Spring...

Working flat out these days -- crazy hours. Managed 20 minutes on my minuscule deck yesterday in the hot sun and too cold wind to -- gasp! -- read a book and eat lunch. Then it was back to typing. I'm surrounded here by carpets of snowdrops, bluebells and purple violets.

On other fronts, I became a great-aunt a week ago... here is Etta, age 1 week. She's a cutie.

Off to Toronto again in a few days on another buying trip. Hope to see you at the market in a few hours. Check out my new skulls, chakra pendants, turquoise, lapis, peridot and citrine rings from Montreal, lapis earrings and bracelets, plus rudraksha and sandalwood beads to wear as they are or have custom made into a necklace.

The Woodstock Farmers Market, at the fairgrounds on Nellis Street, 7:00 a.m. to noon every Saturday.

Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Copper Wire-Woven Ring... A Sorta Kinda Tutorial...

I've been making plain little beaded wire-wrapped rings for kids for the past couple of weeks now, but I'm starting to get a little bored, and last night decided to try my hand at a wire-woven ring.

My usual technique to do anything is to start weaving a few wires together and see where they lead me. If nothing else, this gives me any number of specific questions to find the answers for, at which point I hit the books and Internet. There are many wire-woven ring patterns available (all the books I own have at least one ring tutorial in them) and there are copious YouTube tuts both free and for pay.

For a first effort this came out rather nicely, I think. The most interesting thing for me is how that tiny Sleeping Beauty nugget pops and holds its own -- looking twice its real size -- not overpowered in the slightest by all the weaving around it.

I wove a couple of inches in the middle of the wire I'd cut (3 base wires 20 gauge dead soft copper 7-8 inches in length, weaving wire 28 gauge). I picked the particular pattern just because I like it. It might be the Aztec weave. I checked for length on the mandrel, wove a bit more, then slid the bead on one of the wires.

Then I continued weaving 2 and 3 wires at either end, at the same time wrapping and overlapping the woven lengths around the turquoise bead just like making a rosette ring. I didn't want this to get too big and bulky, so once the turquoise was firmly ensconced, I STOPPED. No extra twiddles or anything. I trimmed and tucked all the ends underneath.

And there you have it, a copper wire-woven ring, size 6, Sleeping Beauty turquoise nugget.

You can see how red my middle finger was getting from the wire; my right hand was worse. Time to start taping my fingers to protect them. Or build up some honkin' calluses! (The black spots are from ancient hammer blows, maybe three or four years old.)

I've put the offer on Facebook here, first person who contacts me gets it (determined by time stamp) or it will be available at the market tomorrow. Guess I should put the price, eh? $30, plus shipping.

Thanks for stopping by!

Grand River Bead Show Booth -- How to set up in a tiny space

Wowee zowie, 4 feet by 2.5 feet is a hard table layout to do. Anyone who knows me or who has taken a look at my various show setup pictures knows I have a ton of stuff and usually fill 1, 2 or even 3 tables plus grids. But half a table? It is to laugh.

Pick yourself up off the floor and I'll show you how I did it.

The trick is to go UP and use grids, shelves, risers...

4:45 p.m. Friday night. The Embassy Room at Bingeman's. A few vendors have begun setting up. Several people got stuck in Friday rush hour traffic getting out of Toronto. I've been here since 4:00, saying hi and catching up with people I haven't seen in a while. Time to get to work.

The van has been unloaded, the bed risers have been put under the table (see how the table looks like it's levitating?), grids and lights set up and trays, shelves and risers roughly placed.

Back view of the table showing the placement of clamp lamps, and small (invaluable) folding table which will have a black cloth draped over it. Roxann Blazetich-Ozols put a dressmaking Judy on her back table, draping it with her large ducette/lucetting x 2 fibre necklaces. It's a neat trick to expand your table footprint -- to go back behind if you can't go up or to the side.

5:18 p.m. Friday night. Starting to fill the type tray and thinking about what will go where...

Ick, this is the worst part of setting up... I truly have no idea where it will all go. To the left of the type tray are small angled dollar store metal frames, that come with glass which I take out. They are great for tilting bins and trays up at the back so contents are more easily seen.

6:00 p.m. Friday night. People seem to be quite happy poking through my bins, so I have stacked as many as three on top of each other. After a few moments, I'll ask people if they're looking for anything in particular, and if I sense more than a passing interest I'll come around to show them where everything is hiding.

6:42 p.m. Friday night. Done setting up for the night. Still no turquoise out and no way was I going to get all my curtain rods full of beads in strings on the rack as shown, i.e. facing into and over the table. Bah... I'll worry about that tomorrow.

9:35 a.m. Saturday morning. I wasn't happy with draping the necklaces around the neck of the bust, so I pinned them cascading down the front.

9:35 a.m. Saturday, 25 minutes to showtime. I stole my computer monitor setup of glass bricks and board for this show and, I like it so much I'm now using it exactly as shown at the Saturday market. I think it looks very nice.

It's hard to see in the picture, but the T-bar to the right of the bust in the centre is sitting up on a clear plastic set of three drawers. I put several strings of beads in each drawer and opened them slightly so people would be encouraged to look further.

I've already been asked by several people where I got the glass bricks (used, cement cleaned off, from our local Door Store, aka Habitat for Humanity Re-Store). Figgers -- they're not interested in the beads or jewellery; they want the bricks. Sometimes I really do get the sense that I'm in the wrong business.

You can't see in these pictures, but there is about three feet of space between each table. By the time I arrived just after 8:00 a.m. my neighbour to the left had put bags of findings on hooks on her grid facing into that space. This is great -- we can use that space! I ended up putting all my bead strings that are on curtain rods on the hooks on the other side of the grid that faced into the space, too -- this meant I could put out a ton more beads and people had room to get up close, nose to bead, to see them.

Since Sunday mid-afternoon was considerably slower than Saturday (okay, it was dead), I got lots more weaving done on this pendant. I took advantage of the fact that Debbie Benninger from I.D. Jewelry and Design was also a vendor, and she gave me some great feedback (and tips that I've never read anywhere) on this, my first wire-weaving that I would actually show anyone.

That bloopy bit to the top right of the bead was supposed to be a leaf, but once I wrapped it around the pendant, I decided it looked more like a cobra.

By 4:30 p.m. on Sunday my pendant was looking like this. (Here it is a week later, and I'm still trying to get around to hammering the "tongues" which I'll wrap behind to secure the wire to the pendant.) That little plain wire tail bit in the centre I'll also be unwrapping and hammering flat as it looks really stupid all by itself. I shouldn't have cut the other wires short before thinking it through a bit more. Y'know, they warn us about this all the time. Do I listen? Rhetorical question.

The beauty of this technique is the woven wires are so very flexible. I can change my mind in mid-design, unwrap things, straighten bits out and nudge them in another direction, and the swoops and curves that are possible are enchanting... you canNOT screw this up! My favourite type of activity.

5:05 p.m. Sunday. The show is over for another year, and we're all madly packing up.

The organisers are already talking about renting the same venue for next year. The natural light that poured into the room all day was fabulous.

Reminder, unless there's a ginormous ice storm or some other pesky weather phenomenon, I will be at The Gem Expo at the Hyatt Regency, King Street, Toronto, November 20th-22nd. Hope to see you there!

A Busy Weekend With Lots of Sales!!!

Wheeeee, finally a great Saturday at the market for everyone, which is so gratifying. I sold several brand new items including a couple that I didn't get a chance to photograph. The blue picasso bracelet with the pewter bird, turtle, horse and feather (I call it the "Four Corners") sold right away, right out of the gate. Lady came by, picked it up, examined it... "Uh, where's the clasp?" "It rolls on." Sold.

Definitely must make more of these.

I also sold the aqua terra and crab agate necklace on the right (the necklace on the left sold quite a while ago) yesterday, matched perfectly with sterling, turquoise and sponge coral earrings. They accompanied my customer and her brand new dress to a girls' night out Beatles tribute show last night.

I went to an estate sale this morning and here are a few of my treasures. We're doing a Nostalgia show at the fairgrounds on September 13th, I think it is, so I'm buying with that in mind. Some pieces will go to our booth at the Antique Mall (Booth 800/847 if you're planning a trip our way).

Aaaaand it's jam-making season. The first strawberries are starting to come in from the fields. There were mountains of them at the market yesterday. For some reason the local grocery store has decided not to carry my favourite low-sugar no-cook gelling powder this year, so my pal George brought me 20 packages from the big city on Tuesday, which I swap for jam. 

What's the name of that Pinterest site? Pinterest Fails -- or similar, anyway. Here's my latest entry in the Pinterest Fail... well, it was a success but SO SLOW! Give me my paring knife any day.

My handy-dandy strawberry hulling setup. The mosquitoes arrived shortly after and settled in to feast on me. 

Putting the straw in strawberries...

Poke the straw through from the bottom...

Pull the core out of the straw...

And you have a neat little hole to fill with chocolate...

This doesn't show how full the bowl was, but it was ten 250ml jars' worth of strawberries mounded up.

Unfortunately, the monsoon rains we had early in the week made this batch of strawberries awfully watery, but a titch extra sugar and lots and lots of lemon juice brings out the flavour nicely. Peaches will be coming along soon. I can hardly wait. There's a type of early peach that is soooooo good as jam. Summer in a jar, especially in the dead of winter.

Thanks for looking!

Mystery Beads...

I dug out these old hand-carved matte mystery beads that I would like to mix with either large chunks of turquoise, chrysocolla or even some rough chunks of black tourmaline. I think they might be carnelian, certainly agate -- but the buttery yellow beads are throwing me, if they have a different name possibly. Looking at them under bright light, you can clearly see banding inside.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for looking!

"Powerful Woman, Powerful Love", A Wild & Raw Turquoise Bracelet...

Anatomy of a commission: the questions I've learned learned to ask... mostly the hard way.

Always take written notes. Get their email or phone number. Do not be afraid to ask for a deposit, particularly from first time customers, and it's perfectly acceptable to ask for enough to cover any out-of-pocket expenses.

Saturday 18 April:

Last week at the market I received a turquoise bracelet commission from Marlene, who will be attending a wedding in October, so we have plenty of time -- I like her already! Marlene told me her dress is grey and very simple in style, she won't be wearing any other jewellery, wants an off-the-charts turquoise bracelet that's chunky but not blingy -- and also requires that the design be something she could wear daily.

As a side note re the dress, normally I would also ask to see the item of clothing or other jewellery that is to be matched as fibre, texture and sheen all affect any colour. Is this a blue-grey, green-grey, yellow-grey or purple-grey? Pale, medium or dark grey? In this case, the beads are all different turquoises and the bracelet a statement, standalone item, so given the design parameters I think it's safe in this case to assume that whatever grey the dress is (even its style) is of very little importance.

After looking at bracelets I have on the table, she said she didn't want one with a clasp, that she prefers the stretchy bracelets. I let Marlene try on a bracelet that fits me to figure out a good fit for her: just snug on me should fit her perfectly. I've found fit to be quite different than length; bead chunkiness being the major factor. We also determined her budget.

I showed her examples of my "good" turquoise, the Sleeping Beauty, Castle Dome and Kingman, but nope, even the nuggets were all too blue and way too tiny, shiny, perfect and pretty. We need more chunk. The Ma'an Shan nuggets were heading in the right direction because of the matrix and shape, but the strings are graded, so all the beads are roughly the same size and colour distribution. Then she saw my rough donuts and pendants, in particular the Chinese spiderweb, and said that was the idea of the look she was after.

Going through an elimination process with your customer is important. I discovered a long time ago that people may not know what they want, but they are very clear when it comes to what they don't want or like. I'm sure you've all either said yourselves or heard a variation on: "I don't know what I want, but I'll know it when I see it." Just as important as budget, it's critical to find out early on in the commission process what they absolutely do NOT like/want.

Saturday 25 April:

This morning at the market I spent two hours sorting and sifting through my stash of miscellaneous chunky Chinese turquoise. I was a little stumped in which direction I should go and was thinking right about now I needed her input because these particular beads I'd initially chosen were maybe a bit on the large size for a bracelet.

From a technical design perspective, I also needed something to smooth out and cover the "corners" created by such large beads. After trying and rejecting umpteen sizes and shapes of silvery pewter beads as being too big or too blingy I decided to incorporate these 4/0 black glass beads. I had first thought about using matte black beads, but I think the gloss gives off just that subtle titch of formality and elegance. Copper wouldn't work in this instance because it'd give a too casual vibe -- have to keep in mind this is for a wedding. But there's no reason that later on we couldn't restring the bracelet with copper to change the whole look and feel of the bracelet.

At this point, Marlene dropped by to -- yay! --see how things were going, and she approved of the direction I'd taken with the black beads. We discussed whether it should have a "back" and a "front" (no) -- and she chose the final large black spiderweb bead. I subbed out a couple of smaller beads for the large one. She left me to it, and I played more with the bead order.

This is what I ended up with:

Sunday 26 April: 

Living with it a day and looking at the picture with fresh eyes, I find I don't like that there are four of the large pewter spacer beads. At least one of them will be coming off. I'm also questioning whether I should have the two pewter beads flanking the large blue turquoise bead. This was a leftover design element from the bracelet having a front and back, with one main focal bead. All this is to say I really do need to get into the habit of photographing things before tying off the Stretch Magic (or crimping the wire) in order to check the balance. Measure twice, cut once; but photograph as many times as necessary first! If nothing else, it's getting expensive tossing half the roll of Stretch Magic or stringing wire.

Here are two more versions:

10:00 a.m. Monday morning:

Coming back with fresh eyes to look at the photos, I think I prefer the version with three pewter beads.

I'd sent the original picture to Ruth (who works with me at The Gem Expo) and she wrote back:

"This is really lovely, ... something she will wear daily. It shouts "powerful woman, powerful love" to me." 

I'll definitely let you know what Marlene thinks when she picks up the bracelet this coming Saturday.

Please email me with comments or if you would like to commission something. Thanks for looking!

Two Skull Bracelets...

A busy market this morning. In between restringing a broken choker and selling, earrings and pendants and lots and lots of skulls to the cutest little kids -- man, kids have such great taste these days, don't they? -- I made these two bracelets over... and over... and over. First I didn't stretch the Stretch Magic enough so the bracelet was too floopy, then I discovered the skulls were facing the opposite ways after I tied off the elastic, or then it ended up too small for the person I had in mind. Sigh...

All was not lost: my imaginary customer bought the one on the right.

Red bamboo coral, silver-plated pewter skulls, old chevrons, red picasso and black glass beads. The bracelet on the left is still for sale, $17 plus shipping. I can also remake the one on the right ($10), with slightly different bamboo beads (or turquoise or other beads as requested, price would be adjusted). Email me for details, pix.

Thanks for looking!

New Stacking Stretch Mala Bracelets...

Variations on an agate and turquoise theme.

It never fails to amaze me (despite being aware of this when I'm drawing and painting, but equally applicable when making anything) how any colour imbalance, goink or other oddity will only show up when the item is being photographed, that something minor but off will be what ends up drawing the eye so well when the item is finished. Memo to self: photograph the jewellery before tying off or crimping!

Here is yesterday's production. I'm very pleased with them: I think they look good on -- and more importantly they feel really good, too. Just loose enough. These would fit a ladies' medium wrist.

Prices range from $38 to $43, shipping is extra. Please email me for availability or to request a custom size or stone.

I will have these and more this Saturday at the Woodstock Farmers Market at the Fairgrounds on Nellis Street, and at the One of a Kind Antique Mall on Wilson Street, Showcase 800.

Thanks for looking!

Packing Up For The Gem Expo...

Lookie what I found basking in the +1C sun on my deck half an hour ago...

And... last night, Step 1, all the beads came off the grids and into a bin and then the grids moved into the Blazer.

Step 2, bits and pieces of my display, the busts, T-bars and lights all ready to go into the truck tomorrow morning. The weather guys are calling for -10-ish overnight, still too cold to leave things in the truck. I found out the hard way that everything starts to sweat when the sun hits the truck the next day.

Today I drag myself off this infernal computer to finish off pricing the new turquoise and miscellaneous beady odds and sods and doing a final sort into my new display bins. I'm also trying this time to not bring all the extra bins and bags of things that I really don't need... like extra beads, all my wire and findings to make stuff... 'cause, like, yeah, there'll really be time to do all that! Phhht.

The Gem Expo starts this Friday, March 13th, goes 'til Sunday March 15th. Sign up for courses and get free admission!

See you there!

July 2014 Gem Expo... The Good, The Great & The Incredibly Bad & Ugly...

First of all, Pickmonkey.com is down yet again, so I -- and you -- will have to make do with some unedited photos.

I had a fabulous time once more this past weekend at The Gem Expo, July 2014 edition. Many, many thanks to Salim and Zulekha of Blue Sapphire Beads for all their work -- and the work of their great kids who helped out by taking tickets and, most wonderfully, brought around pastries and drinks throughout the day to the vendors. That in particular was so very much appreciated.

On the road Thursday at 9:00 a.m., truck packed to the gunnels, and facing a 3-hour drive, but the sun is shining and I have a whole four days of what I know is hard work to look forward to, but also the mystery of which old friends I'll be seeing again plus a whole raft of new people to meet.

Because the setup time had been pushed to 8 pm at the hotel and with lots of time to kill, Ruth met me mid-Thursday afternoon at the wholesaler's where we hung out for a while. I've found another secret parking spot, so safe from being ticketed and/or towed we ambled over to the St. Lawrence Market where we had an early dinner and Ruth bought a bag of dark chocolate-covered ginger. I have to say that over the next three days those were the most amazing energy-blasting-without-being-sickeningly-sweet brain boosters I have ever eaten. I don't know the name of the bulk store (or what was in those chocolates) but it and they are located in the northwest corner of the lower level of the south market. (When in doubt, look on a map -- so, uh, no, your GPS won't work here :-p. It's Domino Foods.) I will be stocking up on those chocolate ginger things before every show from now on. Then we wandered over to the little parkette behind the Flatiron Building and sat on a bench watching the dogs, the birds and the people for an hour or so in the early evening sun. It was lovely.

On our way over to the Hyatt, I checked in at the Strathcona and found I had been upgraded from my Eco (b)room (closet) to my old king room on the 4th floor. After all these gem shows I've taken part in in Toronto, so having to stay in a hotel, I have to say that those ads are right when they babble on about "coming home to blah-blah-blah". I know where everything is in or out of the hotel, I don't have to wonder which way to turn coming or going: the Strath is now an equally familiar but far, far more fun version of my own home and locale.

Living a quiet(er) life in a small town as I do currently, but for many years a denizen of many large cities across Canada and in Europe, I really appreciate the opportunities presented by big cities and the people one can potentially hang with... even if they're only hanging on a wall, and even if for only a few hours or days. It's the potential...

Gawd I love that picture. Okay, back to reality...

...and, we're in. Time to settle down, find our booth and get to work.

That carpet is driving me insane.

All set up and ready for customers.

Even though this time I had a corner booth around a pillar rather than against a wall, I replicated the March setup where instead of butting two tables together which is the normal way to do things (I rarely do things the normal way), only the corners touched and I was able to set up the grids with all the strings so people could walk right in and get face to face with the beads. I reeeeeally like this setup.

The show started out well. Friday was incredibly busy for everyone. Way too busy to take pictures, unfortunately. My neighbour was Paul, owner of Nharo!, Fair Trade African arts, beads, stones, weavings -- he's got beautiful mud cloth -- and other cool stuff. All the sticky-up horns you see in some of my pictures are from African animal skulls. Paul knows every craftsperson personally who makes the store's goods, and the store is up on the Danforth. We've known each other for years, back when I first started making jewellery. Regular readers will know that food is a huge theme, for me anyway, at away shows. Paul and his crew and Ruth and I all shared Pringles, fresh local blueberries and chocolate-covered ginger: who woulda thunk they'd go so well together!? At 10:00 a.m. no less.

Many customers bring the piece they're working on to a show to find the perfect bead to finish it off. This is a soft-sculpted, free-form embroidered cuff and my customer found the perfect turquoise nugget to fill the sterling frame. I wish I'd taken pictures from different angles to show just how 3D this was. It was absolutely lovely -- and she told me it was her first effort at this type of free-form work.

After the show closed at 8, Ruth and I headed to the Strath Pub where we scarfed down a ginormous platter of nachos. I believe they are intended to be shared by six people...???

Gone in, oh, mmm... 20 minutes?

Saturday was another busy day with lots and lots of people in attendance, but for some reason it wasn't great for sales for a lot of us. Friday had been surprisingly good -- well-attended with better than average sales for a Friday -- and that seemed to be the experience of many of the vendors I talked to. It's not like we're being nosy per se asking other people how they did, but sometimes there's a small comfort in knowing that a given day ended up being a down day for other people, too, and it wasn't due to something I (or someone) did or didn't do. It just was.

One thing I am often called upon to do at least once during a show is string someone's purchase into a necklace or a bracelet while they wait.

Note to those of you contemplating your first show: bring your tools and a little kit of stringing wire, clasps and jump rings and a bead mat. This is a great service to be able to offer a customer: making up their new beads for them for pickup later in the day, the next day, to be dropped off later on the way out of town and/or mailed. In this case, Ruth offered to meet my customer Iris during the week if we (really, because Ruth helped with the stringing while I dealt with PITA Man -- more about him below) were unable to finish the work. There's almost always downtime during these shows.

In this case, Iris wanted me to make her a bracelet out of the pink quartz hearts she'd just bought from me. Because I was dealing with PITA Man, Ruth took Iris over to another vendor to buy some filler beads and discuss the design. Iris picked out a clasp from my private stash and said she'd be back later in the afternoon on Sunday to pick it up.

Another note to newbies: always, always, always get a contact phone or email address when you take a stringing order at a show, even if it's a case where they say they'll be back in half an hour type of thing. I can't begin to tell you the number of people who leave, even after paying in full, completely forgetting to pick up their item. It happened that just after Iris left we found a bag of beads left on the table right where we'd all been standing talking. Ruth was fairly sure they were Iris's. I was able to email Iris to ask if they were hers -- it turned out they were -- and she knew they were safe.

Ruth's and my deal is I swap all dinners and drinks, her choice of beads and admission to all three days of the show for her tireless and invaluable help over the four days of setup, show and packing up, plus I get to sample her mom's wonderful (and healthy) lunches of homemade soups, chicken and vegetables that she makes for us. Saturday night, released from the show relatively early at 6:00 p.m., we were too tired to decide on any of the restaurants along Restaurant Row which front the Hyatt, and we landed back at the Strath Pub.

These were really, really good potatoes!

Sunday morning the Gem Expo sleeps in:

By 10:00 the covers have come off, the lights are on... and right out of the gate I sold my bone bird and Afghan turquoise necklace to a lady who told me that, while she had a room full of beads at home, this particular show she wasn't here to buy more beads; she was here to buy herself a finished necklace. Out of the whole show, she picked mine.

What I found interesting was that over the previous two days I pretty much sold out of all my bone and shell bird beads just because of this necklace being on display. Good thing to note for next time!

Sunday was so busy I didn't even get around to take pictures of more of the vendors. You can see pictures of all the vendors on The Gem Expo Facebook page.

Late Sunday afternoon, Iris came back to pick up her two bracelets. Because we only used a few off of the string of peridot heishi between the pink quartz hearts, she'd asked if it would be possible to make a double-wrap bracelet of the remaining heishi. No problem. Note her black chakra/mala bracelet -- I saw this stacked wrap style with a single type of bead, as well as the single bracelet style, on so many people, and made many sales to people looking for one special focal bead to put on yet more bracelets that they were making. From what I saw, I was one of the few people selling individual beads at the show.

Stay tuned for pictures of new jewellery made with all the goodies I bought at the Gem Expo (coin silver, lapis lazuli, amber, agate, malachite and jade) -- and... my big, big excitement will be to see the shipment of Roman glass beads now winging their way from Afghanistan.

-------------------------------- Now for the tirade.

Yes... The Incredibly Ugly part of doing shows: the customer from hell, aka PITA Man.

A lot of discussion goes on both online and in real life about how to deal with difficult customers. None of the advice I have ever received could help me here, this being the show I had to deal with the winner of the World's Worst Customer Award.

PITA (or Pain-In-The-A--) Man was in his 40s or 50s, came to the show with his family (who all seemed very nice and friendly -- and more and more apologetic as the days wore on) on both Saturday, and alas for me, on Sunday, and his way of looking at merchandise was to literally rip $50-$75 turquoise beads off my display boards so that pins were flying everywhere. Displeased at what he was looking at, he would contemptuously fling those items down on top of bead strings on my table, then pick up $200 and $400 strings of turquoise beads and Hebron glass and throw them down with contempt, letting them knock on other beads and metal display units. He'd swish through the strings of turquoise beads that were lying on the table, and then stomp off leaving a mess behind. He behaved like a three-year-old on a single-minded rampage through a dollar store. Then he'd go around the corner to my second table, do the same thing, and stomp off again after expressing his contempt for both my beads and their prices.

After I'd put everything back, 20 minutes later there he'd be again, pulling things back off the boards, demanding discounts. I'd plug in a number on my calculator, he'd grab the calculator from my hand and plug in a number that was a quarter or even as low as a tenth of my number. He pretended he didn't understand the word "No." Repeatedly. "No! No! No!"

One time -- and, I mean, this guy was at the show ALL DAY and kept coming back -- I was standing on the aisle side helping a customer, he came past me and deliberately poked me in the bum, gesturing with a contemptuous flick of his wrist that he was back and to come and serve him! Technically, that's assault. But no one around to complain to, right?

He was a thief, as well -- and I found out later, he pulled this particular trick on other vendors as well. After I thought we'd reached an agreement he would haul out cash, and, taking his beads, he'd throw down on the table LESS than what we had agreed upon, $15 or $20 less -- and then, adding insult to injury, as he was stomping off he would GRAB MORE ITEMS off my table as his "gift" and disappear into the crowd. I had five, six, eight people still to serve, my booth was located in the far corner away from the ballroom entrance and Security, and the one other (male) vendor who was near enough and who could've helped me was busy.

The final time he pulled this, just before closing time, my vendor pal across the aisle from me happened to see what he did, and told me later she was shocked and couldn't believe her eyes: PITA Man took the tray of beads, stomped over to his long-suffering wife who was sitting by the wall, opened her purse that was on her lap and dumped all these beautiful and fragile turquoise beads into it, and stomped off, leaving her to follow in his wake.

I have had ignorant and rude people tell me over and over for years at markets and shows that my beads and my jewellery prices are too high. Hey. Fine. Get thee to Wal-Mart. I've also been informed many times with utter contempt that they can buy exactly the same stuff at Wal-Mart and Dollarama and who do I think I am? I don't know how that's possible since I am not a Wal-Mart and Dollarama supplier, but great. Fine. Go crawl back under your rock. But this. This was beyond the pale. And it went on for two days with this guy.

If PITA Man or his ilk ever show up again, I'll be prepared. This is not about some cultural differences around haggling and bargaining that I can learn about. I refuse to sell to him ever again and I will call Security immediately. For all our sakes, I hope PITA Man never goes to another bead show again and spares all the other vendors. He truly had it in for female vendors. The guys all told him to go away if he didn't like their prices, and he did.

That was truly the worst experience I have ever had with a customer. I'm used to bargaining. I'm used to bargaining in different languages (and where I don't even speak the language) and cultures and countries. I always give a courtesy discount to frequent customers and to one-time customers who buy multiple items. But this? This was beyond anything I could ever imagine.

------------------------------------ End tirade.

So endeth the July 2014 Gem Expo, truly the best of times and the worst of times. Just read this morning that nonsense with Ira Glass, the twit... I mean, tweeter dismissing Shakespeare. Good grief. But hence my occasional classical turns of phrase.

Thanks for looking!