2018 Festival of Wizardry
So, this particular post is a bit of a
departure from the norm. First off, it will be posted almost
immediately after writing. Secondly it is more a general “what's
happening” report. It is also an opportunity to say “Thank you”
to all the wonderful people who visited my booth, and to the vendors
I met who were so great! So...THANK YOU.
I know I have been lax about getting
my postings out over the last while. There has been a lot happening
– I'm working through a post on a local archaeology dig we
volunteered on recently, we've been doing renovations to the studio
spaces here and I have been getting ready for the both the above
named festival and launching my Etsy site (coming soon!!!)
So, what is the Festival of Wizardry,
and why am I writing about it?
If what I understand is correct, this
was the Festival's 3rd year running – this year and last
it was held in Blyth, Ontario...the first year was in Goderich,
Ontario. It is a Harry Potter themed festival – with everything
from live Quidditch matches to costumed “Dementors” wandering the
festival and trying to scare people, and this year a visit from
Bonnie Wright who played Ginny Weasley in the films.
I'm afraid I didn't see much of the
grounds at large because I was one of the many vendors at the
festival again this year (last year was my first year as a vendor
there.) When questioned, it seemed that those who visited this
year's Festival of Wizardry had a good time. There were lots of
smiling, wide eyed kids, with mostly happy adults in tow...and a good
number of costumed or House Scarf clad adults who seemed to be
enjoying themselves and had good things to report.
This event has its challenges – as do
they all. As an outdoor event it has been somewhat plagued with
inclement weather both years that I have been vending. The
organizers have had to cancel – a full day of the two last year,
and the majority of the Friday this year. Though they still did have
some indoor activities organized for the public to extend their
entertainment in the community centre building for the Friday.
I have heard (and read) a fair bit of
grumbling about the cancellation last year, but the truth is that on
both occasions I believe the organizers did the right thing. They
put the safety of the public, the vendors and entertainers and their
own staff first. And that is something I applaud them for,
wholeheartedly.
I thoroughly enjoy the people I meet at
this event. I have really wonderful, and sometimes very surprising
conversations, with strangers who feel very much like friends. I
often learn interesting and unexpected things from them, and
sometimes I get great ideas from something they say.
This year I ended up introducing a
number of people to the challenges of writing with a dip pen, as I
had made handmade ink and feather pens for the event. I think
everyone enjoyed giving it a go, and it was fun to see the
understanding of what a different skill it is being discovered by
kids and adults alike. (And as a bonus there were no accidents
involving very staining ink! Everyone was very careful and a lot of
fun.)
The other thing that I wanted to do in
this blog post was point people toward what I felt were the two “best
booths” at the festival in terms of vendors. Don't get me wrong –
there were lots of great, creative people there, but these two really
stood out for me.
In the running for best display for
sure, but outstandingly the best “craft” product there (in my
opinion) is Art by ENSS (Shannon Scollard's Glass Art.) The detail
and rendering that she can create in her small sculptural glass is
pretty amazing. She had made some very smart and creative product
particularly for this show – not only a selection of gorgeous wands
in exotic woods with glass tops, but some of the wands have
interchangeable glass tops. Pendants and small sculptural pieces
along with the jewellery that she had on offer -I can hardly imagine
the hours that went into it all.
The presentation of the booth was well
thought out, the work was stunning. The pyramid displays of wand
toppers and other pieces was great, and I particularly liked the
splayed wand racks...it made the work feel vibrant and active.
Shannon herself was a work of art with a different steampunky/witchy
outfit for each of the 3 days.
Her work can be found on facebook here:
I believe there is also an Etsy site
under Shannon Scollard. I think everyone should take a look at her
amazing work.
The other booth that I thought was
outstanding, and had a spectacular display was EYRIE Apothecary. The
lovely ladies of the Apothecary specialize in hand blended artisinal
teas, hot chocolate flavours, skincare and a few choice
jewellery/accessory items. The EYRIE booth was a masterful display
which was clean and simple yet very fun with a clear tie in to the
theme without hitting people over the head. And I have to say that
their product smelled delicious. I plan to add some of the tea
blends to my own cupboard as soon as I can make some room!
(Full disclosure here – it turns out
that one of the ladies is a former student of mine, but I didn't
realize it until the last 20 minutes of the festival. It has
probably been 15 years since I've seen her and she has changed career
paths, and was completely out of context.)
EYRIE's website can be perused here,
and you will find the same clear and interesting design sense on
their site.
They also have a facebook page which
can be found here:
I sincerely hope that both of these
companies do well, as I think they are well worth people's attention
and patronage. Clearly these are people who put a great deal of
thought into not only their product but how they market it (maybe I
can learn something??). I hope they find the following that they
deserve.
So, that was the 2018 Festival of
Wizardry from my limited perspective...and now, for something
completely different.....
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