end of an era

I must apologise for my tardy blogging of late, it seems I am caught up in a rapid whirlywind - this year is racing by so quick leaving very little time for anything and omg, before you know it, we're already in July!!  I believe the time has come for me to reassess all this busyness...so big decisions are being made and changes are taking place.

In all the flurry of happenings, I recently facilitated a Medieval Pottery workshop at the Kids Medieval Fun Day and have been working under the pump and around the clock preparing my wares for The Abbey Medieval Festival, held last weekend in the grounds of Abbeystowe (behind the Abbey Museum, Caboolture), and to the most glorious Winter weather I might add!

2014 marked the 25th Anniversary of the Abbey Medieval Festival and saw my 20th year of trading, and sadly my last year of trading. Yes, this is certainly one of my biggest decisions I have ever made in a long while - currently the event receives crowds of over 40,000 peeps coming through the gates, the most part of 6 mths of my year is devoted to preparing for the event - working on both, the medieval festival and exhibiting for my art practice is incredibly demanding of my time and something has to give, I know, now is the right time for me to hang up my medieval boots and move forward with my arts practice.

From humble beginnings, way back in 1994...

 

 To the present day of 2014...

I would really like to thank everyone, who, over the cause of the weekend supported my decision and purchased the last of my stock, two full tables of pottery dwindled down to a couple of mugs, my third table of leather products was reduced considerably, props and all the bits and bobs were sold out.  I am feeling a sense of overwhelming gratitude for all the support and warm gestures I received too, it was really mind blowing, I had no idea how much my stall was appreciated. Heart felt moments... especially when a lady from one of the re-enactment groups told me her story... each and every year her kids loved and would buy my lucky dips and now they were all grown up (between 25-30yrs old) and still treasure them, omg, how precious! And, I will certainly miss the fun, and the sense of community that is shared behind the scenes - a credit to all the Staff & volunteers at the Abbey Museum - fond memories I will cherish forever! ♥♥♥

week of medieval fun!

Its that time of year again when I dust off my medieval boot scooting boots and enjoy the medieval festivities!  A week long full of activities hosted by the Abbey Museum.  For me, kicking off tomorrow I'll be facilitating my medieval 'Coil Pots' Pottery Workshop with the little tackers at the Kids' Medieval Fun Day....  I'll be in tent number 8 having just as much fun as the kids!!!

...and then, on the weekend (6 Sat & 7 Sun, July) out come my wares for the 2013 Abbey Medieval Festival - the adults time for fun!  Abbeystowe comes alive full medieval glory and goes back in time to Medieval Europe from 600AD to 1600AD... 

Here's a photograph of me (before my days of owning a digital camera) and my stall when I used to be a one man band, dating back over 13 years ago!  Its amazing how all those years ago it took one vision, a humble little event and has now turned into a major tourist attraction which had over 30,000 people through the gates last year...

Post Festival

Well I can certainly say that this year had to be the biggest Medieval Festival on record! We had a few odd showers of rain, not enough to dampen the mood of the crowds, if anything it added an ambience to the day.

I didn't really have chance to get away from my stall for long to take alot of photographs however I managed to get in a few around me in the market place....

Hand carved wooden Chess Set in the Viking encampment.

Me and my medieval pottery stall.

Fair ladies stop by,

Furs and more furs, Jack the Medieval Furrier's stall.

Ladies Felting demonstrations.

Flaming Gargoyle Pottery by Alexander de Vos.

The Hurdy Gurdy girls delight us with their tunes.

Paul Dolphin (aca Rowan) and Lesley Porter (aca Fern), the Wandering Welsh Weavers of the 12th Century stop by for a chat.

And lookie here, a familar face in the crowd, good buddy Jo Murray stops for a chin wag and photo.  A must see more awesome medieval photographs taken by Jo on her blog

And fellow friend Vicki calls in to say hi.

As always, its a trill to be involved in such an exciting, action packed, successful event - the Abbey Musuem's Medieval Festival is going from strength to strength each and every year!

all set up!

Only one more sleep to go! The Abbey Medieval Festival kicks off tomorrow and is renowned for being the biggest and most authentic medieval event in Australia!  To create such an authentic ambience setting up camp has become a huge affair, so many tents and things are needed Friday has become 'bump in' day for most of the marketeer stalls while the re-enactment camps start to set-up earlier in the week.  I managed to take in a few photographs before my battery died in the camera, luckily it died today and not tomorrow, how disappointing that would have been with all the activities happening!



A bit of a zephr blowing today.

Loads of tents going up!

Nice looking campsite.

Gypsy Wagon.

Horn drinking cups.

Colourful balls handmade with string.

Puppet hanging in the gypsy encampment.

The camera's on charge - I hope to take more photographs over the weekend...

Kids Medieval Fun Day

Yesterday was the kiddies chance to enjoy a medieval experience! A week full of medieval festivities are hosted by the Abbey Musuem in the lead up to the Abbey Medieval Festival - one of them being the Kids Medieval Fun Day a feast of medieval activites all day.  The kids literally poured through the gates at 9am and by 9.15am the Camel Ride line up was massive! 

Sir Gabriel ready for battle (photograph with permission by Mum & Dad)

To my delight the Medival Pottery was the first workshop fully booked out!  My tent all ready to go... four sessions, in four hours, 20 participants in each session, the calm before the storm (just before the gates were to open) and the other tents in the distance spread far and wide.

Above, in the background coil pots line up and two young Fair Maidens busy building their pots, and below a young Squire boasts his masterpiece!  Certainly a 'fun day' was had by all. 

Now wind back the clocks - 600AD to 1600AD ...next on the agenda is the adult's turn for some medieval fun!  This coming weekend Sat 7th & 8th July, 2012 a bustling Abbeystowe comes alive for an authentic medieval experience!

Medieval Fest - part two & Trophy presentation

The 22nd Abbey Medieval Festival, 2011

To set the scene and paint a picture.....in the early hours of Sunday morning, a frosty light mist still remains...tis quiet and still. The aroma of burnt out fires that warmed the night. Slight sounds of movement from costume bells and chains and voices as folk awaken....

beautiful encampments....

Castles and flags. Lady Rosalie presenting trophies for strength of skill, archery, joust, oil wrestling and more...

Being cheered and acknowledged for their skill -handcrafted Medieval Mugs were awarded. It was an honour for me being commissioned to provide the trophies for the award presentation.

Lord Horn Master and his prize Medieval Mug for best in Archery...

Medieval Fest - part one

My memorial moments from the 22nd Abbey Medieval Festival, 2011...

The hired hand! (good help is hard to find)

A visit from good buddies Jen & Rob, enjoying the festivities and dressing for the occassion.

Potiential sales....

I have two tables for my set-up, this side display's my ceramic wares...

...and this one my leather pouches, earrings and medieval games made in clay.

Delivery day...

Works - photographed, packaged and ready to deliver to Abbey Museum tomorrow. Just in the nick of time really, as of Monday 17 Jan through to Saturday 22nd the Abbey Musuem is hosting an Egyptian Family Fun Week - full of fun activities; building Pyramids, digging for Artifacts, Mummifications, Heiroglyphics the list goes on...

Ofcourse, these pieces are for the 'digging for artifacts'

Here (above L>R) a group of wares; Jar with a lid, four Beakers with Heiroglyphics. The larger two Beakers contain Cartouche (royal names) of Ramses II.

Cartouche 1 - (royal names) of Ramses II - 1279 to 1213 BC

Four plates; (two above & two below) designs taken from the Egyptian period.

The plate above right is known as the 'Fish Bowl' - New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, about 1450 B.C (ofcourse this one is a reproduction for the dig!), the original piece is housed in the Egyptian Museum, Berlin.

Pinch Pots lined up!

Results from today's neolithic pinch pot workshop - 4 sessions over four hours with 20 children(or more) in each, you could say I'm out on my feet!

A few photo's...

We had them lined up, this curved bench was close to 4 metres long

Pinch pots

Tomorrow I will be conducting a Neolithic Pinch Pot workshop at the Abbey Museum's Archaeology Fun Day 2010 - Kids Dig-it part of the school holiday activities program.

Demonstrating the ancient 'pinch' method using natural materials to imprint the design, using shells, bone, seed pods and twigs.

Happy snaps...

Happy snaps from my delivery to the Abbey Museum of the Canopic Jars....

They were very pleased with the results and shared the news with their followers on twitter!

Canopic Jars

Just out of the kiln last night and ready to deliver...

Four Canopic Jars for the Abbey Museum's Egyptian Tomb 'Dig'

From left to right - Four Canopic Jars; Falcon, Human, Anubis, and Baboon. Height tallest 30cm

Canopic Jars were used to store and preserve human organs for safekeeping in the afterlife. During the mumification process organs were removed and stored into the jars and were buried in the tomb together with the sarcophagus of the dead.

Each Jar held a particular organ; the intestines were stored within the falcon, the liver in the human headed jar, the stomach was stored in Anubis, and the lungs were contained within the baboon.

Canopic Jars - Commission Abbey Museum

Another commission - Abbey Museum,

this time... four Canopic Jars for their Egyptian Tomb 'dig'

In the making, just finished and are in the raw stage, tallest just over 13" (33cm)

Roman Dig - finished and delivered!

Pottery for the Abbey Museum's Commission - Roman 'Dig' ....Finished!

Each Terracotta piece was burnished and polished by hand with a smooth pebble, and polished again after the final firing to give a gloss finish.

Now they are going to be... buried...unearthed...buried...unearthed...buried...unearthed

...hmmmm