Wing Whacked and a Fin

Costume judging for the adults - there is one for the kids too!

Steam Punk and Mermaids are well represented!

Gothic Faeries are always welcome.

Watch Out for Wings !


I feel a little "wing whacked" after the drive back - but joyful about the experience at FaerieCon. Since I'm too tired out to write a bunch I thought I'd just let the photos speak for themselves. I've talked before how you have to be careful sometimes when you are walking around FaerieCon...because...some of the Faerie's wear very large wings and when they turn in a confined area you can get thwacked a good one. Included are some of the many many wings of FaerieCon, a few Princes and Queens, and tons of assorted creatures. Tomorrow when I get time I'd like to show just a few more photos before I sign off of this years fun time and gear back into normal. What's normal anyway?

On the way back to reality

I'd edit a batch of pictures to share tonight but it's late. FaerieCon has ended another mythical year in Maryland and we've packed and driven part of the way home. I'll post the best of the rest tomorrow night....but for now I'm going to snooze. Just like this tired little Gnome who was busy being cooed and coddled by all of adults for his costuming.

Catch you tomorrow.......

More from FaerieCon...

Check out this Viking, he is just so dignified and has a booth close to Mystic Swan.

This is Jenny Davis-Reazor. She's a Mixed-Media artist that caught my eye yesterday when I was browsing around the booths. Her clay and jewelry work is great. If you were here with me I'd take you down to see her booth but since I can't I've made her name clickable and it will take you to her web site - and from there you can check out her blog and Etsy too!


And, then there is this photo of this wonderful couple. I was at the costume competition and when I turned around to leave when they were finished there they sat. They were having a wonderful time - and so am I.

Having a Faerie Nice Time

I'm just to pooped to write much so I'm sending some Faerie love your way. Just a few photos I edited tonight. We are here and having a wonderful time. Tonight we went to the Good Faerie's Ball and heard Delhi 2 Dublin play. Holy Crap - they rocked, and the floors in the Maryland Ballroom just shook. Wish you were all here to enjoy this......

FaerieCon Here I Come

Sorry I've been missing in action again. I've been making ceramic and lampwork beads like crazy and trying to get ready to leave for FaerieCon. I attend to accompany my friend Sharon Dent of Mystic Swan Jewelry - she gracious invited me to add some of my work to the mix but on this show I just so enjoy being the side-kick that I've declined.

This year Sharon has moved to a larger booth in a downstairs ballroom and we will be closing at an earlier time which will allow us time to attend the Faerie Balls. It's always fun to see the costume changes and listen to the music. This year a popular band called Qnytal will be playing at one of the Balls. And then someone I haven't heard before called Priscilla Hernandez.

I promise I'll be posting from FaerieCon and sending along the daily photos of what's happening. Plus, if you have never been to a Renaissance Festival or one of these you ought to consider it.....such a feast for the eyes and soul.

Thinking Orange and Halloween

Thinking Pumpkin here! These are Mac-O-Lanterns from Indestructables.

I wish we had little ones around because I used to love to decorate the house up. It was an all out front porch festival….bales of hay, lights, pumpkins, corn stalks. I just loved it. Now…well, we don’t even have neighbors with kids. Mine are grown. Really, I need to move – this is retirement villa and I’m prepared for adoption. I don’t care if they are the neighbor’s kids….send them here and I will bake cookies. Uh, I can also do carrots if you’re into the vegetarian thing better. And I’m damn crafty and entertaining.

Today an email from Indestructables arrived and reminded me of the whole holiday thing. This reminds me I need to get my “Nightmare” Christmas tree out; but first, about the email. Sometimes they (Indestrucables) just crack me up. I’ve posted a photo from there. They’ve a whole section of Halloween ideas.

I’ve also added a link to one of the best pumpkin carvers I have ever seen. I’d carve one but no one would see it here. Instead I gave money to the local Halloween party given by the Lion’s club. Actually, it’s a huge bash I’ve mentioned before that’s held at the High School.

Enjoy the links…….

Ray Villafane - This is a link to the greatest pumpkin carver of all time! His U-Tube tutorials. This is his site: Villafane Studios

Post Flu....YES!

Where’s Sharon now that she is feeling better. I’ve listed some new lampwork on my site – holiday items. It’s fun to make snowmen while it’s still Fall weather. I doubt I’ll feel that way about January – about then I’ll be making flowers and wishing for Spring.

It’s still clay time too…kind of like play time? Here is the plate full of goodies to go in the kiln for bisque fire. And a photo of the newly fired stuff that just came out. I’m still considering the options for using it. It’s like having a brand new writing tablet and getting that first line drawn on the paper….sometimes it’s just agony. But, once the doodle begins the pages are fair game!



I’m learning some things about packing the kiln. I ruined four pieces when I strung them on kanthal wire too light to hold the weight. The wire bent and the pieces either touched the bottom of the kiln or each other – POOP. Lesson learned. I’ll need to get out Jennifer’s great book again and look some things up. Since I’m only making a small quantity of things to use it would be great not to lose too many.

This is so much fun. I'm hoping to create some mixed media projects when I have an assortment to choose from in metal, clay, and glass.

Sunday Silly

I'm feeling much more like myself again. The cold, aches, and boiling fevers are gone...whew! So now I'm just pondering what to do with my day. I have made some clay beads to add to my lampwork but they haven't even reached the kiln for the first firing. I'll get some photos of the stages they go through later.

I had a good laugh at myself - Jennifer Heynen is such a great teacher and wonderful artist. She posted the new photos of her studio and gallery on line. In the photos you can see the racks of air drying items getting ready for the kiln and all of her luscious hand painting. When I go in my kitchen - - - - I see my paper plate of drying items.....LOL. I'm such a geek.

But, at least, I'm a nerd without the flu!

******FLU******Get Your Shot!

No, didn't fly anywhere. It's the flu. Get your flu shots. I got the flu on Sunday (I have not been sick in over four years). Okay, I'm lucky - I take precautions. Washing hands is no problem. Getting shots - no problem but I hadn't done that yet Unfortunately, Sunday the FLU knocked me right on my ass and has not been letting up.

Last night I felt a little better so I started to work on some wax pieces I want to cast in brass to go with the ceramics. I was able to drag a brush across a few bisque pieces. Okay, I said to myself, "you're a little weak but this is a 24 bug and on its way out the door."

I guess flu didn't get the message and today I had a fever spike to 102. I felt like the princess and the pea. I had plenty of cushions, blankets, and pillows. Still I could feel the awfulness of my aching shivering body.

Tonight the fever has broken.

Can tomorrow be the demise of this miserable stuff? I hope so.

Or, tomorrow some people in white coats could show up at my house and take me away - maybe even my Turkey. If a Flu Virus was a bead - well it would be pretty....but in a body with it's prickly things just working away on you - it's not. I've been watching to much SciFi while on the couch.

Enjoy the photos - This is the enemy! Wash your hands and get a flu shot.

A color blast of Ceramics

Fall gets me all colorful - can't help it - we all know my favorite color is orange. So here I am looking out the window and decide with all of this color going on outside I ought to try a little inside. If DH wasn't such a "neutral" kind of guys the walls would be a color riot.

Clay is interesting addition for me. I'm still not over the texture and getting it all over my hands. It's okay to work with. It's not okay as it dries on my hands - ick! I prefer wax work for casting or making lampwork. But, I like the colors you can get with glazes and it a kind of "glass".

I was taught how to do this from Jennifer Heynen (Jangles) at the Bead and Button Show one year. I thought it would be useful to mix with glass beads in necklaces and other things - heavy on the bead work and not a copy of Jennifer's incredible work. More like a variation on a theme and definitely not a wholesale item.

These are fun - colorful. I guess when it's fall and bright you want to capture that last flower and make it last until spring has returned you mimic the colors. I'm going to be doing some riveting - maybe some waxed linen knotting. Truly I'm not quite sure how it's all going to go together but I know I'll never get there if I don't get some components ready. Wish me luck!