SPESA Expo 2010: Focus on Suppliers

Well, let me start off with a direct quote from something i wrote in a recent post over in A Sketch A Day: I've been on hiatus from sketching or typing much due to a bad flare-up of carpal tunnel--i've had sporadically recurring RSI in particularly my right wrist since 2005, and managed to aggravate it with a combination of intense periods of typing too much, writing longhand, and sketching, topped off with overly-vigorous bowling. (I wish i were joking.)

The main lesson here is, if you don't have RSI yet and you are a costumer, please be mindful of taking regular breaks and resting your hands and wrists, and don't ever work somewhere that won't allow regular breaks or makes you use ergonomically-harmful cutting equipment or table heights.

This sure has put a dent in my plans for the past month, in terms of the commedia mask project and the other work i had been planning/wanting to do. I'm getting my mobility and dexterity back though, and i owe y'all one more post about SPESA on suppliers. It'll really be a link-list, since if you haven't heard of any of these folks, you're best off looking at their sites and seeing whether you want to bookmark them for future inventory reference. This isn't a comprehensive list of exhibitors, either, just folks whose catalogs and literature i picked up to pass on to our management.

http://www.axelrodco.com/
S. Axelrod: Jewelry findings. $100 minimum order.

https://www.universalsewing.com/
Universal Sewing: General shop supplies and equipment. I made a note of their iron shoes (as in, shoes for industrial irons, not footwear made of iron), which prevent mat bubbling. One of our irons is currently shoeless and bubbles its mat all the time.

http://www.feitcompany.com/
Feitsew had a great booth with all these aerosol products--various spray adhesives, cleaners, and lubricants for stitching applications. Their website design sucks though and only lists their machines. Too bad.

http://www.happyfeet.net/
Happy Feet insoles had a booth where they were putting insoles into attendees' shoes and letting them walk the floor. Because often you come across actors with really challenging foot and footwear issues, i grabbed a flyer for them.

http://www.diamondneedle.com/
Diamond Needle carries notions, particularly piles of different types of machine needles.

http://www.fasnap.com/
Fasnap had tons of cool fasteners--snaps, buckles, clips, etc. Too bad i can't get their site to load.

And, that's it, my final SPESA post. Glad i went, and i can see myself going to another one in future, if i needed to buy equipment for sure.