Monday, June 24, 2013

Why we quit FW

This was a long thought out and difficult decision that Eve and I had to make, and we've been getting a few questions regarding the details.

What a lot of people don't realize is that the experience at a so called "transformational festival" as a vendor is very different from the experience as an attendee. I know that there are a lot of avid supporters of this venue, and I want to first make it clear that these are our personal experiences with the festival as vendors, and nothing I am about to say is intended to invalidate the positive experiences of others. Festivals are hard work. Unfortunately, the cons outweighed the pros for us.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

4 WEEKS TO OCF

This is probably the first time we aren't rushing like crazy to finish up masks; our current count is 40, and we're aiming for 50. I think we can do it! 

Eve is working on the bigger, bolder masks like the peacock [and I think a firebird will be after that], while I'm churning out a bunch of the smaller masks that require minimal tooling. I feel so much more efficient and in love with our work when the time stress isn't weighing heavily on our shoulders. It's resulting in some very adventurous adaptations on our usual works! Such as eyeball dragon:

And this complex cluster of detail:

It's so much fun!

Oregon Country Fair will undoubtably be our biggest festival to date, with an attendance that has reached over 50,000 in the last few years. The cost of attending is already significantly lower than FaerieWorlds ever was, with the added bonus of low competition, strictly handmade only, and none of the panic inducing things that plague us at FW. Oh and we won't have to haul up most of our equipment either- no pop up tent, no, table, no tapestries, no booth decorations... just the masks, stands, a mirror, and our transaction supplies. The switch seemed obvious, really. 

I feel so blessed that the skilled & talented Maeve Callahan offered to share her sacred booth space with us. Our masks will be displayed on the walls, surrounded by her fantastically creative dolls and puppets. They will definitely compliment each other; I'll post pictures after the festival is over! 

As always, thank you to the thousands of people who support us on Facebook, etsy, Pinterest, YouTube, and offline too. You folk are truly what makes this career so enjoyable.