woodburning

Event Review: 2016 Pagan Pride Days

~ Cynthia Abernathy

One of the highlights of our September is always Pagan Pride Days. These are lovely one day events all over the country where various people of pagan leanings come together. This year we made our way to three of the events: Frederick MD, Northern Virginia, and Belmont NC.

This was our second year at Frederick Pagan Pride, and I am happy to say much less rainy than last year! Actually, it was a beautiful day. The event took place on the front lawn of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Frederick. It was a wonderful setting, welcoming and friendly. And speaking of, we happily got to meet up with various vendor and fair friends as well.

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Our booth on the hill! Nice collection of ritual tools and cloaks.
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A bit of the view from inside the tent.
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Happy customer with our horn-tipped spear, black fleece cloak, and short crystal wand.
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The beautiful front lawn and its gorgeous willow tree.

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It feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere here, and it is so peaceful.
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I’ve had a thing for willow trees since elementary school. Here’s the view from under the tree back towards the church. And a bit of the sunset as we’re all packing up.

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Kids unfortunately tore down a number of the willow branches, but we got permission to collect what was on the ground to make something out of. So here’s Nathaniel goofing off while collecting them for next year!

The following Saturday was Northern Virginia and Belmont NC Pagan Pride Days. I went to NoVa, Nathaniel to NC. So I only have photos from NoVA. It was a little weird being back on my college campus – that had been a while! The setting gave this festival a definitely different feel. And I started off the day with our canopy, which had already been stressed by the winds at Steampunk World’s Fair, breaking as I went to set it up. Thank goodness for PVC pipes and duct tape!

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This show set up with small blocks, so every space was a corner. So a fun different display.
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Nope, that ceiling isn’t sagging, really! Thank you show staff and Mark for salvaging that!
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A better view of my leather leaf clips. Though I think I need a new wig. This was the first nice wig I ever bought and it’s showing the wear.
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Another inside the booth view, and a view beyond to some of our favorite booth neighbors!

Virginia Renaissance Faire 2016 Wrap-Up

~ Cynthia Abernathy

One of the challenges of doing faires and festivals is weather. It is completely out of your control, but your sales can depend on it. It can make a show vary a lot from year to year. So this year, five weekends and only one of them without rain… well, it did not make for a great Virginia Renaissance Faire this year.

We still love our small-ish state renaissance faire. We made great new friends and had a lot of fun. Hopefully next year the weather will be with us again.

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First weekend – Sunny day, but just after ten straight days of rain. Mud certainly made set up interesting.
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Our new sign! Finally got a good booth sign made.
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Fun and colorful for opening weekend.
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One of the best things about being a vendor is seeing old friends.
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Next weekend, more rain and mud. Did the best we could to keep it off our visitors.
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I love making leather leaves out of scraps, and I had been wanting to make a Green Man for a while.
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Just a couple of tea sets left after Steampunk World’s Faire. And the glass flasks were a huge hit this year.
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People kept admiring my wait cincher, so I finally made some lovely hand tooled ones for sale.
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Yay! For once, a photo of me in the booth.
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We had an unusual challenge compensating for a hill. Didn’t seem like much when we set up, but everything was on a lean.
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Kids loved playing with the wood weapons on this table.
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Look, sun! We loved every time we got to dry out a bit.
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Added geeky waist cinchers for the fourth weekend, and a few large glass bottles.
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Small necklaces – charms and bodice knives.

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Cloaks! They continue to be popular, no matter the weather.

Post Convention Report: Madicon 2015

~ Cynthia Abernathy ~ 1 Comment

Hello everyone! Nathaniel and I have returned from Madicon, and have to say we had a blast. It was our first time doing this convention, but it won’t be our last.

Madicon is a small convention on the campus of James Madison University. As a small college convention, it is not one with a lot of attendees and major guests. But the overall friendliness of students, staff, and other vendors alike more than made up for any lack from size.

Our shared booth at Madicon 2015. We had to experiment a bit when we had more space than expected - definitely the direction you want a surprise to go!
Our shared booth at Madicon 2015. We had to experiment a bit when we had more space than expected – definitely the direction you want a surprise to go!
I completed the center piece the night before the convention. Wood, heat, and a lot of patience.
I completed the center piece the night before the convention. Wood, heat, and a lot of patience.
Nathaniel's light up blades were a huge hit at their first event.
Nathaniel’s light up blades were a huge hit at their first event.
...so much so that this one was completed at the convention, and sold the next day!
…so much so that this one was completed at the convention, and sold the next day!

On the way back, we made a brief detour into antique flea markets. I’ve been on the hunt for an old crank screwdriver I can use to replace my plastic one, and we were also keeping an eye out for items we could turn into props. And along the way we got silly, and lost track of time…

Nathaniel found the Ladle of War!
Nathaniel found the Ladle of War!

Now we’re both madly getting ready for ren faire season to start. Products and booth and costume oh my!