollmaking and love her fabric designs.

BurdaStyle and Spoonflower had tables set up. I was able to get myself a set of fabric samples from Spoonflower- maybe that will inspire me to try some more experimentation!

And seriously, is everyone from Minnesota incredibly nice? The people from Worker B are super- we chatted throughout the 2 days. And I came home with one of these treatment sticks- probably as close to make-up as I ever get- I love it!

I will post about the other things we did in NY soon. Right now I am recovering. I am so exhausted. I am planning to take it easy this summer and hopefully work on some projects that have been put off for too long. So, who knows what will be showing up on the blog this summer!

Renegade report

Brooklyn was amazing!

I’ve collected some links to other Renegade reports- the ones that mention me… yeah, because that is why I found them!

The baby stuff at coos and ahhs, a great post including a link to the fantastic marching band, here at 13th Street Studio, and my wonderful booth neighbors- Skylark Studio, Melanie Linder Design, and chez sucre chez who has also posted an excellent report. Thanks for making it such a fun neighborhood!

I saw BoBo Babushka, but missed so many fantastic people who were also exhibiting. Mostly I stayed very busy in my booth the whole 2 days. My husband ran to the local market for water and iced coffee to keep us hydrated. It was very hot both days and some crazy exciting weather on Sunday, but we survived and had a wonderful time.

I met so many nice people who came to my booth- blog readers (THANK YOU!!!), so many people from Etsy, old friends, friends of friends,and new friends. The lovely Floresita of Feeling Stitchy came by. I was so very happy to meet her. I’ve admired the fantastic job she does, keeping us fed on interesting/unusual/contempory embroidery. Richard Saja introduced himself to me, saying- We have been mentioned in the same articles. Wow- he is way more Art then me- His work is awesome.

A few funny things I remember-

toddler points at tattoo man doll and says- look! Somebody made Daddy!

Lady say- these are too expensive. I say- they are not too expensive. You just don’t want to pay that much.

Man says to me as he is walking out of the booth- Excellent business model! ( I think my mouth probably dropped in surprise)

And, there was a FREE photo booth.

Now, time to get back to the studio!