Octoberfest, Art Fair, and Pics of Pottery and JEWELRY.

[jedishampoo]

It's been a busy weekend so far... tomorrow I hope to rest but I've had some fun the last couple of days. :) Warning for picspam under the cut!



Last night I met my friend Denise at the Rathskeller (http://www.rathskeller.com/) in downtown Indy for an Octoberfest in the biergarten! Now, the Rathskeller has the best draft beers ever, and my favorite beer in the universe on tap: Spaten Optimator. I used to love going there back in the day and the beer was still good this time around. There was some crazy-ass band called The Polka Boys playing-- apparently they're some sort of local favorites-- but I just drank mah beers and chatted and checked out the guys (a few worth checking out). :) OPTIMATOR, YUM.

Then today Mom and I went to the Madison, Indiana Chatauqua Arts Festival. Now I took my camera, but did I take pictures of the friends we ran into, the beautiful, sun-sparkled Ohio River, the neato Victorian homes, the crowds, or anything? Hell no, we were busy shopping and eating. We got some Greek salads in edible bowls and commenced the shoptasticness.

The festival is a nice mixture of carny and artsy. They had indifferent paintings, boring photography, yawn-worthy woodwork, some decent ironwork, but OMG: Pottery! Artisan jewelry! I have a severe weakness for unique and handmade jewelry. Willow Jewelry (http://www.willowsjewelry.com/rings.htm), famous at Worldcons and RenFaires everywhere, comes to mind. But here are some of the necklaces I bought:

Wife-laminated copper, husband-shaped sterling silver curlicue, and beading (I wore this one around and got compliments on it from other jewelry sellers):




A hand-made glass bead with sterling silver hanger:




This one excites me more than it should-- a hand-stamped silver pendant on a beaded necklace:




And pottery. I love glazed pottery. A gal from Hawaii (Earth, Fire & Spirit Pottery, no website) had the coolest booth ever of her own designs, glazed by her; they mostly featured sea animals, like octopi, crabs, fishes, etc. Cheesy, right? But for some reason, they were all awesome. She didn't have a single piece my mom and I didn't like, and her stuff was selling like wildfire.

Anyway, I bought a-- er, I don't know what to call it, except a hangy-thing? With a turtle on it. That will look really cool in my Hawaii-themed bathroom, once I get my own place again:




Here's a close-up, only because I want to show off the awesome glazing-- I told the artist that I had to have this one, because the bubble-effect of the glaze made it look like a sea animal was diving and bubbles were rolling up around it to the sea-surface:




Mom got herself a neato bowl with a crab in it:




If anyone wondered where I inherited this sort of pottery-and-glass thing I have (in addition to the artisan jewelry thing), just look at my mom's kitchen:




See those amazing antique (1910s) fish plates? And in the cabinet, the pretty little multicolored cups? Those are Czechoslovakian, half a century old, and Mom's just lucky I never stole them. Thankfully, however, I didn't inherit her thing for Longaberger baskets and dried flowers and country crafts.

(Though I was a very lucky girl, and recently when my mom's older sister moved out of her house and in with her daughter, she gave me a lot of my grandmother's stuff-- including some Made in Occupied Japan figurines and a couple of old Wedgwood dinner plates. And you know what? I'm going to use those to EAT OFF OF.)

Phew, I'd better stop now, or I could go on about this stuff forever.

I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend! Thanks for looking at my picspam. ::preens::

Comments

[avierra.livejournal.com]

We have similar tastes in jewelry and pottery. :D I love the crab bowl, and the colors on those pottery piece are exquisite. Are you going to use the hangy-thing as a shelf?

[corellian-sugar.livejournal.com]

That pottery is beautiful! I wish I had the space to buy and display such pretties. Alas, perhaps at a later date.

[whymzycal.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous picspam is gorgeous! The jewelry you got is so lovely (and very you!), and the pottery? Looooooove it. LOVE IT. We're gonna want to see pictures of the Wedgwood and stuff, too, when you're back in your own place, missy.

I have a Thing for dishes/china, too. I totally understand.

[rroselavy.livejournal.com]

Oh! I love, love, love the pottery. It's gorgeous!

[seshats-prodigy.livejournal.com]

Oooo! The pottery is pretty neat!!

I took a couple of pottery classes at the college. Let me tell you how unartistic I am. In fact, my stuff was so horrible, I brand-marked it as 'UGGWARE' because it's that hideous. **lol** I mean, it was fun and I loved trying it, but it never came out the way it looked in my head, and the biggest thing I ever made was only about six inches tall - and at that, I had to use a ton of clay because hey, more is better, apparently. ~_^

♥

[helliongoddess.livejournal.com]

Nice jewelry, and GORGEOUS pottery! We have similar taste in glazing. I am dying to get into doing pottery again (I did some when I was MUCH younger, really love it, and always wanted to learn more.) I have a little room off of my garage in the new house - even has a deep sink and shelving - that is just crying out to be a little pottery studio! (I know, I know, all I need is just several thousand dollars for a wheel and a kiln and supplies, no biggie, right? So what's the hold-up?) Someday...

What was the edible dish with the greek salad, phyllo dough? Sounds absolutely yummy.

[sharpeslass.livejournal.com]

Can you upload (or send me) a close up shot of that first necklace? I'd like to see the detail a bit better. congrats on the awesome purchases. Once you move back to las vegas and we are roomies again, I will borrow your new necklaces. *continues to live in denial* And the wall hangy thing will look lovely in our house that we shall buy in Summerlin. La La La... I mean, you don't want to live in IN forever, do you? not forever...

[lawless523.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you made out so well at the arts festival. Congrats on your new jewelry and pottery - they are very beautiful.

I hope your mom is doing well, too -- it sounds like it!

[alienchrist.livejournal.com]

I love stuff like this! Thanks for posting.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

What pretty things! I love the fish plates!

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

I tried to get a close-up on that necklace 'cause it's cool! But I could never get it in focus. Maybe I can try mom's camera. Ya know, I don't plan to be here forever, but who knows?

Speaking of borrowing my jewelry, I was teasing my mom about all the jewelry she has and never wears (she bought a very cool pair of earrings). She said you just don't even know. When we got home, she let me dig through just ONE of her drawers, full of little boxes. Holy crap, she had tons of stuff! I was like you know this will disappear soon, right? Haha. But anyway, there were a bunch of old (60s, 70s and 80s) necklaces-- some Avon stuff, some real stuff-- and I thought, Melinda would love to get her hands on these and make some creations... :)

[caeseria.livejournal.com]

Ohhh lovely jewelry! I think I recognize the person who made your glass bead... I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same girl I know from my old site I used to hang on before LJ. She went by Caliope but she may use her real name at shows ;) I have a couple of her pieces and they are gorgeous!!

Love the pottery too!!

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Hee! So you have the jewelry and pottery too? The hangy-thing isn't really a shelf, but more of a half-bowl. I'm not sure what I'd put in it, but I think it would be awesome in a bathroom. Unused soaps, maybe? I love soaps, too!

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Heh, I certainly don't have the space right now... even when I lived in a giant house with Sharpeslass, I had a lot of stuff tucked away (I always took the small bedroom). I may have to take serious stock of my glass and pottery when I finally get another place. :)

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Thank you, dear! ::hugs:: Oooh, I will definitely take pictures of my grandmother's stuff. I also got one of her 1950s lamps-- it's got these two big hanging globes, and needs a giant pole to stand the whole thing up. And I got a granny-square afghan-- normally I'd be all 0-0 at granny squares, but grandmother made this one and it used to hang on her couch, so it has good memories (she died in 1979).

I also inherited this massive thing Aunt J called a "rainforest lamp." It was three feet tall, gold-colored, and had a glowing Greek-looking statuette and fake golden flowers inside a little cage. It was filled with mineral oil, and when you turned it on, the mineral oil hummed and glowed up the lines of the cage. It was amazingly bizarre and 1940s and so cool I nearly died. Alas, the mineral oil was a mess and I knew I'd never have a ceiling that could take its weight and I finally ran it off to the Goodwill. The Goodwill guy saw me taking it out of the car and grabbed it from me lickety-split, saying "we can sell this now." I thought, yeah, right, you're taking that puppy home, aren't you? Heh.

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Now I just have to find a place to live where I can put it. :)

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure it looked cool! Though I love your brand name. ;) I never could do that stuff, either, though ceramics and pottery were two of my favorite classes in high school.

::hugs::

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Oooh, sounds awesome-- but yeah, I'm sure that stuff isn't cheap. I loved making pottery in high school. I wasn't great at it, but it always looked better with the glaze on. ;)

I love the swirly colors of glaze-- it does unexpected things, sometimes.

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Hee, thanks! And OMG, Mom was in better shape than I was. I actually got lightheaded in the sun-- she SHE had to sit down with ME. She was fine. ;)

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

I love those fish plates, too! I always wanted them. ;) They're so weird and yet so old!

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for looking at my picspam! :)

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

I love handmade glass beads... I wish I had the skills to make jewelry. Alas, I have not the technical know-how nor the hands to do detail-work. ;)

[whymzycal.livejournal.com]

Aww, granny afghan! &hearts

That rainforest lamp sounds amaaaaaaaaazing. Holy crap. Can't wait to see the pictures of everything else. Woot!

[seshats-prodigy.livejournal.com]

Haha, thanks! ♥ I figured if I could at least take a sense of humour towards it, I wouldn't feel as bad about the suckitude of it all... ~_^

It's really fun though, and I'm totally awestruck by the people who are actually good at it! ^_^

♥

[dm-lunsford.livejournal.com]

Oh yay for fun days out and about. And those are some truly lovely pieces you picked up in your shopping. ;)

[cyndisuesue.livejournal.com]

I love the pieces you scored at the festival! The jewelry reminds me a lot of what my hubby makes, when he gets on a tear-especially the lamp-work piece. The glazing was fantastic!

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Why, thankya! Fall is the perfect time for these sorts of festivals, right? :)

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Thankya, dear! ::HUGS::

Oh-- does he still make stuff? I remember some watches, back in the day. If y'all have a website or E-bay store, send me a link! :)

[cyndisuesue.livejournal.com]

These days we have 'retail space' for watch repair- and now that the Holidays are almost here -Jewelry is active again too.
I just cleaned up two racks of our dangles on Friday. I'll put pics on my journal, as I don't think I can put them here in a comment.Thanks for asking honey!