Selling and Demonstrating

It’s been a busy couple months in Sprangland, with several opportunities to share and sell my work. 

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In early October I attended History Fest in Makato, MN, camping on site for four days. Thousands of students, with parents and teachers, came through to experience various aspects of history. My husband was one of the sword fighters putting on a show to draw in the crowds. Before and after the shows a few folks stayed around to check out the artisans surrounding the fighting field. They could visit the seamstress, gather around an open hearth and sample food made over the fire, watch chainmail being made, have a coin struck just for them, explore a scout’s camp, and learn about calligraphy. And that’s just in our corner of the site.

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I brought a few sprang items to show and several frames to work on. Even with a small sampling of my work, some of the children were amazed that I had made “all this” myself. The people who stopped to talk, mostly homeschooling moms and their kids, were fascinated by this technique they had never heard of. A few left determined to learn it themselves. I fell in love with demonstrating sprang and vowed to continue doing so at every opportunity.

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A couple weeks ago I was able to demonstrate and sell at the Duluth Fiber Guild’s annual Fiber Fair. Again I had a great time explaining and showing off this ancient technique, and a few people had a try at my practice frame. While it’s hard to part with some of my favorite sprang experiments, it was a joy to hear the excitement from those who appreciated the pouches they purchased.

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This past weekend I attended Boar’s Head, a large Northshield event held near Milwaukee, WI. While Hubby poked at people in the rapier tournament, I sat at my merchant’s table working at my frame and talking to all who stopped by. In this setting full of folks immersed in the Middle Ages, sprang is known by some as an historical technique so I was able to compare notes with other sprangers. Again I enjoyed seeing people interact with my creations, and parted ways with several favorite pieces.

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With the proceeds from the sales, I purchased a domain name and upgraded to a “Professional” website. You can now find me at sprangart.com. 


Other projects keeping me busy lately are a study of how to wear sprang on your head, and the final stages of creating a year of S & Z sprang patterns for Carol James’ 2023 Sprangalong. More on those to follow.