Intentional Stones

Lovely Laurel Highlands

(Sunrise over the Laurel Highlands.  I never see this hour of the morning.  It was worth it)

These past couple of weeks I've done something entirely new.  Two shows in the Laurel Highlands during leaf peeping season.

This means a lot of driving.  I know, these places are only a little more than an hour from home, but arriving there without my family, they seem forever away.  Setting up in little towns, Bedford and Ligonier, in the chill of mid fall was something different. 

Bedford was a family effort.  Adam and I drove out and set up while the kids hung out at home with a friend.  Saturday morning, when I took this photo, I set out eerily early, long before the sun was up, and launched the jewelry shop amidst the crowds in summer-like heat!  The family joined me on Sunday to help break down.  Persephone wanted to help watch the tent and to wander the fair and to eat all the food.  And they let me go do the same.  I definitely want to go back next year.  Maybe I can participate in both weekends of the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival!

Just as I got home on Sunday, I got a text from my friend AR asking what I would be doing the next weekend.  She found us a little spot at Fort Ligonier Days!!!  I wondered if Adam would forgive me causing this craziness two weekends in a row. 

We set up inside the new bead shop started by Andrew a month ago, Allegory Gallery on the main street of Bedford, PA.  (This is my dream shop, Andrew Thornton has beautiful beads and artwork in the front and Laura of Second Chance Books has used books and childrens books in the back)

It was kind of quiet for the type of weekend we'd been expecting, but the weather was lovely on Sunday and we set up outside.  I made a big point of trying to get people into the shop.  And we loved the people of Ligoiner and the costumes of the festival!  I also got to spend more time with Maria of Lost Marbles.  (funny, her marbles don't seem so lost!  or maybe it's in comparison with me) 

Anyway, it was lovely to meet so many people and have so much fun.  Now it's time to get ready for the holidays.  And it was great and very very positive to have these experiences now.

-Simbelmynë

Bee in my Bonnet

Just a quick post before I go set up for the weekend's show in Bedford!!!!

My goal is art markets.  Good ones.  I imagine myself spending weekends in downtowns enjoying crowds of people.  Last year I started trying to apply to a couple and found myself at an impasse.  The application had a much larger requirement for the tent than I was prepared to meet.  Your tent requires coverings for the walls and to hang things from.  You need a carpet under customer's feet!

These didn't seem like good reasons to not be eligeable for an art fair.  So I began thinking about how to create these things for my tent.  But I've put it off.  Fabric is lovely, but expensive.  structures for hanging art are complicated and hard to carry in my little car!  A rug isn't a big deal.  Costco sells them and so do many of the other box stores.  But those walls!

I've been hunting for inexpensive fabric, ways to attach a support structure and lower cost materials for that.  Because I need money left over from the jewelry I've sold to buy metal and gemstones!!!!!

This summer's Heritage Markets have been awesome, not only because of the wonderful people I've met and supporting a great cause, but because I earned enough to get this dream off the ground!

This week, the first of National Craft Making Month, I've focussed entirely on getting my tent ready.  The carpet will have to wait a little tiny bit longer, but I've found a few very likely candidates, all I need is a little more money.  But I was in Big Lots and found very inexpensive curtains.  Far less than any of the raw materials I've looked at.  Curtain rods that are light and collapsable, and some little lit branches to make my trees sparkle.  (Focus, Woman!)  And at the local resued materials shop I found the webbing for making slat-style blinds at an incredible price.  A trip to Home Depot for dowels and and picture hooks I have everything I need!

Goodness it's good that I have family members who sew!  I've relied on them for a lot of help.  They made it look easy.

(pictures tomorrow, I'll take some tonight once we're done setting up the tent for the weekend)

They're not perfect.  One of my display solutions isn't working yet.  But the major problems are solved. 

Now I can focus on art without the nagging thought that I can't find a market for it because of the dumb walls.  Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy.

-Simbelmynë