Spring has Sprung!

Spring has well and truly sprung. It is wonderful to see all the lush growth in those areas that have had rain. Anne on her My Day Off blog has given some great recipes for springtime scents :) Unfortunately for me, spring also means hayfever, so I may just have to hide inside for a little while and make some more pretties for summer! (Pic above is of a bracelet that has already gone (!) and I only made it last week. Vivid purple, hot pink and lime green freshwater pearls with peridot, amethyst and rock crystal quartz.)

Well, the Lovedale Craftfest has been and gone and it was a really enjoyable weekend. I travelled down to "wine country" as they call it, on Friday. Found my accommodation - the Abernethy Guest House, where my hosts, Vicky and Imanz were welcoming to their 1920's period hotel. After a quick tour and dropping off my bags, I raced back to the Ogishi Craft Centre where I started my set up. Of the 12 artisans in attendance, 9 were well underway in their set up and so I needed to get started quickly! A brief hello to my fellow artisans and Setsuko showed me my exhibition space where I busily started my display. After moving things around (and around and around!) I was ready in plenty of time for the artisan's gathering which was followed by the opening night.

Some of the artisans I already knew from the Lovedale Limited Edition Expo last year, but I hadn't got to chat to them and see their work closely. I was located next to Alison Green, a very talented and bubbly lady who does incredible silkscreens of Australian fauna and flora. She makes her pieces accessible to the average person by printing on tshirts, tablecloths, cushions, tea cosy's etc., as well as prints for the wall. Alison and her husband Max, kept me laughing during the show and kept our space very happy indeed!

Kay Faulkner is a master weaver and creates the most amazing patterns - both plain and in colour with her wraps and scarves. They almost seemed computer generated, but of course they are not! Kay was a lovely calming influence throughout the whole show.

Robin Phillips creates the most amazing silver, gold and enamel jewellery. My husband admired her work last year so I made a point of looking closely and it is indeed beautiful work. Robin is friendly and warm to everyone and there is no surprise that she has dedicated clients everywhere. Her enamel cloissonne is just brilliant. I can honestly say that if I was to buy a piece of jewellery from someone else, she would be my choice!

Lynne Taylor was near to my booth last year and like Kay she is a calm beacon amongst the swirling humanity. Her display this year was beautiful. I managed to look at her amazing collaged fabric garments and if you wanted to feel amazing for a special day or evening, one of her jackets would fit the bill!

Mark Jones is a lovely, appoachable man and his handbags are to die for! This man's work is soooo desirable and I'm not even into handbags that much! I KNOW I will be recommending people to his work for years and years.

Nicky Coady is a studio potter and her work is amazing. I surely haven't seen work like hers and can see why she was so popular. A great personality as well - fun and laughing all the time.

Barbara Stephenson was new to the Lovedale scene and I love her slumped glass work. I didn't get to chat to Barbara but I did meet her husband (called "HELPER" on his tag lol) who was obviously proud of his wife's work.

Lance Hennessy is a quiet chap who creates amazing ceramic sculptures - I didn't get to chat with Lance for more than a minute unfortunately.

Robyn McGain is also new to the Lovedale display, but her incredible quilts were greatly admired. Robyn is friendly and chatty and as a local was a great asset to the event.

Setsuko Ogishi of course does the most beautiful glass work - true works of art were scattered throughout the gallery. Setsuko and her husband Yutaka are quiet and welcoming and they organised Craftfest brilliantly.

I met some lovely people from all over the Hunter Valley, some from Sydney, a great family from Warren and even a little group from Germany. All in all a wonderful, busy weekend :)

New flyers and a bit of a ramble.

Woohoo! Today I received the flyers for Craftfest - the show I am participating in during October. Don't they look great! A bracelet of mine is pictured behind the 'c' :D. Thats two years in a row that I have had a picture on the flyer which means either a) my photography skills are up to par or b) I make nice jewellery that they just HAVE to feature ;)

I fell victim to the dreaded flu that is going around this part of the world at the moment so creativity has been a bit low for the last week or so. I have however got a few pieces done - a lovely necklace with holly blue chalcedony that has some druzy visible; a fun, bright mixed piece including calcite, coral, amethyst, angelite, onyx and rose quartz; a couple of real stunners in the more traditional jewellery style - one with blue topaz and one with amethyst.

Since I am getting ready for show 'season' I have made a gazillion pewter bookmarks - well it felt that many, but I think it was about 40 actually! Plus I have made some rather classy phone charms/handbag charms/zipper pulls, with a gemstone focal and a little sparkle provided by some Swarovski crystals. The bookmarks are a perennial favourite for a little gift that is a bit different and I usually sell a few of these at each show. I am hoping the charms will help fill that void a bit further and keep up interest being something a little different to the usual thing you see.

I was surfing around some local sites today and found one on Mudgee Wine Events (http://www.mudgeewine.com.au/) . Mudgee is about 100km from me and my nearest 'big' town. I have quite a few clients from Mudgee - its a very pretty town that has grown a lot in recent years but has retained its rural roots. It is also a well known wine area and gets a lot of tourist trade. Anyway... I was perusing their site and was both excited and disappointed to see an Art & Craft Expo - advertised as an exhibition for local artists. OK, now I know I'm not IN Mudgee, but this is the first I have heard of this exhibition that is less than a month away. Living in a relatively small community you would think it would have received a bit of advertising, but alas no. We have virtually no venues for local artists and artisans, apart from single artist exhibitions at assorted galleries. To think a combined expo like this is happening and no-one knows about it is terribly disappointing. I wonder how many local artists and artisans don't know about it either? Definitely a case for improving communications don't you think?

Another site I found today via the Switchboards site is http://www.unearthedtees.com/. This is a great site that sells t-shirts with rock/gem related puns or sayings. Cute idea. Another wonderful thing the site is doing is "UnEarthing Kindness" where a decent % of the profit of sales from now until the end of September will go to earthquake relief in Peru. Way to go!!