Where Have I Been??

I hear quite frequently from readers about how frequently I post to my blog....that is until the last several weeks! Usually people will wonder how I find the time to blog. Nowadays, all the blogging is virtual. Posts written in my head, and never entered into the computer. Thoughts about how I should come up with something to post...it has been awhile..but it has to be fast and easy. Then I realize all that needs to be done, and the days are flying by. Blogging gets put off once more.

So what have I been busy doing? This is the crazy time of year for me. First it is family crazy. Three birthdays in my immediate family of four...and one of them is not mine..all within a month's time. Birthdays are less demanding as my kids get older, but it still requires time and attention. Today we went to the afternoon tea at Cafe Fleuri in Boston to celebrate my older daughter's birthday. Tomorrow she turns 14. She and her friend sat at an adjoining table to my husband, other daughter, and me. We were her posse. Sitting in the background. There to transport and pay the bill. But we got to enjoy a quiet afternoon of indulgence. Tonight, her friend is sleeping over. Movies, music, gossip, and just hanging out.

Amidst all this, cranes have been flying out of my studio. I look in amazement at stacks and stacks of boxes in my dining room. The next thing I know, they have been packed into cartons, and are shipped off to all corners. And bare space again is in view. Dozens and dozens have left, dozens more need to head out this week. In those pauses of wondering what I should do next, invariably I will consider making a few more cranes. This big demand for cranes in the wholesale market has meant a decision to no longer sell them retail. I have more than enough demand from the wholesale market. And it simplifies my life. Make them, box them, ship them.

On our drive into Boston today, I was stickering and stamping postcards. I have added another retail show to my calendar. The Providence Fine Furnishing and Fine Craft Show. There will be several other polymer clay artists in attendance. Elise Winters, Sandra McCaw and Rachel Carren. And perhaps a few more that I do not know about. The show will be October 26th to 28th, at the Providence, RI convention center.

In addition to the Providence show, I will have my work at a few special holiday sales. The Brookfield Craft Center Holiday sale, in Brookfield, CT. Snow Farms in western Massachusetts has a sale for three weekends in November. Several other opportunities to participate in similar sales have come my way in the last few weeks, but I just don't think I have enough inventory to spread around.

I have been trying to build up inventory of the new pod work for the Providence show, and it has been a challenge to keep any in stock. I have brought work out to Serendipity in Hudson, MA, and the Fiber Art Center in Amherst, MA. In addition the Garden of the Gods Trading Post and Gallery in Manitou Springs, CO just recieved a large order of the new work. And Gallery Morada, in Islamorada, FL has a pick box of the new jewelry on its way right now. I have been pulling aside inventory for Five Crows in Natick, MA, and I need to put some together for some of the holiday sales coming up. The work for Brookfield has to go out in the next few days.

And then again, there are the cranes. I have a catalog company who is potentially interested in the cranes. I sent off a dozen samples this weekend. This could push my business into another place if I end up selling them through a catalog. I may need to consider hiring a high school student,...or my daughter??...to do some of the many tasks that could easily be transferred to someone else. But it may not even happen. So, I can put off worrying about that for now.

For now, it continues to be, head down, butt in my studio. Remembering to come up for air every now and then, and to breathe. Just breathe.

I promise I will post part 2 of the How of Wholesale shows soon. But my brain was just not up to the task tonight. Pardon my absence. I hope to be back to blogging on a regular basis sooner rather than later. But for now, it will have to be when I can fit a few coherent (or semi-coherent?) minutes together.