• Silent Partner and I will officially be vending at the LA Derby Dolls championship bout on December 5, 2009. The women who frequent a Derby bout are strong, independent, stylish, and love a non-demeaning good time. I have a strong feeling I have found my niche.
• The niche itself has changed. I've been working with parakeet chain and plastic charms and lampwork glass and less-delicate designs. The usual customer of White Peacock Designs would not recognize, for example, this cheerful little necklace:

Yep, the Tiara Chick made that.

The economy is what it is. I want White Peacock to meet those challenges while still piquing the interest of people enough to convince them to open their wallets. Sterling and gold are at an all-time high. People need a cheap, legal, innocent thrill. And land o'goshen, this is fun stuff, arty pretensions be damned.

The challenges in sourcing some of this stuff has been ridiculous; it can't even be found online unless one wants to deal with China directly. One benfit of this saga is that I now have some ideas for future online vending of some jewelry supplies that just might pay the White Peacockian bills. There seems to be a tremendous disconnect between what some artisans want and what they can even find to buy.

More updates to come as we count down to Derby Vendor Village!