Saturday, April 10, 2010

Successful First Day

I don't have any pictures because it's important that participants in the faire maintain the renaissance facade. Phones and cameras just don't have that 1500's kind of look. Tomorrow I'll snap a few shots before the gates open to the public.

It was an amazing day. I think I did a pretty good job of jumping into the role that's required. The sales numbers were right in line with expectations.

More important than that, though, is the fact that I *like* it. This has been a background concern since Annie and I began discussions around having me work toward taking over the booth. I've been acquiring materials, weaving cloth and developing merchandise for this first show as a step in the direction of becoming a ren faire crafter. But there was no way to be sure that I'd like it until I tried.

This day was a blast! I saw all kinds of beautiful people and got to meet quite a number of them. The booth is about 95% full of cloth that I wove. It is such a joy to show people my work and show them how it's done. (We have a demonstration loom set up.) And people love it! I am very proud of the craftsmanship I've learned in the last year. Sharing it with people who appreciate it just happens to be most of what's required to do well at selling it. I saw many people wearing items from past years with an obvious pleasure and pride in them.

People are giving me great feedback on my bags, too.
#1: They want a closure - a button or a toggle.
#2: They would like a "messenger bag" style with a big flap.
#3: I need to speed up production to make them cheaper.

Tomorrow's another day at the faire, this week sees me weaving with just a little time for prototyping before next weekend. The following week, though, I'll have 4 days of customer feedback to utilize for the next full round of prototyping and production.

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