wildrose

http://www.lustyleather.com/Our_Shop.html is a link to Larry and Leenie's site, with a pic of their set up at the top corner. I wish they had more pics, but I didn't surf the site much, so they might. I was next to these folks for a season at the New Jersey Renaissance Kingdom, and have seen them at several other events. They are really terrific, and their workmanship isn't bad either! BTW, on the other thread, when you were talking credit card processing, I forgot to mention I used First Data and Discover Merchant Services, and they were pretty good. It just was that over time I had to cut costs, and moving here I've not established an account yet.

To me, the staining/dyeing is the toughest part of a project because you can really wreck it...but I don't notice any problems here. The bracers look great. I find that I often obsess about the dye wayyyyy more than the customer does. And sometimes, I just need to tell myself to step away for a while, then come back - so it's actually dry.

That is sooooo beautiful. I can't think of a think to critique about it! If I were her, I'd be annoyed at being left after giving such a fine gift.

Actually, I've done the opposite and just carved. If you use an antique stain, it will still give outline to the project and can look nice.

I noticed him, esp. after reading the comments. I didn't really recognize him...though my husband informed me that he's not on the album, as was noted by many of the viewers. It's still a great video. ps did you know cats have a gene that either makes them like catnip or not? My first cat could not have cared less about it.

I have a degree in Spanish, and while not as fluent as I used to be, I do have several good dictionaries/texts for when I'm stumped. I'd volunteer to help. My French is too rusty to be of help.

Some of you may know my friend Ann McGrath, of Bethlehem, PA. She has called herself the Bead Lady and does a great job with jewellry and small leather pieces (wristbands, fobs and the like) Last month she lost her daughter, Margret, after an extended illness. Those who have met Margret will surely never forget her cheerful outlook and eagerness to make everyone her friend. I was proud to have her give me the honorary "Aunt" title. I know Ann put many years of her life into Margret's special needs and care, and I am certain this is an extremely difficult time for her and her remaining daughters. There is surely an emptiness in her life, experienced of course by all those who have lost a child, and moreso one who required extra attention for health care. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. After I heard the news, I went home and gave my son an extra tight hug. Do the same for those in your life. Margret would do it if she were here. Here is the text of the obituaries from the two local papers: Published in the Morning Call on 7/17/2008: Margret Gail Muccitelli, 37, beloved daughter of Ann and John McGrath of Bethlehem, and Louis P. Muccitelli of Flagstaff, Ariz., loving sister of Florence Trevino, Helen Muccitelli and Rose Muccitelli-Thompson, and devoted auntie to two nieces and five nephews, and also survived by two grandfathers, aunts, uncles, cousins and too many friends to enumerate, died peacefully in the midst of her family Monday, July 14, 2008, at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. Born in Allentown, she lived in the Lehigh Valley her whole life. Through Via of the Lehigh Valley, she volunteered at Project Child of Valley Youth House, Meals on Wheels of Northampton County, Lehigh Valley Hospitals Outpatient Surgical Department, Musikfest, Kirkland Village, Praxis and 3rd Street Alliance of Easton, among others. She attended the day program at Concepts of Bethlehem. A 1992 graduate of Wilson High School, she gave an address at the ceremonies. Margret often said, I would do anything to help ..... To honor her generous, helpful spirit, in lieu of flowers, donations to www.chop.edu. Services: A Celebration of Margrets Life will be held at 8 p.m. Friday in John F. Herron Funeral Home, 458 Center at Market streets, Bethlehem. Visitation, 6-8 p.m. Friday in the funeral home. The family requests that you dress in party style to help celebrate Margrets life and spirit. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, to the Cardiac Center of Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4399. From the Easton Express Times: Margret Gail Muccitelli, 37, died peacefully in the midst of her family Monday, July 14, 2008 at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Born: In Allentown, Pa, Margret was a daughter of Ann and John McGrath of Bethlehem, Pa and Louis P. Muccitelli of Flagstaff, Arizona. Personal: Margret lived in the Lehigh Valley her whole life. Through Via of the Lehigh Valley, she volunteered at Project Child of Valley Youth House, Meals on Wheels of Northampton County, Lehigh Valley Hospital's Outpatient Surgical Department, Musikfest, Kirkland Village, and Praxis and 3rd Street Alliance of Easton, among others. She also attended the day program at Concepts of Bethlehem. A 1992 graduate of Wilson High School, she gave an address at the ceremonies. Survivors: In addition to her beloved parents, Ann and John of Bethlehem, Margret is survived by her sisters, Florence Treviño, Helen Muccitelli, and Rose Muccitelli-Thompson; two nieces; five nephews; two grandfathers; aunts; uncles; cousins, and too many friends to enumerate. Services: A celebration of Margret's life will be held Friday at 8 p.m. in the John F. Herron Funeral Home, 458 Center At Market Street, Bethlehem. Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the funeral home. The family requests that you dress in party style to help celebrate Margret's life and spirit. Memorials: Margret often said, "I would do anything to help" To honor her generous, helpful spirit, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to www.chop.edu or to the Cardiac Center of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th St. and Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104-4399.

That's a great bag...wouldn't work for me though since I've been going to Wades and Krogers (I've not yet made it to the Food Lion here in town...) I'm LOL at the getting more orders though: way to go! That's why I always carry something I've made with me.

One of my favorite bodice makers is Lusty Leather: http://www.lustyleather.com/ There is someone here on the board that does amazing work too, but I'm not remembering who...

A dear friend of mine, Yolanda, makes a bunch of different styles of Bible covers. She can help you: http://custom-leatherworks.com/ She was a big help to me when I did my first one. I used a 5/6 weight, I wouldn't suggest much heavier than that.

Nickel Creek! Thank you! I'd not seen that one. I fell in love with this band when we used to have a video channel that featured music from many different genres (can't remember it now? MOR Music? something like that). Here's my fav, which I found just surfing around for cat related stuff: This super catchy tune has me hooked. You can find more Sparta info off there too.

"Mistletoe" es un buen idea...tambien "holly", lo cual he visto. Mistletoe is a good idea, also holly, which I've seen. I wear my holly pin todo el tiempo. Con mi nombre, puedo!

That is a beautiful purse top to bottom!

Ever seen Larry and Leenie's Lusty Leather? Great workmanship and fun folks. I was vending next to them at NJRK one year.

Me gustan. Especialmente con "ladybug". Creo que vendren bien. I think they will sell well.

Angelus is good, but I know Tandy has a pink now in their EcoFlo line. I bought it for a girl in a class I was teaching, and she was quite happy with it.

The father and mother have both waved to my husband in passing, and the mom waved to Ethan and I the other day (mostly I think because Ethan called out to them as they were driving away). I was happy today to have a potential new friend for Ethan over, who is closer to his age, and they hit it off really well. Also, this boy's mom and I get along really well. She, like me, is pretty new to the area, so I think that helps.

Thanks everyone I truly appreciate all the replies. I really just needed to get my frustration out. In truth, the boy had been bothering me for a while. He is more than a little mean to his younger brother, and when they were playing with Ethan and my nephew in our little pool last week, he kept shooting everyone in the eyes with the water toys. (Even after being told not to) Of course, as one of you noted, there's probably no use telling the parents that because they will think he's an angel. I took him on as a cat sitter because the pros are so expensive (17.00/visit), and my own parents were out of town so I couldn't ask them. Live and learn, that's all I can get from it.

LOL Ferret, that's funny! My thoughts on the original question (and by the way, UKRay, you come up with good ones!): I guess Ren.Faires are in their way alot like other festivals of any time period: you have to go by the regs that the organizers put in place. If you want to vend, you have to be willing to do that. BUT, you also may have to be willing to "look the other way" if the organizers decide to let it slip and let in tshirt vendors and the like (i.e. folks who surely are NOT making their own wares)

I need to vent about a problem that has arisen. I've removed some names to protect identities of the other parties involved. Since we moved here, our son Ethan has become friends with two boys (7) and (9) across the street from us. They are good kids with Christian parents. Knowing we were going to be away in OH for Ethan's birthday, I spoke with their mom about the elder boy watching our cat and fish, bringing in the mail, etc while we were gone. (He'd offered, but I told him I needed his parents' okay) So, arrangements made, I gave over the key and we left. I called the first night just to make sure all was well, and the dad told me that the boy in fact had been over several times that day just to make sure all was well. I'm happy, all's well so far.... Monday, we head home. We stayed in OH longer than expected, and stopped for a long dinner, so we got home about 9 pm. After about 7 hrs in the car, Ethan was not a happy camper, to put it mildly. I saw the neighbor boy outside, and got the key back and paid him. I told him the cat looked to be fine, and he assured me the fish was also. After the struggle to settle Ethan down, I finally made it downstairs to check out the cat's litter box (it's in our basement bathroom) I discovered the door to the bathroom was closed and there was poop all over the carpet around it. Needless to say, I was upset. I called the neighbor's house, and got the dad. When he asked his son about it, he said he didn't close it. I said, okay, well thanks anyway (I knew someone was lying, but wasn't going to press it). Not long after, the mom calls back, all defensive, saying she would give me my money back and pay him out of her pocket, because he did a phenomenal job. I said I knew he did, but that a human being closed that door, it doesn't close on its own, and from the amount of poop on the floor, it had been closed for days. And how I have a party coming up this weekend and my basement smells of cat pee too. I told her I'd also looked in the trash and from the evidence, the litter had only been cleaned twice in four days. She said that perhaps he'd brought the other bags back to their trash (huh?) She went on about how she was a Christian woman and didn't want any bad blood between us, and had a carpet cleaner she could bring over. That was fine with me. All fine so far, though I was getting a bit annoyed. THEN she dropped the "bomb": she told me she would no longer allow the boys to come play with Ethan because she had no idea what I might say to them when they were here. Well, that really steamed me. To this point, I was willing to just drop the whole thing. Still, she's professing she doesn't want any bad blood between us. So I say "well, there is bad blood now, because now you are forcing me to tell my son why he can't play with his friends anymore." And I told her I was disappointed that she was unwilling to trust me in the situation. I told her that Jesus would surely have expected her to forgive. I told her I had to go take care of Ethan at that point, and that he was crying. She says that her son had been crying his eyes out for a while too. I cut her off and hung up..... Of course, I steamed about it for long after I laid down at night, and Tim (my husband) was upset for me that she'd accuse me of saying something to the kids. The next morning, he spoke to the dad and said we didn't want our money back, and we'd just wanted to know what had happened. Later that day, I called and spoke to the dad again and said "I'm just calling to apologize. I didn't intend to make your son upset, I only wanted to find out what had happened. Please pass my apology along to your wife". Meanwhile, the whole time, I'm thinking: WHO was it that made the boy cry? NOT ME! I spoke only to the father. So what does that tell you about who is really to blame here for making him upset? Anyhow, I just needed to vent. I gently told Ethan, in general terms, that the boys were no longer allowed to play with him. He informed me that he didn't like their mother anymore. I told him it was her right to make the choice, and that I had apologized, and maybe she would change her mind.

It's certainly possible they don't allow them anymore at PARF, but speaking from personal experience they did (it was 4 yrs ago)...

Actually, I've sold at the PA Renaissance Faire, and I do have an EZ Up. But you're not supposed to have plastic (i.e. signs, bags) at your booth. And you're encouraged to decorate the tent as much as possible to have it not look quite so modern.

I read back to the past few posts, re: jurying and costs. Here's my .02 on that: I've paid at most almost 500.00 to be in an event, and at least 20.00. What has kept me out of events has not been the entry fee (if it was an event I wanted to be in) but the need to have insurance. I'm such a small time vendor, that to ask me to keep insurance for the few events/year I do is ridiculous. Fortunately, some events will let you be on their "rider". I experienced that at the NJ Renaissance Kingdom. For an extra fee, with my application, I was covered by their policy. I did at one point have my own policy, but that cost me over 100.00/year. That may seem like small change to some of you, but to me, it was alot, especially with the monthly fee I was paying for being able to process credit cards. Jurying: this is a process wherein you must send photos of your work, and your display, to the committee running the show. This can be great because it (theoretically) keeps out the "beanie pet" sellers and such. But it can also be a hassle if you don't have quality photos on hand, or you aren't certain exactly what you plan to bring. Personally, I've not had a problem with it yet, and I like juried shows. You sometimes have to pay and extra fee for the jurying process itself. I think, overall, crafters are "fee-d" to death! It makes me wonder sometimes how these little mom/pop knitters and woodworkers make any money when I see them underselling themselves at shows!!!

Okay, so here are some "fresh" pics of my booth, and a little backstory. I am currently selling at the Radford (Virginia) Farmer's Market. This is REALLY small - there are maybe 10 vendors there (and that includes non-artists, i.e. produce vendors) every week. It grows and shrinks regularly. And we see some customers every week too. But I often hear "oooh, I might like a new wallet as a Christmas gift" and folks look over my things pretty closely. So I give out lots of cards and sell little. Hopefully, those orders will come through, and it DOES get me noticed. I'm doing a bigger event in October: the Highlander Festival. Radford University students/teams are the Highlanders. It is a big Celtic themed show and I'm hoping to do really well there. My current problem, I believe, is that I don't accept credit cards right now. When I had a separate business bank account in PA, I had a company through which I processed credit card sales. This, I found, more than doubled business. Most people, like me, do not carry enough cash in their wallets to make an impulse buy of over 10.00 at a market (or even show) setting. I'm in a vicious circle right now though: until I make enough, I can't open my own account, and I can't make enough without taking cards! So here are those pics...I should mention it was raining when I took them. If anyone has more questions, feel free to fire away. Some other things I should probably add: My table lay out (inc. shelving) changes from show to show. I have a really nice blue velvet table cover, but I usually save that for "big" events While I might not be the most professional leatherworker on this site, I do have years of experience at festivals!

we used to call 'em "scadians" Too hide bound for me, but I know they serve an important purpose.