Thanks to everyone who came out to support me at the sales I did last week. I met a lot of great folks and had a lot of interesting conversations about processes and such. I hit my financial goals and then some, although beyond covering the cost of the booth, I am not sure why I have them. Am I trying to tell myself that my worth is based on what I make at these things? Probably.
What I found most fascinating was what attracted people. I have my own favorites but they are seldom the most popular. I know from participating in a lot of events in the past that every show has a different flavor, but of course I forgot that, didn’t I? I prepared for one based on what sold at the last, annnnnnd nah, that didn’t work.
I sold 4 books which was magnificent and humbling. I did not know anyone would be interested in spending $100 on a book, handmade or not. The 10-book edition of Me and My Dad is now sold out. I am keeping one for me, as I do for every book. I also sold the last copy of When I Was A Girl, also $100. Anna’s Alliterative Alphabet also sold but there are still a couple of (flawed) copies available.
One thing about finishing the sales—there were just 3—is that now I can get back to making my next piece. The illustrations for Zanie and the Rainbow Man are half done, and yesterday I delightedly set to drawing the first picture of the latter. Sir had to take some pictures of me in an odd pose so that I could draw the RB with a semblance of conviction. These pictures are done in halves because they are on the back sides of the Zanie pages. It requires precision, not my strong point, and in order to make things line up I had to cut an inch off some of the pages. That made me feel some kind of way as the printed edges fell away off the cutter.
Zanie is sitting on dragon rock. Silkscreen, 10x20
What I really should have been doing is digging out from under the atrocity that is my shop. I put away a few pieces of type and bunged some paper scraps. I cleared off a table, and half the etching press so that I have somewhere to put the screen prints I am playing with.
Will I do this sale stuff again? Yes, I think so. The thing is, I have to keep selling in mind when I am making and that does not always occur to me. I could work all year and make a book—cool—but not have any prints to sell separately. While I myself do not have much use for single prints anymore as I am out of wall space and they have to be extraordinary to transcend their 2 dimensional limits, there are plenty of folks who do. The Zanie prints are not stand-alone pieces as they all have a blank spot for type. But the Pommas prints are in the works and can be sold separately. Next on the blocks is a row of grapevines.
The trick is to do work I am passionate about and yet make pieces I can sell. That is not always an easy balance.