London MCM Expo May 2013

I've said it before, and I don't mind saying it again; Thank you! Thank you to everyone who came and saw us at the Expo at the Excel centre this weekend, who took time to chat to us, who bought something from us, and of course those who just looked amazing! Thank you!



Outside the Excel Centre on Saturday night 

It has to be the most amazing Expo for us yet! With wider aisles, better spacing, and more exits/entrances it was so much easier to get around this time. Of course for us Expo started months ago, with me making extras that I've been putting aside ready, mostly larger sparklier marbles! That didn't stop me from last minute panics and glass melting, and the almost expected propane tank running out on Sunday morning! The local garage had run out of canisters, but luckily a local garden centre had one of my 'emergency back-up size' in stock, so a quick dive there and I was back in business! I managed a couple more kiln fulls by Wednesday evening, including a couple of new Aliens designs too, although neither ended up being mounted as I wasn't happy with them. I did have a very few Aliens, but not as many as I would have liked to have taken.

Wednesday night and Thursday morning was all last minute packing, and 'what have I forgotton' panics, before the evening drive to London. We decided to stay over the night before this time, as it meant we didn't have the early morning start and then drive through rush hour, and we could take more time over setting up. However we were really surprised to see how many Expo-goers had already turned up too, after checking in to the hotel as soon as we walked outside saw a group of fully dressed Jedi going into the corner shop opposite! I got a very quick snap, which doesn't show they were also carrying their light sabres too! So, now you know, Nisa shops are favoured by Jedi's!




Jedi's heading to Nisa

Friday! First a tense ten minutes whilst I tried to book for the October Expo, then a hour to navigate the complex Excel loading bay system, get our passes, unload, park, then finally begin to set up! We were luckly to be on a odd end where the stall next to us had to suround their stall for security (they sold knives and swords) so it gave us a handy wall to display the few aliens I'd bought. It was great to feel rested and able to take our time to set up, but the time still flew and before I knew it they were announcing the doors opened in thirty minutes!

And then the doors were open, and after that everything became a wonderful neon blur! Lots of people to talk to, many of them who'd seen us there last May and had come back again, including one Lady who'd deliberately come along for an Alien for her birthday pressent! On Saturday it was so busy they even opened the doors ten minutes early, but the new systems kept it feeling open and not crushed. I barely got chance to take any pictures, but I did get a quick shot of the Excel on Saturday night, which had turned into a lovely sunny day. Before we knew it, it was Sunday, the Expo was over and it was time to pack away and get home for a soak in the bath, a pizza, rest, and catch up on all the boring admin I've been ignoring for the past month as I've been manically melting glass! That hasn't stopped me from starting to plan for October's Expo though......



Our stall set up ready on Friday

Exhibition!!!

The exciting news is that I have some of my Alien Specimens in an exhibition, starting on Friday! The collection is entitled 'Glass' and features work from 30 different glass artists at the Cuploa Gallery in Sheffield from 3rd May to 16th June.

cupolagallery.com

This is quite a major show, it's been quite a surprise to see myself (and a picture of one of the Aliens) featured in press releases and emails from other mailing lists I'm on of upcoming exhibitions. I really wanted to go up for the opening night, but I just don't think I can make it as I only found out I was including a short time ago (thanks to some lost emails) and it seems all the trains and hotels rooms in Sheffield seem booked that weekend. This was by selection only, so I was delighted to hear I'd been chosen!

 One lobster didn't make it, thanks to the post office, and arrived upside down in a box clearly marked 'this way up,' one of the gallery directors told me he saw the driver offloading it, and was surprised that only one was broken. Not as bad as one artist though, for whom every item he sent arrived smashed. However the lobster I know can be rebuilt, and will give me the excuse to make some tweaks to it that I wanted to make.

This does mean I won't have very many aliens to take to the MCM Expo in London, but space is limited there this year, and hopefully the ones in Sheffield will now find new homes, then I can use the proceeds of their 're-homing' to fund making some more new and exciting ones!

Birmingham Comic-Con

Well, I am back! The Etsy shop is half re-opened, I'm still tried, but still buzzing with ideas after this weekends MCM Expo at Birmingham's NEC. Instead of too much waffling I'm posting lots of photo's here that will hopefully give you a taste of the event, and the always amazing costumes that so many people put together for these Expos that transform them into such colourful events. Ellie has a smart new camera and even managed to get a video clip ( You Tube Video ) of one of the 'parades' of characters - everyone from Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, Xena, to 'Top Gears' The Stig!!! There was even a stall of an R2D2 builders club, with lots of R2D2's wandering around the venue!

A very large and very empty NEC

Home for the next two days, the last set of tables on the end of this row
 

Of course, after a three hour drive the first bit of transformation needed was the hall itself! We got there by 2pm on Friday, ready to unload and put everything together, and transform some unexciting wooden tables into our stall.


A short video of The Parade

R2D2's from the builders club, note the massing Star Wars Stormtroopers at the top right of the picture

Another R2D2, this one hiding in a corner

Fight! Fight! Plenty of chances for some mock posed super-hero/villian fights!

An unlikely group!

T-Minus 8 days... and counting...

In a few days I'll temporarily close my Etsy shop (so if you have you're eye on anything please grab it before next Monday!) as we're off to Birmingham for the MCM Comic-con & Memorabilia Expo at the NEC on 16-17th March. This is the first time I've been at this event, so not sure what to expect - appart from the chance to get a really good Balti curry of course!

New test alien lifeform

What is familiar is the impending chaos and worry I haven't got/done/made something, even this quick shot shows how I'm already getting burried under boxes and bits. As it was, I was going to write this blog a few days ago, and not had a chance to until this morning.

Somewhere, I put it down here somewhere....

 Quite a few things have had to go on hold, including inventing new Aliens, however I couldn't resist the chance to show you this little fellow. He needs a little more work, as this was a test piece, then a few more to keep him company and then a nice rock to mount the colony on. I'd imagine he's a sea urchin, the tendrils ontop will have stinging points to catch any unwary alien fish, and grip onto rocks on the shoreline. I have been rather inspired after seeing a post about the Cambrian explosion of life, http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/18/weird-youth-animal-kingdom/ . This was a weird period when nature threw some very odd creatures together, it seems however strange some of my alien fauna and flora are, nature has got there before me with some really strange strangeness!

Stepping off the Ledge

I have some rather momentous news. As you may or may not know until now I've been having to divide my attention between glass and a 'dayjob.' I often have other full time crafters asking how on earth I manage to do both, and it is tricky at times, normally it's making glass which suffers though when my job becomes too busy and stressful - although going off to spend a few hours melting is a great antidote to stress, which was one of the reasons I got so into it in the first place! (Plus it's addictive!)

However for sometime now I've been really struggling with the day-to-day 'difficulties' of work, and last week things came to a head with some rather grim meetings and I decided enough was enough. So I quit!!!!!!

I won't bore you with the details, after all that's now part of my old life and very negative, I am more interested in moving forward to a more positive future. I don't have a job to walk into, but it feels like the right thing to do if only for my sanity and health! Added to this there have been so many strange coincidences and bits of synchronicity lately, it just feels like the right time. My other half always used to say 'let the universe provide' and would have faith in herself and just go for it. Years ago she moved to London to live with me, with no job, and by noon the next day had a job a short walk from my flat! So many times lately I read the quote 'leap, and the net will appear,' to which I always remember the part in 'Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade' where he steps off the ledge of the cliff, to find there was a bridge there all along hidden in plain sight by an optical illusion. You just can't see it until you are on the bridge. I think it's about having faith in yourself, something the cooperate world seems unable to inspire anymore.

I am still weighing up my options, but it's between going and getting another job and carrying on like I was, or going for it and striking out on my own. After a particularly nasty meeting last week, which left me feeling a bit battered, I called a number I'd had got of a market manager in a very large venue to test the waters. After 20 seconds of telling him what I made the reaction was amazing - and so opposite what I'd just endured - and was offered priority of a stall any day I wanted, whenever I wanted and was hugely positive and upbeat.

Now I wasn't planning on doing lots of fairs or a regular stall originally, and I'd want to check out some more venues first, but the idea is very tempting. Faced with a return to cooperate life where saying 'no' to added stress earns you a black mark what would you choose? Live in fear, or make the leap?

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Note; The picture is one of my own that I did a few years ago, if you look very, very closely, you might just see a little man on a treadmill who's driving the big rusty machine ;)

Dark Mills 2010

What an amazing weekend! Where do I start? We travelled up to London on Friday so we would be ready for an early start Saturday morning, having picked a hotel literally a stones throw from Merton Abbey Mills. We even bumped into the events creator on the tube on the way there! After an evening catching up with old friends I didn't sleep much as had too many 'did I pack that?' going around my head!

A big breakfast then I dragged a body bag sized case to the venue and started setting up at 8 am. Although the event didn't start till later, I got plenty of interest from locals out walking dogs and grabbing coffees. I had a few manic flurries, but the day was fairly quiet - well almost! I didn't realise quite how close to the stage I was, and from midday I started having to do a lot of shouting! After about 6pm I could feel a sore throat coming on, not to mention the sore feet! It was a really hot day but being close to the hotel I did manage to dive back to change while Ellie, my OH, took charge of the stall (including getting the first sale of the day!)

I got to talk to lots of people, so many were really complimentary about my glass, it was so nice for people to be able to see the colours and depths to them. Some people said I'd given them too much choice! Although I'd planned to stay open till 10, by 8 we were dead on our feet so threw everything in the case shut for the night. We'd originally planned to go to the 10pm bar/club, but after a quick bite to eat we were ready for bed! So much for my rock-'n-roll lifestyle!

Sunday was a much more relaxed day, but turned out to be more amazing still! We were able to set up later, so got a bit of a lie in, before forgoing the rather disappointing hotel grub for breakfast in the Waterwheel cafe, a smart move as it was soooo tasty! We were due to have a stall next to us on Saturday selling wigs, but sadly her car broke down. When Ghoulia Peculiars http://www.myspace.com/ghouliaspeculiars managed to make it on Sunday everyone was suitable overwhelmed by the amazing handmade creations she bought with her. Wigs don't even come close to describing them, even a full head masks to transform the wearer into a wolf! Her Ophelia wig was so long she said it still trailed the floor when a 6ft model was wearing it (with heals!) There was quite a bit of trying on, even the compare Dave Disaster ran away wearing a rather fetching floral one onto the stage! One of the things that made the event so enjoyable was that all the organisers and co-ordinators were so friendly and helpful, and very, very well organised!

I managed to get more breaks during the day, and after 8pm we slowly started packing away just as a troupe of fire performers started to heat things up! Ellie got some fantastic shots of them (I'll upload more on my facebook page from the weekend.) About then an Alien wandered into the venue as they started an open air screening of the film. Someone must have called for help, as an exact copy of the 'Ghostbusters' car turned up to deal with the Alien menace! It was a slightly surreal but very fun end to an weekend full of amazing sights and sounds - I just had to get a shot of me by the car!

I've not counted the pennies exactly, after the extra expense of the hotel room and travel I may not have done more than break even, but it was such a great weekend it was so worth doing. It was great to meet so many people, thank you to everyone who came up to see my glass and chat, I certainly hope I'll be able to do it again next year!

The stall set out ready! I need more coffee!

Pondering customer - too much choice!

Wow! Wigs and masks from Ghoulia's Peculiars

Julia from Ghoulua's Peculiars fits an amazing blue wig

It's not a full moon is it?

Stall organiser Steph tries out the Medusa wig!

And Compare Dave Disaster tries something in pink!


The gathering crowds and the very smartly dressed singer from Ghostfire

Look - You forgot to polish those boots!

Fire!!!!

Alien Vs Ingela from http://www.veilofvisions.com/

Ooops! Alien decides this is a good time to leave!

Can I get one of these?