29 October 2008

My F.C.F.- Part four: Day three, Neighbors, Bun Bun, etc.(4 of 4)

On Sunday I think I started to calm down and think about making a list of things to remember to do.  Such as... Maybe asking for pictures. Personalizing my bags.(Decided to do this on the second day.) Taking orders (For the first two days I had forgotten I had printed some order forms.) Changing my table layout.  

Neighbors

Julitsa in the Nilma Hunter Creations booth.

There were many vendors around me.  I mainly spoke with the ones adjacent to me.  Next time I will have to wander a bit more out of my pond.  The booth on my right was Nilma Hunter Creations,  Julitsa, Nilma and Kaleimaeole sell jewelry and paintings.  If you click on their names it will lead you to their websites/ products.  Julitsa's painting is located on Nilma's site, scroll down to the bottom of the page I linked to her name to see her paintings. 

Julitsa

Julitsa was dressed as Audrey Have-a-burn(Hepburn) I got a great picture of her. On Saturday she was wearing a white dress and a veil.  

Allen

On the other side of me was Eiselin ImportsAllen sells curtains, table runners, photo albums, etc.  The curtains are cotton in a linen weave.  I thought it was linen when I first saw it.  But the feel is definitely cotton.  The loops are velcro, but the decorative buttons make it seem like they are buttoned on to the curtain rod.

On the last day Shabri of Hawaii, Inc. gifted Kent and I with some cookies.  I opened the chocolate chip one yesterday.  It has large chunks of chocolate and macadamia nuts.  Without realizing it I had three of them.  I had to store them away or I would have ate the whole bag!

Bun Bun
There were color request for the bunny.  One in black(Soot) and the other in brown(Chocolate.)

Soot

I rather not refer to the hats by color(i.e. black, brown, etc.)  So I am going to try to name them all.  This might get confusing,  I will have to just test it and see.

Chocolate

I was going to name the brown one Coffee but it reminded me of a chocolate bunny.  Which made me think of how people like to start by breaking off the head or ear, of those chocolate bunnies at easter, to nibble on.  Maybe I should name it Nibbles.  

This is the last of my long posts about my first craft fair.  I am sure I will alway remember it. 

28 October 2008

My F.C.F.- Part three: Day two and more(3 of 4)

~~
I forgot to mention that the last item I sold on day one was a Jack.
~~

There were so many more things that happened on the second day.  The first day was open to shoppers for four hours.  The second was ten hours of shopping time.  I did think ten hours sounded like a long time.  But until that day progressed I did not realize how long it really could be.

Kent and I

Black Cat in London
My hat will be visiting London!  I find this to be quite amazing.  A young lady came to my pond looking for something warm to wear for a London trip. She decided on a black cat with ear flaps.   If you are out there reading this, could you please send me picture of yourself in London with your Little frog hat?  Have a safe and fun trip!!

Friends and Family- Thank you for all your support and encouragement.

Me(San) on Day one

Days 1-3
Matt and Dean were in booth 221 selling their merchandise.  Matt sells DVDs, games, game accessories, etc.  Dean has cards and other collectables.

Diana came by all three days to keep me company in my booth so I would not be alone.  She brought her son Sean on day two.  He was helpful in modeling my hats for those people that were not sure about a child's hat size.  Sean is almost five but I think his head is on the larger side.

Kent was at the fair for the majority of the time.  On Friday I sent him to pick up my camera and a couple thing I had forgotten.  Saturday was the e-waste recycle at UHM campus.  Where he was able to safely dispose of a computer monitor and a few old UPSs.  I am not sure if he had an okay time or not.  I appreciate his support in my venture.  He helped keep my tables in order.  He also sold one hat on the last day, while I was walking around looking at the other booths. 

Day 2
Jon came for a short bit.

Val stopped in for a chat and she did some shopping.

Kent's parents came by and insisted on paying for a hat. (frown)  I hope Kent's niece enjoys the frog hat.

Last visitor on Saturday was Mom.  He snuck in to the craft fair.  The picture above of Kent and I was taken by Mom with his phone's camera. (There is no 'mom' in his name, Mom is just a nickname that I gave him.)
~~
Second to last hat sold for day two was a Jack!
~~

Day 3
We saw Mark, Erica and Allen(I think that is his name, Mark's roommate) walking around the craft fair.  They probably came to visit Matt.  Mark was wearing one of Matt's badges.  They were in their nursing scrubs so maybe they were on their way to work.

Gina(Dean's wife) came to look at my booth.  The night before at dinner she was asking me about the craft fair.  She thought I was sharing a booth with Matt and Dean.  When I told her I had my own booth she was surprised because she had walked around and had not seen me.

Roni and wife(Kim) showed up while I was taking an order so they came a back few minutes later.  Another Little frog- frog owner!  Kim ordered a frog.
~~
No Jack was sold on Day 3.  But I think that was okay since the Jack original owner came by.
~~
 

27 October 2008

My F.C.F.- Part two: The Booth and First day(2 of 4)

I would like to start the day out by thanking everyone that has become a Little frog hat owner, as well as the soon to be owners.  I am working on completing those hats as soon as possible. 


The Pond

The Booth
I had no idea of how long it would take me to set up so I arrived around 3:00 pm.  Set up time started at noon, but I was still sewing and running around preparing for the show.  I think it took me less than 30 minutes to do my table set up.  So I sat there till 5:00 pm (when the show started) sewing bunny ears.

I really wanted to have a bright light green table cover,  but as life is you do not always get what you want.  The fabric store did not have enough of the light green for me to cover two tables.  So I went with a light blue.  The length was about four yards short of what I would have liked. Which made me decide to also get the dark green.   It took me about half the day to make my table covers and pads.  And in the end it all came together,  because I think I created something that I liked more.  I got a pond like effect.  My hats sit on green lily pads on a pool of blue.

First Day
The first hat to sell was a black cat.  I really should have gotten a picture.  I wished I has taken pictures of the people buying hats or asked people to send in pictures.  This is something I will do for the next fair I am at.

Another person that made an impression on me was a nurse that bought a pink cat hat.  She told me about her costume she wore last year.  She had seen a T-shirt at the San Deigo Zoo of a Zebra painting all the animals with black and white stripes.  But the Giraffe was too tall to have his neck and head painted.  So she had on her scrub as her shirt and wore a giraffe head, with a zebra striped skirt and black leggings.  I wish I could have seen it.

What I enjoyed the most is how my booth made people smile, laugh,  or chuckle.  Some people as they walked by and smiled said 'cute.'  

I think I need to make a new sign,  since many of the people seemed surprised when I said I sew all of the hats myself.  Yes, it is a bit crazy that I sew so much. 

26 October 2008

My First Craft Fair- Part one(1 of 4)

San's Little Frog

Here I am at my first craft fair.  Kent took this picture right after I set my tables up. I am going to blog about the craft fair over the next few days because today was the last day of three, and I am sooooooo tired. I think it was more than twenty- three hours of craft fair in the last three days.

I had funny watching the people walk by and smile, point, or tap a friend.  I also met some really nice people.  Some friends also came by to see my booth.  Tomorrow I will write more about it. 
 

21 October 2008

White

It has been all things white for a while now.   I made some white cats, which I will be calling Snow kitty.  


Snow kitty

One  with just a folded band and the other with ear flaps.  Anything without long floppy ears gets made in the two different band types.  

 Snow kitty

Also, finally decided on the final look of the ghost cap.  My sister sent me a picture of the ghost beanie she made to wear last Halloween.  I changed it a bit.  Took me a while to get the look of the hands to be smaller than the one my sister made.  I am still not happy with the way it looks.

When my sister was here, I showed her my work in progress.  All she said was "that's scary, that's not cute."  My response was, "I do not make cute."  So I changed the eyes and mouth to look more friendly, like the one she made.

  Boo

Below is the one my sister made.  Which I guess you could say is more cute.  It has a cartoonish look to it.  Fluffy... almost marshmallow like.  


Ghost beanie

20 October 2008

Spots, spots and more spots.

On one of my trips to the fabric store I saw red and was inspired.  Well... my original idea has not materialized yet.  Instead I ended up with this~

Lady bug

The spots nearly drove me insane.  I did twenty hats with six spots on each hat.  Yes... that was 120 spots.  I am not sure what I was thinking when I cut those out to sew on to the hats.  The Lady bug hats turned out okay.  It does not photograph as well as I would like it to.  

~Visiting two more Ponds~

Aliiolani Elementary
  December 6 Saturday 9am- 2:30pm 

Aiea Elementary
  November 15 Saturday 9am- 2:30pm

17 October 2008

Leafy leaf

Hooray...

I will start this off by telling my story of mailing this particular beret.  

Black leaf beret

I was all ready to send off the hat on Monday.  I actually had it in the envelope the previous week all ready to go.  But I knew I would have time Monday morning to go to the bank and the post office.  

The morning of October 13 came along and it was raining.  I really did not feel in the mood for walking in the rain.  I decide to do my errands in the afternoon right before going to lunch with a friend.  My friend called and said he was running late.  I thought, "Great, more time for me to run my errands."

So, I headed off on my walk to the post office.  I used my normal route, but encountered a very large puddle.  I did not realize it rained so much that the path I usually walk was flooded.  I back-tracked and took a shortcut through a little community park. 

When I got to the post office, to my surprise the desk was not open. How disappointing.  Discovers Day... okay so it seems I do not pay attention to federal holidays.  Here in Hawaii it is not a state holiday.  I believe they replaced it with observing Martin Luther King Day.  The post office closed, the bank closed...  my day was not looking so great.

Lucky me there is an automated postal service.  I started to enter information into the machine.  My phone rings which distracted me and the screen timed out.  I had to start again... oh what a day.  Not to mention that they do not leave the AC on, which made it like a sauna in there.

Here is what the hooray is about.  I get another Duck.  The beret that created the adventure for me.

Mike the sprout

Mike showed interest in having a black leaf beret.  He insisted he had a Tarutaru sized head.  Being a little doubtful I made one with the estimated measurements I was given, these were not calculated with a ruler or any measuring device.  It really was an extra large beret.  I had to pin it so I could take a picture of it on my mannequin.  

I am wondering how Mike got it to sit on his head.  Duct tape?  Paper clip? Safety Pin?

Thank you for sending the picture.  

P.S.  I forgot to say less than three Vivian for sending the cap picture.

16 October 2008

Dino

With so much green fleece.  I began thinking what else could I do in green.  I decided to make a green spiky hat.  Like the spine of a dinosaur or a dragon.  

Dino

On a side note, since it took me a while to decide on the proportion of the spikes on this hat.  It makes me think of how there are so many other things in the creation process.  Some of which I have yet to figure out how to construct.  My sketch book contains drawings of things I have yet to make.  Sometimes I stitch a sample of something and it sits on a mannequin head for days.   I look at it everyday trying to decide if I like it or if it needs to be changed.  There are a few things that I placed on the side because looking at it was not helping.  Other things I have on the side because I have been searching for the right construction materials.

14 October 2008

Jack

Finally I got a reply from Roni that I could use the picture I took of the Jack.  By far this was the most difficult Duck to shoot.  Maybe the hesitation was because it was a work environment.  And when I finally did get him to place it on, everyone in the other cubicles peered over to see him in the hat.
Jack

I guess it could pass for a floppy eared kangaroo. I was trying to convince him that he should wear it at work.  It would make for a great thinking cap.

11 October 2008

What is a Duck?

I was asked the other day "what is a Duck?" I paused for a moment before answering because I was going to say it was a bird that goes quack.  I have been making up my own labels in which I categorize things.  Ducks are people that are willing to let me take a picture of them in the hat.  A sitting duck which I shoot. Okay my sense of humor is a little odd.   

I am quite happy with the U.S. postal service right now.  I mailed a hat this past Wednesday, and the postman told me 3-5 days.  Today the hat was received which makes it 3-4 days depending if you count Wednesday.  The bouns is I get a new picture to post.
 
Viv with her new sleeping cap!

When I first started making my first panda hat, Viv mentioned that she liked the Naruto sleeping cap.  I finally got around to making one.  Like normal I feel it is far from perfect since I did my normal cut and sew.  The band seems a little too wide and I think I placed the eyes too high. The eyes also look a little angry.  But all that matters is Viv enjoys it.

Angry eyes

I was a little worried that it covered the mannequin's eyes.

Mannequin in cap


10 October 2008

Little Sleepy Panda Cat.

Maybe my cat does not look too sleepy.  But here he is as I bother him yet again to wear one of my creations.  I caught him while he was napping on one of his current favorite spots..  If only I could teach him how to smile.

Panda Cat

After refusing to pose with a nicer expression, he decided to try and remove the hat.  I was hoping to get a ferocious picture with fangs, I unfortunately missed the shot.

Grumpy Panda Cat

08 October 2008

Rawr Kitty.

RAWR!

Last month I went to The Yard House with a few people.  Of course I had a little surprise with me.  Let us just say I hit another Duck.  The picture is off focused, I really need to remember to set my camera for low light areas.  Mom Panda's picture is a little blurry,  but this one is almost fuzzy.
 Rawr... Kitty!

Another request on a blurred face.  You all look scary with your faces blurry.  Thank you for placing it on in the middle of the bar.  Bonus of that is the waitress did say "That's hot!"  Yes, she was blonde, and seemed a bit ditzy.  

06 October 2008

Panda

I mentioned before that I was creating a Panda hat for someone.  Well here is Mom.  I blurred his face out like he asked.  One ear is flopped down but I still think it looks adorable on him.

Mom panda

A group of us went out to Shokudo.  When Mom arrived I took out the hat and slipped it on his head.  I found it amusing that he did not protest and was wearing it.  I should have gotten a picture of the Leaf hat and Panda hat together.  Panda and Leaf were sitting together for a while outside of Shokudo as we waited for our table.  

01 October 2008

Introducing... The Jack

One day after a chat with someone, I decided to create a brown dog hat.  I am not sure if he told me when I gave it to him or if it was after, but he said that it looked like a donkey, dog, kangaroo or some brown animal.  This hat could be any brown animal with floppy ears.  My wish is that whoever wears it, enjoys wearing it.  So because of this I will name this hat Jack (this is in response to the donkey comment.) And all brown dog hats will be called Jack.  It might have been because the ears were sewn differently than the one in the picture below.  Or the way he wore the hat.(Maybe I can get approval to post the picture of the first Jack.)
Jack

The first Jack was a one of a kind creation by San. What I like to call a reject hat.  It was a sample, instead of using temporary stitches, I used a regular stitch that I was not going to take it apart.  The first Jack also had the first label placed on it.  Below is a label that was hand sewn on to the Pink hat with white flower.  I had to hand sew on labels to all hats that were made before these labels were created. 
Little frog label

There are three items that I stitched the logo on to.  Below is the first froggy hat I made.  This was the first logo I stitched onto a hat.  After doing the third item to have a logo placed on in this method I decided I was not crazy enough to do this on all the hats I made.
Little frog logo