Maria Langer | 📝💎🌵🛥️Jan 5

I think one of the reasons I'm cranky this morning is because of the bad dream I had last night. I don't usually remember my dreams, so when I do, they tend to stick with me. This one seems to indicate how stressed I am about the upcoming art show in Cave Creek.

Yesterday, I got an email saying that set up would begin at 3 PM on Thursday. That gives us roughly 2 1/2 to 3 hours of daylight to set up. That should be fine for me, but my friend Janet needs considerably longer. (1/5)

Show threadMaria Langer | 📝💎🌵🛥️Jan 5
In the dream, I arrived at 3 PM and discovered that just about all of the other artists had already set up, including my friend. I got my "Booth" assignment, which this promoter does not release in advance, and went to find my spot. Instead of it being a 10 x 10' area outside, it was inside a building and consisted of three shelves in a cabinet. I was livid. That's when I woke myself up. (2/5)
Show threadMaria Langer | 📝💎🌵🛥️Jan 5
Understand that the last two shows I did were very disappointing. I actually lost money on the one in Seattle, where I had to compete with 26 other jewelry artists in a venue with only 107 artists total. The show in Litchfield Park was under attended and I barely broke even. That was right before Christmas; if you can't do well then, when can you sell? (3/5)
Show threadMaria Langer | 📝💎🌵🛥️Jan 5
I've been working hard to "up my game" and create finer, better handcrafted jewelry products so I can get accepted into better, fine art shows. Unfortunately, people don't seem willing to pay for these items. Silver is more than $70/ounce now. I can't lower my prices and still make enough money to continue #silversmithing. But I also can't continue if I don't sell enough to cover the costs of these shows. I'm starting to rethink my strategy. (4/5)
Show threadMaria Langer | 📝💎🌵🛥️
Anyway, I'm stressed out and it's showing up in my dreams. I'm on a waitlist for another show in early February but if this show doesn't do well, I won't do the other show if I'm called up off the waitlist. I've also already decided that I'm not doing shows in Arizona anymore. It's not worth the effort of dragging all my equipment down here, let alone setting up and tearing down at disappointing shows. #SupportArtistsAndMakers (5/5)
Jan 5 at 1:34pmWeb
Show threadBashaJan 5
@mlanger
Many craft shows these days seem to be all jewelry. And, folks don’t always appreciate the quality details. I’m an attendee, not a vendor, but I can imagine how frustrating this situation is. And, it’s crazy how expensive silver is getting.
Show threadMaria Langer | 📝💎🌵🛥️Jan 5
@HubCityLocal A good show promoter will limit the number of jewelers via the jury process. I'm certain that I was waitlisted for Tubac because the promoter had enough jewelers who had attended the show in the past. I was invited to Seattle after being waitlisted; they had extra spots and were desperate to fill them so they filled them with jewelers. I suspect the same thing will happen if I get called in for Tubac. Also, these are not craft shows. They are art shows, which SHOULD be different.