The Northern Utah Scottish Festival

This last weekend I took my new stuff to a show I've done for 8 years now. I love the Northern Utah Scottish Festival, and always manage to have a good time. "Wicked Tinkers" from California usually come to the festival, and besides incredible music they always make me laugh. These pics are after a hard days work for the "Tinkers" ; Aaron and Jay are still in a good mood, but what in the world did they do to make Warren mad? For some reason, Keith decided to go for a "joy ride"... wonder if they've caught up with him yet?? (If you want a link to the "Tinkers" see the "about us" page on my web site!)

I'm not quite sure how the new stuff was received. I did sell a few of my new Celtic knot glass pendants and a couple of the ceramic pots (pictured in a previous post), but I know for sure I need to get my sterling silver rings into production fast! I had a lot of people ask for them, and I could tell I needed them by the ending dollar total! I did sell enough of my own stuff to not feel like a total reject! Here are a couple of new things I've been working on: glass windchimes! I didn't sell any of these, but am getting some nice comments on them!

One of the nice parts of the festival are the opening and closing ceremonies they have. All the pipe bands that are there to perform or compete march together onto the field (known as the massed bands) and usually play "Scotland the Brave". Always gives me goosebumps to see them all together like that. My hubby looks pretty good in a kilt, and they took our picture in our booth to use for promotional pictures for next year's brochure. That could be interesting! This festival is two days worth of good music, good food, good family history info (by way of the clan booths and also the LDS Genealogical services), lots of hard work, good people and fun! It's usually my best show, and something I look forward to every year.

I'm working on a new sign for the business, a mosaic of cut glass and ceramic of the business name. I'll post a pic when I get it finished. I'm just hoping it comes out as good as it looks in my mind right now! :)

Show Season

Summer is usually when I do most of my shows. I spent the last two weekends at a local Renaissance Faire, in it's second year of existance. I was pleasantly surprised last year when I did this show... I didn't expect much, but actually had an average show, sales wise.

This year, the sales numbers were lower, in all probability due to the vastly increased number of vendors! But I keep telling myself that I'm helping this team build up what in a few years could be an awesome event. They managed to secure a jousting team this year, which I think was the hit of the show. Captain Jack Sparrow (with his lady) and the Greenman happened by for a visit this year, too.


I like doing these types of shows more than the typical "jewelry" shows. The other vendors are usually so nice, and you can find yourself laughing quite a bit, even if the show happens to be slow, like this one was. I can handle not making as much money as I'd like if I'm having a really good time! There was a young man selling at his first event just across from me. He was selling armor and chain maille type things, and was making "boffers" (a "fake" sword) and teaching the kids who came by how to use them and fight with them. I took my 3 1/2 year old grandson DJ with me last Friday, and he finally got brave enough to fight with "William". When he was instructed to "stab" William in the stomach, William clutched the boffer and fell to the ground, at which point DJ ran giggling back to me.

Of course, I had to buy him a sword after that (to go with the Dragon hat I already bought him), and he's been talking about it for three days! Even though he fell asleep that night on the way home, he woke up enough to run downstairs and say, "Daddy, daddy! I dead William!" Grandkids are just so much more fun than kids!

People I Hang Around With on Weekends (Sometimes)

When my store was open it didn't take long for someone from the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) to show up. The word Celt seems to attract a certain crowd of people. Never heard of them? Neither had I. Turns out they are a Medieval reinactment group, and they have a lot of fun.

A lady by the SCA name of Dubessa drug me to my first event to merchant, and since then, they just keep asking me to show up. I don't necessarily make a lot of money at these events, but I seem to laugh a lot, and I figure, that should help keep me young, right? I managed to snag this picture at an event last fall of some of the gentles playing "spear the beer". I'm not a photographer, but I have to say I am immensely pleased by that shot!

At an event last month, the shire of Arrow's Flight held an event that also included a "worst garb" contest. Not much was seen of this manner of garb until a youth who goes by the name "Rat" decided to put the competition into high gear.
You could then hear a few mutterings of "I'm not about to be shown up by a teenager!" and others went off to don their hideous garb (bad imitations of Braveheart and a Flower Child Scot among them). However, many ladies in the populace kept adding to our Rat Boy's garb in order for him to outshine the others. (The progression of such is noted in these pictures.) His mother was out being a Marshall for some rapier events, and pretended not to know what her youth was up to.





I have to say I really admired the daring of Rat Boy. He willingly posed for pictures that will certainly make their way to his mother, will be shown to any girl who shows up to an event with him (by EACH of those who were taking pictures) and of course, get posted to the world wide web. (I DID get his mother's permission!) It is the general silliness of these events that keep me coming back. (Have you ever seen a man turned into a human shrimp pinata with 30 or so kids running after him with "boffers? Hah! I thought not. Unfortuneatly, I didn't get a picture of that one!) These pictures were all just too good to keep to myself, so here they are for all to enjoy!

So, the next time you are driving by a park, and see people dressed sort of funny, hitting each other with sticks or rapiers, maybe with a picnic basket on the side, stop by and say hi. You never know what kind of silliness and mayhem you may be in for!

Why am I always late?

I'm trying to finish making 40+ beads for a ceramic bead exchange. Well, the deadline was Saturday. I had all sorts of grandiose thoughts of making these fun little pots, and after I made 10, said, yeah, not this go around! So I took the easy way out and have been making a combination of butterfly/dragonfly beads. The first ones are just out of the kiln, and so if I manage to squeeze out two firings today and two tomorrow, I might actually be able to send these out on Wednesday, so I won't be too late! (I also got a wonderful surprise of a small order of two ceramic runes to be shipped to Australia! Cool!)


We are still doing small clean up things from the flood a couple of weeks ago. The bonus is, I woke up at 2 a.m. the following morning with the stomach flu! Man, the only thing that would have made that day worse, was to have woken up THAT day with the flu instead of the next day.

I had also planned to go to a Highland Games in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks, but there is just no way I'm going to be ready. I really hate to skip that one, but I guess it's better to keep plugging away and just try to be ready for the Ren Faire I'm doing in May.

My daughter and her hubby are currently building a new house. I've told them I will make their house numbers out of ceramic for them to be bricked right in with their brick. They need it very soon, and with taxes also due? Well, you see where this theme is.

I've heard that people who are always late have a huge disregard for other people. Sorry, I can't buy that! The theory I DO like, is that people like me just have unrealistic time perspective and try to fit too much into too little time. Now that sounds more like me! I'm always working on a deadline. As soon as one passes, well, here's the other one! So, I'll keep plugging away and maybe I'll just get better at squeezing stuff into where I squeeze it! I do hope everyone had a happy Easter, Passover, or at least, just a great Sunday!