Bust!

I got Disco Tony to make me some jewellery displays including this bust in two sizes and a display for my non-felt ball earrings which is a little different and allows the earrings to be displayed in a variety of ways. The displays are really good and I don't think this photo does it justice. If the jewellery doesn't sell, perhaps I'll sell the displays instead...

Less Tricky Subjects

Having navigated my way through the bitterly contentious subject of Father Christmas the Impostor, I was revealed to find that we were moving onto less tricky subjects - other world religions. In the primary school they run a whole school project learning about Diwalli, so we've been talking about this and in the secondary school they are currently learning about the Abrahamic religions and how Christianity, Judahism and Islam all feature Abraham. As long as no fat man in a red costume comes muscling on on the three kings or imported celebrations threaten traditional fiestas,  they seem fine with other religions - even to acknowledge the similarities between Christianity and Islam which I thought was interesting. Although given that Spain was an Islamic country for many years, there is obviously still a connection, even if it is now just buildings and an influence over the language.

I've got a pile of jewellery hopefully ready to go to the showroom, just waiting now for Disco Tony to finish cutting some displays for me to display my stone boa necklaces and long earrings. I'd set a goal of the end of the month so might just make it....

Sofa

We haven't had the heart to take the sofa out of the living room - or to break the news to Rosie and Wilbs that life in the new house is unlikely to include a dog sofa!

Here's a new idea for displaying the acorn earrings. Something I noticed when we were in the craft showroom on Saturday was that earrings really need to be displayed hanging. I also think that vertical displays make a better use of space so we got a couple of frames from the Chinese shop and I covered the back of them with hessian and the earrings just hook over the top.

Trujillo

We went to look at the craft showroom in Trujillo yesterday. We wanted to look at another showroom other than Llerena, to see what sorts of things we being shown and to look at prices and display. We decided on Trujillo because it would be touristy. It is in an old convent, and those great big doors on the left are open so it was very cold! There's a massive wall carving on the right which obviously shows something gruesome happening to a saint.

I came away not knowing if I had learned anything or not, which I guess is a good thing, as if I had come away feeling that I had learned too much then it would mean we were on the wrong track. I think we were both a little surprised by the jewellery that was in there - with the exception of some filligree jewelry which was technically very clever, the rest was pretty low end. This contrasted with some of the other things that were in there which were much higher end, including furniture, wicker work, some lovely ceramics and some fabulous huge floor standing marble lamps which we have earmarked for the new house. I was surprised at the number of physically large things on show, although as the place was big they weren't too worried about space.

The highlight for both of us was some hand puppets which were made from what looked like sculpted sponge which were then painted. They were very clever, we'd not seen anything like it before.


We will visit the other showrooms too so we can get a feel for the sort of things that they are displaying, but in the meantime pressing on with plans as they stand.

No Where to Sit

Every chair is currently taken....

I've been working on some display and packaging ideas for my jewellery. I have designed some pretty nifty displays which turn into packaging.

This shows how the display turns into packaging. The front flap comes down and the flap with the acorns gets tucked inside and the front flap will get pulled up over the top again. This will be printed with the brand name and we'll use thickish card to make it robust.

The rings will be packed in a little box and the rings displayed on top. The ring will be displayed using a small piece of acetate. We will look at getting this laser etched with the brand name eventually. Our lasering friend, Stephen, is bringing a laser over to start a lasering business here - so it certainly won't be a problem getting that done. We'll then give the little displays away with the rings as they will be useful - but also a good way to remind people of the brand name!

I need to think about the necklaces now. I have got a design for light weight necklaces ready to try, but we need to do something special with the 'stone boas', which are pretty hefty pieces. I'm thinking about getting disco Tony to cut something from wood, we'll see....

Stainless Steel Goblets

This is the style of wine glass which we're keeping our eyes open for. We saw them on eBay, tried to bid for and fail to win. Highly surprisingly, I was the voice of reason, and we were very sober with our bidding. These glasses come up quite regularly and so we'll keep a look out for more. They are stainless steel versions of silver glasses, and were designed by Stuart Devlin for Viners in the 70s. I bet car boot sales were full of them not long a go...

More Pickled Onions

Following the success of our pickled onions at Christmas, we're making some more. For our future reference:

Cinnamon stick

One Clove

Cumin seeds

Coriander seeds

Bay leaf

Pepper corns

Cayenne chilli

And after it's cooled, honey to taste

Storks Returning?

One stork failed to migrate last year and has spent the autumn with us. He seems to have spent his time trying out all the different nests. I just hope that when the storks return he isn't out getting food only to return and find his home taken over! We noticed that there are two storks now above the church and I think I saw two on the castle. We went to Badajoz yesterday and saw signs of a lot there, so they are obviously on their way back.

We went to Badajoz on our annual trip to the El Cortes Ingles sale. This is either a tremendous experience or a damp squib, and yesterday was a damp squib. We went armed with our Christmas money and were hoping to find some stainless steel wine glasses. This is because we get through wine glasses - and most breakable things - with alarming regularity. Tiled floors are very unforgiving. We had hoped that we might find something interesting and unbreakable in El Cortes Ingles, however we were disappointed. We took a look on eBay, however, and found some vintage stainless steel wineglasses which we quite liked the look of and were a little different - watch this space...

The schools started back yesterday and I saw some youngsters heading up the road, wobbling on obviously new bikes which would have been given by the 3 Kings on Monday, although some children also get presents on Christmas Eve - but this is a contentious issue!

Some people refer to Father Christmas as 'the impostor'. They understand Santa Claus, because they know Saint Nickolas, however they don't understand Father Christmas and how he fits in to the story - where was he when Jesus was born! The secondary school children are even taught that Father Christmas was an invention by Coca Cola! And while I generally keep quiet when they discuss Christmas traditions, particularly with the young ones, as I don't want to destroy any illusions, but I couldn't help but speak up for poor old Father Christmas with the older ones. I showed them first the history of Father Christmas and then I showed them the Coca Cola website which makes it quite clear that Coca Cola was responsible for popularizing the vision of Father Christmas we have today with his rosy face and red costume but that the figure of Father Christmas goes back deep into history. Even then I don't think they believed me, but at least I did my bit for Father Christmas, although I'll probably keep quiet next year. I can understand why they encourage this view, with the Internet and everything becoming homogenized, it must be difficult for parents to keep the story of the 3 Kings bringing presents real.

Some people worry about Halloween too. There used to be a festival the day after called chaqetia, where children went to the country to eat pomegranates and nuts under the trees. This has become almost non existent now at the expense of Halloween, because which is more exciting - getting dressed up in costume and going door to door 'scaring' people - or going to the country to eat a pomegranate? And some people see Christmas going the same way. One problem that I see is that they go back to school the day after the 3 Kings. This means they only have one day to play with their presents, which is why I saw them all heading to school looking so wobbly on their bikes. On the plus side, children must behave over the holidays otherwise the three kings won't bring them presents, on the negative side, there's not much time to play with their presents. I wonder how it will develop...

Where's the Alcazar?

Ian found this when he was looking for something else. We had a great day in Seville the first time we went with Mum and Dad, however we were disappointed not to find the Alcazar. Only to find, when we got home and Mum looked through the photos, that we had...