| Castlefest update |
[07 Aug 2006|12:43pm] |
Castlefest took three days this year. Same as last year, it was held at the castle Keukenhof in Lisse. This being the second year, the good reports about last year drew more people there. Also, the organisers had done more promotional work this time around.
On friday, the weather sucked. It rained a lot, especially in the morning. We had been offered a market stall, and were hoping to modify it (leaving out one of the table boards) so here would be a space for out maille class underneath the awning. However, when we arrived we soon learned that we had been moved to a 5x5 meter tent instead. Bigger, out of the rain...all in all a bonus. We were soon set up, and though the tent was a bit bare (we hadn't counted on needing to dress up something that big, after al), it worked out prefectly for us. It being friday, and rainy, we weren't expecting huge sales, but we did okay.
Saturday morning started with a trip to the doctor. One of ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) steelweaver's (soft, one-day) contact lenses had torn and fragmented the day before, and though she tought she had gotten all the pieces out, her eye was irritated in the morning, and somewhat swollen. It looks like she got a mild infection of the cornea, and needed to wear a bandage over that eye for the day. In the end, we were about 15 minutes late getting to the grounds, but managed to get everything opened up again quickly enough. We had brought a second table to display some of the demo materials (patches of different chainmaille and scales, and some showpieces), which drew plenty of attention as usual. That day we had four people attend our maille class, and made an incredible amount of sales. That day alone would have made it our best weekend ever.
We stayed until quite late before heading home, neither of us really as tired as we deserved to be after a twelve hour day.
On sunday things settled down a bit. Happy with our sales form the day before I splurged a bit on a few items to incorporate into future maille pieces. One woman's stall in particular held my interest. She had bells. Big bells, little bells, tiny bells, fish bells, elephant bells, cat bells, bells, bells, and bells! Also a few other instruments, but there were over 50 different kinds of bells in all shapes and sizes.
I bought some bells.
I also bought some amber beads which I hope to work into a net-like necklace, and a beeswax candle because we hadn't brought enough candles. I've also been looking for a belt knife, but couldn't find one I liked. Our favorite mead stall was sold out by then, so we'll have to see about getting some more from them at the next event we'll both join.
Some of the bells Steelweaver bought from the same bell stall were incorporated into an RSD ankle bracelet, and after she showed it to the bell lady we tagged it and put it on the table. At the end of the day, though, it had disappeared. Not sold, just...gone. Trying not to cry thief too quickly I went to see if it had been turned in at the lost and found, which it had, to our relief. I figure it probably got picked up by a little kid, after which their parent turned it in at the L&F.
Saleswise we did okay. Sold out of our black-and-silver (rubber and aluminium) stretchy bracelets again. Those still sell the best of all our stuff. Also had three more people show up for our maille class.
This was the first time we had a serious amount of rings for sale, and they went like crazy. This may have something to do with the fact that we were the only one selling rings, though. Imagine being the only coke dealer in Amsterdam...
Anke, one of my fellow players with the LARP Mage Guild, helped out immensely by being our contact with the orga (she was volunteering for the event), promoting our products (she walked around the fair decked from head to toe...okay, waist in maille stuff the first and second night, and found someone to do the same on the second), helping out in the shop, and so on. We met both Tom and Sjoerd, two dutch maillers from the Ring Lord forum again, and muizenstaartje dropped by for a while, although I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her. We did sell at least one of the pieces of hers we have.
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crazy
bored
creative
sleepy
hungry
jubilant