BMAC and Vacation Begins!

Coffee in a New Orleans French Market mug, the happy morning sounds of J with her Gramma and Grampa with his dog as music. I am barely, sluggishly awake. It seems to be 9:00 am here in Polson, Montana which makes it 11:00 am in Atlanta. I can't remember the last time I slept till the equivalent of 11:00 am. It is officially VACATION here in Siyeh Studio, but I missed posting on Tuesday after the Buyer's Market as I drove till midnight Monday and left at 6:30 am Tuesday for a full day driving and unloading. And then Wednesday I was so busy with only-day-before-vacation appointments and shipping two really big orders that I never got to it. Yesterday I was on a plane much of the day (up at 4:15 am and at the airport by 5:30) and then driving from Missoula to Polson, unpacking just enough to find the swimsuits and head for the lake. Ah, bliss.

So I must begin today with a bit of work, and, as a treat to myself, I post. First, a review of this year's Summer Buyer's Market. It was a GREAT show for me. After the disappointing sales at ACRE in May, the seemingly very light traffic at the summer BMAC, and the historically lower sales numbers at the summer show as opposed to the winter show, I did not have high expectations for August in Philly. But orders on Friday were good, as they were on Saturday. Sunday morning I was within striking distance of matching 2006 summer sales. My goal was to increase by 10%, and my stretch goal was to increase by 20%. I hit the 20% goal by 2:30, and I will never grumble about the show going to 4:00 pm again as I did 28% of my total sales between 3:30 and 4:00 resulting in 85% increase in sales by the close of the show over last summer and 98% of total sales--pre, during *and* post sales numbers for the 2007 winter show. And I don't even have post figures for the summer show yet, have to wait a month or so to see what else comes in. It was a *very* good show.

Best sellers were the new work with Elliott Metal Works--both the lattice pieces and the new stands. I had a 10 X 20 booth and put even less in it than I usually do in 10 X 15 spaces, and I think it was my best booth ever. I still haven't replaced my digital camera so this photo was taken with the iPhone. It's still a pretty good shot.

Wednesday, after a hellish day driving Tuesday, I shipped out the first of the orders from the show. One of my best customers, who has three galleries, asked if he could have many of the pieces I had at the show and get them shipped to two of the galleries before I left for vacation. It was over 90 degrees in the shipping annex (aka the garage) and it was a very complicated order, but I think I got everything sorted out okay. Fingers crossed for today's delivery to both locations.

Now today I need to send out printed order confirmations to everyone who placed orders (my handwriting and math at the show are both terrible), and I need to put together my ad for November's Fired Arts and Crafts magazine. I suppose I should be asking my publisher to cover some of my advertising costs--the ad is for the book, after all. Then, vacation. Flathead Lake, Missoula, Glacier Park, bliss, bliss, bliss. See you in two weeks!