Well it's the 3rd day of the show........

and while I don't believe I"ll choose to do a gym meet in the future, it's been a pleasant experience so far. Just not profitable, at least in economic terms.

First for those of you in Des Moines it's being held at Vet's, and it now has floors. Serious!! They were not kidding about renovations. I mean, they added actual levels to the building!! It now has 4 floors and a Mezzo.

For those not in Des Moines and have no clue what I'm talking about, Vets is (was) a old fashion stadium, as in one big giant huge 3 story tall box of a room, to hold basketball games, concerts etc.

But now it has floors! It floored me! (hehehehe)

And they are very nice floors! We are on the Mezzo, with carpeting and really lovely bathrooms ( again, for those who know DSM, that isn't something that has ever been said about the bathrooms at Vet's before)

All my fellow vendors and the nice show volunteers are just super -- friendly, fun to talk to, and just down right nice as peaches.

The event has over 800 girls participating, with attendant family, friends, coaches etc. So I would guess 2000-3000 people have walked by my booth so far this weekend.

So the venue is super nice.

It's just that I'm not selling much. January is never a stellar month for jewelry anyway, coming on the heels of Christmas and large credit card bills, and I had no idea how well I would do at a large gymnastics meet, so I'm not crushed or anything; I view it as a learning experience. I can cross off doing this kind of thing from my list, though if it wasn't 4 very long days ( 8am to 9pm) you never know. ( say, 4 hours, on a weekend and free.. probably give it a go! )

I think the biggest factor is jewelry is mostly an impulse buy, and most of the adults are so focused on their kids right now, and aren't thinking impulsively. (and I think that's great on every level but the money one!! )

Still I've sold a few things (including my chain experiment necklace !! ) and had some great chats with vendors / customers/ browsers / etc.

and I've been very productive!! I've made several pieces while at the show -- here are some of them...


Rainbow chainmail!
These are mine!!!! the keys have a cat on them!

Here's a view of the dragonfly necklace I made, it has 3 strands on 1 side and 1 strand on the other... I"m really getting into this asymmetrical stuff!
close up of the pendant part.. the dragonfly is wrapped/ draped around the crystals.