I will be attending the returning San Francisco Pen Show as a vendor this August (www.sfpenshow.com), and am so thankful to be able to have a pen show on my schedule this year. I'm looking forward to seeing many of my customers there and catching up with other makers and friends who will be attending. This is a pretty big deal for me, heck... for all of us!
As I was not real sure that I would be going to any shows this year, I have not been secreting away pens so that I would have show inventory. This means that I will have to work hard to build up an inventory to make the trip worthwhile. To do this, handle my current queue of custom orders and post pens for sale weekly (my cat girl Charlie is really insistent on getting fed every day) it will be necessary for me to pause my monthly Custom Order Slot listings. Whether they start again in September is still up in the air. I received a very large commission this year that will need to be completed in the later months of the year, so it all depends on how quickly I can work, and if you know me, you know that I don't work that fast.
So I hope to see you at the show, and if not, I hope you get to attend a pen show in your area this year. The sense of community that we enjoy in this business/hobby, has proved over the past year and a half, to be something that we need, and although virtual gettogethers have their place, gathering together, shaking hands and speaking face to face, smile to smile, is something that will renew our joy and be a source of healing for all of us.
Cheers to you all,
Eric