Marketplace: Stuff I’m Making and Upcoming Events

May 28, 2022May 28, 2022 Bernadette

handmade tiles with cat art — New Feline Tiles!

I missed having tiles for my events last year. Just like most other things I make I worked over my process for making my polymer clay tiles with artwork to be a little more efficient and consistent. I chose one brand of clay, cut each tile around a piece of cardboard on a piece of paper and slide it into my little toaster oven. I use a slightly different transfer to set the artwork, then do a little trimming. They are still a little time-consuming, but as long as I can make a dozen or so at a time it’s worth it. I made a dozen 4″ (+/-) over two days and they turned out really striking.

tiles with cat art — Cats and Flowers Tiles

You might notice that each column is kind of like a set, and I’d love to sell sets as well as individuals, which means I need to have more than one of each tile. But working out the process for making a dozen at a time, I can make three sets of four in one go and be stocked with that set.

New—Votive Lamps and new designs

A selection of my feline votive lamps. Like everything else I make I’ve worked on the design and production of my upcycled glass jar votives. I just wasn’t happy with the dim light from the votive candle on the larger designs, and the battery needed to be changed all the time. For these larger ones I chose LED light strings with timers so they are brighter and more colorful, and you can use them as lamps. With Duracell batteries I’ve gotten about three months out of a string of LEDs before I needed to change the batteries, or I’ve gotten a month with rechargable batteries and just keep a charged set on hand.

At some point I decided to start keeping the lids to the jars when they work with the design, and I put the lid on the jar so dust and cat fur flying around the air doesn’t settle in there. These are only a few of the designs. This weekend I’ll be making more in new designs that I can’t wait to see on the jars.

I’ll also be working up a few other new designs, one of them the rework of the cat silhouette design I introduced last December, and a limited edition one that’s turning out really well.

The Creative Cat Preview Newsletter

These tiles and votive lamps will be available first to subscribers to this newsletter, for a week after I publish the newsletter. Then I’ll offer the ones that didn’t sell to everyone else—but I’ll also be starting my vendor show season in June, and these items go to every show with me—one of the reasons I wanted to rework how things are made, since I’ll once again have a show nearly every week. In addition, I have a big weekend event in a storefront the weekend of June 18. I have the whole list of events as it is today, below.

I missed the May issue of my monthly preview newsletter, but I’m planning one for June that I’ll publish early next week. If you want to be sure to get your chance at these items, click here for the Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter.

It’s just about time for show season to start!

Over the winter I carefully considered how I wanted to manage my vendor show schedule. Last year I was in smaller weekly events like the farmers market with a few bigger events like Rock the Quarry and my own Open House events. The weekly schedule was a little difficult to keep up with for items that were popular and time-consuming to make so I’d decided this year I’d do fewer events, but larger ones monthly so I had time to make quantities of items in between and allow for supply chain issues.

But I find larger events physically challenging to manage on my own. I don’t mind all the carrying and packing and unpacking, but my setup and teardown each take at least two hours on my own making a long day even longer. The long days away, since most of the good ones are more than one day and at least six hours, usually eight, even if they’re not far from home, they actually take time from the days before and after the event as well. And if I’m managing treatments and care for Mr. Sunshine I don’t want to be away that long.

Supply chain issues still happen, but that was one of the reasons for taking the time to make changes to materials and make processes more efficient, so I don’t need to take as much time to get materials or make my stuff. And while I need to have a greater inventory on hand for larger events, in my small house I have little storage for large quantities of fabrics or keepsake boxes or doormats, or for finished products. Smaller quantities for smaller events works well for me, and takes into account an increasing amount of sales on my websites.

The larger events are more expensive to enter too, and though the income from them is greater, in the end it’s not appreciably more than several smaller, more frequent events. Long days on my feet are actually not good for me either.

And in all that, I have little time for other things, like new artwork, bike rides on the trail, and finishing all those short stories I started, other activities that also feed my income.

So I’ll be enjoying shorter events, closer to home, and weekly. And also seeing familiar faces at those events.

Here’s the schedule at the moment, and I’ll be adding to it as a few other things are finalized. The farmers markets are Sundays, and I may also have a Saturday event here and there.

Spring and Summer Events

Sunday, June 5
Dogapalooza
I’ll have my animal portraits and Custom Pet Memorial Votives
Fundraiser for the Carnegie Dog Park and charitable animal organizations.
Vendors, costume contests, basket raffles, food truck
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Carnegie Park, 900 Forsythe Road, Carnegie, PA 15106

Sunday, June 12
Carnegie Spring Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
30 vendors, food, music, sidewalk sales
Glass recycling event
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Corner of West Main and Third Street, Carnegie, 15106

Friday, June 17 through Sunday, June 19
Art & Gifts Show & Sale On the Avenue
My own solo event in a storefront!
Art & Photo Exhibit Opening, Friday 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Gift items and merchandise displayed for sale
Saturday and Sunday open 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
440 Washington Avenue, Bridgeville PA 15017
(Bridgeville Day on the Avenue is Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.)

Sundays July 10 through September 25
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street
Tentative schedule:
July 10, 17, 24, and 31
August 7, 14, 21, and 28
September 11, 18 and 25 (closed Sept 4)

Sunday, July 17
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Sunday, July 24
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Sunday, July 31
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Monarch Butterfly Festival
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Sunday, August 7
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Sunday, August 14
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Sunday, August 21
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Friday and Saturday, August 26 & 27
Rock the Quarry XX
Art and photography of the trail and the woods surrounding
Fundraiser for Collier Friends of the Panhandle Trail
Vendors, food and lots of local music
Friday 5:00 to 11:00 p.m.
Saturday 3:00 to 11:00 p.m.

Sunday, August 28
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Sunday, September 11
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Sunday, September 18
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Sunday, September 25
Carnegie Farmers Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
40 vendors, food, music
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Main Street Carnegie between Mary Street and Broadway Street

Saturday, October 1
Carnegie Fall Fest
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
Hayrides, pumpkin painting, crafts, live music, and Carnegie’s epic “Rogi Rumble” a.k.a. pierogi contest. More details available closer to the event.
Noon to 9:00 p.m.
Main Street, Carnegie, 15106

Sunday, November 20
Carnegie Holiday Market
I’ll have all my feline and nature gift items and select art and prints
30 vendors, food, music, sidewalk sales
Noon to 3:00 p.m.
Corner of West Main and Third Street, Carnegie, 15106

Marketplace

Mimi and Mewsette inspect my tiles.

Take a look at other new merchandise and featured artwork.

Marketplace is a feature on The Creative Cat to share the latest coming out of my studio with my readers. Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop”.

Read about creating custom items

Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.

Find out about events and festivals where you can find me and my work.

Sign up for my e-newsletter (below), check the widget on the sidebar on my home page, or sign up to receive posts on Portraits of Animals Marketplace. I plan on plenty of events this coming summer in the Pittsburgh area.

It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!

Copyright

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.