My Stint As A Vendor-In-Training

Many of you know of various art retreats that take place in many parts of the country. These reteats are wonderful gatherings for Artists who teach and students who wish to gather and learn . One that occurs in our area is Art and Soul in Hampton VA. I had been asked by my friend Judy Gula owner of Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria Va, if I would like to help her in her booth at Vendor Night at Art and Soul. I readily agreed and we left on Saturday morning on our three hour drive to the convention center in Hampton. Judy's mom also came with us. Her vehicle, some sort of large SUV was loaded to the gills, but there was indeed a seat for me!!

We were all set up and ready to go by 6pm after setting up, washing down and eating a very quick dinner. The customers were not able to enter the ballroom till 7 pm but vendor selling was going full steam. Judy also had to teach me to use the computer system that she uses for credit card purchases and figuring sales tax. After a few nervous moments getting the system up and running we were as ready as we were ever going to be!!

Now I must share with you all of the amazing variety of unique wares that Judy has to offer. Her first love is textiles and surface design in particular. She collects wonderful vintage fabrics- mostly linens, and in all sorts of condition, and hand dyes them. Everything that you see in the pictures below is available on her web site that you can see here. The booth space only held a small portion of her items- limited by vehicle space!!! Here is a small display of her beautifully dyed linens loving pressed and arranged by Judy's Mom!

At the top of this grid, right above Judy's hand dyes you can see some of my rusted fabrics that I sell.

Here in this suitcase you can see some of Judy's glorious Collage Packs. She gathers a whole selection of various fabrics all in athe same color way and bundles them for sale in unique packs for fabric collage, art quilts and doll making. She also carries wonderful vintage buttons, vintage yard goods , colored ultra suede, bead mixes and vintage millinery flowers and trims. She also has a vast array of hand dyed vintage trims.

On this rack you can see her trims that have been wrapped on cardes and stored in plastic sleeves.

Here you can see a spinner rack with all of her millinery trims and some of the fabulous Stewart Gill line of paints. these paints are perfect for painting on fabric as they hardly change the hand of the fabric once dry. They are such fun to paint with and are not easy to find! Now you know where you can get them!!!

So the sale went from 7pm to 10pm and then we got to break it all down again and repack the car!! We landed in our beds at approximately 1 am Sunday morning and staggered back up I-95 on Sunday morning. It was alot of fun and we met some neat people. It is quite an experience being on the vendor side of the table!! Having to set up and break down within a 12 hour period is quite an amazing feat and I have a new huge respect for all the work and planning involved in such ventures!!

This Saturday I will start teaching at Judy's store- the Artistic Artifacts Annex in Alexandria. I have several folks signed up to learn to create the Beaded Zipper Cuffs that I have shown you in previous posts. We are working very hard to get the word out about the ANNEX and you might have seen Judy's ad in Cloth, Paper ,Scissors magazine..

If you live in the metro DC area or if you are coming to visit DC , this is a "must see" stop!!! Be sure to check the web site for current hours and come on by and say hi!!!

The gal who had the booth space next to us was from Somerset Kentucky. They pulled intot he loading dock right next ot us as we were unloading. As TJ (the wife) went to check in, her husband started to unlaod. I fear that Judy and I scared the wits out of him as we descended on him to see what all he was unpacking!!!We wanted to see the STUFF!!!!! He was a bit taken aback but understood once we apologized for being so forward and introduced ourselves!! LOL!! Well TJ has some cool stuff. She goes to Estate Auctions in Somerset Kentucky and environs and folks in those parts really think that the stuff that she is after in junk with a capital J!!! Before we had even finished setting up our space we were shopping at Tj's!! Need less to say the vehicle gained some merchandise even thought we left alot behind with happy customers. We also returned home with 9 porelaing hands including forarms from an old glove factory!! I am sure that they will be available at the Artistic Artifacts Website soon!!!

Anyway I must share with you aneat display taht TJ had for her jewelry bits and pieces. She loving calls her sculpture her pin head.!!! It is a work of art in it's own right!

So when you go to these wonderful retreats and art events you must have a whole new appreciation for the work and effort involved in these small events .

If anyone is going to the North Carolina Quilting Syposium at Peace College in Raleigh during the last weekend in May, be sure to look for Judy!! She will be there with all of her glorious hand dyed luciousness!! Just look for the rainbow tower of vintage linens and tell her that Elizabeth sent you!!!!