Bead & Button 2010

I know a number of you have been waiting patiently to hear about the"big" show.  I arrived in Milwaukee and pretty much went right over to the Midwest Center to start unpacking.  I did take a moment to make a quick run through the Bead Dreams exhibit and was pleasantly surprised at winning 3rd place.  I never realized the competition was judged before the show began!  Lots of amazing work in those cases!

 

Because I flew to Milwaukee, I had to ship my items.  Picture me in the little space inside the booth - with 2 large boxes.  I literally felt boxed in (sorry, couldn't resist). My first surprise was that I didn't have room on the table for my display trays and the shelf behind them.  The table was too narrow so I had to improvise. Normally, the busts on the left hand side would be on that shelf.  But I resolved it by making a quick trip to the local Officemax store. It was then all set and ready for the shopping preview.  

First of all I want to say thanks to everyone for stopping by - friends, new customers, old customers, teachers and facebook buddies.   It was great meeting my BAO mates Carol Dean, Lisa Peterson and Mak and being able to see their beautiful work in person.  Also, thanks to the polymer community that was so generous in giving their time, offering support (much needed relief) and their forever smiling faces!  Beth, Alaina and Ponsawan - your kindness was much appreciated.  Oh yeah, and thanks so much to Julie Picarello for lending her dremel in a pinch!  And my booth mate extraordinaire - Debbie Kollatz - thanks for being so flexible with your time!

I feel like the show was one huge blur.  So much energy went into the preparation and the show was over in a flash.  Although, there was that one very long day!  Deciding to do the Bead and Button show I knew was a bit out of my comfort zone.  So many firsts - first time flying to a show, first time shipping to a show, and many decisions to be made.  The expenses were higher than I had figured - hotel, flight, shipping, food, booth fee, furniture, lighting, shuttles, taxi, etc . Hindsight, as you know, is 20/20 and some mistakes were made.  But it was a HUGE learning experience.  (Next week I plan on blogging about the biggest problem - hopefully it'll be resolved by then!) But it was a show I always knew I would not turn down if the opportunity presented itself.  I also knew that I couldn't necessarily judge the success of the show based on sales alone.  That being said, thankfully my costs were covered.  I was grateful for that.  And wholesale contacts have been made, I was approached to do a trunk show and I also received an unusual website proposal.   We'll see how it all pans out . . . down the road. So in that regards, it's hard to measure the end result - time will tell. 

And as you know, the show is known for all the wonderful classes they hold.  And from what I saw, they were amazing.  Classrooms everywhere - I even saw full bench set-ups in a "show only" metals studio.  There were people working on projects everywhere.  At night, I'd see groups of them beading on the 2nd floor of the Hyatt.  They were even there Sunday night (after the show ended)!  Ott lights and optivisors were plentiful.  One woman spoke of a class she took using size 15 beads as she continued beading into the night.  It was such a tease knowing that all these great classes were going on and I couldn't participate.  I had to live vicariously through my roommate, Linda Roberts, who took 4 classes.  Her last class was a metals class with Rio Grande.  She came back to the room wearing two new bracelets and a pair of earrings. She was so excited - a sure sign of a great class.

I hadn't been able to blog about the show as I've been busy preparing for our yearly Jimmy Buffet weekend and getting a few orders out the door.  Menus to plan, house to straighten out, last minute shopping and a few outdoor plantings left to make. But it's probably my favorite weekend of the year.  Good friends, good food, and lots of things to laugh about.  It is one happy weekend!  I can hear the music calling . . .  have a great weekend!