It’s the June bank Holiday and I really needed this extra day. The last couple of weeks have been difficult and I’m a bit wrecked, to be honest. Also, because it’s been busy and because I haven’t been sleeping all that well, I haven’t been that productive creatively, although I have done something creative each day. In some cases, though, that might just have been a doodle or a bit of strumming on the guitar.
Yesterday, Christine and I cycled to Bloom in the Phoenix Park. It’s not quite an annual pilgrimage, but we go frequently enough and it’s a nice day out. It was sunny and the place was rammed. There was a definite bee theme with many of the show gardens sporting wild and other bee-friendly flowers. There were bee boxes and bug hotels all over the place. And even a few actual bees.


Alison Byrne, our glass workshop leader, had a stall there with Ali, who makes jewellery and other accessories out of plastic and other materials, and who was at the terrarium workshop a few weeks ago.

There was some attractive metal work on display too, and a blacksmithing demonstration in the craft village. Fire and hammers. Nice.



And, of course, some attractive plants and gardens.



Several posts ago, I showed a picture of some sticks I had collected on a recent trip to the seaside. In my mind when I was collecting them was a kind of hanging mobile. So, on Saturday, I finally got that done. It was a simple construction, involving drilling holes in the sticks and stringing them together with some jute twine, using figure of eight knots to space them out.


The photo isn’t great. But, believe me, it looks quite good at night with the attic stairs light casting a shadow on the wall and giving the mobile extra depth.
Today, I finished that jellyfish that I started ages ago. I used the airbrush and some recently purchased inks to colour it, attached some fronds and hung it up. Again, the photo doesn’t do it justice. It is quite dark but the ink I used in the airbrush has a shimmer effect which is pretty good. And of course, the jellyfish moves a little in the draft which I’m pleased about.

A little while ago, an old college friend asked me to make something for his mum. At first I said no, because I really don’t want to be in the position of having to make stuff on demand. Having done a few floral wreaths recently, however, I had an idea that I might do one on a pebble and maybe that could satisfy the request. So, I did this today.

There were some awkwardly placed flaws in the pebble, but it was the only light-coloured one I had. He wanted ‘mum,’ on it and I agonised a bit over how to present it. Anyway, it’s done now and I think It’s OK. We’ll see if he likes it.
This …