Shaker is over….

Hi everyone!  Well, Shaker Woods is finished for this year. We were so fortunate that the weather was excellent all three weekends. The weather, and the much improved local economy  (a local car plant received very good news and is booming) resulted in large , happy crowds. Many of our customers came for at least two of the weekends—some came all three!  This weekend seemed like old home week—it seemed every time we turned around, we had a visit from a vendor friend or a neighbor from home.  All in all, the show was one of the most pleasant we have ever had there. We are very lucky that virtually every vendor in our immediate area at Shaker is very friendly and we all part with hugs. Some we will see again at fall shows, some we won’t see until next year at Shaker. It is very easy to get close to your neighbors at a show. Today we finished cleaning out our booth, loaded up the display, and spent a good deal of time restringing the roll up tarp covering the entrance. The roping which controls the tarp as it rolls up finally wore through and had to be replaced. It was complicated, but we got it done , and it works!!

 

My camera, which has been giving me fits lately, behaved over the weekend. So….here are a few new pics of the show….

Robert Griffing is a nationally known artist that paints the Eastern Indian tribes…just STUNNING artwork…wish I  had one tenth the talent he has!!

 

Tom’s booth décor….he creates beautiful custom knives….he uses a lot of antlers…

Tom at work….

My neighbor’s beautiful quilts…

handwoven baskets…

peeled rustic furniture…

Jack Robinson…gorgeous reproduction furniture..he’s retiring this year… I’ve admired his work long before I started doing this show..

A new neighbor in our area…his chairs are exquisite….and very expensive, but he had a good show…

Here is the artist at work…see all the shavings on the floor? He worked hard the entire show carving a chair and scooping out the seat…just amazing work…

My poor pitiful booth at the end of the show…and we took additional vanloads each weekend!!

Since Al thought I had bought enough goodies, ( ) I traded a piece of folk art for my pumpkin man! I Had trouble deciding between him and a really cute witch. The dollmaker was so friendly! His mouth is wire that was stitched on..I believe this is a Bittersweetfolkart pattern…if I’m wrong, please let me know and I will correct…

I had two vendors visit us that read my blog..still can’t get over how strange that seems!  Sandy Hoerig came over to meet us after she saw I mentioned her and her wonderful prim dolls in my last posting. Just the nicest person!  Like I said, we had so many visitors, the show was even more fun than usual. I really have to say, the promoters of this show work so hard to get this show up and running every year. Every time we went over to get our booth ready, they were cleaning up leaves, spreading gravel, planting flowers, and spraying for bugs so it would be comfortable for their guests…and that was during that incredible heat we had. This year was the 30th anniversary for the show. I wish I had snapped a pic of the two cutest little girls that stopped to show me the shaker boxes they had painted in the Shaker schoolhouse. Things like that make it such a wholesome family event.

Last week we received a call that we got a space in the number one traditional show in the country. We hadn’t committed to any show in November hoping that we would get in. We have another show around the same time that we could have picked up but it is a longggggg  trip to it.  This show is much closer…and the long trips are getting harder to do. We really need to get busy! Actually, we get back to work tomorrow. We have several big orders to get out and then need to build up stock again. Thank you all so much for taking time to read my little blog..and welcome to all my new followers—I truly appreciate every one of you. I hope you all enjoy your Labor Day weekend—we are planning on taking a picnic down to Brian’s new apartment as he is uncomfortable with driving the distance to our place. It will be so good to see him and Stryker—wish Craig could be there too. We’ll all be together again at Christmas but that still seems a long way away!!   Have a nice week!—Jan

weekend 2—Shaker Woods…

Hi everyone! Well, we just finished the second weekend of Shaker Woods. I had a little trouble with my camera, so I didn’t get as many pics as I wanted to. The camera seems to be draining batteries really fast, so I think a new one may be in my future.

Shaker is always a good show, but with the huge crowd the first weekend, we were braced for the second weekend being down . I believe since the weather was so extraordinarily wonderful, the crowd was also huge the second weekend. We came VERY close to matching the first. Usually late on Sunday it is very slow, but we had several very large sales that jumped us way up—and they even called and ordered 3 more large pieces to be picked up. Soooo….our booth looks pitifully thin. Last night I finished up new product to take for the final weekend. Some are large pieces, some are small, but I got 89 pieces done. Hopefully I can squeak through with that. Our building holds a lot, so even 89 pieces won’t fill it back up.

This weekend I picked up two of the goodies I ordered made for me….

My skelly doll…this was actually available the first weekend, but was painted with BRIGHT white. They stained this one for me because I don’t like bright white anything!!  Al took one look and shook his head like I had taken leave of my senses! LOL!

I needed a box/cupboard above the light switch in the kitchen. I decided their wall cupboards were too large for the space, so I got this…it had caught my eye during set up at the show. My lollipop box…not really this bright of a red…and looks grungier in person…pretty good size—about 24 inches high…this was not custom…

This is the shelf I have been waiting for…I needed a specific length, and the original had 3 pegs and a small blanket crane. Where I am putting it, I can’t use a blanket crane so he eliminated that, added pegs , and added a peg on the end for my witchie broom.    It is black over red and fits PERFECTLY where I want it.  Now…if I can find time to hang it…it’s about 3 feet long…

Before my camera got cranky, I got a few pics of the booth where I got the shelf and lollipop…I wish you could see everything in their booth…it was a double booth (mine is 1 1/2 ) and it was JAM-PACKED! It is NOT jam-packed now. Cupboards, big and small, cubbies, blanket cranes, stackable apothecary drawers, make do chairs, bowl racks, dolls, boxes, peg racks, dry sinks, candle boards, thermostat covers, anything you would want in prims. I ‘m so happy Shaker is adding so many prim booths—the promoter doesn’t like prims..but I told her they were getting more popular and VOILA! I haven’t seen the whole show, but I saw 4 prim furniture/smalls booths, a double prim candle booth, and of course prim doll booths. If you have ever heard of Sandy Hoerig dolls..she is there selling her beautiful prim dolls.

I just LOVE this crock bench..I think I am going to order one in mustard over black..it is 3 feet by 3 feet.

Love this make do chair!!

This is where my camera balked. DRAT!  There is another shelf there that is GORGEOUS!! It has cubbies and drawers and is large…I wanted it, but it was WAY too large.   I’ve been running around the house looking for a place it will fit!! LOL! I love it so much!

I’m ready for a much needed break…Al is taking a nap right now,he’s so achy and tired…this coming Sunday we finish up at Shaker, will load up all the left over product and whatever else we can fit in the van, then drive over again on Monday to tear down our louvered door/walls and load those up with our other display pieces, podium, chairs, ladders, sign, etc. Then we clean the booth and lock it up .Monday is our ice cream day—we celebrate the end of Shaker by stopping and getting huge ice cream cones at Katie’s. YUM!  We’re planning on taking a picnic lunch down to Brian’s apartment on Labor Day—he’s off Dylantin and a little nervous about driving to our house. It’ll be good to see him and Stryker.

I hope to get more pics of Shaker this weekend IF my camera cooperates…the weather is going to be MUCH warmer..—but it’s better than rain!!  I can’t wait until the season is over—I have so many projects I want to do for myself!  I hope you all have a great weekend and thank you all for stopping by. I’m trying my best to keep up with all the postings and comments, but it is difficult right now. ——-Bye y’all!  –Jan

One weekend down, two to go!! :)

Hi everyone!! I don’t seem to be able to find the time to post as often as I’d like lately!  We just finished the first weekend of our biggest show of the year…Shaker Woods. (shakerwoods.com)  This show is wonderful….it is set on a farm in Columbiana Ohio under a canopy of trees, crushed gravel paths wind through the woods with permanent wooden buildings that house the artists and crafters and extensive food booths.  Usually, the weather is hot, hot, and HOT!!  This year, so far, it has been pleasantly cool and therefore, the crowd has been unusually large. I think EVERYONE is anxious for Fall!  These guests shopped til they dropped!! Many of them told us, after purchasing from us, that this would be their second or even third trip to the car with armloads!!  I was kept constantly busy wrapping purchases while Al ran the register or ran credit cards. We were finally able to grab a sandwich around 3:30. The show began at 10 AM. Here is our little house in the woods the day we installed the green walls, our big name sign, and sprayed for SPIDERS!!

This is our house loaded the first morning—we have a few empty spots out front because some vendors bought before the show started….ick—that plastic box needs covered better!!

This piece was sold yesterday to a steady customer….

Just one of these left….4 feet long….

These are gone….

Gone before the show started….

Gone…..a little old railroad nail keg….

The one on the right is gone….gameboards were a hot ticket this time!! YAY! I LOVE making them!!…..

One of the returned originals from the publisher….gone…

trowels….2 gone….

Old shipping crate….2 ladies fought over this…gone….

Inside the booth….

Inside when it threatened rain..never rained….

A view near our booth….towards the quilter….

other direction…Molly Dallas (potter of the greatest cow humor spongeware )…..

Two small prims I picked up at the show…note the nail legs on the crow, the bat is SOOO grungy and cool!

We had a wonderful show…WAY up in sales from last year because of the ideal weather, I think.  This is always a very good show for us but we were exceptionally busy this year and most of the crafters said the same. It is always a great feeling when it sounds like ALL the crafters have had a good show. Even Sunday was way up…Sundays always start slower because of course, there is church and Sunday dinners with the family. Shaker has it’s own little church and we could hear the hymns being sung as we arrived at the show. We have a lot of work to do this week before we leave again for the show…this morning we started getting email orders for things that we sold out of already at the show…Get ready crafters!! I think this will be a great fall crafting season!!  People are anxious to get out in the cooler fresh air and shop!

Shaker seems to be getting a lot more prim shops…I ordered a prim shelf from one shop –they are making it this week because I wanted some custom changes made to it. I also ordered a customized dollie that I just can’t wait to see! Sandy Hoerig has a booth at Shaker and has wonderful prim dollies—punkinhead dolls, skellys, and prim witches. Another booth is a double with all prim, grungy candles. Of course there are gorgeous tobacco baskets, custom knives, carvings, and clothing—all top notch quality.

I hope you enjoyed the pics…I will post again next week with more…gotta get back to work!  On Saturday, we went after the show for a load of lumber and Al already has some of it ready for me to paint! It never stops!!  Have a great week and thanks for stopping!