Tragedy struck our family in the fall of 2007 when Allen lost the job he’d had for 15 years. We’d always been able to have the privelege of enough income from his job for me to be a stay-at-home mom. But while Allen looked for work, I had to become the income provider. So that brought major changes to our clay business. Everything was re-evaluated in the light of job upheaval and impact on our kids. So we pulled back from teaching, writing, and production so that I could focus on earning an income.
It was an interesting six months. Allen became a house husband and was home day and night for our kids, who at the time were all in their mid teens to early twenties. It was a special time, when the family bonded close together to make it through the difficultiy. Allen found another job, and I continued to work, but part time. That gave me opportunity to go back to the clay I love so much.
We decided just to stay local and only do one show: The Riverfront Market. I’d pulled out the pictures and reviewed the previous year’s booth changes. So many lessons were learned, that really made a difference in our business. One of them was the purchase of a Sharp cash register. It’s an invaluable piece of equipment and worth the $200 I paid for it. If it broke down tomorrow, I’d go right out and buy another one.
Something else we tried was a wall hanging, with three of my products displayed in large photos. I used my color printer to put the images onto t-shirt transfers, and then ironed the transfers onto white duck cloth. This needed very little sewing, as I used iron-on hem tape for the sides of the cloth. All I had to sew were the hems at the top and bottom. I cut some 1/2 inch diameter dowels, and put little wooden star shapes on the ends to keep the dowels from sliding out of the hems on the cloth. These work very, very well! And they roll up for storage which is a huge bonus. I made two of these, and they were very inexpensive when compared to getting professionally printed vinyl ones.
I’d decided to try using only half the number of bifold doors for the show, since my stock was fairly low. You can see the two wall hangings I’d made, and they are visible from at least the 20 feet away. I hang my mirror among the stock now, and people do use it more than they did when it was on the table. They seem to feel more comfortable with it there.
On this side of the bifold doors you can see a bracelet rod I’d made. It was a necessity, as I couldn’t get the bracelets to hang right from the display cards.
It’s made from an empty paper towel tube! I put some sand inside it to give it some weight, so it wouldn’t flop around in the wind. I covered the ends with card stock, then used the same paper to cover all the way around the tube.
I glued on a pretty tapestry ribbon to the ends of the tube to cover where the two papers meet. Strung artistic wire around the ends next to the tapestry ribbon to create a hanger.
I’d wanted to display my newer chokers and customized slide pendants, so the ceramics took on a new look with some of my clothing. A sleeveless mock turtle went on the shorter vase, while a lovely beaded shawl wrapped around the taller vase.
The table cover underwent a change from black to white to coordinate better with the overall coloring of the booth. It was just a matter of getting white top sheets and placing those under the white lace tablecloth. I’d also added rubber mat pieces to the back of the table where I stand. That makes a big difference on my feet.
