Melissa, who helped organize the boutique had told me about a lady that was going to be there that did silhouettes...I was sort of excited, I really like them done and framed. So as we were setting up, the "silhouette" lady, that was directly across from me, was busy hanging all of her work as samples. I will apologize in advance, for the lack of pictures...I had no idea how amazing her work really was at the beginning.
Anyhoo...when she was done hanging the samples, I kept waiting to see her "machinery". Surely she had some, right? Well, the boutique opened and still nothing...she just sat in her chair, in front of her small square card table and chatted with the others. We were all a little intrigued...just how was this little ol' lady (and since she later told me she had been doing this for 48 YEARS, I think I am safe in calling her that!) going to cut these silhouettes?
She waited patiently till a family arrived and decided to be her first customers. Great...we were finally going to see just how she did it! Armed with only a small pair of scissors and some pre-cut squares of black contact paper (yes, you read correctly) she started to cut. In approximately 10 minutes, she was done. When she held up the finished piece, we were all in AWE! OMG...did she just freehand that silhouette with no drawing or any other assistance...just a pair of scissors?! We could not believe it...the morning continued and this lady just sat there and cut her little heart out (pardon the pun)! She was unflappable...even when a little kid threw up in front of her table (yes, he was waiting in line to be "cut"), she never faltered...just kept right on cutting!
I could not wait to have my grand kids done! She charged $10 for one and if you wanted "duplicates" it was an additional $4. Hmmmm, now how was she going to cut two and make them identical...well, you put two pieces of contact paper together, hold on tight and cut...duh! Seriously, this lady was amazing.
Obviously, most of you have never even seen my grand kids, but even not knowing what they look like, you can appreciate the detail she puts into each and every silhouette. Here is what mine look like:
HAND CUT, people! They are all what I would say, "spot on", but we thought she really nailed Thomas' profile...right down to his beautiful long eyelashes! Tatum, (on the right) is only 9 months old...and how do you do the profile of a squirming baby, you ask? She sat on her Mom's lap and her Nana sat in front of her and made silly noises to keep her attention. Keep in mind, that these only took her about 10 minutes to complete!
She then peels them off the backing and mounts on plain white cardstock mats, signs each one and VOILA...for a grand total of $42...Melissa and I have memories to last a lifetime! Trust me when I say, that if I had not had Christmas decorating to do all day yesterday (and I am still not done), these would already be framed!
So, I am sure you are dying to know how I did, right?! LOL! All things considered, I did okay! Next to the Silhouette lady, I probably had the second highest sales in our room. Sadly, there were not as many people this year as last...it is hard to compete with 80 degree temps, and I am told that there were a couple local parades and a dance recital (that my little Taylor was in, btw) in the area, and I really think it hurt our sales...it was much busier last year.
I sold about half of my boxes, two completed arrangements (the ones that I previously posted) and about half of the empty ones. I only took four sets of blocks and sold two. There was a lot of interest though, which made me feel good...just needed more people to buy them!
It is just one of the chances you take when getting in craft fairs or boutiques!
Hoping to get this decorating wrapped up today...till next time!
There's a skinny girl who lives inside of me that's screaming to get out...I can usually shut her up with cookies!
6 comments:
There is a lady in East Texas who does this also, it is simply amazing. My mom has a silhouette of each grandchild. You can still tell which grandchild is which even though some are 30 years old. A fantastic keepsake.
first, yay for good sales! :)
I did an impromptu fair on Saturday. I found out friday at 2 that I was in with a friend. we split a booth. crazy!
second, omg!!! as a pre-k teacher I did silhouettes every year for mother's day the OLD way. I put a lamp in a dark room, and traced the profile of each squirmy 4 year old onto white paper, then cut it out of black construction paper.
I'm in AWE of this lady's talent! beautiful work she does! your g'kids look fabulously cute!
gail
Beautiful work.
Free hand silhouette cutting is a lost art.
OMG! You have got to be kidding! What talent she must have to be able to free hand silhouettes. You are THE Jack of all trades... will you be attempting this soon on cookies? *lol*
Many years ago we had this done for one of the kids in our family while in Disneyland. One of the shops on Main Street offers it. I don't remember the cost (it was quite reasonable, tho') and man, that woman was lightning fast. What an amazing artform.
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