Next Show: Craftboston

Well, tomorrow I start setup for Craftboston.
This will be my third year participating. It's been only
ten days since my last show, and I have to admit that I'm
feeling a little tired. I had left hats to be finished in
these last days, so I had to wrap those up. Then I came
up with a few ideas—I had promised I wouldn't make any
new work! We just finished shooting them all and I've
tagged them and they're ready to go. I so wish I could
just take a few weeks off from selling, but I guess that's
what April is for—that and for making more hats. If
you're going to be in Boston and would like to attend
the show, here's a link to a coupon. The password you'll
need is exhibitor08

Spring will come, right?

It's a dreary day in Massachusetts—sleet and freezing
rain—but spring will come, right? I'm in the process
of working on a hat that is making me feel hopeful.
I brought it down to the local coffee shop so I could
work on hand sewing it while chatting with some of
the locals.

Hat People

During a lunchtime discussion with fellow ArtSpace artists
I was asked about the Paradise City show and how it went
overall. In that discussion I had a simple realization that
I wanted to be sure to add to my blog:

Hat people are nice people.

The Three Great Kids

I promised I'd send along a picture of those kids I met. The two girls are friends and the boy is the brother of one of the girls. D, H, and J (abbreviated for their privacy) were a lot of fun. I'd love to keep J around—it's so hard for me to find a gentleman who looks really fabulous in hats.

Day two of Paradise City Marlborough

The show has been good so far. I've met many people
and have had many chances to "play" with some who
have been nice enough to let me put hats on them.
I still get really surprised when people say, "I'll
take it." It's especially so when the hats are what
I consider to be "more challenging" (really get
attention or are strange in some way).

I'm especially appreciative to my Mom. She came out
to help me sell. She's such a good mom. It's helpful
to have her, too—when people say something about me
being able to wear hats because I'm younger than they
are I just point to my mom. They have to agree that
she looks good in the little hats, too.

There are so many wonderful things to see at the show
that I almost want to call friends individually and
tell them to stop in and see such-and-such artist.
There's just no time to do that.

I met a group of amazing young people today—two girls
and a boy, all under the age of fourteen. Not only
were they sweet and polite, but they were very nice
about being gentle with my hats. I love sharing them
with young people because they don't really have much
experience with hats. Anyway, these kids were just
lovely. I'll try to post a photo or two that I took
of them in my next posting.

If you're in the Marlborough, Massachusetts area
tomorrow it's the last day of the show and worth
a visit. Hope to see you.

Oh, my trusty washboard!

I've been pained by the recent demise of my trusty
washboard. I bought it at an antique shop years ago.
I use it when I am felting my hand-felted hats. Sadly
it broke. My husband tried to patch it up by putting
some temporary strapping on it—buying me time to get
a little more work done before shows. I thought
getting a new one would take a while or involve some
searching on ebay, but it looks like the Aubuchon's
hardware in Maynard (just a few minutes walk) is
going to be able to resupply me. I'm sure it will
take me a while to get used to the new kid, but what
are you going to do? I'll still keep the old one.
While felting I enjoyed thinking about all the
clothes it has washed in its lifetime.

Is there really a bad hat?

I find it hard to decide sometimes whether a hat is bad or good. That includes both my hats and the hats of other designers. The thing is, there are all kinds of people out there—people with stories that are very different from my own. When making a hat I remind myself that mine is not the only face that will wear it.

Lion gets fitted for a hat

My five-year-old friend Elsa asked me if I could make a hat for her friend Lion. I've seen Lion in dresses and other garb, mostly around bedtime, when she takes up her designated role as sleep buddy. I was happy to outfit her. Lion was presented with the new hat today and wore it immediately. Elsa then honored the moment with a portrait. I think we're all pleased with the outcome. What are friends for, right?

A Denishé Signature hat: The "Volcano"

This hat is one of my signature hats. I designed it back when I had long hair. It's a great way of taking your hair and turning it into an embellishment for your hat. I try to always have a couple of these at each of my shows in various colors and brim styles. They're a big hit with little kids (and I do make kid-sized version), teenagers seem to think they're very cool, and even adults will be seen wearing them. I've sold them to people from age 3 to age 70, and everywhere in between. If you've got lots of gorgeous curls you're going to make this hat sing. This hat will even work if your hair is only about 6 inches long, too. Or, you can skip pulling your hair through altogether and just wear it as a warm hat.

Come see me at some shows

I've got a couple of shows coming up in March. I've been working like a mad woman since December—except when the studio was leaking and when I was sick—to make bunches of new hats. Here's a picture of a pile of hats that are waiting to be photographed and made ready for sale. The photographer will be here on Tuesday to finish up the shoot.

The first show is Paradise City in Marlborough, Massachusetts. They mix fine art with fine craft, which makes for an interesting show. That's taking place March 14-16. Here's a link to my Artist's showcase page.


The second show is Craftboston. I've done this show for the past three years. I'm always impressed by the work. Craftboston will take place March 28–30 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston.

Even if you can't come out to see me, you'll find that coming to either of these shows will be inspiring, especially if you're an art-maker yourself.

Have you seen my Web site?

Happy Monday! Only one more leak in the studio last week.

The best way to take a look at the kind of stuff that I make is to check out my Web site DenisheHats.com. I'm very lucky to have an unbelievably artistic friend who designed my site; Jeff Grader's illustrations are full of energy, comedy, and fun. And he makes his work quite simply because he's an artist. I don't think he'd be able to go longer than a day without making an image. I'm not sure if he's taking on other Web site work, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to ask.