halifaxcrafters
Once again, the Halifax Crafters Market is around the corner. May 6 & 7, 10am-5pm at the Olympic Center at 2034 Hunter Street. Hope I get to see you there!
I always have new work with me at markets and shows, so be sure to drop in to see what's up. Here's some playful new earrings that are a celebration of the irregular.
The cold seems to be settling in as of late, after a warm and beautiful fall season on the east coast. It is now dark around 5:30pm here in Halifax. The optimist in me holds onto the resolve that the long evenings of the colder months are great for scheming, production, organizing & making. The animal in me responds to the darkness with an unwinding of fortitude---drawn towards warm resting places to surrender the the pull of the slower season. I hope to maintain a balance.
Shifting into production mode in the studio, I'm preparing for the upcoming bustle of the holiday season. X-mas orders have already been coming in! Fervour's Own will be at the Halifax Crafters Holiday Fair this year on December 5, 6 & 7th, 2014. If you are in Halifax that weekend, be sure to drop in---it is always a great time with so much incredible talent to check out. I usually bring along with me a collection of pieces that I produce in limited runs---made of salvaged & reclaimed materials---that aren't available via the website or for wholesale (button studs, leather pieces, etc). So come visit!
Besides being a blur of sun-soaked swimming adventures and other summertime spectacles, the past number of months were spent producing work to send off to shops, planning and organizing a pretty epic photo shoot that happened in August, working on a new website, and designing/making a few custom pieces. These custom pieces were fun and challenging. One commission was quite simple and smooth to roll out while another turned out to be quite the adventure; a longer haul, full of experimentation and learning. Both satisfying in their own ways. I am thankful for having been connecting with some really super clients.
Individual posts about a couple of the projects I just mentioned will be on their way before too long. For now, let this be a brief overview of what my hands have been dirty with, and an acknowledgement of the shifts in seasons and energy.
FALL SONG
Another year gone, leaving everywhere
its rich spiced residues: vines, leaves,
the uneaten fruits crumbling damply
in the shadows, unmattering back
from the particular island
of this summer, this NOW, that now is nowhere
except underfoot, moldering
in that black subterranean castle
of unobservable mysteries - roots and sealed seeds
and the wanderings of water. This
I try to remember when time's measure
painfully chafes, for instance when autumn
flares out at the last, boisterous and like us longing
to stay - how everything lives, shifting
from one bright vision to another, forever
in these momentary pastures.
-Mary Oliver
Somehow the winter has slipped by (mostly). It’s been a slow one, and yet we are rounding the corner to spring…Where have I been?!? Squirreling around in my home and neighborhood and studio—-working, little by little, on a slew of things in that way that makes real forward moving progress hard to see, what for the spreading out of efforts. Now the sun shines more, the light sticks around longer each evening, and things have grown and changed and are emerging. Slowly, like snails.
Speaking of snails…
I stumbled across this here ditty, while doing some internet research on African Land Snails after my daughter’s pet had a slew of babies earlier int he winter. This snail necklace is by London based jewellery designer Dominic Jones who has some interesting work, certainly worth taking a look at—often shiny and sharp. Here’s a few examples:
As for news, you can now find Fervour’s Own Jewellery in Ottawa at Jasmine Virani Studio Boutique. Here’s a pic of the lovely shop at 1282-A Wellington Street West. There is an impressive collection of great Canadian designers in there, so if you are in Ottawa certainly check it out.
And coming up in Halifax, on Saturday April 5th & Sunday April 6th, is the Halifax Crafters Spring Market. There are always so many incredibly talented folks at these shows, it is always worth stopping in. Great food and music too.
I will be there with some FOj, and am thrilled to be bringing with me some NEW WORK!!
I have been percolating on some new pieces for a good while now, and am excited to be getting them out of my head/hands and off the bench. The designs for this small collection have developed alongside contemplating, talking about, and reflecting on themes of trauma, healing, and self-preservation/self-protection. Thinking about the ways in which some of the things we carry with us and adorn ourselves with can relate to our own histories and sometimes serve as a form of armour as we move through and interact with the world. Gateways and Guards. Some sneak previews will be coming soon, but in the meantime, here’s a link to a short article that touches on the idea of fashion as armour, that was sent my way following a conversation about this new work.
The Halifax Crafters Holiday Market happened back at the turn of the month and it was a pretty darn hopping event, I tell ya. What a great weekend. The Olympic Center was packed and bustling and it was such a pleasure to be out and amongst it all. So much work goes into pulling those shows together…from the crafters, each making their magic, to the organizers and vounteers who pour their time and energy into all the behind-the-scenes, and of course all the lovely people who come and fill the space out with their good energy and support for hand-making. Good stuff all around, THANKS EVER SO MUCH!
(Arsenic & Old Lace Table)
Of course, the place was so packed with incredible work…temptations abound! I kept returning to Arsenic & Old Lace’s table (they were Fresh Catches this time round) with their lovely carved ceramics, tattoo-ed oranges and glass curiosity boxes. I eventually came away with a couple of pieces, one from each of the two makers (Anna Bald & Andrea Thorne). Here’s a couple of snapshots of the collection of goods I came away from the weekend with, happy to be supporting makers and ever appreciative of trading wares:
Handmade knickers by Hanna Broer Design, big ol’ beeswax candle by Mike Bienstock of Medway Candle and Essentials (who was my neighbor at the Crafter’s Market…what a treat to have that smell wafting around all weekend!!), ceramic ornament and curiosity box by Arsenic & Old Lace. (I can’t track down any online info for these lovely folks, so I can’t provide a link, but I noticed that some of their work is available in Plan B, on Gottingen Street in Halifax, NS).
These playfully solid ceramic cups are by Bridget Fairbank ofBPractical Pottery. She had a great display set up right across from me so her work had been flirting with me all weekend—-I am now so thrilled to have these cups as a part of my days, especially in this season of tea drinking. Bridget seemed like a stand-up gal and has a great blog worth a peruse. As someone who spent a while dug into ceramic work, scrolling through her blog is inspiring, stirring up urges…but for now I must stay focused, and maybe drop by the Lingo section of her blog on occasion for small tastes of the language, at the least.