Say Fare Thee Well to the Magical Medieval Fayre

After months of stock preparation, planing of the stall and the most important decision about the costume, The Magical Medieval Fayre 2014 finally was upon us on Saturday 6 September.

The morning of was a mad rush around the garden, cutting ivy for decoration. Thank goodness it grows like weeds so hopefully no one will notice the big holes that were left. Our cars were packed with our wares and paraphernalia and off we headed.

It was the perfect day for an outdoor market and people were definitely enjoying the Spring sun. Other then a massive gust of wind that had us scrambling to batten down the hatches, we were set up and enjoying lunch before the masses descended and wow did they descend.

I've never attended an event such as this one, never mind sold at one, so it was with delighted surprise to see how into the theme people were. At one stage I thought the whole cast of Game of Thrones walked passed our stall. Even the dogs were dressed up with little dragon scales running down their backs!

There were over 80 stalls with the most unusual and creative items on display, something for everyone's fancy and thankfully our stall attracted a lot of that fancy. This also made it very entertaining, if a little scary at times, to have up close and personal views of the costumes.

Markets are fantastic to attend when you are the guest but they can be very long and tiresome when you are the stall holder. However, this was not the case for this market!! I had so much fun with every minute filled with something to see or someone to talk to! Sadly I didn't get to take many photos but below are a few that were taken of us and the stall as well as my most popular pieces of jewellery that were sold.

Our amazing sign that my brother made for us and Lana painted. We wrapped ivy and fairy lights around it, with a hanging candle lantern on the other side.

Lana and I rocked the Medieval gypsy theme. She was wearing this fantastic black dress with swooping material that was gathered along the bottom of the dress and a funky red head band with large hoop earrings.
I was wearing a dress that had all different strips of colour along the skirt, a crazy gold belt and scarf around my hips and lots of necklaces and rings.

As dusk fell, we turned on all the lights in our stall. We had strands of fairy lights everywhere, little solar powered spot lights that packed a punch and lanterns. You could see our stall far and wide. The ivy and fairy lights were strung along the top of our gazebo and all along the sign. There were dark blue blankets draped from the top of the gazebo down the poles in swoops and tied with more ivy and fairy lights. The whole stall felt like a cozy, gypsy cavern.

A sterling silver Fleur pendant on chain with small Fleur studs.

A pair of sterling silver large Fleur drop earrings.

Sterling silver bangles with words and charms.

A sterling silver, 3 row bracelet with large flat flower.

A sterling silver, hand stitched peyote bracelet with charms and miuki glass beads.

A large sterling silver flat flower pendant on chain.

A selection of different sized sterling silver flower studs.

Beauty in Blue

There are only a handful of colours that you know will always be popular and chosen by the conservative and flamboyant alike. Blue is one of those colours that you can never go wrong with. Be it for summer, with pastels and teals or winter, with indigo and navy. However, in jewellery, blue topaz is the versatile stone to be worn with any outfit and during any season.
In the last couple of months, I have been able to make two very different styled rings, revolving around two very beautifully cut blue topaz stones.
The one ring was designed by Marius at Marius Nel Jewellers and he taught me the little tricks to make sure that this double square setting looks like one square is suspended within the outer square.
The other ring is a simple tube setting with a gallery on a high top shank. This ring is all about simplicity and showing off the beautiful cushion cut of this blue topaz. A stone I have had in my collection for years and it has finally found a good home on my mother's finger.
 

 A sterling silver, double square setting ring with princess cut blue topaz, surrounded by cubic zirconias. Designed by Marius Nel Jewellers and manufactured by me.

A sterling silver, tube set ring with a cushion cut blue topaz.