Now I am not speaking of give aways of products or merchandise… we love free goods. All of us love free goods. I am speaking of being invited to a show where there is no charge.

I have begun to think of booth fees/show fees/jurying fees as a measure of the worth of the show… and it seems as though the higher the price paid up front the greater the revenue return. In fact there seems to be a formula that correlates with this theory. So why is that?

Well, I have been reading and researching this question for a while and I think i may have several reasons for this:
1. The price of entry filters out the applicants – The more costly the show, the more aptly afordable the applicant. There are shows I would love to participate in, but at $400-$600 per show the cost is prohibitive for my current business budget.
2. The price of entry shows a respect for the applicant’s trade or art – Charging a fee is a professional transaction, that validates the worthyness of the art or craft that is done.
3. A fee shows artists that the show is a business and it is run in a way to cover expenses of operation.

So now that this is said, charging no fees may seem like a courtesy to the vendors, but signals a warning that the pool of vendors is opened to everyone and anyone, and not just those of us who make our livelihood on the arts. It is also a signal that there is little to no work done to market the event, and even less effort to organize it well.
Now there are surprises in these free events – i have done a few that were very successful – startling, wonderful. And then the majority of the free shows were painful, poorly marketed, poorly attended and a big fat waste of time.

So if you are organizing a show, think about a price, and who you want to attract. Plan well, organize well, market the stuffing out of the event, and do the groundwork to bring in people.

If you are an artist think carefully about where you set up shop. Make each opportunity count.

I have been reading alot about the art and art/craft business and I was surprised to find out that only 5% of the population attend art and craft events. And only 2.5% of the population buy fine art. Those were surprising and staggering numbers to me because I have always surrounded myself with creativity, and creative people. And it seems that most of my family have either collected or produced art.

Now grant it that Aunt Olga’s horrific acrylics of clown faces would probably fall into a category of its own – scaring both children and adults, she was still creative. She was willing to learn to transfer what was in her head to a canvas, and bless one of us with her latest creation. My favorite was her flower series, where she painted plastic tulips dripping from an old metal margarine container (remember metal margarine containers? oh so 60s),

Whether you are an Aunt Olga, or Picasso in the flesh – good for you. Thank you for giving the world your talents, and blessing us with an appreciation of the work and skill it takes to produce beautiful things.

I love these shows, especially the light hearted smiles, relaxed willingness to chit chat, and ask great questions. Art and Art/Craft officionados – thank you for blessing me, and my fellow artists today.

But I have to ask you to laugh with me at my crazyness. Confidently I packed the car up friday night, and saturday morning (yesterday) I drove out to Wagners in that lovely picturesque snowfall… only to find the building buttoned up tight. I pulled out the planner, looked at the cell phone… OMG i was a day early. I have never done that before. (and my hubby hopes I will never do that again!) Sometimes days blur together. Well, i am confident now of the plan and will be set up and waiting for patrons at 10am. If you are around, stop out and visit.

I have just completed a dozen valentines day brooches of wire crochet with bead embroidery… each is a one of a kind treasure.

The official site for the event is:

http://www.avantgardeshows.com/

and Cool Cleveland was also promoting it:

http://www.coolcleveland.com/blog/2012/01/2012-winter-avant-garde-art-and-craft-show/

But in the midst of the crochet fest I also managed to make 6 wire crochet heart shape brooches that have been bead embroidered. Nothing says valentines day like a big old red heart, right?

And on the business front we have a few shows coming up. If you are looking for something exciting here is our schedule:

Saturday, Jan 29th – Avante Garde Show at Wagner’s Country Inn

Friday, Feb 3rd – Felice’s on Larchmere – This is a fairly new restaurant/lounge opened by the famous Fat Cats (tremont) owner. Knowing that his food is to die for, i am certain this is going to be an amazing evening.

We are also a part of a Valentines day studio show in Geauga County on Feb 11th but the details are out yet… so stay tuned.

News Flash: Images in Bloom has been invited to a studio show in Novelty Ohio on February 11th. As I get details I will post them. If you live in or around Geauga County this might be a nice evening out. The studio is home of a magnificent potter, and she has invited only 6-7 artists… a nice variety – should be fun.

I have named my line of purses and totes “Reblooming Bags” partly as a play on my last name of Bloom, and partly because of the upcycling of both plastic bags and old sweaters… they are reblooming in a new form. There is something quite encouraging to take what would otherwise be landfill and bring new purpose and new life to it.

So what have we been doing during the silence between blog posts? Lots of work. Steve has been busy making soap… lots and lots of soap. He is rolling out several new flavors to include clean cotton and dragons blood. Experimentation and recipe tweeking has also occupied his days.

He normally uses a palm oil that is the same color as olive oil, but in the last shipment he received a red palm oil… looked like a deep ruby color oil. After lots of reading he determined there is no chemical difference. The color pigmentation is due to a different palm that the oil is expressed from. So he made several receipes of soap and used the red palm oil as one of the oil components.. the results are amazing. Here is Chammomile Soap done with the red palm:

and the same recipe for chammomile soap done with the regular clear palm oil:

The only difference is the red-ism coloration.
and here is a tray of small mini soaps to be wrapped: