I have learned that people don’t like to have to ask for prices when they are shopping at your art fair booth, so it’s important to have some kind of price signs that are easy to see. I have used all kinds of different methods for labeling my prices throughout the years: making one big sign, individual stickers, chalkboard signs, cute printed signs. I’ve learned that my very favorite is this one: drink coasters.

• You can get a package of hundreds of recycled paper drink coasters for not very much cost.
• They are easy to write on with colored sharpies.
• The circle shape and bright white draws people’s eyes so they are hard to miss. (You can also get colors.)
• You can make a new one in a minute and use both sides.
• You can recycled them after the show.
• They are designed to absorb a little water, so they don’t get ruined if they get wet.
• They are sturdy enough to clip on to shelves, baskets and displays. I use binder clips to do that.

I save them from show to show, but I often have new items or new messages that I need to post, so I love having a bag of coasters and sharpies to make new signs on the fly. I also use them for “bullet points” about my items like the note that the bags are made from recycled plastic bottles or to say I have “other animal designs available, ask for your favorite”.

I’m working right now on a big art project that requires a little research. I love doing research and this project is especially fun because it involves animals.

Google has gotten less and less reliable for information that you can trust to not be something that an AI bot invented, so I wanted to go directly to the source, which means I have been emailing zoos, aquariums, and rescue organizations to ask for some simple animal facts. I tried to keep my questions easy to answer: asking for one specific fact about a particular animal. The responses to my questions have been really interesting and wildly different.

More than half of the places I contacted haven’t responded at all. Which I guess isn’t completely unexpected although it’s kind of disappointing. The ones that really stand out to me are the ones who have responded in a really negative way. I’ve had three emails that basically say: “We get too many requests like this every day and we just don’t take the time to answer questions. We are sure you will understand.”

It’s ironic that they took the time to email me to tell me that they don’t have time to answer emails. While I am sure that they do get lots of emails and I understand that, I can’t imagine ever responding that way to someone who emailed me with a question. It feels exactly like they are saying “Your project is so dumb that it’s not worth our time to answer you.” It’s amazing how much rejections like that are discouraging.

To contrast that, some organizations have been amazing: sending me friendly, chatty emails about their animals and answering with exactly the facts I needed. Some have pointed me to extra resources or other organizations that they thought might give me some additional details. I’ve gotten to know a couple of animals by name and talked to their caretakers that work closely with them every day. (Myrtle the sea turtle likes to eat cucumbers as a treat.) The project has grown and expanded; I’ve added new ideas because of these conversations.

The project now feels like a collaboration with these great new people I’ve met; a feeling of community that comes from sharing stories with someone else. And when I finish this project, I get to share those stories over and over again with more people. All because I asked a question and someone took the time to answer.