Smashing pumpkins and winter workshops

I realise that I have neglected this blog for quite some time but there has been such a lot going on this year and I simply haven't had a minute to spare!

The North Devon Art Trek back in September was a great event and I was delighted to welcome visitors to my studio and give them a cuppa while they looked around.  One of my open studio days was also a World's Biggest Coffee Morning for MacMillan Cancer Support. With your help we raised over £118 for the charity.
Don't worry if you didn't manage to visit this time as I plan to hold my own occasional open days and possibly some workshop preview days too.  If you'd like to stay informed, please subscribe to my newsletter.

I am now busy gearing up for my next event which is the fabulous Artisan Market taking place in Barnstaple's Pannier Market on Sunday 3rd November from 10am to 4pm.  I will be there with all my stained and fused glass creations along with over 100 other contemporary artists and makers from North Devon and across the South West.  I will also be giving a demonstration of how I make my cute little Christmas angels, so why not come along and celebrate all things 'handmade' by doing your Christmas Shopping.  Entry is just £2 per person which includes a free tea or coffee.

I have 11 more workshop days between now and the end of the year including a new, 2-day Christmas Wreaths workshop, along with all my usual Christmas decorations workshops. 

Did you know that 'Halloween' with its Pagan roots originated with the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sa-when). The Celts believed that the veil between their world and the next became very thin at this time of year and could be easily crossed by the departed as well as ghouls, spirits and other creatures.

​Families would set an extra place at the table, light a fire to guide their loved ones home and dress in costumes and dance around the fire to ward off any evil creatures.
More recently, Samhain, like many ancient Pagan festivals became Christianised as All Hallows Eve, eventually becoming Halloween.  The legend of the 'Jack-o-lantern' is thought to be about a drunken Irishman who made a bargain with the devil over a gambling debt and was condemned to roam the earth for eternity with just a  hollowed out turnip and a lighted coal.
The Irish took the tradition of carving Jack-o-lanterns to America where pumpkins, which were not available in Ireland, were used instead as they were so much easier to carve than turnips!

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