Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Comic-Con Begins!

Today is Wednesday, Preview Night for Comic-Con International, San Diego.  (The con's official name.)  The table is set up, except for small tweaks.  I have to go to my "real" job until 1:00pm then pick up DH and off we go!  He is working as a high level staff person and I am an exhibitor.  A real family affair.

I feel blessed.  Not only do I get the fun and profit of being the "Madam" at The Massage Booth, but I also get to sell stuff off the table.  Some of the stuff I purchased for resale.  (I'm a middleman!)  I sell basic, inexpensive steampunk items to complete (or start!) your costume.  The real blessing, though, is that I also get to sell stuff that I made.  I knitted a whole bunch of hats over the last year, some for people, some for dolls.  Today I have them on display and ready for sale.  There is even a ball-jointed doll (BJD) meetup at the show where I can bring my models and a couple hats to show off.  I'm also bringing flyers.  I might get a sale or too from them.

Making money from knitting is a difficult thing.  You may make a beautiful lace shawl, with an elaborate pattern that took you weeks or months to make.  But you can't sell it for anything worth the time it took you to make it.  These little hats don't take very long so I can charge a price that reflects my time, materials, and the niche market they belong in.  If you paid $300 for your doll, you don't mind too much if you pay $50 for a gorgeous and unique hat for her.

Time to go!  It will be a distracting shift at work, then I can do the real job for the rest of the week.  Have a great one!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Getting Ready for Comic-Con, part 2

So, the preparations continue for the con.  I have knit and felted seven new hats so far.  They still need to be decorated before next week.  Tuesday is set up day.  This will be a leisurely activity, relative to other years.  Wednesday is Preview Night.  Thursday is the beginning of Comic-Con proper.  I usually set up on Wednesday after work, work up a really good sweat, and then  smile and sell stuff off the table.  Setting up on Tuesday will allow me to arrive on Wednesday, park at the hotel, and then smile and watch stuff fly off the table in a flurry of sales.  Life is good!

I look forward to life after the con, too.  I plan to make me the Stephanie Tee after I finish the Goth Girl Sweater for my 8-year old granddaughter. 

Her sweater was a challenge from the beginning.  The parameters were that it was to be black and pink, similar in style to her cousin's that had just been finished.  She wanted the colors to blend, rather than big stripes.  The original design involved lace, but lace disappears on black.  So I redesigned the whole thing.  I decided, after several false starts, that a basic feather-and-fan pattern would work.  After another false start (due to not starting in the *middle* of the fan part) I finished the body and sleeves, added button bands and gave it to her at her birthday party.

It was too tight around her middle.  *sigh*  I took off the button bands but I didn't have enough yarn left to re-do them bigger, so I went to my trusty KnitPicks.com  to order more and found that they had discontinued both the begonia pink and ebony black.  I ordered a skein of black.  The new black is a blacker black, but it was ok on the bands.  One band, done.  About halfway up the second one I ran out again!  Today I ordered another skein and that should be the last one.  An hour or two of knitting, sew on the buttons, and Voila!  The (cursed!) sweater will be done.  If I can, I'll finish it before the con and give it back to her there.

So, I still have hat labels, snake oil bottle labels, signage, and staging the boxes for the move to the con.  But heck!  I still have a week!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Getting Ready for Comic Con

I am blessed to be an Exhibitor at Comic Con International in San Diego.  About a dozen years ago I started the Massage Booth with the cooperation of the committee and the board of directors (some of whom were clients).  Since then, The Massage Booth has been a rousing success.  We have 3 dynamite women who, for long hours, do chair massage on tired members, helping them survive the con.  When I injured myself doing massage, that part of my life was over, but I wanted to continue to have massage at the con.  So, I serve as Madam, directing traffic in and out of the booth, and sell a few items on the front table.

This year I am specializing in steampunk items, basic hats, goggles and other eyewear.  Plus the fascinator top hats and doll hats that I knit, felt, and decorate.  I will have dolls for models, showing off the wares.  The two porcelain dolls I recently purchased at my local Goodwill needed costumes to really sell it, so I've been working on steampunk outfits for them.  So here is a preview of one of the outfits, modeled by Janet.




The con is in just over 2 weeks, so it's time to get cracking to finish the first and make the second costume.  Surprisingly, it takes the same amount of work to make it small as it does to make it big.

Til next time!