Yesterday I went to a show that wasn’t a dolls’ house show.
Have I been sitting in the sun too long without a hat on?
I haven’t been sitting in the sun at all, I was indoors all day. In the summer! My mother would have lost no time at all in telling me off as she headed for a shady corner of the concrete with a cup of tea.
I went to a craft show. I do all sorts of crafts. Most miniaturists do, we are a talented lot. Caroline Hamilton was well-known for flitting round her own shows asking if people had had a go at glass blowing. Yes, I have. Not blowing as such, what I had a go at was called frigging and is what glassblowers did with the left over glass at the end of the day, which you cannot pour back in the pot as you can clay slip.
I also paint, make cards, do rubber stamping, am heavily into die cutting, which has been a great hobby but also very useful for making en masse all the little containers you get purchases from me in at Miniatura. I have made clothes, quilts, embroidered, done leatherwork, decorating and everything to do with a dolls’ house which I can make and fill from scratch and everything in one, in numerous scales, so that the only problem now is where to put them all, though I have given quite a few away.
As the regular reader knows (hello, how are you?) I also garden, bake and even wash the kitchen floor so occasionally it comes under the heading of a hobby too.
And it is so nice to be a visitor at a show instead of an exhibitor. It is instructive to see the show from the other side of the table. It is helpful in assessing how much information to give to visitors, to notice what people walking past notice and what they miss completely. (Like the sign about show discounts that was hidden behind the till, I might have bought that other item had I seen the sign.) And it is lovely to save up and be able to go home with a case on wheels with little bags in, and a huge packet of paper that would have cost a packet to post or mighty arm ache to get home from a shopping centre.
It is of major importance to be contiguously parked for free next to the hall. You can go mad and buy something massive. I might go mad and have massive things on my stand in the autumn, now I know how easy it is not to have to get on a shuttle bus with a thing the size of a flattened elephant.
And it was a lovely day out and I realised the importance of chairs to sit on without having to buy a cup of something, which were missing from the show I went to yesterday.
The stand holders were not many, there were only 20 stands, though big stands and the stand holders were lovely, I do like show people but overall I realised what an absolutely cracking show Miniatura is, how many fantastic original artists there are. It’s like being able to time travel and buy stuff from Barbara Hepworth, Picasso, Vivienne Westwood, Turner and anyone else all in the same hall, all in miniature all at once. The absolute glory of the weekend is not to be underestimated.
And I think I may have found two new exhibitors you might enjoy. Maybe, stay tuned as usual.
Most of all I had a great day out. There is nothing as nice as a day out, indoors, shopping for your hobby.
I had a lovely day, walked miles, slept like a log last night and today I am going to ignore the sunshine and play with my purchases.
Hobbies aren’t just good for you, they’re essential for your mental health because there is nothing like being in a hall full of similar loonies to make you feel better about yourself.
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