this is what it was like most of the day - AWESOME!

It was my first time participating in a juried Art Show (as opposed to local craft) so this was very exciting for me!  I was so pumped i didn’t sleep at all the night before and adrenalin kept me going strong throughout the show… i dropped like a stone of course the minute i got home.

just arrived...

We setup between 7-10am.  My friend Dex was kind enough to drive us all there and back in his Shaggin’ Wagon:  me, my sister Frances (she’s one of two women in Ottawa with a blonde afro i think) who’s my best sales and marketer – makes up for all the jewellery she steals; the Teenager (who up til then had never before seen 630am on a Saturday); and my neighbour Sean who was kind enough to come and set up the table before heading off to his day job.  (Didn’t he do a fantastic job?  If you’re in Ottawa – hire him!  he does fantastic tablescaping and merchandising for retail, shows and parties plus is one of the sweetest people i know.  Just email me for his digits)

tablescaping...

People arrived early, helped themselves to coffee and lined up calmly waiting to get into the show.  All i know was one minute i was wandering aound trying to get a look at everyone else’s tables before the show started then next thing I knew the doors opened and we were bombarded with people. Things didn’t slow down until after 2pm.

Everyone was so cheerful and interested (and appreciative!) of the work that went into creating our glass beads.  I had binder on the table explaining the beadmaking processs which seemed to answer most of the “How?” questions.

We can’t wait to do this again next year.  For more pictures from the show click here.  Thanks to Valentina and Lou for taking all these pics.

At the end of the show the Teenager pulled the names of the winners for the door prizes.  Four lucky people won some very cool prizes from the Ottawa Glass Bead Artists: 

• Grand prize: collection of handmade glass beads from the participating artists plus the book 1000 Glass Beads
• Other prizes: three of the artists donated studio time to give lampwork lessons to the winners

Congratulations to the winners!