Publicity shot for Sacred brochures and flyers.

What do you think?  Pretty cool shot, huh?  Done by Heather Bartlett, my co-conspirator in Body Politics.  This is currently running parallel to preparations for Philadelphia since we have to have the application for the event that sparked the whole concept mailed by Jan 24, the due date for the Philadelphia shows returns.

I have wrenched myself away from all the goings on around getting ready for the Philadelphia Buyer’s Market Show (Feb 15 – 18).  Just to share, "goings-on" include designing branded business cards, brochures, postcards, and flyers.  Professional ones – not ones I run off.  May all grace flow to Vista Print which has so many "sales" that most of these ad pieces are costing me practically nothing:  order the "free" goods, pay shipping, wait for the next day when another "sale" happens, and repeat.  You can actually go into a sale from the email several times and order and reorder!  If you need any of these items, please try Vista Print.  Their prices are a steal and they do quality work.

Other goings-on include 3 more torsos out of the kiln, a new male torso in the stable of available armatures, 2 masks drying (1 of which split in half – I love it; am trying to figure out how to save it), a trip to Weissart Glass in Kensington, MD, to buy supplies for 3 glass torsos – in a snow storm.  I only went because my glass artist friend from Michigan, Cindy, drove.  It was still quite the adventure, and that doesn’t count spending a lot of time playing with all the lovely possibilities of glass.  I came away with frits, dichroic stringers, regular strings, 8 1/2 sheets of glass, 10 12 x 12 sheets, glass cutter, nichron (sp?) wire, snips to break the scored glass, release wash and glass "confetti."

Yet more "goings-on" (hold on to your hats) include a tastefully nude  photo session (think Dove’s "real women" commercials) with Heather for Body Politics.  This show is really stretching me and challenging me to look at all the ways I close myself off and box myself in because I’m turning 60 and no longer fit the beauty ideal of our culture.  Let me say that the photo shoot was freeing if not necessarily comfortable.  Let me say reading some of the comments on YouTube make me glad I did it anyway.

And still more:  I’m now the happy owner of a very nice convertible hand cart (can use it upright or flat), and, with Husband, have done a ton of research on lighting – final choice to be made Monday.  I’ve learned that in big shows like this the entry fee is only the beginning of fees; one pays for any workshops, for electricity (add in another $189 for 2,000 watts), and must keep a credit card "on file" – "in case of miscellaneous charges which may be incurred."  Do you know how nervous that makes me reading their lists of extra charges?  Add on top of that travel, hotel and food.  This is certainly turning into an adventure!

I won’t tell you what I haven’t accomplished.  It will just make me tired. I have calendared everything that needs to be done and I’m dealing with what I need to deal with on a day to day basis.  I had really hoped to get in there and make many more new pieces than I’ve been able to, but I’m sure one or two marathon sessions will get me at least 10 more pieces.  We also have scheduled time to make at least one glass prototype in the works for the show – keep your fingers crossed!

I’ve uploaded pictures of all the pre-2008 torsos I have available, now called prototypes, on my Sacred site.  Go look!

In the process of researching how one does wholesale shows, I’ve come across lots of interesting information.  On my One coach call-in, I was counseled that this type of show is for generating all the leads you can get your hands on.  I learned from the coordinator for the Rosen Group  (who puts on the show) that no pieces are taken home by anyone – it’s all orders!  I found a great site with professional guidelines: SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths).  Bookmark it.

I’ve been tagged by Sue Doe Nim because she thinks I "might know what my other super secret blog is." Sue – I haven’t a clue!  and I’m not going to get around to doing this meme – but it’s a fun one, and different.  Take a look.

Finally, for all you readers out there, I worked in enough time to read Matt Ruff’s  Set This House in Order:  A Romance of Souls.  Well, I didn’t work it in – I just slept less.  I could hardly put this down.  I thought Fool on the Hill an enchanting story, but this beats  Fool  all together.  It’s a story about multiple personality disorder – and it’s quite the wild ride.  Highly recommended!  Luck for me in my recent book buying spree I also ordered his  Sewer, Gas & Electric:  The Public Works Trilogy.   Set This House was nothing like  Fool.  Can’t wait to get my nose in this next one.

thought for the day: Dr. Emoto put signs on bottles of water that expressed human emotions and ideas.  Some of them were positive, such as "Thank you" and "Love."  Others were negative such as the sign that read "You Make Me Sick, I Will Kill You."  Contrary to the prevailing wisdom of science, the water responded to these expressions of consciousness, even though the words did not create a measurable physical action.  The water with the positive messages formed beautiful crystals; the water with the negative messages became ugly and malformed….What unites all of humanity, in fact all of life, is water…If thoughts can affect the molecular structure of water, what are your thoughts doing to your reality?  Arntz, Chasse, Vicente, What the Bleep Do We Know? Discovering the endless possibilities for altering your everyday reality.