Too Busy

Have you missed me?

I have missed the time I had been spending writing here, but lately it seems like that is a luxury for which there is no room. I thought I worked a lot before. Now I have had to cut out lots of little "extras", .... like writing in this blog.

So what have I been up to?

First, cleaning out space. A few weeks back I rented a dumpster. Nothing is more satisfying than clearing out lots of clutter, and ending up with space. Our basement was filled to the gills and beyond. It is gratifying to finally have begun to re-establish order where before it was sheer chaos.

Part of the motivation to do this was I was desperate for space. The Crane Project is taking up more and more room. Both storing the cranes, and work space to string cranes up on cables. My work spaces were becoming unworkable. The change has made a large space available to me in the basement, and now I can safely have them out of danger, and more easily do the work I need to do with them.

I also decided it was time I admit that my dining room had stopped being a dining room several years ago when I started selling lots of cranes. It had become my crane packaging and inventory area, and shipping area. But I never fully admitted that. Even though hosting a meal in the room would have been impossible.

So the hutch was cleared out, the table moved to a wall, and a second table brought into the room. My computer came downstairs, along with all my paperwork. Getting an order out the door has become more efficient. It is still chaotic because I have not had the time to organize my office "stuff", but already, it is feeling much better than what existed before. And my husband has taken over the office space upstairs. He has a place to read, to play his guitars, and do yoga.

I have set a tough schedule for myself to complete cranes for the Crane Project. Sixteen cranes a day. Seven days a week. Right now, I am two days behind schedule, or thirty-two cranes. I hope to make eight more before I go to bed tonight so that the deficit shrinks just a little. But it is gratifying to watch the number climb. I just crossed 800 cranes tonight. It is also stunning to see how many that is. And to realize that is it only a year and two months of a war that is already over five years in length.

The motivation for staying on schedule is because it may put me in position to "catch up" at about the time of the inaugural in January of 2009. I like the idea of that deadline. A karma shift of sorts.

The waxed paper cranes are getting folded here and there. I bring a bag with paper squares with me where ever I go. I have folded over 500, and received nearly 100 from other folders. Last night, about 15 to 20 were folded before and during my daughter's band concert. I even taught my dentist and her assistant how to fold cranes last week. I have a new idea that I will be working on in the coming days to recruit more folders.

I still don't know where this project will be installed. It is one of the first questions I get, and all I can say still is "I don't know." All I can do is trust. I am continuing my search for a place, as well as funding options. Filling out applications, and learning.

I have also been dealing with some difficult choices in my business. I will write more about that soon. All I can say for now was once I made the choice it felt better than it did when I was avoiding the inevitable. Once I crossed the dreaded line, answers and solutions seem to fall into place. I don't know how it will work out, but I do know I feel comfortable with my decision, regardless of the outcome.

For the time being, my posts will probably continue to be sporadic. This post is more scattered than I like, but I guess that is a reflection of my state of mind right now. A bit like a pinball bouncing around. Time to bounce back into my studio, and make a few more cranes....

Shipping A Booth, and other Weighty Matters

Another obstacle that I had to overcome to move my business forward was figuring out how to ship a booth, or components of it, in order to do a show thousands of miles away. I knew I was ready to do a wholesale show, or as ready as I would ever be, but I was not sure I was ready to tackle shipping my stuff cross country.

When you are driving to a show, if you have a big enough vehicle, you can bring just about whatever you want to set up your booth. If you have to haul your stuff any distance from your car or van to set-up, then you might consider weight and volume, but otherwise, convenience, and having the best display possible is what overrides the weight and volume concerns.

But, if you have to ship, weight and volume translates quickly into cost. The cost of shipping is directly correlated to these two factors. And, at some shows there is also drayage charges. Drayage is a weight based charge that is applied at some facilities for transport of your materials from the loading dock to your booth. Both ways. This can add up fast, if your work and/or are heavy, it can easily add up to thousands of dollars. Fortunately, the ACRE show includes the drayage cost in the booth fee. But, since i will I have to ship my paraphenelia from Massachusetts to Las Vegas, weight matters.

Last year, I partially dodged the issue. I shipped some things, and rented others. But this year, I wanted to cross the line, and rent only the bare minimum. A small table for writing orders, and to stash things under, crossbars, and added padding under the standard carpet that comes with the booth. The padding is an indulgence, but sometimes you just have to take care of yourself, and the visitors to your booth! So my rental charges this year are about a third to a quarter of what I spent last year, and I will have extra electricity.

Part of the money I saved went to purchasing a shipping crate. I was fortunate enough to have purchased two fiber crates, that are often used to ship those pop-up style booths, for a song. But they are limited in what can fit inside them. I used one of them to package up my lights, banners and a few odds and ends. I still needed something to pack my pedestals into. The pedestals are going to be the foundation of my booth. They are 42 inches tall, and 24 inches wide when flat, so I needed a container to accommodate them. In addition, the "table" tops that I will lay across the pedestals are 48 inches long. Knowing these dimensions, I hit the web.

This is what I ended up with. It is hard to tell from the picture, but it has wheels, and a handle built in. Straps are attached to securely close the case. And the lid, telescopes on the base. So it can be 6" high, or 10 inches high, depending upon what and how much you put in the case.

After the cases were packed, I added some plastic strapping cord to secure the crates for their long distance travel.

Each container was less than 150 pounds, which meant I could ship them UPS ground. And I could track on line to see the safe arrival of my containers to their intended destination.

Most shows have an advance warehouse. A place where artists can ship their booth and other materials ahead of time. There is usually a deadline for arrival of your goods so that they can be staged at the appropriate time for transportation to the venue. And if all goes well, when you arrive at your booth, all your containers are sitting there waiting for you. But, you need to plan backwards from that deadline to make sure everything is out the door in time to make the trip.

It is a good idea to print out your shipping labels for the return trip at home and bring them with you. It will make that end of the process go much more smoothly. You also want to make certain to have all the paperwork for the shipment to the venue. You never know....

If you ship your materials by freight, there are a few other things to consider. First, a pallet or other way to be able to move your materials with a fork lift is important. The weight of the pallet, becomes a part of the cost of shipping. If you work from home, and thus would ship from home, you would need to pay extra for the lift truck. This is a truck that has a platform on the back that can raise and lower to move your stuff off the ground and up onto the truck.

You will also need a bill of lading. The form will come from the shipper, but it will list what you have in the crates or cartons. You do not need to go into a great deal of detail. "Trade show booth" could be sufficient.

I will show you more of the lightweight, transportable booth I came up with in a future post. So, stay tuned.