Marlona and I, kicking it Medieval style at Autumn War. This is her booth The Little Things.
I had a fantastic time at Autumn War this year! I met some great new friends as well as connected with some old ones. I seem to keep meeting Californians, so I am definitely going to have to hit some shows down in Cali so I can roll with these rad people some more.
At Seadog Nights I met a fabulous gentleman named Brian from BSD Studios who makes some kick ass leather jewelry and corsets. He comes from California in the Los Angeles area. I ended up with a really rad heart shaped eye patch that he turned into a necklace for me. He doesn’t have it listed on his Etsy Shop. Go pester him for one, it’s worth every penny!
At Autumn War I met up with Marlona from The Little Things again. She had been at an EMP event called Ode to the Fallen with me before. I was happy to get an opportunity to hang out with her and her husband again. They’re a riot. They also took really good care of me at Autumn War feeding me snacks and water as my household was really far away from Merchant’s Row. I now have two bars of her delicious soap. Everyone in the house is using the soap, so I will likely be going through it fairly quickly.
Next up there was Kathi from Simply Stylish, also from California. She was cracking me up ALL weekend long. I instantly liked her. Throughout the heat wave of the days of Autumn War, you had her, Marlona and I joking back and forth and wandering in and out of eachothers booths. Kathi had the largest tent and therefore the most shade. So a good portion of the event was me sitting on one of my Moroccan poufs in her booth. Kathi has some of the most reasonably priced and nice pants I have seen in a really long time. Trust me, you want to be in her pants (ha!).
Last but not least was Ulf. This guy! Hi-freaking-larious. Owner of Goblins Grotto, based out of California. He had a fun assortment of gear in his booth, and a colorful personality to match. The only booth were you could get orc fingers and troll teeth. He had Kathi and I howling with laughter over the course of the event as well. One of my favorite times was when he put up a sign in ‘red paint’ that said ‘Off to battle. Back Later’ in what looked like runes written in blood. Gotta love it.
During the 100+ degree weather, I decided to hang out in the coolest part of my booth. Marlona titled this picture “Somadina, making hot look GOOD.”
I have been in the Customer Service industry in one form or another since I entered the workforce at 15. When you work for a corporation, it is more about the bottom line than the client experience. That always frustrated me to no end. I was part of the E-mail Team answering client inquiries for over four years, and my favorite part about that job was the research and solution aspect. I loved getting the weird messages that required a bit of digging. I was promoted to a Fraud Analyst after that. I was one of those people that called you to determine whether or not the activity on your debit card was fraud or not. I always enjoyed those moments where you would catch activity RIGHT after a card had been stolen and save them thousands of dollars in attempted transactions.
However, after many years of working for the Evil Empire, I thought I hated Customer Service. I have come to find out that I love working with my customers, and with people. I also found that I have a love of numbers and analytics. Figuring out what makes things work and what interests people. This has come in handy as a blogger and as a businesswoman.
One of my friends and fellow drummers, Monk (phenomenal noise maker that guy), commented, “You look the happiest I have ever seen you.” I laughed and agreed that I was the happiest I’ve been in many, many years. I was mentioning how much I enjoyed merchanting. He looked at me and grinned, “You really have found your niche, haven’t you?” I pondered for a moment and nodded, “yeah, I do believe I really have.”
Things are working and I could not be happier. The next event you will find me merchanting at is another EMP event, Ardesca Crown September 7th – 9th in Bellingham, Washington. Come and find me and Marlona of The Little Things there.
Or if you’re near the Colorado area go find Ulf and Kathi at Battlemoor August 29th – September 3rd! If you see them, tell them I said ‘Hello!’
~Kera
Oh, Autumn War! That looks like so much fun! I haven’t been to it in years. When I moved to Hawaii, our SCA is so small here they don’t even have a Merchant’s Row. There’s no point with maybe 20 or 30 people there tops… but their fighters are amazing because that’s basically all they do. Some of my best SCA memories were walking down the Merchant’s Row or counting out what I had on me for a henna tattoo and I always wanted to sell in one when I got older.
I can totally relate to you that it’s so fun in that faire setting, retailing and chatting with people. And when you’re doing it for you, instead of the corporations, it’s so much fun! The last sales event I went to was a huge, fantastic ball and even though it was a few months ago now I still think back on what a good time I had and wish I could do it again. Enjoy Bellingham when you go. I simply LOVE Bellingham and want to move there to settle down as soon as possible! Have you ever been?
Yeah, I love merchanting at SCA events. Adam and Suzi commented that there were some SCAdians in Hawaii and that it was a small contingent.
I do like Bellingham. Most of the EMP events that I have been a merchant at have been in Bellingham!