Just me

Wow, haven't written since before the outdoor season!  I didn't mean to be gone that long, but life gets busy.  It was a crazy summer - Wendy and I have decided that our work is going in different directions, so for the first time in many years I was a solo artist.  My family did come and help out when they could - but I spent much of the summer with no backup other than "booth sitters". 

From a show perspective this meant that I couldn't walk around and visit (or purchase) during show hours without risking my own sales.  To get around that I developed the habit of arriving an hour earlier than necessary on Sundays so I could visit folks.  This works to a point, the problem is I'm not the only artist doing that so I just can't find some folks because they are wandering too.

Another change is lunch.  In the past I used lunch as a quick break - run to the washroom, get some food, and then back to the booth.  Now I can ask a booth sitter to watch my booth but I'm more likely to just hit the washroom and hurry back.  I've been more vigilant about bringing snacks and energy bars, and I rarely get lunch.  If you visit me at One of a Kind don't be surprised to see a PBJ sandwich hiding in my booth.

The biggest downside to being solo is how much I miss the company - Wendy and I remain great friends, but there is no built in (weekend long) lunch date all summer.  We still hang out and she is doing a great business selling her work in different channels.

The other big change that resulted from our shift is that I have dropped the business name "Heartfire Studios".  Most of the shows just put an artist name up even if you have a business name so I took the obvious path and have changed all of my social media and business cards to refer just to amyikenn.com or Amy Ikenn Glasswork.  Even the name of this blog has changed to drop Heartfire.  I also revamped the website - comments are welcome.   I will maintain the Heartfire link to my website indefinitely, but if you want to find me on Facebook, Google + or Twitter you should start by looking for "Amy Ikenn Glass".  or follow these links:

amyikenn.com
Facebook
Twitter
Google +

The People You Meet...

A lot of people have asked me if I would stop doing shows given enough galleries carrying my work.  On a rainy cold day in a tent with no potential customers in sight the answer might be yes, but overall I don't think so.  One of the best perks, in my mind, of doing shows is the amazing people you meet.

Some of the coolest people I know are other show artists who I would never have come into contact with if not for the art fair life.  I have spent countless hours next to these like minded souls, and often end up making connections that last.  These artists run the gamut from limestone carving to metal work to jewelry to painting to photography to ceramics to mixed media... the list goes on.  I own pieces by many of them and will continue to collect as I can afford to.

Some of my favorite meals have been the Saturday nights, mid-show.  At one show last year the artist next to me invited me to go with a group and I ended up with a bunch of new friends - and a roommate for one of my shows this year!

Believe it or not the internet has made making show friends even easier.  I participate in multiple artist forums and you yourself interacting with the same people frequently.  You feel like you know them but you have never met them fact to face.  It's a beautiful thing when you will be at the same show as that person and can finally make that connection.

This weekend I start my social shows at 57th Street Art Fair in Chicago.  I have a list of people that I'm looking forward to seeing, some old friends and some new friends that I have been in touch with but have not met.  I can't wait! 

Changes for 2014

Closing out 2013

By the end of last years shows I had narrowed my fused work down to a few types:

Framed Landscapes:

Florals (framed and functional):

Auroras (framed and functional):

These groups made a really strong presentation at OOAK, but my sales were not what I was hoping for.  My florals sold fairly well, but the Auroras got a lot of attention and virtually no sales.  I am working on the theory that florals are a good gift, but Auroras are more of a purchase for self, and OOAK is primarily a gift show.  At least I have enough stock to start the new season to test my theory!

Changes for 2014:

New work

Over the winter I have been working on ideas that bring the Floral and Aurora Series together.  Right now these are all framed:

I am also working on some new shapes for wall pieces, larger than before with different proportions.

 

Dropping old lines

My current plan involves dropping

• all of the serving pieces except for cheese knives 
• the Quilt Series
• the Block Series

I have stock in all 3 and can bring them back if warranted, but sales on the Quilts and Blocks don't warrant the space in my car.  Margins on the serving pieces are low, so the big question is will that booth real estate be more valuable for higher margin items or will my overall sales drop so much that I miss those pieces.

Show Schedule

I'm keeping my top shows from last year, 57th Street, Spring Green, Northbrook, Geneva and Lakeview.  A special thanks to those organizers for wanting me back! I am hoping to go back to Riverssance but the jury is (literally) still out.  I'm also trying to add one show early, one show in August, and possibly one more in the fall.  I am also planning to go back to OOAK.


Without a magic Carnac the Magnificent hat to help me out I am gambling once again.  Stay tuned, I'll let you know how it goes!

2 weeks away from One of A Kind, year 2

I'm in full on planning panic mode, and I've realized that this feeds my inner adrenaline junkie.   I have 184 pieces ready to be signed and packed, 35 pieces in the kiln or in progress and another 70 in my plans (30 of that 70 are 5"x5" or smaller, so I can get a lot in the kiln). 

I have spreadsheets tracking the pieces and how much glass I have left to work with, checklists, display stands and frames en route to my house and platform pieces waiting to be assembled to raise up my shelves.

Here is the planned vision for my booth:

Now I am trying to figure out which pieces go on which shelving units, and how to group the framed pieces on the walls.  Last year we were winging it, and I think it took much longer than necessary.  This year I'd like to have a plan so that everything looks organized and polished.

The other lesson from last year that I've been able to make use of so far is to queue up my fusing work differently.  In order to make sure that I can stay caught up at my engineering job as well as in my fusing I have planned differently.  I try to get a weeks worth of pieces cut and queued up during the weekend so that it's just 15-30 minutes a night during the week.  Just enough time to pull the last batch out, clean out the kiln and put the next batch in.  

I'm also trying to take advantage of bulk cutting.  When I cut a piece and have less than 1/2 a sheet left over (a sheet is roughly 20"x30") I look at that sheet and the standard sizes that I use for bases.  I cut that sheet as efficiently as possible to create those bases and stack them out of the way.  That way, when I go to create the queue for the week a lot of the bases are already cut.

 In the photo above, the pieces on the far left standing on end are the bases that are waiting to be matched and used, the front center are pieces that are fused and waiting for slumping during the week, the back center are cut and waiting to be fused and the far right are pieces that need to be cut and put on the bases.

See, an old dog can learn new tricks.

Patience, no shortcuts

I'm not a particularly patient person.  I like to see results of my efforts immediately, an odd trait for someone who fuses glass.  Most sessions in my studio end with an 18-70 hour wait (thankfully way more 18 than 70) before I can find out if I created what I wanted to.  The final assembly for many pieces happens in the kiln so my kiln space limits how much work I can do in a studio session. 

This is my big kiln, I also have one smaller kiln that does a single piece at a time

People ask me if I know what I will get when I open the kiln.  When I started fusing that was a very real question.   My results were similar to what I hoped for 80% of the time and 20 % of the time I was surprised, and rarely in a good way.  After 8 years of fusing I can say that I am accurate (instead of similar) probably 95% of the time and when I get surprised it is almost always because I tried a shortcut.

So now I'm on a fusing marathon to get ready for One of a Kind.  Prepping for this show is stressful, I'm always afraid I won't have enough stock, or I will have the wrong stock.  I make spreadsheets to figure out how to maximize my fusing cycles and I plan to work at least a few hours EVERY DAY between now and the show.  44 fusing days until I load the car and it feels way too short.

So what is the most effective way to maximize my kilns?  Patience!  As I loaded the kilns tonight I considered putting one extra piece in.  It would make the fit a little tight, but I am fairly sure that the pieces wouldn't have ended up touching while they fired.  I put the extra piece on the kiln shelf, I started to walk away and I stopped.  If I misjudged this I would be reworking a 15" bowl, an 8" bowl and possibly scraping/refinishing a kiln shelf.  I considered the risk and decided to be patient.

Hopefully this new attitude actually nets more successful pieces in December.  I'll never know but that's my theory and I'm sticking to it!

Fall Transition

So I finally made it through the longest outdoor season I've ever taken on.   It started earlier, ended later and had more shows than anything I've done in the past.  I did 9 outdoor shows between early May and late September and traveled for the first time.  So, how did that work for me?

Of the nine shows I participated in I squeaked through without quite losing money on any of them, but there are 3 that I will not be returning to because I just covered my costs.  Two of them were out of town and had the lowest sales all year with the highest travel costs.  The local one was just too lackluster to spend the time and money at again. 

I sold more framed pieces than anything else, and my tie dyes were a hit!  Of course I've refined them a bit since I started making them:

  I like them so much they are the focus of both my new business cares and my updated website!  I've also updated my garden pieces,

the colors really pop now and that is something that I sold out of last year at One of a Kind...  oh wait, it's time to start getting ready for OOAK again!

So that is why this post has "transition" in the title... I'm not so much finished with outdoor, I'm beginning to get ready for OOAK!  I've got my booth assignment, much better than last year!  I'm planning how to handle the displays in this different layout, and I'm fusing like crazy!   If you take out the two quick trips I'm taking before December there 48 fusing days left... sounds like a lot but since many of pieces require 3 trips through the kiln, and each one takes a full day that means I can only product 16 kiln loads of pieces between now and then.  Oh panic!!!!!!!!!!

The Deal of the Art

I spend a lot of time interacting with other artists via the internet.  We pass information about good and bad shows, good and bad promoters, good and bad restaurants at shows etc...  And sometimes we get collectively enraged.  Last week one of these artists pointed out a news item that implied a promoter was going to "teach" art patrons how to "negotiate a price" on art.  The number of posts, rants and opinions that was generated in 24 hours was immense.  This is a topic that pretty much every artist agrees on:

Negotiation should not be considered standard practice at an art fair!

The wonderful people who attend art fairs and consider buying the artwork they see should be aware of the following things before they question a price:

• We pay to apply to be in an art fair (usually $20- $50), and then if we are accepted we pay for our space (typically $200 - 500... but it can be significantly more) 

• We supply our own tents, displays, labor, transportation, room and board.  So by the time we open up on the first day of the show we are already in the hole, usually $500 - $2000.

• All of the work we bring to the show is hand made by us!  We have costs sunk into supplies, tools, classes, scrap and most importantly our time. 

• Our prices are set based on the cost of materials and the amount of time and resources required to create the art.  These are not random prices that we hope you are willing to pay so we can rake in the cash, they are prices that are based on what the value of the work is.

• We are at the mercy of the weather, the economy and many other things outside of our control (try doing a show in Green Bay during a packers game!).  If there is a storm and we are told to vacate the show for safety reasons we do not get a refund.  

• Most of the artists you meet do this as their full time profession.  The income generated over these weekends is used to pay mortgages, food bills, doctor bills, tuition bills, utilities....  For many this is the only source of income. 

If you have read my other posts you probably realize that I am in the unusual situation of being a part time artist with a full time job.  I participate in one third to one half  as many shows as most full time artists and I don't travel nearly as far as they do.    Even so  for 2013 I will be doing 12 shows, translating to 27 show days, with 4 hours of setup and 2 hours of teardown per show.  I am travelling for 4 of these shows so that adds 8 travel days.

In my last post I described the math that I use to figure out what it takes to break even and then how the profit is calculated for a single, local show.   Now scale that up and think about what I need to sell to have any profit on the year!  When I set my prices I do charge for labor involved in creating the piece, but not for the time I spend at the shows, so my version of profit is how I pay myself for the time spent driving, setting up, tearing down and selling.

Please understand that I am not writing these posts to host a pity party for what an investment of time and money it is to be an art fair artist.  I am just trying to educate the art fair patrons so that they will value our work appropriately.  I don't do this to get rich, I do this because I love it.  

Done Waiting (for now)

On March 17th I showed you my status summary for show applications...
I posted an update on April 8th...
Here is where I stand on April 21st... I have results from every application that has been sent!

By the Numbers:

• 14 applications sent
• 1 more applications to send (due 4/30)
• 4 rejections :(  and they came all in a row!
• 1 wait lists 
• 9 Acceptances ... I am still deciding about my participation in 2
• 0 in progress

Analysis:

• I have spent $300 on jury fees.  I was "invited" to 3 of the shows so my jury fee was waived). 
•  I am committed to $2495 in booth fees across 9 shows.  

So, before I generate any income in 2013 I have already spent $2795!  Luckily some of the later shows will let me do a payment plan so I can pay them after I have made some money at the early shows.

"Show Math":
There is a cost associated with the materials, labor, and kiln time (electricity) for every piece.  So when I make a sale, I have to take that cost out before I can begin applying the income to pay for my booth.  That income also has to cover travel expenses.  My cost of production is usually 30-50% of the selling price.  Let's call it 40% for now.

Sample Show (yes this is a real show, near my house so there is no hotel cost)

• Costs (jury+show+mileage+food) = $573
• I need to sell $955 to start making a profit.  60% of sales AFTER $955 are profit.  
• The average price of my pieces is $85.  I need to sell roughly 11 items BEFORE I CAN BEGIN TO MAKE A PROFIT!
• If I sell $2000 worth of items then I have made a profit of $626.  

Conclusion:
At least I know where I will be this summer!  To see the shows that I will definitely be at check out my site or "Like" Heartfire Studios on Facebook.

Oh, and based on the math, I'M CRAZY!

Still Waiting... Part 2

On March 17th I showed you my status summary for show applications... here is the April 8th update:

By the Numbers:

• 13 applications sent
• 3 more applications to send, although 1 may not be sent if others come back as acceptances
• 4 rejections :(  and they came all in a row!
• 1 wait lists 
• 6 Acceptances  (one came off the waitlist!)
• 2 in progress - next notification dates is 4/15/13

Analysis:

4 rejections from shows that I have never done before.  I've applied to 2 of them in the past and was rejected then too.  Next year I may try to apply with a different style of piece and see how that goes.



I am also deciding whether I will attend 2 of the shows that I have been accepted to.  They are difficult weekends for family reasons and if I don't think they will be amazing it probably isn't worth the trouble.

To see the shows that I will definitely be at check out my site

Conclusion:

It's still a crapshoot

Still waiting

2013 Art Fair Application Status Summary as of 3/17/13 (yes, this is how I think)

By the Numbers:

• 13 applications sent
• 5 more applications to send, although 2 may not be sent if others come back as acceptances
• 0 rejections
• 2 wait lists 
• 5 Acceptances
• 6 in progress - next notification dates is 3/28/13

Analysis:

I'd like to say I'm doing a good job picking shows, but 3 of the 5 acceptances were invites from last year and I may not attend 2 of them.   The 2 new acceptances came from shows that are further away than I have traveled before so I am now making bigger commitments but I am excited.

Both wait lists are shows that I will do if I come off the wait list, and both are local.

Conclusion:

I have no idea what any of this means.

Waiting to Plan

I like to plan.  If you read my previous posts you will realize how much time I spend planning, it is somehow comforting to me.  My brain loves to be occupied with planning.  My brain is happily obsessed with making plans.  I even plan to plan!

I hate to wait.  The worst kind of waiting is when I am waiting for information from which I will make plans.  This is a hard time of year for me.   Right now  I am waiting before I can go further in my planning.  sigh.  About half of my applications have been sent, most of the rest will be sent next week.  Some of the responses will start coming in the beginning of March.

With the exception of the shows that I have been invited to or grandfathered into I have no idea where I will be this year.  Because I am adding some travel (see my post about this) I feel like there is even more planning to do.  Where will I stay?  Am I taking my 9 year old SUV or renting a vehicle?  Will anyone come with me?  And of course, What Items will I bring to sell?

I have my ideal schedule on paper, with a list of backup plans.  I have my photos, I have my money tied up, I have a few custom orders to fill and more than enough stock left from OOAK to be able to relax going into the season.

Now, what else can I find to plan?

The Art of the Educated Guess

Setting up an art fair scheduled should be referred to as  "The Art of the Educated Guess".  You have to decide which shows to apply to.  You have to decide which images to send.  Once you have your acceptances you have to decide which shows to actually participate in.  Each of these decisions is based on so many factors that you can never have enough information about that they are really guesses, hopefully the educated type.

Guess 1 - Where do I apply?

Each application costs money, so you can't just apply to every show that hits your radar.  I have broadened my travel area for the year so my list of potential shows has grown to more than 90!  I have spent hours reading reviews, considering driving distances, looking for potential friends and family members to stay with, considering costs, demographics and just plain guessing.  I am still a part time artist and I am looking at $600 in jury fees (20 shows), hoping to get 8 - 10 shows that I am happy to be at.  After weeks of banging my head on the wall I have  narrowed it down to 20 something to apply to and now I need to get my images together. 

Guess 2 - What images to use?

My booth has evolved nicely over the last several years and I have a booth photo that I'm really proud of:

But what to do about photos of the actual artwork?  I can use last year's photos, but my work continues to evolve and that doesn't seem quite right.  So it's time to go through my current inventory and pick a few pieces, get my camera set back for glass photos, and go!

The trickiest part of taking photos for higher end show applications is that while my instinct is to show off  all styles that I am working in, your photos are supposed to be a "coherent story".  I don't know who made these rules up all those years ago, but apparently artists are not supposed to have any diversity in what they create, and if they do they can't show it off.

In the past several years I have become more focused and work in 4 basic styles now. I can even break the styles into two families, but how do I choose for my jury pictures?  The 4 pictures shown here are NOT a coherent story.

 

On top of trying to make the photos work together, many shows only want 3 images of your work, none want more than 4. 

Ultimately the biggest irony related to jury photos is that tools like Photoshop have changed the game.  There are people out there who will take your mediocre image and get it jury read (for a fee).   Some are even generous to give you great advice on the phone without a fee (thank you Larry!).  So are we being measured in artwork or Photoshop skills?   Ultimately I hold out hope that without a good item to photograph you can never get an image that gets you into the top shows.  Cynically I fear this is not true.

So what images will I use this year?  If I had enough money to play games with it I would consider sending two different applications to the same show.  One application would have my floral pieces and the other would have my quilts.  Would one get in and not the other?  Would both get in?  Would neither get in?  Hard to say and I can't afford that game.  I do love my floral pieces, when I am in the right mood making them is the best feeling, but my quilt pieces are more unique and ultimately make for more interesting photos.  So now I have to narrow it down from 9 images to 3 or 4 depending on the show.  Here are the images I am considering using:

Guess 3 - Which shows to participate in?

I try to balance my show schedule against my world.  I try not to do more than 2 shows in a row.  If all the show acceptances and booth fees had the same timing this would be a difficult dilemma.  Unfortunately the timing is different for every show so that makes it closer to impossible.  I might have been accepted to my second choice and have to pay for the booth before I hear from my first choice!

In the end I have created a few rules to protect myself from the worst scenarios.

• I do NOT apply to shows that require non-refundable booth payment with application.  I would like to keep my flexibility until show season is a little closer.  
• I do not apply to shows with "rolling juries".   I am concerned that the standard goes down as we get closer to the show date.
• If a show doesn't allow setup the day before the show starts I look at logistics before I apply.  There are shows with Saturday morning setup that close at 10pm on Saturday.  There needs to be a very good reason for me to put myself through that.

Now that I have done all my prepping it's time to start sending in my applications.  I'll keep blogging as the process goes on.  Wish me luck!!!

Geographically Challenged

It's that time again... show application season!  For those of us who do a more seasonal take on art fairs all of the applications for spring/summer/fall seem to be due between December and March.  I have a new booth photo, my background arrived today to take my jury pictures and now I have to decide where to apply.

As one of the artists who sadly lives a double life and works full time my travel is more limited for art fairs.  I only have 30 days per year that I can skip work without a problem (and I've paid my dues to get that much) so I can't easily do the extended travel stretches that many do, stringing several weekends together in a row.  Ideally I would only do shows within 90 minutes of my house so I have the option to go home at night.  Unfortunately I live in one of the most over saturated art fair markets in the country.  Across the 26 weeks that I consider "show season" there are over 50 shows on my radar within that 90 minute radius of my house, and many more that I don't even consider applying to.   There are 5 on one particular weekend!  Artists are actually starting to refuse to come to Chicago because they buyers are so spread out among these shows that there is not enough return on a single show.

I am finally conceding that I need to consider the option of overnight travel.  I usually take the Friday before a show off to get ready and set up whenever possible and it is time to make better use of that day.  This year is going to be an experiment, I am going to try for shows within a 6 hour drive of my house.  6 hours is my guess at the limit that I can drive and still be able to set up on the same day, I do not want to lose two precious vacation days for any show besides OOAK.

This doesn't add nearly as many shows as I thought it would, a surprising thought at first until I realized that this is exactly the point.  In markets that are not over saturated there are not as many options!  This implies a buying public that only has limited opportunities to buy directly from artists so they should buy more at each show.

Time to consider the additional costs - primarily hotel and additional gas, assuming my 10 year old vehicle can make the trips.  I'm going to eat no matter where my show is.  I calculate an additional $250 for vehicle (using standard mileage rates) and an additional $150 for hotel.  So the big question is can I make an extra $400 to cover it?  My goal is to trade the distance for at least an additional  $1000 in sales per show.  Take out cost of materials and I'm still in the black on this adventure.

ROAD TRIP!

My goal will be 5 shows in my normal range and 3 shows outside my normal range.  Seen another way, I'm going to gamble an extra $1200 on show costs this year to see if there are more customers to be found on the road.

Let the applications begin!