MY FIRST HOME PARTY...

I'm exhausted... but so so happy & satisfied!

My first home show/party was last night & it was a huge success!

I was so unprepared & really had no clue how it was all going to happen... but my hostess, Shawn, had done plenty of home parties & lots of entertaining, so she had it together on her end... God bless her. :o) She also had lots of friends & neighbors who loved to socialize. Shawn gave them my website to check out w/ the invite & said that when they called to RSVP, they were telling her that they'd never seen anything like it. They were excited to see it in person. I can't tell you how many showed up... had to be 30 or so.

A little panicked before hand, I had plenty of utinsils.... but still had lots of beads & not a ton of "complete" jewelry... so I wasn't sure how it was going to work. While I was taking a shower about an hour before I had to leave, I realized that this wasn't a typical home party anyway... I was pretty sure that they didn't know what to expect any more than I did, LOL. How cool would it be for them to be able to pick a bead or two & have me wire up a pendant or make a complete necklace w/ them right there helping me design it for them? So, that's what I did.

My biggest issue (other than the fact that I wasn't completely ready when people started showing up ON TIME... I like late people!) was that I didn't get a chance to price all of my beads. Some were priced from a show a few weeks ago, but not the newer pieces... so I basically let them know the price range... a range of about $20... told them about designing a piece together, etc...

It was fun... people were awesome. They came so quickly & even though I wasn't completely ready, they were pretty cool about it. I hadn't even set up my checkout table before people were coming up to me w/ their hands full. It was great! After 45 minutes or so, I finally had a minute to breath, so we decided to get everyone in the same room so I could tell them a little bit about me.

I told them that I was completely overwhelmed. I didn't get a chance to clarify that it was that so many showed up & their response that was overwhelming, ... not that I was mentally & emotionally overwhelmed (not that I wasn't!!) They knew it was my first home party, so I told them that I didn't have it completely together & they let me know that it didn't really show... & they didn't care. I let them know a little bit about me, about the fact that I had been making beads for just less than 2 years... a bit about lampworking, etc... & they asked me questions. It was pretty cool. Several of them also spoke up & said that they'd love to do a party, too. I said "after the holidays!" I can't wait!

Anyway... it worked out great! I think I would've sold more jewelry if I had it worked out a little better... more completed pieces, probably displayed a little better (I only have 3 necklace displays), etc... but the utinsils were a HUGE hit... especially the bottle openers, stoppers & cheese knife/cutting board sets. I have orders for several more pieces. I think I made up 4 or 5 pendants.

But they loved it.... they "got it", too. They knew that what they were seeing was one of a kind little works of art... & they didn't seem to hesitate. Awesome.

Friday night seemed to be a great night to do it... not a work/school night... they could stay late, have some wine & awesome food & hang out w/ friends. It started @ 7pm...the last guest left around 11:30pm, then Shawn got a chance to shop! (she put a few pieces aside beforehand) I headed home around 1:30am.

I'll be doing many more home parties. Definitely. It was a great first experience... & I sold more in those 4 1/2 hours than I did in any of the other 2 & 3 days shows I did this fall!!

I'll figure it out...work out a system... it'll just get better from here. What a great first experience!

I took today off... I slept till 1pm, LOL... (did I mention that I had a total of 4 hours of sleep the 2 nights previous?? I'll figure it out someday.) ...went & saw Madagascar 2 w/ my youngest... chilled out @ home for the evening. Now I have 5 1/2 days to prepare for my next show that starts a day after we get back from Thanksgiving in Colorado.... then my final holiday show is a few weeks after that... so I have work to do!

Geez, this is way too long! I do go on, don't I?? If you stuck w/ me & made it this far, thank you. :o)

It's late... time for bed... gotta get up & get torching again...

Till next time...

~ Julie

PUBLIC REACTION...

I'm thrilled w/ the reactions I'm getting on my new pieces... in public & online on Lampwork Etc... I've gotten so many Private Messages there from people I've long admired, so I'm just floored... it's just made my week.

Maybe I'm on the right track??

SPEAKING OF GAS...

As I was out filling up propane tanks, I noticed that local "vehicle" gas prices were $1.89!!! Holy mackeral! Isn't that cool? Just in time for a Thanksgiving road trip to Colorado! :o)

& BTW... the Psyche on my final "not quite finished" bead didn't reduce... bummer. I'll keep it in my kiln for my next torching session later today & see if I can reduce it w/out ruining everything else going on around it.

I'll be back...

OUTTA GAS...

Dang-it...

I ran out of propane a few nights ago, but luckily we have a total of 3 tanks between myself & my hubby's homebrewing setup, so we had a partial tank available, so I changed it out & continued on...

Tonight during dinner, I told Brad that it would be just my luck to run out of gas before the weekend, since I'm cramming for my first home show coming up this Friday. Happily, I'll be leaving the house tomorrow morning & would take the 2 empty tanks w/ me to trade out for full ones, so I'll be fine...

Nope.
(I shouldn't have said anything @ dinner!)

I've been torching all day, so I guess I needed a break anyway, LOL, but I was in the final 5 minutes of finishing up a bottle opener handle & noticed that the candles on my torch were slowly getting shorter....... uh-oh. "Wait, please, just 5 more minutes!" Seriously, I kept turning up the gas as the candles got shorter & shorter... all I needed to do was top some plunged dots w/ clear & I was done...

Nope.

Well... the dots were plunged, not topped, it'll still be cute. I was able to get the psyche reduced just in time. LOL. I guess it'll be a "stray" opener... I was making complete sets: Salad Serving set, Appetizer set, Cheese Knife w/ Bamboo cutting board, Bottle Opener & Bottle Stopper...... not that they sell as sets, but it's nice to have full sets, just in case... then I just fill back in what sold.

Anyway... I have tons of other things I need to do... make jewelry, get some sleep, etc... I guess I could use the break. :o)

Later...

TAKING AN EARRING BREAK...

I'm taking a quick break from torching to eat a little lunch, decided to let it get cold while I blog a little bit. :o)

I'm working on making some earring pairs... new style, fashioned after my absolutely favorite pair of earrings that I got 4 years ago @ the Tacoma Art Museum (similar shapewise... the ones I have on are actually gold, not glass). I'm just a tiny bit frustrated... earring pairs are a little tough as they need to match... especially these. They're not a hard shape, but it's a little tough to get a consistent shape &/or size... or if I get the shape & size of a pair perfect, the silver glasses don't strike or reduce to match!!! LOL! It's funny... but not really. :o) Oh well... figure that tomorrow I'll have a bunch of singles that I'll then try to make a match for, right? I've done that before w/ serving utinsils... it works... for the most part.

Anyway... it's lightly sleeting right now. I walked out of my studio & the dog (Diego) wanted outside... so I let him out back & he started to step out on the deck & decided that he really didn't like the weather back there, especially if he had to climb down the stairs... so he came back in & excitedly ran to the front door for me to let him out there... as if the weather was better in the front. Well... it was. LOL. Actually... I think the sleet falling on the pavement/driveway was melting as fast as it hit, whereas the sleet on the deck wasn't... kind of like ice on a bridge...

Time to get... lunch is cold & so is my torch!

Later...