Monday, October 29, 2007

The Last South End Open Market of the Season

The show was on Sunday, the previous Saturday was cold and rainy and I had a migraine! I thought "Good, tomorrow should go well, the timing is perfect." And it was. Sunday was sunny, but cold and OH NO! Windy!! A craft show vendor's worst fear. Wind is maddening. But my migraine was gone and it was dry out, so that was good.

We got there in nice time, no traffic on the highways at 7:30 on a Sunday morning. I had borrowed Liz's tent. D and I set it up, lashed it down and got everything out of the car. Soon after, the talented BethBrown showed up with her super nice husband and they put up a lovely display of handknit scarves, hats, wrist warmers and superwash wool socks as well as some handspun and hand-dyed yarns.


She also set up her restored antique sock-knitting machine which was really cool! She obviously has many hours of experience working the thing because as her husband said, it's not like you feed yarn in one end and out comes a sock, it's definitely more of an art than that.


Lots of vendors were dressed in costumes, Zombie was a running theme. Even the terminally adorable MuchachaK went the zombie route with her handmade Zombie Chicken outfit. Here she is hanging out with a dog dressed as a jack-o-lantern.


Here's one of our nice neighbors dressing as a Zom-Bee with his dog already in a bee suit.


I also saw dogs in various other disguises: a ladybug, a frog, a ballerina, a spider, an astronaut and a Red Sox fan (Go Sox! World Series Champions!)

My folks came to see me! I was thrilled to have them visit me at a show, mom used to do the Flea with me back in the day and she hasn't seen me at a show since I started up again. Plus, I've got her cards on prominent display, so I need the artist to represent! Word.



Candace (The Intuitive Garden) came too with her super nice husband, Matt. Who says there aren't any nice guys around? Well, there were, but we snagged 'em. Gotta move fast, people! She took this cute pic of me, thanks! (She put herself in the shot too, look in the mirror on my table!) Hee hee.


It was great to have all these friendly faces visit and also meet new Etsy peeps. I met WonderAmy (Etsy Admin!! And an amazing artist), and Reclaimed To You, a fab Boston collage artist and 1600 who makes cool tees. I also loved the letterpress stylings of Two Trick Pony and Dick and Jane Letterpress and the unique jewelry of Molly Hagan Designs , all of whom have websites but not Etsy shops.

Sales-wise, it wasn't a blockbuster, there just weren't the crowds you need to really do well. But I did make some sales, and the spectators (as Gert and Gladys used to call them at the Flea) were very nice. And well dressed! (SEOM is a great place to look at shoes, I've never seen so many nice shoes!) Here are some folks looking at my goods.


So aside from getting REALLY cold, and chasing my flowers all over the parking lot every time the wind blew, I did have a fun time. Thanks ETSY and SEOM for giving me the chance to try it out!

3 comments:

  1. We had a wonderful time, it was great to meet Candace and her husband, to see you and your beautiful set-up, and just to be there. Would not have missed it for anything! A little less wind would have been nice.

    Love, Mom

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  2. Glad you enjoyed yourself... you always seem to, no matter what you do.

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  3. Great write up on the South End Open Market! Your booth looks wonderful. Nice pics of Dell and your parents, too. You all look a bit chilly, however.... Brrr.

    Thank you for posting my blog on your site.

    Cynthia Sherrick
    Writer of romance :)

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