Laffing Horse Crafts

I’ve always known it, but it sometimes helps to get a reminder… a wake up call.

Craft shows are not my favorite shows. I meet all types and not all of those types are pleasant. There’s always going to be at least one person that “knows more” (they might, but it’s not necessary to be rude in the process – I’m open to suggestions and ideas and always learning…) than me, or gets their <fill in the blank> from someone else that’s obviously better than me, or someone that thinks that my products – over which I’ve spent uncounted hours, days, months and years toiling and crafting and perfecting -¬† are “just like that <fill in the blank> I saw at WalMart for $9.95… I’ll give you $10″, or can make one of <fill in the blank> for a lot less than that.

It’s tempting to snarl and really be honest – in no uncertain terms – with these people. Snarl, pack and leave.

Don’t!

Smile, nod, offer them the pattern, politely decline their ridiculous offer and stay the course.

Why?

Follow-up!

The last craft show we vended at was pretty abysmal in terms of sales, but we did smile and nod and so forth and we did stay the course.

Since the craft show, however, we’ve taken several orders for products that patrons saw at the show, but couldn’t get at the time.

It’s a nice feeling to know that you were remembered.

It sure don’t hurt the bottom line either.

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Starting early next week Jeanette and I will once again be hitting the road. This time we’re off (no jokes here) to the Meeker Sheep Dog Championship Trials in (duh!) Meeker, Colorado.

We’ve vended at Sheep Dog Trials before – most notably, the Soldier Hollow Classic (which, unfortunately, conflicts with both the Meeker Sheep Dog Championship Trials and the newly formed Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair which is only about 40 minutes away. Makes me wonder what were they thinking?)

Hope to see you there and if not there I hope you’re ahving fun at one of the other shows!

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I said I was going to continue that thought. Here it is.

These are the Pinto SE 1 foot trilooms. They are made with the same materials and construction and finishing techniques I use on my larger Morgan (5′) Palomino (6′) and Mustang (7′) trilooms. That makes ‘em pretty special.

I also happen to think that they’re beautiful… ‘course I would

I guess I should mention that I am donating three of these to SOAR for use as door prizes. I don’t know what’s traditional for such an offering, but it’s what I gots…

We got a letter in the mail the other day from SOAR saying that they were interested in our products. I thought it was quite an honor… y’know… just to be recognized.

So I spent some time thinking about it… what could I send that was uniquely mine to an event such as this? Nothing, really. But these beauties are as close as I can get…

Once they were completed, I showed Jeanette and she wants me to continue to make them for other shows and for eBay… so, that’s what I’m doing (when I’m not typing furiously into a blog).

If just looking at them here isn’t enough, try our eBay store.

Of course we’ll also have ‘em in our store soon and on Etsy and whereever else we can find a place to put ‘em.

That makes me wonder, then, what’s so special about them if they start showing up everywhere. They won’t. I don’t plan on making these forever. They take a lot longer than my standard 1 foot models.

But they sure are nice to look at

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Y’know, I always hated seeing that phrase attached to a product. Just like new and improved. Makes me want to ask if the old one was inferior, and what was it inferior to? What makes this edition special? Did you just sell me (24 hours ago, I’m sure) a crappy edition?

However, I kinda understand it now. Now that I’m making things myself…

First you construct something based on your plans – those plans might be on paper or the might be rattling around in your brain. That’s the prototype. Whether you started with paper or not, write it down now! Believe me, this is the voice of frustrated experience speaking… write it down!
Then, while looking at the prototype and remembering how it was constructed, you figure out where is could have been better.

Do it again.

Like the shampoo bottle says – wash, rinse, repeat. Once you’ve got the product down, start making ‘em as fast as you can while maintaining the level of quality you want (high, in my case).

Then an idea hits. It’s a good idea. It’s gonna make a pretty, usable item, but it’s not something you’ll want to do all the time.

Special Edition.

I’ll tell you some more later.

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The Arkansas Valley Fair has ended.

It was a fair fair.

We demonstrated weaving and spinning and fiber preparation for a lot of people. We sold a few spindles and a few skeins of yarn and a few spirit bells and a few bars of soap and few lotion sticks and a learn to tri-weave kit.

We made a lot of nice contacts and met a lot of nice people.

Seems rather ordinary, doesn’t it?

It really wasn’t – not in the long run.

You see, there was this little girl – about 6 – that came to our booth the first day and learned to weave on the rigid heddle loom. And she learned to spin on a drop spindle. And she learned to crochet. Pretty impressive! But more than that she spent the days following playing in our booth (her grandmother was two booths down) and teaching other kids to weave. She was that good!

Our intention is to remove the cloth she created (about 24 inches) and crochet the sides and crochet a handle and send it to her as a thank you for all her hard work.

Meanwhile, we were productive. Jeanette finished a lot of Spirit Bells and a 6 foot silk tri woven shawl that is just beautiful (pictures coming soon I hope) and I spun up about 7 skeins of yarn for the shop.

So, we didn’t sell much, but we met a wonderful child that reminded us of why we’re really doing this… it’s not the money – Gods NO! It’s not the fortune or fame – ha ha! It’s the smile on a person’s face when they make that connection and know that they’ve found something that was missing – something that they want to do – something that they love – something we helped them find. It’s knowing that 20 years from now, as this little girl sits down in front of her loom and begins to weave, she’ll maybe smile and think about those two weird folk at the county fair that first let her run her hands through some fiber.

technorati tags:weaving, fair, tri-looms, triangle, trilooms, spin, crochet, looms, yarn, teaching, smiles

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Comics and Editorial Cartoons: Non Sequitur on Yahoo! News

Ain’t it the truth!?!

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The Arkansas Valley Fair in Rocky Ford, Colorado has officially started.

For us, however, it started a long time ago in a galaxy… wait… wrong story…

…. ummm… to boldly go… nope…

Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand… good, but not quite…

Once upon a time. Still not right, but it’ll work.

Well, then, once upon a time our local fiber arts guild was approached to present demonstrations at the Arkansas Valley Fair. Every one of the guild’s members claimed to be too busy.

The fair’s director recalled reading a newspaper article about these extraordinary, if eclectic, people living out in the country raising sheep and spinning and weaving. So the fair’s director called the odd fiber arts people and offered the spot to them… they accepted… they were told that they could use as much space as was left over after all of the other vendors had signed up and that it would not be less than the standard 10×10.

We had been to the fair before and knew how empty the space normally was and we figured we were doing this for fun and education.. so we planned to spread out. Besides, we got used to having a lot of space to spread out at the Colorado Renaissance Festival – what, with a 30 x 20 booth there.

We were then asked to assist in representing the fair on the local radio’s morning show… should take about 20 minutes and then we’d be out of there.

OK, so far? You with me? Remember that although this wasn’t really in a galaxy far far away, it was a long time ago.

We get to the radio station with our smiles and our stomachs filled with butterflies – not as many as the other guy there, but enough to assist in the pollination of a small farm’s alfalfa field. The other guy was slated to perform with his guitar a song he had written. He was nervous enough… well, the butterfly’s coulda handled a small continent – like Africa. BUT, before us, the local health director had to speak about West Nile Virus (and he never even mentioned East Euphrates Syndrome which makes people make fun of West Nile Virus (which really is no laughing matter, but…)) and the new and improved mercury recycling program (which, much to my surprise, had very little to do with the planet and a lot to do with quicksilver… go figger). By the time he was done, we got introduced and, well, that was almost all… we got to listen to the singer… we were only an hour late to our next appointment… I guess show biz is just that way and now that we’re radio celebs (which makes me wonder… do radio paparazzi types sneak up and try to record your voice?) we just no longer have to worry, right? Right?? We also found out that the normally empty expo center we were supposed to be able to spread out in was filled to capacity.

Oops… we scrambled to figure out how we could cram 600 square feet of stock and teaching materials into a 100 square feet space down from the 200 we had budgeted for.

And then we show up to move in and find that ‘filled to capacity’ means that we were given a 200 square foot space to allow them to say that they were filled to capacity.

Get out the graph paper, honey… we gotsta rearrange again.

Long story short? Too late for that… we’re there and things seem to be going well… if you happen to be in our neck of the woods… or ribcage of the prairie… stop by the Arkansas Valley Fair and say “hi!”

technorati tags:fair, demonstrations, county, spinning, weaving

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So the name is selected – Laffing Horse. It started with the tri looms… however, it seemed wrong to just make tri looms… so the wife talked me into rigid heddle looms and spinning wheels, too.

Now, I love gadgets… my designs will reflect that. I also love tradition and beautiful things. You’ll see that, too.

It seems common practice to name the products. It’s not enough to just have tri looms or wheels or…

How’s this, then?

• An Indian head/chair style wheel called the Shire
• A Saxony style wheel called the Andalusian
• A Castle style wheel called the Shetland
• A Charkha called the Arabian
• A 12″ rigid heddle loom called the Unicorn
• A 24″ rigid heddle loom called the Alicorn
• A 36″ rigid heddle loom called the Pegasus
• A 1′ tri loom with a natural finish called the Mini
• A 2′ tri loom with a natural finish called the Welsh
• A 3′ tri loom with a natural finish called the PasoFino
• A 1′ tri loom with a painted finish called the Overo
• A 2′ tri loom with a painted finish called the Tobiano
• A 3′ tri loom with a painted finish called the Zebroni
• A 6′ tri loom with a natural finish called the Palomino
• A 7′ tri loom with a natural finish called the Mustang

There’s always the question, Are you serious? Yes! The first 3 Palominos have already been sold and the first Mustang is finished (WOO HOO! – I’ll post pics tomorrow) and getting ready for testing (most all products are tested before getting shipped) and numerous Minis and Welshes and PasoFinos have been sold and then there’s the Morgan (my own custom 5′) waiting in the wings…

I’m so excited!

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Learn to Triweave

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As you may know (and if you didn’t, please brace yourselves) we’re moving to a new farm. The move is going to take some time so don’t start asking for an address where to send your donations and condolences yet. The new farm is in Arkansas in the heart of the Ozarks. Laffing Horse Farm just doesn’t work out there the way it did here… so we’re discarding Laffing Horse Farm…

The new farm is Foxbriar Farm… we’ve even got a cure li’l logo all worked out…

But we have a real attachment to Laffing Horse as a name. It’s kinda… no, more than kinda… representative of us. It has nothing to do with horses… it’s an anagram of our names. And we like laffing. And, as both of us have worked in industries that required precise use of English, we’re fond of the spelling. We don’t want to get rid of Laffing Horse…

So, Jeanette mentions to me, the other day, the looms need a name… we want to keep Laffing Horse in the family, so to speak… why not Laffing Horse Looms?

View, then, the Laffing Horse 6′ Tri Loom!

technorati tags:weaving, farming, laffing, moving, arkansas, colorado

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