OLIO 5

The wife and I visited the Bella Vista (AR) Art and Craft Fair over the weekend.  We go principally to visit with artist friends that we have known for decades.  We look back at all the trials and tribulations we went through as exhibitors and we wonder, "How did we ever manage to do what we did?"  And now, we are so thankful that we are retired and no longer have put up with the rigors involved.  For many that show their wares, it is a way of life.  They are trapped.  Their art is their sole income, and there is no predicting whether you will have a good show and make money enough to pay for all your expenses. or whether the show will be a bust with little or no income.  We have had a few shows exactly like that.  Sometimes through no fault of our own, such as promised advertising by the show's promoter, only to find the promoter has absconded with the money and is nowhere to be found.  Later run down and ordered to refund the show fees.  But still, the artists have the expense of transportation, meals, etc.

Anyway, we did cruise through the show, looking, but not buying much.  The wife; an illustrated book by a favorite artist, me; a jar of crabapple jelly.  As far as jewelry went, it varied for just plain bead stringing to some very fine silver jewelry, and a very nicely done scrimshaw.

John DeRosier, so glad to see you back posting again.  Sorry you lost you cartoonist job.  Maybe with that fertile brain of yours, you could entertain us with cartoons based on jewelry making.  I am reminded of an old cartoon series, of which I have forgotten the title, principally about the trials of an apprentice machinist who was always getting something wrong, or doing something wrong.  The cartoons were hilarious!  It wouldn't fly nowadays because America has gotten away from old time machining, backyard mechanics and blacksmiths.  Time was as an apprentice machinist you had to learn how to run ALL the various machines.  Now, we have computerized machines to do the work.

Anyway, John has a great plier rack that worth taking a look at. http://johnderosier.blogspot.com

Sharilyn Miller has come up with something completely new for her.  She's made ceramic beads and they are gorgeous!  Wow!  To visit, just type in your search engine search box, Sharilyn Miller

On the home front, my bench is a total disaster.  I am forced to stop.  This week, I must put up some shelving in the garage to store some of the overflow, move some of the benches around  to make things work better.  Spent quite a bit of time tossing out a bunch of stuff which I will never use to make a little more space.  Maybe someday, I'll post something on the jewelry making front.