All around my head and in the wind

[blk]

My much-neglected todo list tells me that I never did an Arisia writeup for this year. But beyond just showing off braid pics, these posts are good for me for future planning. I'll probably backdate this so I can find it in the future.




click for more spirals

• This year's awesome new braid turned out to be the spiral. I'd attempted variations in the past but this year I finally got it looking right, and I was quite pleased with all of the ones I did. They are a lot of work, though, so I may try to practice doing it more efficiently. The rest of the braids I did mostly all came out well, but there wasn't much else new.
  
  
• I acquired an IKEA footstool from a yard sale last spring that works perfectly as a braiding seat. It's easy to transport, the right height, and quite comfortable to sit on. Total win.
  
  
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  Spicy setupMy space this year was in a back corner of the Dealer's Room, which was nice in that we got a tiny bit of sunlight and the Alarmed Door (eek!) next to me gave me a tiny bit more working space, but was annoying in that it wasn't on the main walk, and many people reported having difficulty finding me. Although I did get to be near the delightful Chibi Gem, who had great costumes and were really fun to watch and be around.
  
  
  
  Chibi Gem in costume This is the second year (of three contracted) that the con has no Dealer's Row, only a Dealer's Room. There are pros and cons of this: Pros include a) more regular foot traffic, and b) not having to clean up my stuff overnight. Cons include a) significantly less space, both for display and for working, which means no space for chainmail and almost no space for friends to come by and sit and hang out during slower times; b) required hours, which extend beyond what hours I actually get business, which means a lot more pointless time sitting around being bored (I think next year I'm going to set up display and signup sheet on Friday but not actually hang around, as I saw other dealers doing that this year.); c) further from amenities, which meant any breaks like food and bathroom and handwashing had to be planned and often required someone else to come and help out, and d) requires spending all day in loud, crowded, temperature-variant room constantly surrounded by hundreds of people, which is exhausting. Even the pros were not terribly significant, as the majority of my business comes from people who specifically seek me out, not randomly stumble across me, and my setup is pretty minimal and doesn't take up much space.
  
  I went into it this year with a lot of reservations, very unsure whether or not I actually wanted to do it. Of course, once Saturday came and I had several hours of braids done I remembered that I really love doing this shit and of course I'll come back because despite the cons and really missing Dealer's Row, it's still fun.
  
  
• As usual, there's not nearly enough time to both deal at the con and also attend the con, which means plenty of things go on around me that sound really interesting and I just cannot do. I did manage to get in a bit of playtime doing stupid human tricks (partner acro) with danceboy and soong and xuth and a few others, which was huge amounts of fun, and I got some nice quiet hangout time in our room with other folks, which was good. I keep thinking it would be nice to come early or stay late, except that those hotel rooms are inevitably Rather Expensive (and the weekend is already a significant expense as is, just with the minimal required gas/hotel/food), and being that I come with three people instead of just me, it's significantly more difficult to find local crash space. So not sure what to do there except try to set reasonable expectations and enjoy what I can.