Blade Show, Engrave-In, and a cross-country adventure

KatherinePlumer

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Jul 25, 2007
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Oak Run, CA
After 16 days on the road, driving from CA to GA and back, I finally got home on Sunday afternoon. What a totally awesome experience. I had a great time at Blade Show and the Engrave-In, it was such a treat to reconnect with old friends and make new friends. There was so much to see, so much inspiration! I'm excited to get back to work and already looking forward to seeing everyone again. Huge thanks to the Pilkington family for being such gracious hosts to such a rowdy crowd. :banana:

There are some Blade Show/Engrave-In pics in my photo album (dates 6/4/10-6/8/10) but you're welcome to peruse the whole thing if you're up for a vicarious road trip. :) The whole story is in the captions. You don't need to log into anything to view this, but you do need a google account to comment.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rosecomb24/TheCrossCountryAdventure?feat=directlink

-Katherine
 

Peter E

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Canton CT
That was a FANTASTIC photo journey Katherine. Thanks for posting the link.

I looked at all 305 pictures and it felt like being there. I have never been to most of the places on the route.

My adventure covered some of the eastern part of the country. The Blue Ridge Parkway through VA is quite scenic as is the Shenandoah Valley. Scott suggested a route through the Sequatchie Valley west of Chatanooga, heading north on RT28 to 127 that was really cool on the way home.
 

KCSteve

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Kansas City, MO
Really cool Katherine! :thumbs up:

I'm just partway through - didn't want my session here to time out.

Last year the ever-indulgent wife and I drove out to Phoenix for the NRA show so I have a somewhat similar gallery on my simple site (click here)

Thanks for taking all the time to do all that captioning!

Ok, I'm back after going through the whole set.

Yep, it's great!

I like the location tags you took the time to put on, even if they're mostly approximate.

Saw a lot of the places we've been through on our travels.
 
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Marrinan

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outside Albany in SW GA
Katherine, It was very nice to meet you at Blade and see your wonderful work in person. Your cat is more beautiful in person than in the pics. It was fun at the engrave-in and thank you for sharing your wonderful road trip. Glad you made it home without issues. Hope to see you again-Fred
 

Kevin P.

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Nambe, NM
Katherine, I took the entire trip with you. I love seeing other people's road trip pictures.

The reason for all the closed rest stops in AZ is because they're so broke they can't pay employees to keep them clean.

You guys covered a lot of road.
Thanks
Kevin P.
 

KatherinePlumer

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Oak Run, CA
Hey, I'm glad you've all enjoyed the vicarious road trip. It was truly an excellent adventure. :banana: I can't wait til next time! It's really cool to spend time around people who "get" the whole engraving thing... I miss everybody! Can't wait to see folks again, I guess that'll be in January. At least Reno's close to home! :rolleyes:

C.J., you did meet me! Granted, it was for about 5 seconds as I was leaving... :)

Kevin: my take on Blade Show... I'll try. I guess you could call it a newbie's take on her first engraving show, lol. I've shown very small quantities of scrim at fine art shows before, which usually means I have to explain it about a gazillion times. So this was cool to be in a place where people are familiar with the concept. It's hard for me to isolate Blade Show itself out of the entire cross-country trip, so my overwhelming impression was that the whole darn thing was entirely awesome (except the humidity, yuck!).

Having never been there, I have nothing to compare it to, which may be a good thing. All I heard from anyone was that sales seemed pretty poor over all this year, though that seemed to vary a lot from person to person. Overall impression: not a good year for sales there. I did make a few sales, and for that I am grateful, sounds like it could have been a lot worse. If you EVER get the chance to drive cross-country, DO IT, but know that it is very expensive. So, I brought that on myself, with no regrets.

What I'm told, and what I hope, is that showing is more about getting follow-up business. I talked to a LOT of people there. That's not easy for a wallflower, but I really made a point to walk around, meet people, and ask everyone "who should I introduce myself to." That seemed to be the way to meet the movers and shakers. It delighted me to no end when people knew my work ahead of time and recognized me as soon as I walked up! I started the show with a very big stack of business cards. I have about a dozen left. So, fingers crossed that lots of those people will call! :)

The engraver's section is located at the back of the building. There was much grumbling about this. And I was entirely surprised that there were engravers scattered around all parts of the show. I thought we all had to be in that section. On the upside, it was near the food, so theoretically people should wander back there, but perhaps people were so overwhelmed by the quantity of knives and stuff that by the time they got to the back, their brains were pretty much fried? From the vantage point at the back of the room, the front always looked more crowded. And as fun as it was to kick back and shoot the breeze with the other engravers when nobody was around, I'd rather be in a busy spot talking to potential customers all day. Sharing a table = yay! I'd totally do that again. It's nice to be able to take turns walking around and talking to people, knowing that everything on the table is safe while you're not there, and if someone shows up wanting to buy, you can be reached on a cell phone.

I think it's important to get out there and get my work and myself in front of people and get known. So yeah, I'm super glad I went. I know I'm the new kid, so it's time for me to be out there. This was the first year I really felt I had enough "stuff" to justify going. I'll definitely do it again. I may fly next time, who knows. I had a great time driving, I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I have someone to travel with again! I'd like to do more shows, gradually. As you know it's a lot of work. I have a big one coming up in Jackson Hole, WY in mid September. It's a fine art thing, a crowd that isn't likely to be familiar with scrim (but that's all I'm showing there), so it's going to be REALLY interesting to compare the two shows afterwards!

Okay, enough rambling! Good thing you said you wanted to read that and not hear it, I don't talk nearly that much. :rolleyes:

-Katherine
 
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WDA

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2007
Messages
51
Location
Bison,KS
Thanks!

Katherine,

Thanks for taking the time for the photo presentation. It looked like a very
interesting adventure. I and my wife met you at GM in Emporia and would
have loved to make the trip to the Engrave-in but we are trying to finish a
lot of projects we have started at the home front, so it is stay at home for a while for us. I hope your trip to "Blade show" yeilds lots of opportunities for you. Thanks again and hope to see you and your work soon .

Bill Albers
ps : I think that one cowboy had a gleam in his eye for you !
 
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tim halloran

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Jun 10, 2008
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Blue Grass, IOWA
Katherine: It Was Nice To See You At The Blade Show And The Engrave In, At Scott's. Your Scrim Is Way Cool And Vivien Enjoys Wearing The Piece She Bought From You. Your Pictures Are Great And I Looked At Them All. Hope To See you Again Soon. With Respect. Tim Halloran.
 
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