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Bringing home the loot!
Nov. 21st, 2010 11:31 pmI went to Holiday Faire and came home with a bunch of loot for not much money!
Let me explain. First of all, I didn't go to Philcon this year. Many of you realize my sentimental attachment to that con, dating back to 1987, but this year I didn't want to spend the cash (and I *did* spend a lot of cash on Philcon 2009). Out of the past 30 days I've spent eight nights in hotels, and I've both flown and ridden Amtrak, so I'm not exactly hankering for a getaway the way R. was (he went to Philcon, of course). Actually, R. did offer to subsidize me, but I told him -- graciously, I hope -- that I'd rather he reserve his help for sometime when I really need his help, like a car repair or something. I know that's a lot less fun than a con, but still....
Anyhow, back to Holiday Faire. I didn't post in this journal on Friday because I was busy making a turkey for the A&S competition. Yes, a turkey. The A&S competition had a turkey theme, and since this was part of the year-long House Corvus A&S Decameron, I really wanted to enter it.
Flashback to a few weeks ago, when the boy toy and I were shopping at the local farmers' market, I couldn't help noticing that a lot of the small ornamental gourds that are sold at this time of year are shaped like birds (well, bird heads/bodies/beaks, anyway). So I decided to make one of them into a turkey for the A&S competition. I encased the whole gourd in Viking wire knitting (also called trichinopoly), made some legs with heavier-gauge wire, attached two black glass beads for eyes and stuck a bunch of craft-store feathers into the wire stitches to make the wattle, wings and tail. I was up pretty late on Friday night finishing all this up. Then, on Saturday morning, I had to write some rush documentation, because while documentation wasn't "required," I knew darn well it would be expected.
So I got a slightly later start to my day trip than I had planned. Fortunately, the night before I had programmed "Lady Magellan" with the site address. I was expecting the GPS to lead me over the same route I'd taken to the Metalsmiths' Symposium at the same site two months ago, so I was a bit nonplussed when Lady Magellan told me to get off I-66 about 11 miles before I thought I was supposed to exit. There were times along the way when I couldn't help thinking, "What the hell...? Where is this thing taking me?" But ultimately I trusted the GPS and it got me to the site via a route about nine miles shorter than the route published in the Acorn, but with more stop lights and traffic, so it was only a little bit faster.
Anyhow, I got to the event just in time to enter my cute lil' turkey in the A&S competition. Then I bought a lunch and sat down to eat. First I found three of my Pennsic campmates from Southwind, who had just finished eating, so I got to chat with them a bit. Then I saw Maugie, Patches and Melinda, plus some other Stierbach folks. The local herald was suffering knee pain, so I offered to help him with a few announcements.
More later -- time to go to sleep.
Let me explain. First of all, I didn't go to Philcon this year. Many of you realize my sentimental attachment to that con, dating back to 1987, but this year I didn't want to spend the cash (and I *did* spend a lot of cash on Philcon 2009). Out of the past 30 days I've spent eight nights in hotels, and I've both flown and ridden Amtrak, so I'm not exactly hankering for a getaway the way R. was (he went to Philcon, of course). Actually, R. did offer to subsidize me, but I told him -- graciously, I hope -- that I'd rather he reserve his help for sometime when I really need his help, like a car repair or something. I know that's a lot less fun than a con, but still....
Anyhow, back to Holiday Faire. I didn't post in this journal on Friday because I was busy making a turkey for the A&S competition. Yes, a turkey. The A&S competition had a turkey theme, and since this was part of the year-long House Corvus A&S Decameron, I really wanted to enter it.
Flashback to a few weeks ago, when the boy toy and I were shopping at the local farmers' market, I couldn't help noticing that a lot of the small ornamental gourds that are sold at this time of year are shaped like birds (well, bird heads/bodies/beaks, anyway). So I decided to make one of them into a turkey for the A&S competition. I encased the whole gourd in Viking wire knitting (also called trichinopoly), made some legs with heavier-gauge wire, attached two black glass beads for eyes and stuck a bunch of craft-store feathers into the wire stitches to make the wattle, wings and tail. I was up pretty late on Friday night finishing all this up. Then, on Saturday morning, I had to write some rush documentation, because while documentation wasn't "required," I knew darn well it would be expected.
So I got a slightly later start to my day trip than I had planned. Fortunately, the night before I had programmed "Lady Magellan" with the site address. I was expecting the GPS to lead me over the same route I'd taken to the Metalsmiths' Symposium at the same site two months ago, so I was a bit nonplussed when Lady Magellan told me to get off I-66 about 11 miles before I thought I was supposed to exit. There were times along the way when I couldn't help thinking, "What the hell...? Where is this thing taking me?" But ultimately I trusted the GPS and it got me to the site via a route about nine miles shorter than the route published in the Acorn, but with more stop lights and traffic, so it was only a little bit faster.
Anyhow, I got to the event just in time to enter my cute lil' turkey in the A&S competition. Then I bought a lunch and sat down to eat. First I found three of my Pennsic campmates from Southwind, who had just finished eating, so I got to chat with them a bit. Then I saw Maugie, Patches and Melinda, plus some other Stierbach folks. The local herald was suffering knee pain, so I offered to help him with a few announcements.
More later -- time to go to sleep.
