Full Circle ~ Life Lately

Summertime! Running Tangleweeds really creates such a dichotomy during the summer. Lazy summer days? Ha! One things that's been made vividly apparent to me is that July may actually be the busiest month of the year for me (even a bit busier than December.) But it's been a really great summer thus far and I'm excited for what the rest may hold. Especially my five day camping trip next week! Below are some snapshots from my days throughout the last couple of weeks.

Pictured below, some sneak peeks of new designs that are coming soon, later in September! One of the biggest challenges for me, in the last, oh I'd say year and a half, is finding the time to create, photograph and roll out new designs while keeping up with all of my current work. I have to say, it's a challenge that I didn't really anticipate when I set off down this handmade jewelry business path, but it is one that I'm better learning to rise to.

(that last photo includes some older designs too)

I'm hoping to put together a post about the Gravenstein Apple Fair that I vended at last weekend.  It was a wonderful event that I was kind of sad to see end. I'm already making plans for next year's fair! In the meantime, time for me to get some lunch. . . 

Lake Merritt Weekend

This past weekend was so lovely. I think I spent nearly every waking moment of daylight outside. On Saturday I went to Lake Del Valle with my sister and her kids for a day of sun and swimming. Then, on Sunday, Jeff and I walked around Lake Merritt, explored the gardens there, had lunch at Grand Lake Kitchen and just had a slow-lazy day. Some pictures from Sunday are below. 

LWM ~ Jumpers and Safety Glasses

I've had some long days in the studio the last couple of weeks and music is one of those things that keeps me focused and motivated. Sometimes though, it's not the high energy stuff I prefer, but more calm and melodic music, like the wonderful songs by the sisters Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Their music has been the backdrop for much of the designing of my fall collection. 

Wearing ~ summery dresses and safety glasses! Well, okay, the safety glasses pretty much get worn at some point everyday. I found this jumper dress at a thrift shop a week ago and knew it was meant for me. It was long, ankle length and a bit matronly, nothing a little hem-length adjustment couldn't fix!

Making ~ In between making sessions with my assistant, I've been a busy bee on the new collection. . . Here's another little sneak peek of some of the color and stone elements from what will be the fall collection.

Happy Thursday!

Renegade Craft Fair - San Francisco

This past weekend was the Renegade Craft Fair at Fort Masson in San Francisco. What a great weekend! I didn't take as many photos as usual, but trust me, it was a veritable smorgasbord of amazing handmade goods and independent design. This year the event was in TWO buildings (both the Festival and the Herbst Pavilions) which basically meant double the number of vendors! I can't thank my wonderful Tangleweeds collectors enough for all of the love and support at the event!

As always, I had my trusty assistant, Alice there with me (on Saturday) so I could walk around and take in the sites and pick up handmade goodies from other makers. I snagged a new dress from Make it Good Apparel (out of Portland), delicious jams from Lemon Bird Preserves and luxurious soaps from Etta and Billie. I'll try to post a Listening-Wearing-Making post with the dress the next time I wear it. 

In the meantime, I'm getting really focused on the new collection, and getting so excited to share it with you guys! I will admit, I am not quite as far along in the whole new collection process as I would like to be, but I'm trying to accept where I'm at and do what I can. So much of running a small business is about recalibrating goals and expectations around one very important and limited resource: TIME! 

With that said, I'm off to the workbench. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Full Circle ~ Time off to Play

Last week I took a few days off to have my nephew, Noah stay with me, and to simply re-charge my batteries (so to speak). It was a good reminder of how important it is to take time off to play! Pictures below are from some of our adventures. Now, gotta get back to prepping for Renegade this weekend!

top to bottom:

1. Noah in a giant chair at the Exploratorium in SF.
2. Otis on his favorite "poof."
3. Me, lounging with a good book and country music on the stereo.
4. Arlo and Otis: the best example of laziness in my life.
5. Peace sign at the Albany Bulb.
6. Two paintings of Joanne Ludwig's at her First Friday opening in Oakland. 

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Full Circle ~ Selling at Craft Fairs

Sunday was the annual Temescal Street Fair and it was a great success! I just want to thank everyone who came out and said hi and supported my small handmade business. Your support means the world to me and it's how I'm able to do what I love for a living. 

I got my start selling my handmade jewelry at craft fairs, trunk shows, and other forms of in-person selling events (which are often called "Pop-ups" nowadays) about 10 years ago. For all their hard work and challenges, I am still a HUGE proponent of them as a way to break into selling your handmade goods. There are so many advantages to them. You get direct feedback from customers (and potential customers) about your products, you get to experiment with how best to merchandise your products, and you get to become well-versed in how to talk about what you make (not as easy as some might imagine.)

The more I've participated in and sold at all variety of arts and crafts fairs and events, the more comfortable I've become with selling my work. That can be a hard thing for some makers/artists to work out in their heads, and as with most things it only gets easier the more you do it. I would encourage those out there who are curious about selling their own wares at craft fairs to give it a try! It can be kind of scary and intimidating at first, but there are great resources out there to help you prepare for your big day. I would also encourage makers out there who have tried fairs and feel like they were a big failure, to try again, but first scrutinize what it is you're doing and look for the holes. Could your merchandising be better? Could you offer a more diverse price range of products? Do you need to work on your salesmanship? Or maybe you need to try a different type of event? 

I make that last point about trying events again even if you've already tried and felt like it was a miserable failure because generally most of us makers who look like a "big success" have had countless events that were BIG TIME FAILURES. Myself included. When I said at the beginning of this post that I got started selling at fairs 10 years ago, that time span is what it is because I first got started, vended for a couple of years at events and then realized that I needed and wanted to pull back out of events until I figured a lot out about my brand. I took two years off from selling (but continued to sell on Etsy and on consignment at a limited number of shops) and then re-entered the world of fairs and events much more prepared. But even then it was still a very bumpy ride. 

I'm writing this post because after yesterday's Temescal Street Fair I'm feeling very buoyed up by all of the compliments and general love for Tangleweeds. And I've been meaning to write about vending at fairs for quite some time. I'm also considering putting together an e-course of sorts all about vending at fairs. Over the years I've been approached by many fellow makers seeking advice on this topic. As I mentioned earlier, I think there are some great resources out there already that cover this arena, but I think that many of these resources fall short of covering many common scenarios. Or I might turn it into a blog series. Not sure just yet, just something percolating in the background of my mind while I work on production for the Renegade Craft Fair. 

In the meantime, happy Monday everyone!

LWM ~ Biscuits

Listening-Wearing-Making is back! I'm trying out this whole new daily schedule thing in an attempt to stay more on top of some things I really like and want to do, but that seem to fall through the cracks, like blogging. This week I've been listening to a lot of Kacey Musgraves's newest album, Pageant Material. If you love your country clever and with a twist (and open/liberal minded) then you'll love her music!

Wearing - I wasn't sure what the theme was here for this week, and then I realized this week has been all about thrifted goodies! I few posts back I mentioned how I'm becoming more intentional about what I buy for my wardrobe, more stealthy and more planning, because yes, a girl can have too many printed skirts. It's also sort of lead me circuitously to re-discovering some goodies I already own, like these sandals I thrifted a couple of years ago and barely wore. 

Making ~ This week I've been really upping the production in preparation for Renegade. But because I know many of you are curious about how the new line is coming along, I thought I'd share a (messy) photo of some of the in-progress stuff from my fall collection. Which, by the way, is looking like I'll have released by the beginning of September! 

I hope everyone is having a grand week! It's been busy busy with Tangleweeds for me. I'm taking a few days off next week to hang with my nephew, take him swimming and to the Exploratorium. As a fellow small business owner once said to me, when you work for yourself and you take time off, you don't really end up working less, it just all sort of gets pushed to either side. You work a bit harder before and a bit harder afterwards and it all sort of equalizes. 

Here's to a happy holiday weekend everyone!

Full Circle ~ Gearing up for Renegade Craft

A quick little post this week as I'm gearing up for the Renegade Craft Fair for the next three weeks. Such a great event! If you've never come out for it, I highly recommend it, just come early as it does get crazy-crowded. Below, a few snippets from the last week, craft fairs and small moments. I hope everyone's having a wonderful week. I am thoroughly enjoying our summery weather and the summery dresses and floppy hats that it demands!

Full Circle ~ New Fairs and New Plans

Ahh, the summer. I love the summer. I love the warm weather and just the all-around feeling of "summer break." Except as an adult it's not really summer "break", is it?! 

The other day I sat down to plan out my working schedule for the rest of June and all of July and I couldn't believe how chock-a-block full it is! While I'm feeling pretty good about Tangleweeds' trajectory this year, the feeling of overwhelm does creep in sometimes. But this summer, I'm attempting to take the reigns on my time a bit more, hence the scheduling for the next month and a half. The goal: work my booty off through July and then lay low (or lowish) for the month of August. I feel like it'll be good timing too 'cause it'll allow me to re-charge my batteries before the lead-up to the holidays really gets into full swing. 

Above, components for earrings. All hand-forged!

And, below, a booth shot from a couple weekends back at the Fairfax Festival. That was my first time taking Tangleweeds to that event, and it was a great one! The second photo down shows a woman using my River Rock Lariat design as a sunglasses holder. I really like her ingenuity with this design. It's also a fun little pre-cursor to some future eyeglass lanyard designs that will be coming out in the fall for Tangleweeds!

Above, some gorgeous calendula flowers I picked up at the farmer's market near my studio. 

As you can imagine, I've been spending quite a lot of time at my studio lately: whether it be working on new designs for fall (see last photo) or catching up on paperwork, or creating multiples of the popular Tangleweeds designs, there's always so much to do. I've put quite a bit of effort into making my studio feel like a second home this year, and it's paid off. While it's not a huge space, it is a space that I am excited to arrive at every morning and a bit wistful to leave at the end of every day. The two photos directly below shows different sections of my studio.

Well, it's back to the workbench for me! Any local folks looking to grab a great deal on OOAK and discontinued Tangleweeds pieces should head on out to the Treasure Island Flea this weekend. I'm going to have lots of theses pieces discounted up to 50% off! Hope to see some friendly faces =)

LWM ~ Old Favorites

Listening ~ This week I've been getting re-aquainted with some old favorites, like Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter. This album of her's is really great. I couldn't find the song I wanted to share, but this one is a goodie too: twisty, moody and resplendent with her haunting vocals. 

Wearing ~ My current favorite piece of Tangleweeds jewelry: the Double Moon Lariat with a Susan Eastman hand-dyed silk blouse. If you're a local to Oakland, Susan sells at the Lake Merritt farmer's market fairly regularly during the spring and summer. 

Making ~ Grace earrings. These have proven to be one of my most popular styles of earrings this year. They're friendly on the pocket book too! This is a progress shot, of many different color-ways. (And actually put together by my assistant!) 

This weekend I've got the Fairfax Festival keeping me busy. Hope to see some of you there!