I survived the morning! OK, I know that this is just a doll convention and nothing TOO crucial, but it was just one of THOSE sorts of mornings. First, the phone completely stopped working in our room--so much for an early morning blog update. Then, the toilet. On the doll convention front, late last night I checked the convention schedule, and realized that my program on "The History Of Fashion Dolls" had been moved from 3pm to 9am!! I am NOT a morning person and had been planning on catching up on some sleep in the morning--I was more than a bit concerned that I'd be incoherent (and, good thing I checked the schedule or I wouldn't have shown up to GIVE the program!). SO...bright and early, I down massive amounts of Starbucks coffee and show up at the room to check out the audio-visual equipment. Much to my surprise, there wasn't any. After many frantic phone calls, audio-visual equipment is delivered exactly 10 minutes before the start of the program.
The good news is that the program went very smoothly, and for once my timing was perfect--59 minutes (I was told not to go over 1 hour no matter what!). And, the response was wonderful. The program is an interesting take on the history of fashion dolls--first, the usual time line, then, a contrasting of the parallels and common themes between antique, modern and vintage fashion dolls. I'd love to have this program up on About.com eventually, so stay tuned!
Thursday, April 4. 12 noon.
Well...the late morning didn't go much easier than the early morning. After entering my dolls in competition (a smooth, quick process) I went to the dolls sales room to start my set up. I get there and I've only been assigned two tables. But, I paid for three! After some back and forth, the whole thing is straightened out, we wait for a table to be delivered and it is squeezed in. Now, however, its noon and I'm just back up at the room starting to bring boxes down to the sales room. I HOPE I can set up in 4 hours, since we have until 4pm. I note with some consternation that most of the other doll dealers are already completely set up, having started at 8am.
Thursday, April 4. 6pm
Gosh, being a doll dealer is exhausting. We finally get all three tables set up by 3:30 (and, since we were about the only doll dealers still setting up, there was some pressure to hurry up). I must say that the display looked quite nice--two full tables of antique dolls and related items, and one table half vintage dolls and half modern (mostly Tonner dolls). After set up, we re-arrange the room and relax until dinner!
Thursday, April 4. Midnight
Fun first night! Three paid evening events are included in our registration fee--tonight a Tea Party and Hat Contest. No-host bar, punch, coffee, tea sandwiches, and yummy deserts. Never mind that our table was the last one to line up and the hotel ran out of food (well...they DID finally get more food, but we sort of held up the Hat Contest for everyone by waiting!). The hat contest was a total hoot--3 categories: Funniest Hat, Vintage Hat and Doll-Related Hat. All of the entries were imaginative, but the doll related hats were the best! One lady was wearing a gigantic clear tea pot with a Raggedy Ann and Andy inside. Another hat was a Strawberry Patch with Strawberry Shortcake and friends.
Then, we had the grand opening of the sales room. We were SO busy, I don't think I had the chance to think or stop for two straight hours! Our best sellers were little things tonight--tiny reproduction china dolls, I Love Dolls charms (special made for my shop), Betsy McCall dolls and outfits, small all-bisques, etc. A few people showed interest in the larger antique dolls, but we didn't sell any--I hope they come back for them in the next two days!
After the sales room Arleen and I (who worked the salesroom with me) collapsed with a drink in the bar. What an incredibly busy day--more tomorrow!
