This past weekend, I attended the Music City Pen Turners Gathering hosted by Jason Robinson of Blankwerks. He did an awesome job assembling demos, vendors, and show activities! This was the second year for the show and I had an excellent time.
I worked hard on turning my regular named mixes into bespoke rods and ring blanks for this show. This paid off big time because the majority of what people picked up and bought happened to be the bespoke rods. This included my Miracle Maker mix that has become popular for its vibrant color scheme, but more importantly for what it stands for. If you're interested in learning more about my Miracle Maker mix, I'll post a link (click the picture) at the end of this post so you can read about it there. This validated what I'm doing and makes me want to keep making. I also left the show with more ideas for new blank mixes and color combinations. It's always good to talk with fellow vendors (who have quickly become friends) about what I can be doing better or differently in an effort to improve and grow!
Another awesome first at this year's show was that I got to make my demo debut! Jason contacted me prior to the show and asked if I turned modified slimlines. After a little back and forth, he asked me if I would do the demo for turning and assembling modified slimlines. Overall, the demo went very well and I really enjoyed the experience. The attendees asked a lot of great questions, and I even threw in a couple funny one-liners that got a few laughs. This was good for my confidence because I was a litle nervous about being in front of people doing the demo. I usually work in my shop alone, so if I mess up, people aren't watching. It also makes no sense that I would be nervous because I teach for a living. Go figure, the guy who is a teacher is nervous about TEACHING people how to make something!
Overall, it was a great show and I can't wait to go back next year! As I mentioned earlier, I got to catch up with existing vendor friends and I even made a few new friends at the show. One of the new vendors that I met at the show was someone who follows me on Instagram. As it turns out, this vendor (Jakob Jansen Studios) lives basically across town from me! We had to make the eight hour drive (without stops) to figure that out. What a small world! This was an awesome show and I can't wait to recharge and get back into the shop to get back to work.
