Hi all!
Well I did it, and the show was really great! Even tho the weather was horrid, with gusts blowing my work off my table every 5 minutes! It drizzled with rain for most of the day but people still came out which was really impressive! It was a much bigger even than I would have guessed as I have never even come down to look at the festival before much less be part of it.
Set in our beautiful gardens it spanned across an entire feild, the pavilion area where I was and then further down amongst other gardens was a petting zoo and area full of plants for sale and kitchen produce, conserves etc.
There were artists, knitters, wood workers, beaders, wrought iron sculptors and more! And that was just in my area, I couldn't leave my table to look around unfortunately as I was on my own.
The day was from 10 - 4 and we arrived early to set up which didn't take as long as I would have thought so I started on a bear while I was waiting for folks to arrive. While I did finish the bear I also sold 4 bears, 1 large sculpt (my Mermaid), a felted egg, and bags of wool. I made the same amount in one short day as I have made on my best weekend at the bigger doll and bear shows! I was really impressed and will certainly be attending next year. The cost of the table was a fraction of what it costs me to do the bear shows. So if any of you are thinking of doing shows, I think that even if it's not a bear show it's still worth doing and probably cheaper too.
Here are some pics from the day, firstly my table. My poor sign was in tatters by the end of the day from the wind, and I've had that thing for 3 years now, laminated and all. :o) You can see my bag of wools and such at the end. The bears on the display in the middle were not for sale, the basket at the other end has my felted soaps and easter eggs in it.
This is part of the view from my table, I was under the eaves of the Pavilion and these are all the tents that were in the middle of the garden area there.
This is the view further along, there were 2 of these gorgeous gardens in front of me, what a view! Look how grey the sky was tho!
I had assumed these were Alpacas as an Alpaca lady approached me about making some bears for her store. I'm not totally sure tho, anyone know?
These fabulous stilt walkers wandered around all day in the rain and wind, I was so impressed with them! They looked great and they must have been cold getting drizzled on and then blown about by the wind!
Well that was my day! I'm so pleased I did it. Was a bit of a shame that no one came down to see me that I was expecting, but I was surprised when my Mum and Dad turned up as they have never seen me at any shows. Apparently they were dead impressed with my table so that was cool.
So now it's back to work for the Doll and Bear show in May. I don't really have a lot to do for it, but will just keep making at my usual pace and hopefully produce some really nice pieces. I already have a number of bears that I am really pleased with and hope to enter some comps! Yay, at last I may get to win something as I have nevered entered anything before.
Thanks for dropping by, hope you enjoyed my pics and waffling!
Happy crafting and huggles to all,
Liza
This is Squeekers! My first felted rat! He has lovely long limbs and a long pink tail!
Pippin is felted in a gorgeous imported wool blend, its really different!
Magnus was created during my last felting class, the girls did really well with their creations too. Magnus was sold as soon as class finished to one of the school locals! :o) He is the best standing bear I have made and I hope his name sake will love him!
Ashley is felted in a natural wool, I loved the random cream and brown ash colouring!
Jinx
