Celebration Drawing

I am having a drawing to celebrate my first etsy sale! It will be for this little needle felted pumpkin. It is 1.75" in diameter and 1.75" to the tip of its stalk. If you want it, just post a comment with your name and email address . I will put them "in a hat" for my grand daughter,Lili, to choose from . The drawing will be held on Sunday October 14... plenty of time to get it someone for Halloween.

first ETSY Sale!

Wow... just sold my "Open Mouth" pumpkin on etsy ! My first sale!! Such an easy one too... she immediately paid with PayPal and all I had to do was print out a packing slip , mailing label and pop it into the mailbox for our mailman to take!

I'm working on "character" bear... long arms and legs with an unusual face. I will post a picture as soon as he's done. No way he could be a girl bear!

Dye Pots

My large pots are still useful... for dying wool and mohair. Lately they've been filled with orange and black dye... for all those pumpkins. But then, it was a Halloween bear's turn. The result was PunkinPanda.

Omaha Doll and Bear Show

We spent Sunday at a small doll and bear show in Omaha, NE. Its an easy do - drive up in the morning, do the show and drive home ( antique-ing on the way) afterwards. The table fees are small and I don't expect huge sales. But I was surprised by the show this time... not that sales were huge but that the gate was pretty high and there was quite a lot of enthusiasm. People were interested in my needle felting... I was working on a pumpkin ... and came back several times to watch my progress. One watcher bought it! I brought wool rovings so they could see what I started with and certainly there were lots of finished items.
Last spring at the DesMoines Doll and Bear Show I had promised a 10 year old that I would show her how to needle felt if she came to the November show. Well, her grandmother stopped at my table yesterday to tell me that her grand daughter had been so enthusiastic about needle felting that she had bought a kit on eBay and managed to make a bear herself! The grandmother promises that the girl will bring it to the DesMoines show for me to see! I can't wait! I promised to post a picture of the bear and her maker!

Halloween is coming

I really have fun, this time of year, dying wool rovings orange and black ! Then the fun of felting lots of little pumpkins... each a different size and each different!
BearPile GlassDragonBearsEtc

The photographer from the Kansas City Star was roaming around the Jubilee last weekend taking pictures. Here's the one she took of me and my table of bears....a little more up-to-date than the one of me building sand castles above!

Lyle... the HOG wanna-be

We had company last week. While they were here we went and took the Harley Factory tour! Sad to say, since the factory just celebrated its 10th anniversary, we had not been there before. By the way, the tour is great. Harley does a great job.
After the tour Lyle wanted to be a HOG and since that's not going to happen he's had to be happy just trying to look like one! You can see him on BearPile, my website or on etsy.

KC's Bill Boyd Jubilee

It was great having the Jubilee back! The KCI Expo Center is a wonderful venue and GBW went way beyond the norm in getting publicity for the event. It seemed like everywhere I looked in the Kansas City Star there was a little reminder!
The banquet was fun, the auction for GBW had great donations and a great auctioneer ( Martha Burch). The auction raised over $6,000! Now GBW can buy loads of bears to give away!
The sale on Saturday was not as well attended as I hoped. I missed a lot of "old familiar" faces. But people had great bears to choose from and I saw bags being carried around! This was a new venue and the first show in three years... so maybe next year!
One of those "old familiar" faces that didn't come called me and asked how the show went! She didn't make it because her daughter ( her show attending partner) was ill.... she's thinking about next year!

Monday we spent the afternoon with our grand daughter, Lili, and when we asked her what she wanted to do.... she replied , "go fishing!" She's wanted to go ever since we met a local fisherman at the marina cleaning his catch. She doesn't want to eat the fish or even keep it.... she's a "catch and release" advocate! We couldn't believe how long she stuck it out, even though she caught only reeds and logs. And, she wants to go again! As if no one could tell, she's the apple of our eyes.

$1 off coupon for the Kansas City Bear show

I decided, since I had run out of postcards, to upload a $1 off coupon to my website.... with the permission of the promoters of course. If you need one, go to my website.

I think I have everything ready to pack up and I have chosen the bear for my auction donation. It has been several years since the last KC show and I am looking forward to seeing everybody!

setting up an "etsy" shop

After much prompting by my daughter I decided to go ahead and set-up an "etsy" shop. I went to the site and worked through registering etc. Then the problem of what to call it....GlassDragonBearsEtc is what I came up with. Not very original I'm afraid. But the actual setting up is quite easy... everything is just plugged it. I do have to add a banner and slick things up a bit, though.
I have listed one bear and several other items as a beginning . Now its time to wait and see.