Farewell to Con-G

            I know I write about conventions a lot, but that’s because they’re so awesome! Besides, this one was special.

            One year ago, we of Ringcrafts were vendors at our first ever convention, Con-G. It was a wonderful show for us and gave us great hopes for the future of our business. We were welcomed with open arms by the other vendors and artists and we even became friends with a number of them.

            Most of those friends we ran into again at other shows we attended throughout the year, at the same time as meeting new friends. As I've mentioned before, there’s a truly wonderful community of people on the selling side of the tables – although some of the friends are regular convention attendees as well (my wife and I seem to have accidentally acquired a daughter who is, somehow, around the same age as us).

            So, the year went by and we've just come full circle, this past weekend being Con-G once again. Since was our first second year vending at a show, I was astonished by how many attendees I recognised! Some were even wearing jewellery or carrying dragons that they bought from us last year (I got to meet the person who ordered the first custom dragon I sold online and one of the people who won a dragon in one of my Facebook draws). Even though I’d only seen most of them once before, it was like getting back together with old friends.

            Part of what made this show so great for us was that the convention’s mascot was a dragon that I’d been able to design a chainmaille version of. Last year, I’d only made one – since I had no idea how well any of the dragons would sell. It sold on the first day. This time I wanted to have five along, but there was a mistake made on my materials shipment and I could only make three. Luckily, after the first three sold, I was able to modify other dragons to make two more. Even that wasn't enough – I even have one ordered for the next show I'm at.

            Of course, part of the reason those dragons sold so well is the sad news that this was Con-G’s last year. The same people have been running it every year and they don’t have the time to continue with it any more. Everyone’s very sad, but it helped make this an event to remember. With any luck, someone will pick up the torch in the future and resurrect this wonderful show.

            So here’s to Con-G, the first show, the first second year show, and the first last show I (and Ringcrafts) have sold chainmaille at. Thanks, Con-G team, for six great years (well, okay, so I can only say two great years, but I'm sure the first four were just as good).

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.