WARNING - The following content contains references to folk music.

And no pretty pictures, but there is a musical interlude.

If something seems too good be true, it usually is. And sadly this was the case with the BEST LINEUP EVER of folk personages beloved of My Husband and I.

Following disappointment last time we tried to see the Eliza Carthy Band together (Harrogate Speigeltent, a runny bottom resulting in us having to release babysitter and husband staying at home), we were (Ok, I was) really excited about the Madfest festival at Elsecar on Sunday.  On the bill were the Chris Drever Trio (sublime voice, great patter), Spiers & Boden (shantytastic), and the marvellous Eliza Carthy Band.  We couldn't believe they were on the same bill and I kept checking the tickets in case I'd made a mistake.

Lulled into a false sense of security by all relevant children/parents & babysitters being hale and hearty, and after a long day at a relatively unproductive craft fair in York, we headed down.  Caught most of Chris Drever's set which was fantastic as ususal.  Then came a chance remark by one of the band about how the crowd would have to dance later as Spiers and Boden and The Albion Band were standing up kind of people.  No mention of Eliza and her band.  Oh dear.  'But it still says Eliza Carthy on all the posters, nooone has mentioned anything' I said, trembly-lipped.  Instead of asking fellow audience-members or some official person, my husband checked on his smartphone and found that, alas, twas true.   Eliza has some voice-related health issues at the moment which have resulted in her cancelling her autumn tour.  Devastation, Disappointment, Drinking ensued.

Actually, we would quite happily have paid and travelled to see Chris Drever and Spiers and Boden and it was, indeed, too good to be true that poor husband should at last see the Eliza Carthy Band.  Maybe one day........

btw, if you've lasted this long you may like to enjoy a musical interlude provided by the very fine, if sadly now defunct, Banoffi of Whitby area who've just started a FB Page and have husband and I wallowing in nostalgia.  They were really very very good, especially live, which is no good now as they've bloomin stopped playing. 

Anyway, the whole dancing thing leads me to my pet rant about folk crowds.

Most gigs you go to everyone dances, at least a bit.  At folk gigs, even when it's the most infectious jig whose whole raison d'etre is to get people dancing, there are no people dancing.  Indeed, there are some who (and I've observed them for long periods when it could be argued that I should be dancing) manage not to move a muscle - nary a tap of the foot or a nod of the head.  I don't understand how this is physically possible and it's very, very wrong.*  The nadir.......at a 'Family Friendly' Folk fest a couple of years ago, Big Pickle, then 6, was dancing enthusiastically, and was told by a steward to stop as he was getting in the way of the video they were taking.

That was the same day I met Eliza coming out of the toilets and was too scared to say anything and my Mum, being older and wiser, had a proper conversation with her and everything.

Toodle pip, back to jewellery next week, honest.

*Does not apply to all folk gigs, and we left before the end on Sunday so they may have been pogoing on the tables during the encore for all we know.

We interrupt this programme......

......to bring you a report from the marvellously coiffed and uncomfortably-clad 1950s.

Like a lot of people I 'heart' the fifties - however although I would have loved to have visited, I wouldn't have wanted to live there. I've long been a fan of fifties design, from the tasteful textiles of Lucienne Day to the more lurid pin-up girl style which seems so much a la mode at the moment. 

Da na!  Breathe in...

 

On Saturday I went to a fabulous vintage-style birthday party - suffice to say I will never drink champagne out of anything but exquisite bone china cups and saucers again.  Apart from the beautiful food and the usual raucous laughter you usually get when a lot of girls get together, the highlight was having our hair and makeup done.  It looked great, but it wasn't half a lot of hard work, even just sitting there and having it done was exhausting - how the ladies of the time managed to keep it up I just don't know. 

The view I never got to see

These came out of my hair - all 28 of them!

 

Already starting to fall apart at the seams

And then there's the clothes and shoes.  I'm lucky enough to own a Vivienne of Holloway dress which my friend Andy won in a raffle at the Wet Spot Burlesque night in Leeds (where, incidentally, we have seen the superlatively gorgeous Anna Fur Laxis on several occasions - just dropping that in there) - I always knew it was a good move to have male friends....anywayyyy.....it's a lovely thing, and it does wonders for the figure, but it's not what you'd call comfortable, and that's without a girdle underneath.  I was crippled, aching all over and thought my poor old modern-day knees and feet would never recover. 

It got me thinking about how the shoes, clothes hair and make-up make you act and carry yourself, and whether women in those times looked as good as we imagine they did. I bet they would have killed for our conditioner, hairspray and mineral foundation, not to mention a pair of trackie bottoms and some trainers.  But I suppose there's nothing wrong with upping the standards a bit occasionally. Just having lippie on makes me speak a bit differently don't you know.

To continue the fifties theme, here are the covers of some great Sexton Blake publications I found in a second hand bookshop in Otley today.  I only went to find war and transport books for the medium pickle but there was a whole suitcase of these beauties.  Of course I instantly went for the double-entendres but it was a difficult choice. 

 

Catch ya later, daddy-o xxxxx

As a pessimist you will never be disappointed....

Hooray, hurrah and also huzzah!  I passed my Grade 1 Piano exam, and here is the proof.  What a relief.. I know it was hardly life and death but pride was at stake here - I haven't failed an exam since O Level Chemistry and I've taken a few.

Great excitement here at inkylinky Towers as I have just applied for my hallmarking makers mark - Antiques Roadshow here we come.  

AND I've ordered a barrel polisher which will hopefully make my life easier and my jewellery shinier without having to endure the sound of the dentists drill (which I currently use to polish) for hours on end.  I remember a friend of my Mum's used to have a stone barrel polisher in her toilet and it used to scare me to death - let's hope I'm not affected by traumatic childhood memories.

Well, The Great Workroom Tidy Up is complete.  As everyone knows, it will be the work of moments to destroy all the good work, but hopefully there is A Place for Everything, even if Everything is not in its Place all the time.

 

Hooray for Ikea

I now have a clear view of the window to stare wistfully out at the rain through

Work in Progress - My Personal Catchphrase

Oh well, mini-pickle has just told me he's still breakfast hungry at 12.00 so better go and feed the poor mite (he's only had a giant banana and 3 biscuits since breakfast). 

Tune in Next Time for Adventures in Tumbling.

Les Dawson is Alive & Well.....

And living in Leeds

So....the piano exam......all a bit of a blur, and a trembly-fingered, mortifyingly bad one at that.  You just never know how these things are going to take you until you're there, and I just went a bit more pear-shaped than usual; fingers shaking so much I just couldn't really play my pieces (at least I had an excuse).  Anyway, I think the scales were ok, although I have a sneaking suspicion I mistook D minor for D major, and hopefully I managed to tell my left from my right (it has been known, before you ask - turned the wrong way in my driving test).

Blog day is going to be a moveable feast, I've decided.  It was definitely a decision, not my inability to remember when I was going to do it.  And anyway, no point writing if there's nothing to say (ahem).

I've been busy on the Craft Soup Facebook group I'm part of (and now one of the admins too), trying to gather members' opinions about what direction the group should be taking (apart from exponential growth).  Not surprisingly, this has sparked quite a lot of debate, and I can never resist sticking my oar in.  So my plan to tidy up my workspace has been gradually 'rescheduled'. 

Soon I am going to injure myself tripping over all the storage solutions I bought to organise myself and have left on the floor in their shopping bags, so it really must be done. 

Remember the studs I talked about a couple of weeks ago?  I know, the excitement has been unbearable, but here they are:

Dah 

  Dah

                                                                                                                 Daaaaah

I'm pretty pleased with them and they have generated a lot of interest (and a sale - woohoo!).  Just goes to show you need to get out of your creative rut occasionally and think about what other people may prefer - hard not to take it too far and start trying to cater for what seems popular...but that's a whole other topic!

The Pavement of Good Intentions

It leads to Hell, so I'm told......

Anyway, Thursday was going to be my blogging day, I was sure, that would work out pretty well. Until I was ill of course, and last Thursday became staying in bed watching ITV3 day, although even I draw the line at 'On the Buses' (why, oh why, oh why?).

At the ripe old age of 41, I am going to take my Grade One Piano exam tomorrow, and I've only been learning for three years.  To be fair, I didn't start the pieces for a year, then I had an operation, then my lovely teacher had a stroke and made a miraculous recovery....so, I'm quite looking forward to getting the blooming thing behind me at last.....and moving on to Grade 2.  My Grandmother started late and passed her Grade 8 when she was in her 60s so I suppose there's hope for me yet, but I think, if I ever do attain those dizzy heights, I'll be a tadge older.

In the short respite between constant practising on the Grand (erm electric piano in the dining room) I have been working on some new samples for a wholesale catalogue I'm planning to do in the next few weeks.

Here's an online preview of my fabulous reversible earrings.  When I looked online I was amazed that there aren't more of these around as they seem like a great idea, and give you so many options.  I think they're especially good for my sort of work as it means you can actually have.......a pair!  (If you want to, though why on earth you would, I don't know).

Dipping my foot in the muddy waters.....

Well, hello there blogosphere.......

Ah, the poor folorn parasol gathering mildew in the gloom......

A rainy half-term holiday afternoon finds me driven finally to start blogging.  When you see the to-do list you will understand why:

Amuse the kids, or they will amuse themselves

Clean the house (that stair carpet is a disgrace)
Finish jewellery for the craft fair on Saturday
Look out the baby things from the loft in preparation for tearfully giving them away on Sunday
Practice the piano (Grade 1 exam in 2 weeks)
Finish off the samples I'm supposed to be making for my wholesale catalogue

I should add, in my defence, that I took the kids bowling yesterday, to a friend's house to play today, and am planning a nice day out with friends tomorrow. So I'm not that much of a terrible mum....really, I'm not.


I'm making my first foray into making some stud earrings - I know, 20 years of jewellery making and it's my first attempt...but bear in mind I spent the first 15 years avoiding soldering as it caused me great distress and many melted pieces of silver...until I discovered extra-easy solder and my life was transformed.  

I suppose you ('one') usually make things you like yourself, and I've always been a dangly kind of a girl.  I'm trying to restrain myself and make them nice and simple, but I have to resist soldering a bit of copper on, or doing another layer of etching.  I need to price them quite competitively as I'm finding some of my pieces are just too expensive for people at the moment, and the less work involved, the less I need to charge.  

I like to be able to price things so that people can buy and wear them - that's why I make them - but I also have to make a bit of profit to plough back into the business.  The days when I will be able to pay myself are quite a way away I fear, but I have to keep telling myself that any new business takes a while to get off the ground.  Trouble is, in my mind I've been doing this for so long that I have to remind myself that I've only been really concentrating on it as a business since Minipickle 2 started pre-school last September, and even then it's had to fit round his half week there, and other commitments.

Well, if I manage to finish them off and not ruin them I'll post a picture next time.  Meanwhile, here's hoping for a little teeny tiny bit of June.