Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Miraculous Timing

Speeding up production to catch the show season is trickier than I had realized. It still takes time to get yarn in the mail, and I need to know what I'll want well in advance of warping.

If you've been following my blog, you saw that I did not plan far enough ahead for the green warp, so I had to make do with whatever yarn I had in stock. I also placed an order for more green on the day I realized this so I'd have enough weft.

While I was placing the order, I asked if they had any green "floor sweepings", odd cones in quantities too small to send out samples. And, sure enough, there were some.

So, I was waiting for that shipment, which includes all the yarn I'll need for the next batch, too. (See? I'm learning!) I was hoping that it would arrive in time to sample the new green before beginning earnest production.

And it worked, with about 10 minutes to spare!

I had been tracking the shipment with Fedex and saw that the boxes got separated. One of the seven boxes was on a truck for delivery as I sleyed and wound bobbins for the sample blanket. The probability was 1/7 or 14% that this box contained the new green, but I was hopeful.

Weaving time had arrived. I checked Fedex, "out for delivery." I photographed the sample bobbins, resolved that I wouldn't have a new green. I checked Fedex, "delivered!"

Zoom! I jumped in my van and drove across the street to pick up the box. (That's a topic for another post...) I cut it open and there was the new bright green.

I quickly wound up a sample bobbin with this green mixed with the old dark green. The results are fantastic! This might even be the green cloth that I claim for myself.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Still cramming!

I leave for the next show on Thursday. The green warp isn't tied on, but I expect to take a batch of garments to the show. Here's how:

Monday: finish tying, maybe some sleying
Tuesday: finish sleying, weave sample, start shawls, remove & wet finish the sample
Wednesday: finish weaving shawls, remove & wet finish them.
Thursday: while I pack the van, Wispr separates the shawls. And off we go with brand new shawls in the inventory.

And then, by next week's show we'll have at least 8 ruanas, and maybe a batch of scarves.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

New Website Feature: Events Calendar


In order to help the collective organize our efforts to find shows on our free weekends, I set up some web calendars for shows that we're researching, shows that we've applied to, and shows that we've committed to.

And then I realized that the committed shows might be of interest to my blog readers and website visitors who want to come and experience the cloth in person.

So I created a new feature on the website: a calendar of events. This shows you where we'll be and when so you can come on out and see us in some beautiful towns and fun events.



Friday, August 26, 2011

Green Is Almost There!

I'm trying to get the green warp on the loom in time for the first set of back-to-back shows in September while applying for the next set of back-to-back shows in October and trying to find one more show in November and any shows in December.

As usual, I was afraid that the green warp wasn't going to meet my ridiculous standards for quality because I didn't have enough shades of green yarn. And, right on schedule, I LOVE the result. I'm starting to realize that what I don't like is the lack of control in having to make do with whatever yarn I have on hand. In the end, though, my lifetime of study in color and the vagaries of the human visual system always sees me through.

Whip crack! Back to work! Enough dilly-dallying on the computer! (My boss is so demanding.)


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Crispy, Fried Brains

Winding takes an awful lot of brain power, especially the way I'm doing it.

I don't really have a "design" laid out. I set up my palette on a shelf and then wind one section at a time. (See the last post for a photo.) At the end of each mirrored pair of sections, I remove some cones of the color I'm transitioning away from and add some of the color I'm transitioning toward.

This is not so tough on its own, but it's not on its own. I'm also flipping each section for a "bookmatching" effect and tracking another pattern created by supplemental threads. I have only black, two shades of green and two shades of brown for this beam, so these supplemental threads are bearing the brunt of the responsibility to create visual interest.

Along with the design is the very real need for yarn quantity management. With the supplemental threads especially, quantities are limited. I'm trying to get the most bang for the yard from them.

Simultaneously, I'm trying to keep someone busy plying the combinations that I'll need in the coming sections so there's no down time in winding the beam. But I don't want to have too many spare cones wound after the beam is done. Sure, I can use them in weft, but it's easier and more efficient to wind weft from the big cones.

So, all these things are running in my head at once and by the end of the day I'm ready to collapse into bed. It's more tiring than a day of pure physical labor.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Green

With nine days to go before the first of three back-to-back show weekends, time is tight to get a little green cloth done. But it's coming together.

I'm more pleased with the result than I thought I would be. With only Varsity Green and Teal as my shades, it's pretty blue. But then, when I look at the hills that are the color inspiration for this beam, so are they. With the fir trees and the haze, the landscape is really quite blue on some days. I wasn't so sure, but it looks like I'm going to be happy with the results of this beam, too. Whew!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Whoa, Nature!

Yesterday was a complete day off. It was a fantastic break from the routine of scrabbling to survive as an independent artist in a flailing economy. It wasn't enough. I want one of those every week or two, especially while the weather is so fantastic. Now that there are more of us to do the work, that just might be possible.

Here's what I consider to be pure heaven for a day...

First, we went to the top of Mt. Sexton looking for a plant that the native people used for food. They moved it here from the other side of the cascades and propagated it throughout the areas where they travelled every year. They didn't form permanent settlements, till the soil and plant monocrops, so it's hard to recognize that they engaged in agriculture. But they did, and they depended on sensitivity to the natural world for their food plants to thrive. There was a time that the valleys were so full of these blue flowers that the first explorers to see them thought that they were inland seas.

Nowadays, they're not nearly so prolific. That's why a growing number of us who want to see a more nature-based lifestyle are spreading the seeds again. People who don't know what to look for would never even notice that we're doing it. It's just one more wildflower among the rest. But it means a lot to those of us who eat from the forest already and want to do even more of it and see "harmony with nature" become a way of life again.

Next on our relaxing agenda was a trip to the local watering hole. This is a sacred place where the water has carved into the serpentine bedrock over many more years than there have been people to see it. The result is a series of basin and pools that pour from one into the next through a series of tiny waterfalls. They culminate in one large, very cold pool.

I stayed in the water so long that my core temperature dropped and I had to lay in the sun to warm back up. I've always just paid a quick visit and went back to work. It was (as usual for me) an extreme way to enjoy the place, but I loved it.

This spot is really only known to the locals here. It's far from the highway, off the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, and then a sometimes treacherous hike down through a forest and cliffs with rattlesnakes and poison oak. This place, and others like it, is one of the reasons that I'm so attached to this strange little rural community. The wilderness here is amazing.

And finally, after a relaxing day off I meandered down the driveway to eat my fill of blackberries. Harlan and Arcana reminded me that you can do that. I haven't eaten them that way since I was a kid, supposed to be picking them for the family. As an adult, I always bring a bucket and collect them to share with others, as a jam, a syrup for pancakes, or a sauce for ice cream. I guess that childhood training really stuck! It was an eye-opening experience that I could just walk down and eat all of the berries that I collected.

Instant gratification? Selfish endeavor? Not my natural way of thinking, but really fun once in a while. Especially when my friends have banded together to grant me a day off.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Day Off

It's funny. I'm so excited for my day off that I woke up early. I honestly don't remember my last real day off.

I just wanted to let people know that correspondence will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm walking away from the network and heading out to dig camas and pick blackberries.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Poof, A Collective!

Wispr and I have been holding down the fort while the rest of the collective did their various things this summer. We're starting to collect together now and it's an exciting time.

Wispr has been sewing while I weave, mostly because some tension issues on the beam have meant that it required lots of fiddling to achieve a decent result. I didn't think it was a very nice thing to ask of a beginner - to fiddle and futz and still have cloth that needs repairs when it comes off the loom. That has settled down, though, and Wispr has been weaving away since last weekend.

Harlan and Arcana returned from teaching and learning at a primitive skills camp just two days ago.

After readjusting to life outside of the forest and figuring out how to plug into the weaving business, they're both jumping into the production.

It's incredible timing for them to have done this. I have just found out that my Autumn show season is all squished into the first three weeks of September. That means there's no leeway to get the next batch of cloth done in time for the shows. It's going to be really tight if it can even happen at all.

I think that with all of us working as much as we can, the first pieces of green cloth should be ready, not for Labor day, but for the following weekend.

I'm also hoping to learn from my mistakes on the last beam and have better tension on the next one so that Wispr can weave on it from the very beginning. That will let work happen while I'm away at the shows. We might be able to have three more batches of cloth done in time for Christmas. Since yarn supply is such a strange beast, I don't really know what colors we're looking at. Probably dark blue, black if I can swing it, and then a brown if I can have my wish.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what I do while these guys are all working...

Respond to yesterday's emails, work on yarn distribution, update my blog, work on internal organization so that we can all work seamlessly and communicate well. In the afternoon when Wispr goes off the swim in the river, I will take over cloth production.

It's really awesome to have these guys around and helping out. It will mean the difference between having green cloth the second week of September and not having it.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Warp Speed!

Things are moving fast! So many decisions to make, so many pennies to shuffle, so much to do.

I have been applying to shows like mad, depending on my photography to squeak me into juried venues way past the application deadline. That and the fact that everyone's hurting. Shows aren't doing that great, so there seem to be a lot of vendors who are deciding to skip a few shows this year. I've got three shows lines up in September, and one blue ruana left. I need a cool color for my booth, and how!

All the red that's left on the beam...
I heard from my mill-ends distributor that his order of green yarn is taking longer than expected. I have planning green as my next color, depending on this order to prepare the warp. I might be able to get it, but not until late September. Eeek! Maybe I should weave another blue warp first? To the yarn stash!

I played around with the cones that I have available trying to see if I could warp a green beam that's interesting, but using only the yarn I have on hand. There are only two shades of green in sufficient quantity to do what I like.

A potential green beam...

But, there are browns, oranges, gold, burgundy, black, navy blue. It's going to be a challenge, but I think I can make it work. It'll be more of a "forest shades" cloth than a pure green, but that's OK. Especially bearing in mind that I will be able to get ahold of more green and perhaps some brown late in September. I can use varied green wefts to pump up the green appearance of the finished cloth for the second half of the beam.

And, as long as I'm ordering yarn, I'll get as much blue as I can afford and weave mostly ruanas from it. I think the next blue batch will be much darker and leaning toward purple. Black, navy, and deep purple? That should work nicely.

And I have a couple of questions for you, dear blog readers...

- Who is your favorite yarn distributor that offers volume discounts for quantities like 100 pounds?
- Do you know of any high quality shows in October or November in Oregon? Juried shows are preferable.

Thanks for your help!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

New Website Design




In between everything else, I've got one more iron in the fire: revamping my website.

Living out here in the middle of nowhere means that most people are going to experience my studio through the web. My old site was nice enough, but seemed too dark and uninviting as time went by. It was also hard to update.

The new design lets people get a glimpse into my studio by displaying photos of the yarn, equipment, and the weaving process. I take lots of photos as I work, and I'm glad to finally put some of them to good use.

At this point, I've mostly just updated the look and feel. At some point I expect to work on the content as well. Google Analytics has shown me that people are interested in some specific themes in my blog posts. I will eventually be taking those themes and turning them into easily browsable sections of the website. As you can see, there is plenty of room to add new tabs in the new design.

I took one feature away and replaced it with several others. The header used to contain all of my contact info in a spam-unfriendly image banner. Now, I've got two ways to contact me online: a contact form in the top menu, and a pair of social network badges at the top of each page. These methods let people contact me much more easily.

I know that a lot of folks read my blog through email and blog readers. If you haven't been to my site lately, go take a look. And keep an eye out for new sections as I get them done.

Monday, August 15, 2011

The Show Turned Out OK

The small-town weekend show turned out OK. It turns out that there was a transportation glitch on Saturday that kept the shuttle from bringing people to our end of the event.

It got ironed out on Sunday and sales picked up. I didn't make a ton, but came home with enough to pay rent and cover all of the costs of building the booth. That's not so bad.

It is making me prioritize the work of finding new shows, though. I got a lot of great leads this weekend that I just need to follow up on.

On Sunday, I fell in love with a piece in another vendor's booth. I told myself that if I met $X in sales that day, I would treat myself to the absolute deal of the show.

The blanket pictured above weighs about 10 pounds and is handwoven from pure natural-colored alpaca. I can't tell for sure, but it looks handspun, too. I don't know how they were selling it for as cheap as they were, or why nobody else had snapped it up, except that it was about 90 degrees outside.

I came home feeling like the luckiest guy at the show.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

At The Show

After so much time and energy preparing for this show, it's kind of a dud so far. I've sold enough to pay for my show fees and the gas to get home, but not much more. Today will probably be better.

There wasn't much traffic yesterday and the weather was too warm to get people wearing cloaks.

But, the environment is beautiful! And rafts full of happy people drift by all afternoon. Boy, that sure looks fun!

Even if I don't make much money today, this show helped me in one big way. It gave me a deadline to be ready to do shows. Now that I've got a beautiful and flexible booth structure, I can do all kinds of shows on a moment's notice. I can also plan so that they're not happening so slipshod.

It has also helped me to realign my production mindset for the local economy. Few people can afford a $300 cloak, but even teenagers can afford a $10 cellphone pouch. I need to design and produce a new line of low-end merchandise. And after this show I'll have the time to do it.

Another benefit to being at this show is that there are people here who do the local show circuit. They're giving me tips on shows I would have never known about. Places where the weather is cooler, like on the coast. It's not that far and certainly worth the drive if I can make better sales out there.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Closing in on the show

Just one more day of prep before I pack up and head out!

The show organizer asked me specifically if I could do demonstrations and I told her that I could, not thinking about the 10'x10' space restriction. When I realized that I couldn't fit the loom inside of that footprint, I called her and asked what can be done. She said that the depth is fixed, but that there's a little wiggle room to the sides. Okeedoke! I'll find a way to get it all to fit!

So I tested a new booth configuration that would let the loom stick only partially into the booth from the side. It works. The final booth footprint, including the check stand, is 10'x11', and I can pull the loom in even more if I must.

One big enhancement is the demo ruana hanging with the hood to traffic right next to the check stand. It lets people see the cloth up close and see right away that these cloaks have hoods.

I wanted to get a feeling for how much space the booth takes up when it's packed down so that I can decide whether I need to do something extreme like put a roof rack on the van. Nope. It'll fit with no problem once I take two of the seats out. I need to do shows fairly often, and need to carry 7 people almost never.

Today I got many responses back from my Kickstarter backers and was able to pull inventory to let everyone who responded have their first choice in colors. Here's a photo of what's left. There are TONS of scarves, but that's intentional. I am expecting to sell them in local Christmas bazaars. They're a little expensive for this area, but within range for what people expect to pay for very nice gifts.

And finally, here's the cloth that's washed and ready to cut into shawls and scarves. I'll have just as much inventory as I could have hoped. It'll be a good showing with enough back stock to keep the booth looking fresh. I will probably run out of ruanas in blue, but there are plenty in red and white to keep the hangers full.

And if I can't keep the hangers full, it's because I made way more money than I expected. My regrets will end when I get to the bank.

So, today is a day of little things: helping Wispr to cut and sew scarves, printing new business cards, stocking the cash box, making curtains for my van's sleeping area, pumping up the tires, checking the oil.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Check Stand

Whew! I've finally got the last piece of building done for the booth. I needed a check stand that can hide my electrical system and printer, and leave room for "the other stuff": change box, business cards, mailing list, backup receipt book, etc.

One of our local friends has a table saw, which made the construction process much easier and more accurate than a circular saw. Wispr helped me with the first few cuts since manipulating big pieces of wood is so tough with just one person. Then he went back to the shop to put the finishing edges and ties on the walls.

I stayed to put in the shelves and attach the back. We're so strapped for time that I didn't even bother to sand it down. I'll do that after the show when we use this as a piece of furniture in the shop.

Then I threw it in the van and hauled it down to the shop where Wispr sewed up a fitted cover for it. Now everything in the booth matches in beige and white. It'll make sure that people aren't looking at my "interesting" booth, but are instead looking at what I have to sell.

Now all that's left to do is to remove two captain's chairs from the van, pull Kickstarter rewards from inventory and prepare to ship them, take a thorough inventory of what's left, cut and sew 5 ruanas, cut apart 6 new shawls, edge stitch and cut 20 scarves. Wispr and I will be working together to get all of the cutting and sewing done in two days.

I also need to test a booth configuration that puts the grids on one side and the back. Then I can hang scarves on half of the third side and leave the other half open. This would a) give me a place for the check stand and b) let me do demos next to the booth with ready access to the main space and the merchandise. I know this may come as a surprise, but I do demonstrations partly as a hook to sell my cloth. :)

There might even be time for me to weave off, finish, and cut another set of 6 shawls. It's looking good!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Show Prep, Trucking Along

It's coming up fast! There are just three days of prep time left before I pack the van and head out out to the show.

I went to town yesterday and had some fantastic luck. At the last minute I heard about a meetup for my local Etsy team. I went there with no expectations other than to meet some local crafters. Well, I did. Aaaaand, I met the organizer of a local Christmas show. She loves my work and kept saying, "There's nobody doing anything like this." It looks like I'll have no problem getting into that show, and that I'll do pretty well there. It is in my Todo schedule to check their website in September and make contact. Done!

I can't get ahead of myself, though. Before I think about Christmas, I've got to make the sales to get myself there. There are a number of things left to do before I leave for this show...
- Build my sales counter with room underneath for the power system and printer, then sew a cover for it.
- Sand and paint the gridwalls. They're a little rusty from 20 years in a barn.
- Sand the clothing rod. It's a little weathered, too.
- Remove two of the captain's chairs from the van. I need the space for the loom, bench, counter, booth, and merchandise.

Meanwhile, Wispr is working like mad, too. Now that the cloth is all shrunk, he's got two tasks on his plate
- Finish the booth walls
- Cut and sew ruanas, shawls, and scarves.

Oh, yeah, and there's the very real work of connecting with my Kickstarter contributors and finding out what they want for their rewards. Those items need to be pulled from inventory before the show. I am immensely grateful to everyone who contributed and want to treat you all like gold. The next steps in this business would not be possible without you.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Kickstarter Funding Was A Success!

Woohoo! We did it!

Thanks to everyone who pledged, even just a little bit. All those little pledges really added up!

And super, special thanks to everyone who helped us get the word out. Y'all used email, blog posts, Twitter, Facebook, special interest websites, mailing lists, and more. This is the only reason that the project succeeded. So many people knew about it that we found some people who could afford to back this project, even in this economy.

Altogether, 53 people pledged a total of $5,395 to get our collective off the ground. Keep watching my blog to see photos of the new yarn and equipment that I'll be buying with some of this money.

I'm going to cut the between-beam weaving downtime in half by setting up a separate warping station. I'll be further economizing by making that second beam hold 200 yards instead of 100. This spreads the setup time across twice as much cloth. These increases in efficiency will let me pay for my already increased overhead without raising prices. I want weavers to keep telling me that my prices are too low!

And even more important than the money and efficiency aspects of this project is the social aspect. People showed us with their enthusiasm that they really support the work that we're doing. Even if we hadn't made our financial goal, the love and support are amazing.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Friday, August 5, 2011

New Mailing List Software

If you subscribe to my blog through email, you'll notice a big change today. The content is essentially the same, but the style is totally different.

In addition, you'll see a bunch of new stuff at the bottom of the page. There are links to manage your subscription, and a multitude of social networking "share" links. If you want to take a break from receiving these emails from me, you can unsubscribe or "update your profile".

When I started this blog, I used Feedburner to manage my email subscriptions. It has worked very well, but the time has come to integrate my blog subscriptions with the rest of my mailing list world.

Why a mailing list?

Just before I started the Kickstarter project a month and a half ago, I circulated a mailing list signup form at an event full of my friends. I told them that we'd be doing a fundraiser and that we'd need their help getting the word out.

As I learned the ropes of internet fundraising and revved up my own little PR engine, I realized that sending individual emails was not going to work. I needed to be able to group people together into lists, and send unified messages to those lists. I needed some way to know how effective my campaigns were. Were people opening my emails? Were they following the links I was sending out? Were they forwarding them to their friends? How could I give them the option to stop receiving emails from me or give new people the ability to opt into my communications?

I needed to start using real mailing list software.

And once I set it up for the Kickstarter project, I realized that I had a whole untapped resource of my own customers. I had been collecting email addresses and asking people if I could add them to my mailing list for years, but never doing anything with them. So I started another mailing list that will receive my own little newsletter. And, rather than just throw the email addresses of all my past customers into that list, I sent them an email telling them who I was (hey, remember me?) and asking them to subscribe to my newsletter. The result was about average: 5% of my past customers signed up. It's better to know that they want to receive my newsletter than to be silently building resentment by sending it people who don't want it. (If you want to sign up for my mailing list and receive my monthly newsletter, click here: http://eepurl.com/eZhfw)

And then I realized that there is a group of people who read my blog through email. Why not integrate everyone who receives any correspondence from me into the same system? So today I did that. I migrated all of the email subscriptions from Feedburner to my own "Blog Subscribers" mailing list. I then set up a new campaign that will send an email every afternoon at 3:00 if I've posted anything on my blog that day.

Now, when you forward my emailed blog post to a friend, they will have the easy option of subscribing to the blog themselves.
I also updated the Subscribe sidebar item on the blog page of my personal website and my blogspot site. These both refer you to my mailing list manager now. (To sign up to receive my blog through email, click here: http://eepurl.com/e8muU)

MailChimp

And who is this mysterious mailing list manager, you might ask? MailChimp.

It's not the most professional name, in my opinion, but their service is AMAZING. They make it dead simple to do everything that it takes to have a successful mailing list:
- create opt-in lists and let users manage their own subscriptions
- compose beautiful emails with feature-packed templates
- create campaigns and deliver them to your lists
- track all kinds of data from those campaigns

They even have a simple-to-use iPhone app that lets you track campaigns and manage mailing lists from wherever you are.

It's an amazing set of functionality packed into a well-designed and rock solid system. I can't wait to really get going with my newsletter using their template system. Maybe September 1st will be the first one...

Booth "Dress Rehearsal" Was A Success

The show next weekend is my first one since going solo, so I'm a little anxious about it. I want to make sure that I come in and set up professionally and have a polished presentation.

To do that, I'm double-checking everything. The booth isn't completely done yet, but it is done enough for me to do a real trial run. Here are the questions I needed answered:

Q: Are the grids too heavy for the frame or do they strengthen it and make it rigid enough to handle their weight?
A: They add a massive amount of stability to the structure. When they are tied into place, the booth doesn't hardly wiggle, even when all of the garments are hung.

Q: Does the booth need more side-to-side sheer support, especially with the metal grids on?
A: No. It's perfectly stable.

Q: Are the grids ugly? Do they need to be covered in canvas from the inside of the booth?
A: No. They are mostly hidden by garments. The grids with matching waterfall racks look really professional and unobtrusive to the garment display. They also let air flow through the booth.

Q: Does the booth need solid side walls on the outside?
A: No. In fact, the breeze blowing through the booth is nice. It would be sweltering otherwise.

Q: How am I going to display scarves? Several rods? How are the scarves hung?
A: Hanging them from the lower rung of the clothes hangers hung from a rod looks really professional and gives easy access to see the options. The metal grid is convenient for mounting the rod with no additional hardware to build.

Q: Do I need to build a special mounting system for the mirror?
A: No. It has mounting slots on the back that zip-tie onto the metal grid. It looks tidy, and stays level and secure with no extra futzing.

Q: Is the electrical inverter so loud that it needs to be kept inside a cabinet?
A: No. If the inverter is in the space behind the booth, it works just fine. It'll be even better when there's a back wall to hide the view. Crowd noise should make its presence completely undetectable. Same for the printer. It'll be like magic - I ring people up and process their payment on my iPod and by the time their garment is in a bag their receipt has silently emerged from the hidden printer.

Q: Once the garments are in the booth, is there room for me to stay in the shade and greet people.
A: Not really. I should step out of the booth when people arrive so they have room to explore the merchandise themselves without bumping into me.

The other thing I did today was to hone a preflight checklist. Everything that got packed into the van was added to the list. At the dress rehearsal, anything that was missing got added to the list as well. Little things like the change box, sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat, and first aid kit are easy to forget. They can make a big difference.

And today I finally got my "Welcome to the Show" packet in the mail. As I suspected, they expect a rapid dropoff of the booth and everything that goes into it during a specific timeframe. I should be good. The booth unpacked from the van in less than 5 minutes, set up in 30 (including unpacking and hanging merchandise), tore down in 20, and was back in the van in 10.

This week's task list is looking way more manageable now: finish more red garments, finish the booth walls, and build a "counter". Whew!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Show Prep: Studio Shots

Startup costs. I keep telling myself that's what these are. Every show won't be this expensive.

Today was another cash hemorrhaging day as I purchased the last of the infrastructure to do my first real show in 1 1/2 weeks.

Today's list:
- Deep-cell battery, trickle charger, 800W inverter. These are necessary to run the printer and keep the MiFi running all day for credit card processing without access to electricity.
- Mounting hardware for display racks.
- More canvas for booth walls.
- Paint and brushes for the booth wood.
- Laundering new canvas and one batch of cloth.

Here are some pics from the studio at the end of the day.