Gallery show - Wrap up - Pros and Cons

Hi everyone. It’s been about 6 weeks or so since the gallery show. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I’m going to post just a few pictures to give an idea of how things we displayed and then give my thoughts on the good and bad of doing shows.

This tea set was the biggest hit of the show. There were so many interested visitors but it didn’t sell at the show. It may have since then but the price was very reasonable and the display was truly the highlight. Deb who created the set has other places she sells from, so I’m pretty sure it won’t be around very long. Deb brought a good selection of furniture pieces, and a few odds and sodds.

Kirsten was the clay artist and while she more pieces to show, these pickled chicks in the martini glasses and the ogre drew the most attention. She’s a very good artist with a very fertile imagination. ;o) Lots of people also liked the baby dragon in the hand in the bottom left of the picture. It takes the right person to match with the right art piece. We were all waiting for someone to take home the ogre, but nobody was brave enough. ;o~

You’ve seen all my projects from other blog posts, so I won’t go on about them all. I’m just showing a bit of how I displayed them. This particular prop I made with two shaker boards, dowels and coffee cup hooks. Add some paint and you have a great display piece. I have a second one painted in a dove grey.

This was a wide glass case and many of my dolls were able to be together, along with the fobs and tassels.

More dolls hung out together in this slimmer case.

This is a sign I made to hang in the window behind me. It was fairly high up but nicely visible from the playground area just beside the gallery. It brought people in which was great. Anyone coming in would see it on the window and it helped to describe what the show was about. I did the lettering on two pieces of poster board, added some checkered tape and a few bits of bling, just for a subtle touch of shiny. Sorry about the wash out on the right side of the picture, but I was trying to brighten it up from the grey it was.

This last picture is that of the table where I put the Hatter Hats with my stick pins and the other was for the draw.

So now my thoughts about the show in general. Well mostly good thoughts. I sold the most of the four of us that were displaying. I enjoyed meeting each and every person that came through and my thanks to those of you I spoke to directly that came out and supported me. It meant a lot and was much appreciated.

I was asked if I would be doing a show next year and no I won’t be. You will notice that I said 4 of us were in this show, but I have only displayed work from 3 of us. I don’t reward bad behaviour as Dr. Phil would say.

Two reasons I won’t do a show again.  Working with others can be a great experience but it can also be a not so nice experience when someone in the group has control issues and yes, the traits of a bully as I found out on more than one occasion. Two of the other artists were really nice and we enjoyed some good conversation and compared notes about how to sell and where etc.

However, when you reach a certain age, you should have grown out of the need to control and bully others. If you haven’t matured to that point by middle age, it’s probably not going to change and those around you will avoid you at all costs. Bullies and control freaks are usually people who are insecure about themselves for some reason. I’m sure everyone has been treated badly by a bully and we never know what the reason is, but we know to stay away from that person. You will never get a sincere apology or recognition of what they did and that it was inappropriate. So there it is.

The second part of “would I do a show again”, was also no. If I were to do another show, it would be on my own but it’s far too much work for one person to do alone between the setup, being there all week and the take down. So no. I will participate in gallery shows as an artist but having a private show, no.

But on the plus side to end off this post. It was a good experience overall. Some wonderful feedback about my work, and shows me that I am doing the right things that people enjoy. Now I’m on to projects for the fall show/sale at the gallery. I will be posting very soon about what I’m making for that. Back soon… ;o)

Mad Hatter…..and done !!!

The last doll is done. I truly hope after all this work, that the show is successful. Just doing this as a one off. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the process or that my enthusiasm is in any way less than I began with. It’s just a LOT of work. Maybe it’s also because I’ve never done this before so it seems huge… In any case, am leaving in a couple of hours to meet with the others to set up the display.

This is the last doll for the show. I’m sure the Hatter doesn’t appreciate being last, but it is what it is. My version of Suzette Rugolo’s is a younger version. Suzette’s has the older face and a bit of a beard with a softer colour hair. I stayed with the full on orange hair, with touches of yellow. ;o)

Details, details.

My Hatter has his top hat embellished with gears etc. and his costuming is as the pattern, all except for his shoes. I have a good collection of high top sneakers that are actually lefts and rights (instead of the key rings that only go one direction), and I couldn’t pass up on giving him a pair of these.

I also used this whicker chair for him, because #1 I didn’t have time to make the one in the pattern, and #2 he actually looks good in this one. I had to make a big cushion for him to sit on, and it all worked out.

I have a collection of mini teas sets and this tea pot worked out just great for Hatter. It’s actually good quality china, and made sure it’s glued everywhere and pray that it stays put, I even glued the lid on. Fingers crossed.

Aren’t his shoes great. The original pattern includes directions for spats, but because my Hatter is younger looking, the high tops seemed to be a good choice.

A little closer. And that’s it. I hope you like him. I probably won’t be posting anything until next week. I’ll take pictures at the show and post a few of those later on. Take care and enjoy..;o)

Alice and her Flamingo

Counting down. You do realize after all this preparing, I will start again soon on projects for the fall/Christmas Artisans show/sale. But first I have one more I’m working on for this show, an ornament for the giveaway and then setup on Sunday night. After the show, I think I’ll just crash and burn for a short while, so some clearing up and play in the garden and then maybe give some serious thought to getting back on my bike for at least some kind of riding before the end of summer.

Now, on to Alice. This is my version of Suzette Rugolo’s design. I did reduce it by 30% as I think a bit smaller is more enticing to buyers, at least I hope I planned that right.

The fabric is like a newspaper print all about Alice. She’s trimmed with a couple of different sizes of eyelet lace, a ribbon with cupcakes and the best flamingo socks. I found those about 2 years ago or so and have been waiting to cut them up and give Alice some funky stockings.

She has her flamingo and hedgehog ready for the next croquet match with the Queen, oh my.  And don’t you just love the shoes. I had planned to make the ones in the pattern, but I’ve had a collection of little shoes for a while and this seemed like the right doll to give these ones too. I bought a number of pairs from a shop a long time ago and she actually was in the process of closing, so I got a discount, who doesn’t like discounts.

So that’s Alice and her friends. I’m really happy that the face turned out. Even after all this time, I still pitch heads and blown seams on hands in the garbage. I had a head for Alice but her eyes were way too far up the face, close to the forehead (I mean really close), so I redid it and it is much better. It’s what happens when you rush and think you’re going to get things right the first time, no problem…

And of course the back view. I hope you like Alice. Enjoy ;o)

Blue Caterpillar

This doll or bug actually, is the Suzette Rugolo design. What a great design to work with. It’s fussy to make the caterpillar body, but if you just take time to read the instructions to make that part you’ll get it. I pinned the sections together and studied how that comes together to form the body and that exercise was worth the time it took to figure it out. I hate picking out mistakes, so when something is tricky, it helps me to work it out before I actually start the sewing part.

The Hookah pipe was fun to make. Quite a while ago, I posted pictures of some miniature brass candle sticks that someone made, that I found in a thrift store. That was such a great find. I used the largest one, added a bead and chain and to finish, used a miniature microphone for him to hold. Now he looks like he’s either singing, or singing because he’s smoking, I guess it will depend on the people who see him at the gallery. I will know who is who by their comments. ;o)

The whole thing is made using batik fabrics, except his shoes and Fez. Those are felt and/or leather. That’s the biggest mushroom ever. I didn’t use too many trims, just around his wrists and the legs where they join the body. I don’t like to see seams where the body parts are joined to the body, it just looks cleaner to add trims to those areas.

That’s all for now. Enjoy ;o)

Goldilocks and Baby Bear

This is Cindee Moyer’s class from a long time ago. I liked her classes, but she’s not doing online classes anymore. She owes us nothing though, she’s given us so many classes and patterns to enjoy.

My version of her class is pretty close but for the bed. Someone gave me this little doll bed and in order to make it look proportional with the doll and bear, I had to reduce the original pattern by 30%. I sanded and stained the bed, put a new cover on the foam mattress and put some wood blocks under the legs to raise it up a little more.

It’s really a cute class that would be perfect for a little girl’s bedroom. I’ve stitched the doll and bear to the mattress to secure it in place, but some little girl would have fun with this. All it needs is a tea party to complete it. ;o)

Artists in Wonderland

Hi everyone. The gallery show I’ve been working on for ages, is coming up very soon now. I will post the link to the gallery page and on there you’ll be able to see all the projects I’ve been working on.

I had hoped to make a lot of ornaments, but time moved faster than me. I am going to bring the Shabby Rose Fairies that I have from the Artisans show last fall. Maybe it’s good that I didn’t spend too much time on ornaments, I might have to bring too much home.

I have no idea how this will go, but you can only try things and jump up and down with excitement if it goes well. So I’ll stay with that thought and cross everything I can. Do you go into shows ?? How successful are you ??? What is the general mood of the public these days ?? Or is it just one of those things that’s hit and miss.  ;o~

I will try and take some video of the set up. Since there will be work from 4 of us on display, it should make for an interesting show. The newest artist, Deb, brings refurbished furniture pieces that will be wonderful for setting up our art pieces. 

I’m going to add a few pictures below of the fobs and pins I made, just to cut down on the posts. I will have a couple more posts to follow this, but I’ll spread them out and post tomorrow. In the meantime, please follow this link to the Wonderland page. If you think anyone else would be interested, I would appreciate you passing this along to them.

All the information about dates, time and location are posted on the page. I know most of you aren’t really in the area, but perhaps you know someone that is and can forward this to them. Many thanks and enjoy !!!

https://northbrookdesigns.ca/wonderland 

Last of the Pincushions

I have three more pincushions to show you. These are larger ones. Sadie measures approx. 14” long by about 10” tall. Then there’s a mushroom that could go with Sadie and lastly, a Sewing Shroom. So here we go.

Sadie would be perfect for someone whose a busy sewer that needs to have all their needles close at hand. With Sadie you can separate your needles in sections or on either side.

This pincushion can serve more than one purpose as well. The lower half can be for pins. The cap can be used for pins at the very top but the sides you can use for safety pins or other type of needles.

This is the Sewing Shroom. You can use the top and the stem for pins and needles. There is also a pocket for a pair of scissors, that I have also included, and have them attached with cord.

Pincushions galore !!!

Wow, it’s been weeks since I posted, but I’ve been so busy lately.

I was speaking to someone months ago and she gave me very good advice about making a lot of small things to sell at shows, so that you can make back your expenses. Then if larger things sell, bonus. Great advice and I took that onboard and have been doing exactly that.

This post is all about pincushions. I showed you a few a while back, a couple of ladies, Prudence and Sally, and Humpty Dumpty. Here are a whole bunch more. I have a couple more to make today and will post those soon.  Enjoy ;o)

These two pincushions I made a long time ago, but maybe someone will enjoy them. No harm in trying. They fit in with the theme of the show, so let’s see what happens.