Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Look Ma! I'm On The Internet!

I'm on the list of vendors for Summerfest! Yay!

I already knew I'd been accepted, of course, and I don't usually go looking to toot my own horn, but for some reason I've been really wanting to see my name up on that list. Ever since I got my acceptance letter, I've been checking back on that website waiting anxiously to see my name on it. And now there it is!

Summerfest starts tomorrow, and I'm getting really nervous. I need to sell a lot of stuff in order to make it worth my while to have gone, and to raise the money for another big show and maybe some extra to put toward the down payment on our new house. I don't know what's going to sell, though, and so I'm casting desperately about for ideas and inspiration. I did a bunch of T-shirts for toddlers yesterday, and I also overdyed the kids' T's that I had previously dyed in red, orange, and yellow. I spiraled those and overdyed them in black, and they came out so marvelous that I want to rush right out today and buy some more T's to dye like that. The black dye I have dyes purple on the edges, so when it mixed with the red, orange, yellow, and white, it produced greens and blues and purples as well. The effect is quite stunning. I'd post a pic, but our hard drive crashed yesterday and nothing's reinstalled yet. I don't usually go out for tie-dye myself, but I took one look at that shirt and went "WOW! I want one!!" I'll be up really late tonight trying to get them all done since they have to be done in two phases, but they are so gorgeous that I think it'll be worth my time.

I dyed some tote bags, on the advice of someone from the Craft Show Crafters list. The ones I did with low-water immersion came out quite well; the patterns are interesting and look almost floral. Just for fun I got a pack of 5 teeny tiny tote bags, and they are so cute that I think they might sell well, so I'll go get some more today. My brother-in-law says muslin photographic backdrops would be cool, so I got some 120" wide muslin and I'm going to try to dye one today.

I'm not really happy with the rainbow stuff I did yesterday, although FH says he likes it. I may re-dye it today. Rainbow stuff sells really well for some reason. I don't particularly like rainbow stuff, but I enjoy the challenge of making it. (When I was a kid I used to dye rainbow eggs at Easter time, just to see if I could.) I also enjoy the money it brings in.

My tagging gun, which I ordered before I left on vacation, still hasn't arrived. Whether that is because the postman just didn't bring it after my vacation hold expired, or whether it is because it was not shipped in time, remains to be seen.

UPDATE: Today's Herald-Journal has a Summerfest program in it, and my name's in that too! Yay!