Red River Revel

My biggest show  this year was the Red River Revel.  I did the second half so I was there October 7-10.  My sales were slightly down from previous years, which I attribute to the weather.  I always enjoy this show and the volunteers who take care of us are terrific. 



Here's some views to either side of my booth.



Wednesday wasn't so bad, but there weren't many shoppers.  Thursday was really, really hot.  Friday it rained, at times severely, and it was cold. 




Almost no shoppers, although as you can see above, there were some. Did I mention the hours were 10 to 10?  Saturday it was cold and misted all day but the shoppers were plentiful.  Saturday made my show.  For several hours I was so busy that I didn't even have time to eat lunch, even though the volunteers brought me one.  I told Ralph that next year he has to come help me on Saturday.  My booth was packed.

Here's some booth views taken when the booth wasn't packed.



My new banner is visible on the back wall.



The earring display going up the wall is new.  More on the cards later.

I had some great neighbors this year.  Randal Sprangler from Kansas City, Mo. was right beside me (he's seated in the chair above).  He has wonderful whimsical paintings.

Behind me were Frankie Buckley and her husband Tom. I especially liked her cats.  Next to Frankie on the fourth corner was Gloria Shanahan.

The stilt walkers were a treat this year.  I tried, but couldn't get good pictures.  Maybe I should say stilt puppeteers, since they  were basically wearing a puppet.







You can click on any of the photos and see them in more detail on Flickr.

The venue is right next to the train tracks. 






Shreveport is a colorful place to visit, for several reasons.  Here are a couple:





These are some new earrings designs I had at the show:



Some new Art Clay earrings:



I dropped Stefan off with my parents for a visit while I was at the Revel.  I spent Sunday night with them and visited for a while and we came home Monday. 

Monday night Stefan came down with the swine flu, then I got it.  Ralph didn't catch it for about three days which was good, because for a couple of days before he got sick I sure didn't feel like taking care of anyone else. At least there was always someone well enough to take care of everyone else.  By the time they get the flu vaccine ready no one around here is going to need it because they'll already have had the swine flu.

Luckily my parents didn't get sick. 

Designing Dilemma

I haven't posted much because I'm getting ready to go to my biggest show of the year, Red River Revel in Shreveport. It started Saturday, but I'm doing the second half so I will arrive on Tuesday and be in the booth selling (hopefully) Wednesday through Saturday, then drive home Sunday. It is a great show, lots of fun, great volunteers helping in the booths, but very exhausting because of the long hours. A few days ago rain was predicted for the entire time I'm going to be there, but now it's just looking like it will be raining during setup and take down. Take down is Saturday, which is usually my best selling day. DRAT. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will be better than that. Please, please, please.

Also, I seem to be in the process of completely changing my jewelry style. The consequences of this is that right now almost nothing I do satisfies me. I feel rather like my brain is exploding with ideas. I have several pieces which I need to finish for this show that aren't finished yet. I keep harrying off on experimental projects which really need more work before I'm ready to sell them. I don't have nearly the amount of jewelry done that I usually have before a show.















Speaking of experimental projects here is a bangle bracelet that I've been working on. I bought soft copper 1/4 inch tubing at Lowe's. I was going to make copper beads. I went to Home Depot for a tube cutter and found a cool thingie to bend the copper tubing with. I'll post more on it the tool thingie later. The beads went right out of my head and I started playing with the tube bender. The bending worked pretty well, although I did learn a thing or two that will help me next time. This bracelet is the result. It's not finished yet. I am going to wrap wire around the ends of the copper tube, and rotate the copper wire leaf a quarter turn. Then I'll antique the silver and brush the copper to shine it up. Or maybe I'll just antique all of it with liver of sulfur.














One of the things I like about it is it fits on my forearm and stays there comfortably.



















For way too long now I have been in the process of moving all my jewelry stuff from everywhere in the house to one room. Of course, I'm also still trying to get rid of the stuff in that one room so progress is slow. In the mean time, I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING. I'm stuck in that stage of organization where everything is completely disorganized.

Enough complaining! I'm going to go work on some jewelry.

Back from Revel

Actually, I got back last Sunday, but I just now feel like I am recovering. It was a good show, but very tiring. Every day was 12 to 15 hours. It was probably a good thing I was an alternate for the first half and didn't get called since just doing the second half was so tiring.

The Red River Revel volunteers took really good care of us and the food was great. One unusual thing was the train track that ran literally through the site. It was about twenty feet from the front of my booth. Here is a picture of one of the three trains that went through during the four days I was there:

One of the volunteers told me that they had rerouted most trains for the event. During previous years they had had to station police officers on either side of the track to keep pedestrians back when the train crossed. Gee, you'd think people would stay back from a huge train. However, this is a pedestrian plaza and many people thought the track was no longer in use. I did, until a train came down it. There is NO barrier here at this track. I was astounded to see several parents holding small children by the hand standing three feet from one of the trains that came through. NUTS!

Here is a picture looking across the track, without a train on it. You can see the trestle bridge for the other train tracks that border the site. There is a fence separating them from the site though. There was a lot of traffic on those tracks.

There are also a couple of Native Americans women in this shot. I wish I had a better picture of their dress because it was impressive. There's a belly dancer behind the red balloon also.

I wanted to get a picture of the crowds shopping, but the vendor tents were arrayed in a big U and I was at the top of the U without a good site line down any row. It was a good location though, better than last year. Of course, when it was really crowded I didn't have time to get out of the booth and take pictures.

I sold some of my new designs at this show, so now I'll make some more. I sold all the crocheted bracelets I had and a number of the CZ wire wrapped earrings.

All of this takes place in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Revel site is downtown about a block from the casinos and the river.