Bad Girls Has Been Very, Very Good To Me

The 13^th Annual Bad Girls of the North is hard for me not to love. I admit a bit of grinchyness was going on with me last week. Maybe it was how busy I made myself, maybe I just dreading setting up, selling my stuff then taking down a 2 day show or maybe after 10 years of Bad Girls shows I’m getting a bit burned out. NAW! How could I even say that?! I talked and laughed so much my voice was hoarse, the Margaritas from the cash bar went down really smooth and I had sales even before the show opened! After I ran home to change and returned before opening time I found several notes attached to pieces that early shoppers and other artists wanted. How can a girl complain with a pocket

full of cash that can treat her family to eating out, Sunday at Bear Tooth Theater Pub and most importantly, being able to pay some bills? Not me –ha! Once again I’m humbled by the outpouring of fantastic customers who are willing to buy my art, share with me their past purchase stories, offer support and encouragement to keep making art and be surrounded by incredibly talented artists for two days. It was a smart move to make smaller pieces, more price conscience

items and sales seemed to trend toward gift giving of unique items. Customers were more thoughtful with their buying, taking a bit longer before turning to the sales table. I doubled the number of “Wind Salmon” I made which I think was over 25(!) hoping to sell about half Friday night and half on Saturday but ALL were sold by 7 p.m. Friday night. They were $65 each but everyone liked them because they were different and customers hadn’t seem anything like them around town. I could have sold anything MOOSE all day and all night long. I ran out of anything Moose by 7 as well. The irony is last year I took almost all of my Moose home with me. What other artists and I talked about was how unpredictable each year can be –we all agreed that the best plan is to “expect the unexpected.” I have lots of pictures to share so I’ll post some today and some in a couple of days. Most were taken before the Show opened (with permission) otherwise there were so many people packed into the event I wouldn’t have been able to share some of my favorite booths. Thank you again to my loyal customers who are also my Blog readers. Enjoy!

Especially for my pottery Bloggers...I LOVE Marie Herdegen's work of Morning Wind Pottery. Yes, I purchased some holiday gifts from her too...

One of my favorite Girdwood artist potters is Kathy Peters. Hand built and wheel thrown functional porcelain pottery.

The best part of having really good sales is being able to take a large share of my proceeds and "share the wealth" and buy Christmas presents for my family and friends AND a new pair of Nancy Nolfi repurposed mittens for me (and somebody else -but I can't say here)! Below is Pizzazz Fiber Art by Nancy.

mmmm, toasty warm AND artful!

xOx

Final Push

Well my carefully planned production schedule wasn’t so well planned. This is the final week before one of my largest Shows of the year, Bad Girls of the North, which opens Friday (tomorrow) from 4-9 and is also on Saturday from 10-5 at the Millennium Hotel in Anchorage. I had counted on having 5 final days of production this week but tomorrow (my fifth day) is needed for set-up –DOH! I scrambled a bit and am working evenings but I think I’ll be able to fit all of my want-to-dos in. Mainly, I wanted to be able to have enough of the special request items at the show that customers have asked for including “Steel Wool” garden sheep. I managed to make two babies, and oh and are they cute! After they’re done I always want to keep these guys for myself. I also wanted to make up enough of the Raven Garden Flags to at least fill the requests I’ve had. The sewing

task had my studio looking like a full-fledged northern sweat shop. I’ve learned I’m not very good at repetitive tasks…not a good trait when you have multiples of things to make. I do try and bend my mind around doing the same thing over and over by surrounding myself with my favorite mug of tea, listening to good music and saying this work suits me much better than a cubicle job. Doing the repetitive task thing also had me a bit worried this week as I’ve been (over) thinking that I will never be employable in a traditional day job ever again and I’d better quit feeling sorry for myself living the up and down life as a full-time artist.

With the heavy production load I desperately needed to make a run to the metal recyclers. The shot of the truck is at the tail end of my load. Thank goodness Daddy-O helped me stuff all of my scrap in the back on a tarp. I use Alaska Metal Recyclers on King Street. That’s also where I buy my copper wire by the pound –a good resource for other artists living in Anchorage. Speaking of Daddy-O, he is taking a personal day tomorrow and helping me set-up Bad Girls! I dread set-up and take down of ANY show and with Willie in Vegas celebrating his big-boy birthday I was short on muscle. Now, with my sweetie helping me I’m going to pretend we’re on a daytime date and it should actually be fun to set-up!

All Hallows Eve

Happy Halloween everybody! We did remember to buy candy but we're just now carving our pumpkin... Took our Vampire boy to the Champ Tae Kwon Do Halloween party last night. What a great place for kids to have a safe, fun and entertaining event to party independently. I just wanted to give Master Yu a special mention and THANKS for hosting this event and to all of his incredibly ENERGETIC apprentices who have the patience of SAINTS to work with all types of kids. Gus had such a great time we had to go get him before he called us to come pick him up! He loves going to Tae Kwon Do and we love what Master Yu and team has done for our kid.

Took my Raven Flag inserts and my Bad Girls post cards to be printed at Office Depot this year. Normally, I print and trim them myself on card stock on our trusty HP laser printer, but the printer is getting up there in years and I'm trying to preserve it as best as I can! From pdf files on a flash drive the office place was cheap and did them while I waited! These were just one of many things on my to-do list I can cross off for the Bad Girls Show countdown. From here on out, every day is well planned production wise so I will have enough of the right inventory and to make sure everything is tagged, priced and ready to hang.

Seems funny to think that we need to make snow in Alaska doesn't it?! This morning at a COOL and crisp 20 degrees the Snow Guns were blasting away with the first snow making of the season at Alyeska. The cannons help ensure a good base for top to bottom runs on the mountain so we can ski well into the Spring.

Queue the Elves!

This is the time of year I would love to have my own family of Oompa-Loompas. I’d have a welding one, one on the sewing machine, an administrative one, a shipping & receiving team, a pricing and tagging pair and several other Oompa-Loompas who would cater specifically to my every need at any given moment. As art makers wouldn’t that make the holiday season grand?! I’m in the thick of it with making enough inventory for the Bad Girls of the North Show next Friday, November 5. My studio is a mix of metal finishing/drying area, pricing and tagging and even the sewing station. I don’t mind the crowded mix, I mind running out of room to safely hang all of the inventory because that’s when things can get scratched or damaged. I’ve got a small pile of black Ravens (on the ironing board) that need to be repainted because I tagged and wrapped them before they were completely dry…

This year I spent a bit more time planning my inventory for the show. My best guess is that with the economy and money being a bit tighter and gift giving needing more consideration I’ve made smaller, more affordable pieces to sell. Last year I noticed that the large $500 plus sculptures didn’t fly off of the grid wall display like they had the past 7 years –a spouse making a purchase wanted to

check with their partner before making any large purchases. I’ll still have larger works this year but just not as many. I’ll also have the popular Raven Garden Flags! Which I just remembered I need to print up more inserts and get some more clear bags…arrrgh. There have been lots of requests since the Spenard Farmers Market for the Flags. They will probably make a good gift that's unique, bright, fun and under $30. New for this season in addition to the bright Batik color mix, Jana at the Quilted Raven had holiday fabric screened with the Ravens on them! The Quilted Raven sells just the Raven panels in kit form and I will sell the set of 5 flags already sewn. The new fabric is lovely and I will bring some to Bad Girls. For now, the studio is filling up and has Wind Salmon hanging on the fabric racks, my large work table covered with ornaments in newsprint on top of steel sculptures waiting to get tagged and priced and a beautiful stack of Raven Garden Flags waiting for that Oompa Loompa seamstress.

Thought my “Wind Raven” sculpture looked great on Katie’s painting wall at the Gallery (below). She sold a large canvas painting and hung the sculpture to fill the space but we both liked the mix of color and texture and just may keep it there at least until (hopefully) it sells!

Crack That Whip

I've been working in pairs this week, first it was for a Guild order. Even though the catalog states "each is unique and will vary slightly" keeping to the original design is very important. To take the pressure off making a perfect sculpture that is representative of the photo the customer sees from the original, I make two and my stomach isn't in knots! Making two at one time lets me choose the one I want to ship and leaves me another for a future order. There is always so much pressure I place on myself when I have a special order or commission and I've found working in a series or pairs helps ease the self imposed stress. I've also been working in pairs so I have enough pieces for both Katie's Gallery and the Bad Girls of the North show coming up, one for her, one for Bad Girls. I've been super inspired lately and in the photo below there is a very cool Octopus that I just had to make that's also going down to Katie's Gallery today. An art girl has to have some fun, right?!

I've also been back and forth to SteelFab this week and "Bicycle Bloom," my public art sculpture, is coming together! All of the bikes are cut out of 1/4" steel plate and have been placed on the flower center. We added the misc. sprockets for placement and I will have plenty of embellishment parts. We'll weld those on in the final stage. After the bikes are welded in place the whole flower head will be wheel abraded and the 6" curved steel tube will be welded to the flower cap center. The stem tube had to be shipped up here and will make the sculpture about 20' tall. It was important that we placed all of the bikes in just the right place so each bike had 4 points of welded contact. I'm meeting with the crane operator at the site to confirm the install plan and talk about how we will negotiate some overhead power lines that did not get buried this year...

With a good couple of days plasma cutting last week I've had plenty of parts that needed welding. I was able to weld up a couple of "History Fish" or "Gilperfish" as I sometimes call them. One is for Katie's Gallery and one is for the Bad Girls of the North. Bad Girls is just around the corner and opens Friday, November 5 from 4-9 and Saturday 10-5. This year I'm a bit sad because Will who normally is so much fun to set up with and is such a good sport (not to mention a STRONG back) is turning 21 that weekend and he and his girlfriend are flying to Las Vegas to celebrate. Yay for him and boo for me, not only am I getting older but I'll miss his help. Hard to believe it's Bad Girls time already I better get busier!

LOVING Fair food isn't a crime!

Mixing business with pleasure is always easy for me at the Fair. I LOVE the Fair. This time of year reminds me of my birthday (which is Friday, September 3rd, hint-hint Daddy-O). I needed to deliver more wall hung Ravens to the Bad Girls of the North fair booth today and agreed to meet 3 girlfriends at the Fair just as it opened for an afternoon of chick Fair fun. Another treat was Bad Girl Vicki had a FREE ticket waiting for me at the gate. My friends and I

all agreed to eat our way through the Fair along the Green, Purple, Red and Yellow trails after reading an article by Julia O'Malley on the good and the bad of the Fair food. Hands down all of us agreed that the deep fried cheese curds ROCK and we'd have been in big trouble if we had them with our beer in the Sluice Box! The sun was shining, we'd been shopping, laughing, dreaming of raising chickens, mini-goats and the curds were hot and the beer was cold... The 2010State Fair Official Beer -Kassik's Cream of the Coop which went down smooth after a tamale, a Gyro and a Fireweed Honey ice cream waffle cone. Normally, I would have fit in Taco Dans and Friar Tucks Corn on the Cobb... Here's a link to the master list of Fair fo

od.

Today a new Alaska State Fair Record was set for this pumpkin at 1,101 POUNDS! Grown by Dale Marshall of Anchorage -yaay Anchorage, usually these monsters are grown by people in the Valley. Way to go Dale!!

Gallery Palette

Last night we were able to start painting the newly prepped walls in Katie’s Gallery. Katie is much more color brave than I am! At the paint store she knew exactly what she wanted in terms of the paint colors for her new space. While I was leaning towards taupe neutrals, she picked colors like “Mexican Café Yellow” and “Reflecting Pool Blue” –and last night all are working together beautifully! It’s been fun to see the transformation of the new space. We’re hoping for an October 1, First Friday Grand Opening –barring any inspection issues with the Muni. On the positive, it’s an all licensed and professional crew that the building owner is using, and to keep costs down Katie (and volunteers) are helping with the minor decorating details. Speaking of volunteers –I have one sweet Art Husband, even on his birthday last night he knocked out an entire section of wall painting! Katie treated him to his favorite sweet from Cake Studio (the bakery next door to the new Gallery) after we finished and all three of us sat on the steps outside in the lovely evening air (no rain!!) and watched as people held their hands to the windows of the new space trying to get a peek at what new business was going in the building.

As the Spenard Farmers Market nears it’s final Saturday for me (this Saturday 8/28) it was time to deliver some new metal work up the Alaska State Fair, Bad Girls of the North booth. You’d never know Anchorage had set a rain record by the incredible blue skies we’ve had the last few days –let’s hope it holds for the Sate Fair! The Bad Girls booth is next to my all-time favorite food booth… TAMALES! I (heart) Tamales :o)

Willie’s new toy (tool) box arrived yesterday. He spent the afternoon unloading all the goodies that any mechanic (or artist) lusts after. I’m excited because whether

it’s cell phones, fishing gear or new tool boxes we always manage a way to get the hand-me-downs -and his “old” tool box is pretty sweet and looks fine right where it’s at –in our garage!

Bad Girls Gone Good!

This was my best Bad Girls of the North Show yet. I'm happy to say there were others who had fantastic customers as well, including Vicki, one of the Show organizers! I also had the best booth neighbor, Linda Smith who makes weaved beaded jewelry under the name, Mistress of Chaos. She and I worked together to set up an open style, easy to get in and out of spaces. Customers could flow from our booths without any walls or barriers. She uses incredible vintage props like hat boxes and small vintage suitcases to create various heights to show off her jewelry. Linda had created several romantic vignettes with antique mirrors, fabric and lighting on two large tables that could accompany several customers at once. My large, corner booth enabled me to have an open format with the gridwall flat against the ballroom walls and customers didn't feel boxed in by a traditional booth shape. By the time we were set up there were so many customers surrounding (and purchasing!) Linda's booth I couldn't get a good photo of our space!  My booth was a nice, corner space that allowed for the gridwall to be spread out and I was able to set up a couple of tables that held portfolio binders of work. Many people stopped to look through the work and inquire about future commissions. I had a small bowl set out with dark chocolate Hershey Kisses because the bright purple foil catches their eye and gives grateful customers a little sugar boost while shopping! The photo of my booth isn't the best, it was taken in the middle of setting up, but the design worked -I started with 4 FULL, large bicycle boxes of inventory and left last night with only a 1/2 full one! I'm also confident that there will be a few customers who will be calling in the next few days for those remaining pieces. Some customers wanted to purchase work after the Show to surprise a partner or friend. 

Setting up Bad Girls of the North Show Friday, the ballroom was transformed in a couple of hours. There were several places to Shop in additional booths outside of the Ballroom as well as another banquet room that featured the work of Christi Jones of Fairweather Prints. I wish I would have had more time to get some better photos of the great booths and talented artists, but honestly as soon as those doors opened to the public Friday at 4pm , it was non-stop sales until closing Saturday night! woo-hoo! Another bonus was set up for Willie and I went smooth and did NOT involve below zero temps. It remained in the 30's and made for load-in and load out a breeze and not a FREEZE. 

Thanks to all my loyal customers, fellow artisans and friends, it was a VERY GOOD Show!

Of course we had the traditional post Show dinner at LaCabania and Daddy-O was my designated driver.

oXo

Feeling Like A Bad Girl!

Good thing too, the 2009 Bad Girls of the North Show opens today at 4:00 p.m. and I’m READY! My hands are scratched up from wire and puffy, caffeine has never tasted so good and I was wide awake at 4:30 a.m. unable to get back to sleep. This is one of my favorite art events to do. Vicki and Carol, the show’s organizers strive for a first class event for both the artists and customers. The venue historically has been held in a major hotel ballroom creating a professional, festive atmosphere and which enables customers to enjoy FREE appetizers and a no host bar. So to say the least, tomorrow morning, I normally don’t have a voice left and I’m moving a little slow –but all in the good spirit of bringing ART to the people. Willie boy is on line again to help me load in and set up. With both of our trucks we should do it in one trip. The weather is totally cooperating being balmy and above freezing. I can hardly believe our weather luck –last year it was so cold the steel grid wall racks froze to Willie and my hands and I lost my load of racks on 9^th Avenue on the icy road! Gus has been wishing for snow but no luck yet here in the Anchorage bowl. Gus says our weather must be  “stuck!” Fine by me, at least until we tear down tomorrow night.

Above are a couple of pictures of another steel/clay work that will be at the Show. It’s called “Sedna, the Inuit Goddess of the Sea.” I used metal kelp and starfish to hold the ^04 fired clay work in place. I really like the direction of the work and hopefully will work on some more pieces in other types of clay, soon... I have been inspired for years of the Inuit legend of Sedna and would like to experiment with her form as soon as I can get more clay and glazes ordered.  OK, I’m ready to start my long day, send your positive energy and thoughts to the Universe's Creative Spirit Guardians, blessing all of the Bad Girl Artists to have kind customers, approved credit cards, good company and renewed friendships, oh and tasty Alaskan Amber & Ales on tap!