Louise Little: Tete a Tete

PMC and beads

louiselittle — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:59:29 +0000

Well, October is flying by. I have started to make beads in earnest for the Bellevue Bead Show next month. I have been asked by several clients for more artifact beads, and I hope to have some new ones on my website soon. In the meantime I did enter a visual challenge that the PMC guild sponsors every quarter. They publish a picture in their newsletter and then you go off and create a piece using the picture as inspiration. Well I was runner up this month with one of my artifact beads….

artifact bead

the visual challenge

So I am working on those artifact beads… they just take a long time. Having said that I really need to go make dinner now. Sunday has always been pizza in our home. And tonight it’s chicken marsala pizza.

Sunday October 5

louiselittle — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 18:13:39 +0000

Today is the Hyde Park Square Art Fair in Cincinnati, OH. I have done this show for the last 3 years. My friend Lorie got me interested in doing outdoor shows again when she told me how wonderful the weather was for the Hyde Park Show… perfect crisp fall sunny days. So I dusted off my tent and applied to this juried show in 2004. The first year I participated we had “unusual weather” It soared into the upper 80′s and even though I got a little hot, it was a good show. The second year we had even more “unusual weather” and into the 90′s it went. Parched, dehydrated, but still not discouraged as the show was still a good show for me, I hoped the next year would be more fall like. But last year!!!! It soared over 100 degrees. My PMC jewelry had the afternoon sun shining directly on it, and it was so hot people couldn’t touch it. My tent broke and I had to rig one side for it to stay up. The customers were sweltering, and the only one with a brisk business was the guy selling bottled water. So when the show was over I ditched my broken tent and vowed never to do an outside show again.

So today it is a perfect sunny crisp fall day… 40′s in the morning and up to 70 this afternoon. I betcha the Hyde Park show is just perfect this year!

So how many of you out there do art shows? I have decided that indoor shows are much easier. Booth fees tend to be higher, but I am just to old to be putting up tents all by myself. But the indoor art shows tend to be wholesale shows (which brings up another topic for discussion) or very high end retail shows. Right now I am concentrating on Bead Shows. This November I will be trying the first annual Bellevue Bead Show. My daughter lives in Seattle so it also provides me with the opportunity to see her. And she has agreed to help me.. for jewelry of course.

Participating in art shows is a wonderful experience. I love to interact with the public. And I come away with ideas and inspiration, and knowledge about my designs… I have to admit I was naive when I first decided to do a show. The time committment is large, and your display takes as much time to design and implement as it takes to make the product you sell. And of course it takes several years of shows to tweak and refine one’s display. It has to be attractive, easy to transport, easy to set up, and it shouldn’t conflict with your product. My display is in it’s 4th generation now and I think this one might be it! More on the display tomorrow….

Welcome to my blog

louiselittle — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:39:40 +0000

I’ve decided to join the blogging world; at the same time wondering how I can manage to ever update a blog. So what’s going on in my life? I am about to leave for a week in Tucson where we have our second home… one day to be our retirement home. Right now my youngest daughter lives there and takes care of it for us. Since the house is smaller, I had a studio built on the property out back, and I am off to Tucson to start equipping it. This will be fun as well as intimidating. It’s completely empty; how do I choose the right furniture? I’m also getting ready for a show in November, and I am entering the newly announced competition sponsored by the ISGB and Bead and Button. I have been paired with 2 great jewelry artists – Heidi Kummli and Mickey Kunkle. Watch for pictures as the projects progress. I’m also writing a step by step article for the ISGB’s Bead Release. So I am keeping this short. Just wanted to get something written and posted to try this blog out…..