Into the hall at ten thirty, out at one, dazed, footsore, and happy. I have added to my medieval and Christmas collection, talked to all the vendors who recognise me from the San Francisco show this summer, and purchased a peacock feather stamp that I have been coveting since the last show for use with the burned velvet technique. I have also invested in an overpriced but useful piece of plastic which will let me place images exactly where I want them, a necessity for masking images and doing heavily layered pieces. I have been coveting one of those for the last ten years. I spend a judicious seventy dollars in two and a half hours, including parking.
Some people spend that at one booth alone.
People in line chat, admire everyone's stamps, compare techniques and products. I like stamp people, in general, although I couldn't pick one out of a crowd. Well, maybe I could, if they were also crafts people in which case I would recognise them by their homemade sweatshirts decorated with puffy paint, appliques, and iron-on designs. Stamp people are often into crafts, although I myself am not, and over the years stamp shows have increasingly offered beads, paints, ribbons, spangles, specialty tools, and a wild variety of paper unsuitable for stamping. The biggest line I see at this Rubberama is at a company that has one table of stamps and four tables of folksy crafts items.