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.