Thursday, March 25, 2010

Boston Gift Show 2010

I had a fantastic 4 days at the Boston Gift Show, met with some wonderful people and as a result, there are many exciting things ahead for Dasken Designs!! It was icing on the cake to see one of my candleholders on the show directory cover. Sweet!!

I was in the "handcrafted" aisle.  And I'm pretty sure that I handcraft my items but I'm not so sure that other people actually understand what that term means.  And I won't continue my rant on this topic,  I'll just say, "Buy Handmade, Support Local Artists".

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Trade Show - Mock Set Up

Today's activities included creating a new window display from two old windows: frost the glass panes, hinge the windows together and lastly, paint the frames.  Fresh paint can really transform an item that's seen better days, and since I had the paint on hand and was already a mess, I threw a fresh coat of paint on a few other display items too.  Then onto some other tedious items like waxing and polishing some stained glass goods. Frankly, not my favorite thing in the world except that I know it's the last step and then the item is good to go after that.
The last few hours I spent finalizing my set up for next weekend's Boston Gift Show.  Though I'd like to think my "new" set up is radically different than what I've done in the past, it's not.  It looks exactly like my old set up, with a fresh coat of paint and new lighting :)
Anyway, I'm using an 8' table which will be front and center (applying the 2' rule - everything will be visible and accessible) and instead of arriving on site and playing it by ear like I normally do, I decided to scrap that plan and map it all out today... will make set up easier and I can use today's photos as a reference.
Aside from a huge empty space on the left side of the table that I didn't account for and haven't resolved yet (can you say enormous candy bowl??), the only snag I ran into was with the new clamp lights I purchased yesterday... thank you Target!  They're kind of heavy duty which is great but I don't think they were designed to clamp onto a thin piece of glass shelving.  So as with most design problems, I used something I already have just hanging around to "fix" the enormous gap... and voila, a small gift box does the trick! 

Ok kids, this is called PROCRASTINATION!

So it's a grucky (new word: gross + yucky) Sunday morning and I'm sipping my coffee with silk soy, and now I'm going to talk about my cats.  I already know I'm going to regret this momentary lapse in judgment and one of the cats is even giving me "the look" (the wtf are you doing look) but here goes.  And so I've quickly composed this list of 12 things I've learned from observing these feline creatures.  Below is a photo of Buca and Cosmo NOT helping me fold laundry:

1. Do what you want, when you want, without compromise.
2. Sleep is essential.  Do it often and everywhere.
3. Licking yourself is acceptable.
4. Leave some sort of trail (crumbs, litter, fur, puke, etc) so you can be located in an emergency.
5. Chase some tail even if it's your own.
6. Provide affection in small, unusually timed doses.  It's disarming AND mysterious.
7. When excited, rubbing up against furniture is perfectly fine.
8. Be stealthy, but try not to freak out when a car backfires or your neighbor is testing his new rifle because fragile pottery tends to break when you dart unexpectedly from your post.
9. It's ok to eat your own vomit... oh wait, I meant DON'T eat your own vomit and try to avoid eating hair. It makes you vomit.
10. On recycling... sometimes a bottle cap is better than a fancy store bought toy.
11. Observe others.  Seriously, stare at them until it's uncomfortably awkward.
12. Last but not least... if you want to get someone's attention, just unexpectedly LICK or SCRATCH them.  It works every time, especially if they're asleep.

Nothing particularly new, I know.  But I thought since our relationship is getting more involved, this would be a good way to let you know that I have cats.  And now, you may run...