In the name of Covid safety, I held my annual Open Studio outdoors this year. Take note of the canopy in this photo, it becomes the star of this blog post later. This was my first time holding a sale in my backyard. Being outdoors did have some advantages. Namely, I had so much more space! In the first few hours of the show, the crowd is really big and the basement can get really packed and feel claustrophobic. The backyard did not have that problem. In fact, I thought the layout and flow outside was a big improvement. Another advantage is that I did not need to deep clean my studio in advance, which usually takes four days. This means I had more time to make pots.
This year in particular, those extra days made all the difference. I ended up doing four shows this fall in addition to this Backyard Sale, which is one or two more shows than I should have done. Covid uncertainty made scheduling very difficult. So I was cranking at full-speed since mid-August just to have an adequate amount of inventory, barely taking any days off. Still, I really did not have enough. I pulled out all of my tricks for making my displays look fuller than they were. For the last two months, I was making extra pots with each cycle, often working until 8 or 9pm.
Next year, I will try to plan my schedule better. Although Covid might still make that hard.
Here’s the bad part about doing an outdoor event in December: the weather really isn’t reliable enough at this time of year. It doesn’t help that local meteorologists tend to exaggerate all the time, which means it’s hard to know when to take them seriously or not. The forecast changed every day for a week leading up to the sale. Luckily on Saturday, the temperatures were quite warm, winds were gusty but it wasn’t raining.
On Saturday night, things turned ugly. The same storm system that caused tornadoes in the middle of the country arrived on the east coast. I was pretty tired from having gotten up at 5am, and had planned on going to bed early. When the winds began howling I decided to stay up as late as possible, just to keep an eye on my canopy. I only had a small inventory left, and it was all being stored under the canopy. This is one of those times when I am pretty sure I have a guardian angel. The angel told me to stay up late, and had me walk over to the back door in the kitchen to check on the canopy, so I there watching as a crazy gust of wind caused the canopy to slide over by a few feet, then start to collapse. Therefore I was able to intervene right away.
When I got outside, the tent was sort-of on its side and no longer in the shape of a cube. At first, I tried to stand it upright, and that’s when I realized that one of its legs had snapped into two pieces.
This year in particular, those extra days made all the difference. I ended up doing four shows this fall in addition to this Backyard Sale, which is one or two more shows than I should have done. Covid uncertainty made scheduling very difficult. So I was cranking at full-speed since mid-August just to have an adequate amount of inventory, barely taking any days off. Still, I really did not have enough. I pulled out all of my tricks for making my displays look fuller than they were. For the last two months, I was making extra pots with each cycle, often working until 8 or 9pm.
Next year, I will try to plan my schedule better. Although Covid might still make that hard.
Here’s the bad part about doing an outdoor event in December: the weather really isn’t reliable enough at this time of year. It doesn’t help that local meteorologists tend to exaggerate all the time, which means it’s hard to know when to take them seriously or not. The forecast changed every day for a week leading up to the sale. Luckily on Saturday, the temperatures were quite warm, winds were gusty but it wasn’t raining.
On Saturday night, things turned ugly. The same storm system that caused tornadoes in the middle of the country arrived on the east coast. I was pretty tired from having gotten up at 5am, and had planned on going to bed early. When the winds began howling I decided to stay up as late as possible, just to keep an eye on my canopy. I only had a small inventory left, and it was all being stored under the canopy. This is one of those times when I am pretty sure I have a guardian angel. The angel told me to stay up late, and had me walk over to the back door in the kitchen to check on the canopy, so I there watching as a crazy gust of wind caused the canopy to slide over by a few feet, then start to collapse. Therefore I was able to intervene right away.
When I got outside, the tent was sort-of on its side and no longer in the shape of a cube. At first, I tried to stand it upright, and that’s when I realized that one of its legs had snapped into two pieces.
I’m grateful that although the winds were insane, it was still fairly warm and not raining, so I did not have to do this in freezing or wet conditions. And for some reason, I did not feel stressed out or angry, which would have been my usual reaction. My stomach was calm and my head was clear. I’m not sure why, but I think it had to do with overall tiredness from this fall’s workload. I didn’t have the energy to get upset. Plus, it helps that I had made and sold so many pots this fall. One of my thoughts was “whatever it costs to fix this, I can afford it.” So I went about it methodically, taking down the canopy step-by-step. Once the weights were detached, the whole thing flying away like a box kite was a real possibility. At times I had to stop working as another gust of wind came along, and just hang on to the frame. I had one moment of near panic when the wind shifted something under me and I got knocked backwards onto my ass. I was not holding onto anything and it looked like the canopy would get lifted over the 6ft tall fence and into my neighbor’s yard, and possibly send me tumbling in the other direction. I managed to scramble and grab one of the legs, and hang on until the gust passed. Once the tent’s roof was unfastened and on the ground, everything felt safe, because the frame by itself could not be carried off by the wind. After that, it was just a matter of disassembling the frame and moving everything into the basement. I did leave the weights outside though. Those suckers are heavy and I knew they wouldn’t go anywhere. I had been carrying stuff in and out of the basement since early that morning, and my quads were feeling it.
So once the tent was inside, I had to assess to damage to the pots. One of the tables had been knocked over, and those pots were on the ground. The remaining three tables were still standing. Of all the pots on the ground, only five of them were broken, and the rest were fine. The broken pots were all small things, mugs and cups. Pretty amazing how many pots landed on a stone patio and survived.
So once the tent was inside, I had to assess to damage to the pots. One of the tables had been knocked over, and those pots were on the ground. The remaining three tables were still standing. Of all the pots on the ground, only five of them were broken, and the rest were fine. The broken pots were all small things, mugs and cups. Pretty amazing how many pots landed on a stone patio and survived.
Here’s my display for the second day, minus the broken canopy and the five broken pots. The weather was much calmer, but cold! Things went very smoothly from here on, good sales during the day, and an easy clean up at the end, given that most of the gear was already put away.
This doesn’t mean I will refuse to do this outdoors again. I definitely prefer to do it indoors, but if Covid is still an issue next December, I will do it outdoors again, just with different strategies in place.
On Monday, I called Creative Energies, the company that makes the Light Dome Canopy. The parts I needed ended up costing only $160. So while I was on the phone with them, I did something that I had wanted to do for many years, which is to buy another set of four legs, so I can cut off the very top part that curves in towards the roof rafters. I’m going to use the second set of legs for indoor shows, where the top part of the leg looks a little weird. You can see what I’m talking about in this screenshot:
This doesn’t mean I will refuse to do this outdoors again. I definitely prefer to do it indoors, but if Covid is still an issue next December, I will do it outdoors again, just with different strategies in place.
On Monday, I called Creative Energies, the company that makes the Light Dome Canopy. The parts I needed ended up costing only $160. So while I was on the phone with them, I did something that I had wanted to do for many years, which is to buy another set of four legs, so I can cut off the very top part that curves in towards the roof rafters. I’m going to use the second set of legs for indoor shows, where the top part of the leg looks a little weird. You can see what I’m talking about in this screenshot:
(Click here to watch the 1 minute video titled “Fast Motion Booth Setup”)
Before, I wasn’t sure if it was possible to cut off that top part. But this weekend I found myself with an already ruined leg, so I took a hacksaw and tried it. And it worked! So going forward my booth at indoor shows will look a bit more polished.
My year is not quite done yet. I need to finish a wedding registry and deliver it later this month. I had already set aside many of those pots throughout the fall, so this week’s workload is very light. Then I need to clean the studio. Then I will take a couple of months off. I am skipping the ACC Baltimore show next February. (See, I’m already learning how to give myself a break sometimes!) My first show of 2022 will be the Smithsonian Craft Show in April.
Before, I wasn’t sure if it was possible to cut off that top part. But this weekend I found myself with an already ruined leg, so I took a hacksaw and tried it. And it worked! So going forward my booth at indoor shows will look a bit more polished.
My year is not quite done yet. I need to finish a wedding registry and deliver it later this month. I had already set aside many of those pots throughout the fall, so this week’s workload is very light. Then I need to clean the studio. Then I will take a couple of months off. I am skipping the ACC Baltimore show next February. (See, I’m already learning how to give myself a break sometimes!) My first show of 2022 will be the Smithsonian Craft Show in April.
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