brief update on my weekend...
May. 31st, 2004 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raganiBack from BayCon, and have read through all the posts I missed while gone (while the boy napped on the couch).
For those who are curious, no one even bid on the map. I was not too surprised, but the guy who runs the art show thought I had priced it right when I was setting it up. He loved the map, btw, and was sure I would get a buyer, so I was a little hopeful. The mounting turned out the be OK, if not real flashy. Bull-dog clips and hooks were able to keep it in place without any damage.
What I have taken away from this experience:
• I still need to find a better way to soften the rawhide so it is much more pliable and lays flat
• Presentation will make a lot of difference (I knew this, but now I have more time to figure out something nice - still open for suggestions!)
• Adding the names in Elvin will make it more valuable (I guess I will need to spend time on this after all - anyone out there who wants to and can help?![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
themusecalliope? emeberleo? perlandria? anyone else?)
• One suggestion was to make a case for it - any ideas on how?
On a better note, the choker, The One Choker, that I also entered (and forget to take a photo of) was bid on, so did not come home with me. Since I put the minimum bid on that for $5, I am sure it did not go for much. It is a start though.
Now for my rant about the other henna artist... Anyone who spoke to me at the con for any length of time already heard me tell this (and my bf is tired of hearing it, I am sure), so I will cut to spare them the repeat.
Basically, last year I was the only henna artist in the artist alley, while she was the only henna artist in the vendor’s room. She was not too happy about my being there, evidenced by her comment to me at the end of con last year stating that she did not think this con could support two henna artist. Now her set-up is much more of a hard-sale vendor display, and her style is very nice traditional henna art. I can also do traditional, of course, but, like I posted about before, and I tried to explain to her, I had absolutely no traditional henna customers while I was at BayCon last year. I did almost all custom work that I designed, and a few non-traditional pieces (cats and the like) that I am certain she does not have in her design book. In fact, I hardly did much henna business on people, and spent most of my time on the map.
Now, I want to make it clear that I do not begrudge her running her business. Asemberleo pointed out to me, this is probably her main source of income, so she is bound to be territorial. She has clearly been a henna vendor at this and other cons for a little while now, and has her circuit all figured out. As I know from other henna artists I have worked with, that it is frustrating to think you have a venue all to yourself only to discover that you now have competition. What pisses me off the most is that thanks to me, she now has found a cheaper way to work this convention, and closed me out. You see, it costs a lot less to be an artist in the art gallery than a vendor in the vendor’s room. Not only that, but you get to stay open later, and have the advantage of not just serving BayCon badge holders since it is not in a closed-off room.
I was happy to hear from several people, even ones I did not even know (a woman at the reg. desk, for example) that they would prefer to have had me out there instead of her because she was such a hard sell.
Just a question to those that did get to see her set-up this year, and mine last year: Did her hard-sell display seem like it belonged more in the artist alley or the vendor room?
For those who are curious, no one even bid on the map. I was not too surprised, but the guy who runs the art show thought I had priced it right when I was setting it up. He loved the map, btw, and was sure I would get a buyer, so I was a little hopeful. The mounting turned out the be OK, if not real flashy. Bull-dog clips and hooks were able to keep it in place without any damage.
What I have taken away from this experience:
• I still need to find a better way to soften the rawhide so it is much more pliable and lays flat
• Presentation will make a lot of difference (I knew this, but now I have more time to figure out something nice - still open for suggestions!)
• Adding the names in Elvin will make it more valuable (I guess I will need to spend time on this after all - anyone out there who wants to and can help?
themusecalliope? emeberleo? perlandria? anyone else?)
• One suggestion was to make a case for it - any ideas on how?
On a better note, the choker, The One Choker, that I also entered (and forget to take a photo of) was bid on, so did not come home with me. Since I put the minimum bid on that for $5, I am sure it did not go for much. It is a start though.
Now for my rant about the other henna artist... Anyone who spoke to me at the con for any length of time already heard me tell this (and my bf is tired of hearing it, I am sure), so I will cut to spare them the repeat.
Basically, last year I was the only henna artist in the artist alley, while she was the only henna artist in the vendor’s room. She was not too happy about my being there, evidenced by her comment to me at the end of con last year stating that she did not think this con could support two henna artist. Now her set-up is much more of a hard-sale vendor display, and her style is very nice traditional henna art. I can also do traditional, of course, but, like I posted about before, and I tried to explain to her, I had absolutely no traditional henna customers while I was at BayCon last year. I did almost all custom work that I designed, and a few non-traditional pieces (cats and the like) that I am certain she does not have in her design book. In fact, I hardly did much henna business on people, and spent most of my time on the map.
Now, I want to make it clear that I do not begrudge her running her business. As
emberleo pointed out to me, this is probably her main source of income, so she is bound to be territorial. She has clearly been a henna vendor at this and other cons for a little while now, and has her circuit all figured out. As I know from other henna artists I have worked with, that it is frustrating to think you have a venue all to yourself only to discover that you now have competition. What pisses me off the most is that thanks to me, she now has found a cheaper way to work this convention, and closed me out. You see, it costs a lot less to be an artist in the art gallery than a vendor in the vendor’s room. Not only that, but you get to stay open later, and have the advantage of not just serving BayCon badge holders since it is not in a closed-off room.
I was happy to hear from several people, even ones I did not even know (a woman at the reg. desk, for example) that they would prefer to have had me out there instead of her because she was such a hard sell.
Just a question to those that did get to see her set-up this year, and mine last year: Did her hard-sell display seem like it belonged more in the artist alley or the vendor room?
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Response to Rant
Date: 2004-06-01 09:30 am (UTC)That said, this rant was much better than the one you had at Con. That one focused more on how what she was doing wasn't user based [it was] and other things that didn't quite work for me. I saw her as akin to the body painting booth that was nearby. My impression, however, that she is more traditional is supported by you. What I would suggest is talking early to BayCon organizers and helping them see your side.
Talk about how your Henna Art is different and Fan based. Talk about how you would promise, in order to support two artists, not to do any traditional art and send people who wanted that to her if she would do the same for you for those that wanted custom or fan art. I think there is enough business for you both, but I could be wrong. If there isn't, and you want to do this, start now and keep up the commentary so that BayCon will look to you as you are more in line with the Fan based atmosphere.
Zhaneel