Ironfest 2008 recap

Well I am back from Ironfest and almost recovered! It was a brilliant festival and once again I really enjoyed myself. I didn't get to experience much of the events eg. jousting, battle re-enactments, but of course I was able to see those wandering around in costume and managed a quick whizz around the blacksmith's area and the artisan's hall. Plus we were situated right opposite the indoor stage so experienced a good selection of music. I even weakened and bought a CD by one of the performers, Fintan, who sings and plays traditional (celtic styled) music. And I indulged a childhood fantasy and bought a wool cloak from the lovely Kathleen at a neighbouring booth, Faerietail. Not terribly practical... but it would be if I was game enough to wear it!

I caught up with many clients that I had met at Ironfest last year and quite a few went home with some more jewellery to add to their collections! One amazing client is an artist and I had recently been chatting with her via email about our recent olive harvest here on the farm. She was so inspired by the image of this, that she painted me a picture of how she imagined our olive harvest had looked. Appropriately, she had me up a tree with my head amongst the branches! She presented me with this gorgeous painting at Ironfest and I was speechless. My family was very impressed when I showed them on my return. I feel very special :)

I am constantly impressed with artists and those that can paint especially so. Jenni from Papercraft Designs has managed to use some of her original art on her handmade cards - wouldn't you be impressed to receive one of these?

I've included a picture of the booth at Ironfest one morning just before the gates opened. Pictured is Michelle, who weaves Swarovski & Czech crystals into the most gorgeous jewellery and who I was honoured to share the booth with. We did the booth together last year too and it's wonderful to catch up with each other once a year!

Well, back to trying to get back into my usual 'groove' now.... have a great day!

Ironfest preparations and pyrite

Ironfest is only a week away....and I'm in my usual spin trying to think of everything I need to take (I need to switch off the creative part of my brain and start making a list! lol). Today is my personal deadline for creating new items that will need to be ready to go with me so I have some bench time planned for the balance of today - children allowing me of course (yes, it's school holiday time... AGAIN!)

I had a long chat with the woman I am sharing my booth with at Ironfest, planning how to do the set up and display and what we would need. Last year we received many compliments on our set up but of course I want it to be even better this year! I am a big fan of Hilary Johnson's blog and was particularly impressed with her set up for a one day event, which she featured in her blog recently. It looks so chic and attractive - I'd want to wander over and have a look!

Today's picture is of a new piece - a simple necklace, yet it has a wow factor - simply in the gorgeous pyrite stones. I love the green/gold gleam of pyrite as well as the slight patination with the black host stone peeping through. The pyrite has been perfectly complemented by the green/gold small baroque freshwater pearls. Interestingly a gold clasp looked awful - it clashed with the pyrite tones and actually weakened the whole necklace's appearance! However I found a brushed sterling silver clasp worked in brilliantly - it doesn't overwhelm and with the satin finish it isn't competing in the shine department.

Lots to do here so I shall sign off for now. Have a great day!

Autumn, the Great Art Grid and a quiz for every day

The cooler weather is here and I can see my loungeroom being re-arranged very soon so that we can access the fireplace! (We have a 'summer' set up where the lounges face outwards to look at the view and a 'winter' set up where we turn away from the cold and face the fire. Does anybody else do this?)

I have been busy making things for Ironfest which is rapidly creeping up on me. I have received some new stones lately too which are proving to reveal themselves as very one of a kind pieces of jewellery :). I have included one of them above - it is grossular garnet and is a beautiful deep green with sections of the cut stone falling away into crevices where the skin of the crystal shows through. A very 'honest' piece in its rather natural state, it looks like it has just been found on the bottom of the ocean where some goddess or nymph happened to drop it. Matched with some beautiful, glowing, olive green freshwater pearls, it is truly a bold, statement necklace.

Lots of things have happened in the last few days - I have taken on a new 'bonus partner' Dream Candles. The idea behind this is to provide little gifts and items for each other's customers, so I am looking forward to receiving Michelle's little packages soon. I have also joined the iCraft community and set up a little shop there to make me a little more accessible to those on the other side of the world! It is a similar idea to Etsy with lots of very talented artisans already populating its pages.

I must tell you about a great idea that Corinne from Day Dream Art Studios has going. She is currently creating a "Great Art Grid" of small pics of fellow artists/artisans work and her aim is to get to 100 - she is well on her way to her goal. The grid is very beautiful to look at and should you be an artist or artisan, why not participate!?

Of course, even though I have been pretty busy, I always manage to find some time to 'surf' around my favourite blogs. I noticed a post on the Tall Poppy blog that asked what sort of goddess you were with a link to a site to find out for yourself. Well, what a treasure trove that link turned out to be... it looks like there are hundreds of quizzes there on all sorts of topics. One of my favourites was Are you right or left brained? (I'm 40% left (organised) and 60% right (creative) which explains a lot about my workspace!!!) There are so many fun ones to do, I bet you can spend quite a bit of time there trying them out. Have fun!

Ironfest 2008

A few weeks ago I featured a piece of matte black onyx leaves with little gemstones dotted through it, like little glimmering pieces of fruit nestled amongst the leaves...well, it sold and because I just love these matte black onyx 'leaves', here is another piece using them. This one is matched with small nugget shaped freshwater pearls in their natural pink/mauve colour. The pearls have a brilliant lustre which is emphasised by the flat black onyx and the pearls continue in a twin strand once they have left the onyx. It is very glamorous and very one of a kind. Do you like it?

I am starting to get ready for Ironfest at Lithgow which is on in three short weeks time. Going for three days, this festival celebrates all things metal with a heavy presence of blacksmithing arts, as well as being a medieval fair with quite a few people dressing up for the occasion. The Australasian Jousting Championships are held over this weekend, there are battle re-enactments and the odd cannon blast reminds you where you are! Lots of street performers and entertainment and a good range of artisans showing their work. As we did last year, I will be sharing a booth with a friend who makes predominately Swarovski crystal jewellery and beadweaving so we present a complementary front. Here is a pic of Michelle at our booth last year.



If you plan to be in the vicinity, please drop in and say hello! Ironfest is on 25-27 April 08 at the Lithgow Showground.

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