Update on the Salmon Festival

We made a trip out to the Adams River today to restock the display in the gift shop as we knew items were either sold out or getting low.  This was our 4th time we needed to add more pieces and the festival is only one third over.  We decided to go out early and beat the crowd since it is our Thanksgiving holiday today.  Were we in for a shock when we arrived at 8:00 am.  There were already half dozen tour buses plus many private cars parked.  The gift shop wasn't open yet so I had my chance to take a few photos.

Was a little crisp but a beautiful sunny morning so thought we'd take a walk down the paths and view the salmon again.    We were amazed at how many people were there that early in the morning already!  As a matter of fact there are thousands of visitors every day with well over 100,000 visitors expected over the 3 week period of the festival.

Here are some tourists on one of the viewpoints overlooking the river.

There were more fish this time and the river is getting crowded.

The current in the water is very strong and the fish really struggle to maintain their guarding spot over the eggs they laid.  They will keep guarding their nest until they finally die.  Here is a fish trying to guard its eggs and we watched it chase several other fish away from its nest, all the while fighting the strong river current.

We have a few more photos posted on our facebook fan page so feel free to check them out there...

My New Toys Arrived

Actually they arrived a couple of weeks ago but I've been too busy to do anything about it -- I was really low on clay so was time to order more from Shades of Clay.  Each time I place an order I like to order a few extra "goodies" to play around with.  Here are some of the things I bought this time:

Shown here back to front:

- A new mandrel set which I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with yet but it looked like something fun to play with and the price was right....
- More PYM11 -- this stuff is fantastic!  Had to have more as my first can was almost gone.
- Some large texture sheets with leaf patterns.  These are quite large but thinking of using them for some collages.
- More Kato clay -- of course lots of black, pearl, white and transluscent which it seems you can never have enough of.
- Wire -- great for making button shanks, etc.
- A new texture sheet by Helen Breil Designs -- my first one and I thought this one was too yummy to pass up!
- And of course the latest CaBezels by Wendy Orlowski which I will show you a few things a already created with them....
- Not shown are some more mica powders (experimenting with Perfect Pearls to compare) and some Pinata Inks to play around with.

I really like Wendy's CaBezels and I have more ideas on using them which I should hopefully be able to get around to sometime later in the month.  Here are a few pendants I made in the meantime:

More new pieces for the Salmon Festival

We made a quick trip out to the Adams River yesterday to see which art pieces have sold and what we need to make more of.  There were a lot more holes on our display than expected so I have to get busy and make more.

Here are some more switchplate covers with a different look.

Some pens done in a similar style.

We really like the twist pens from Boston Craftworks but were looking for something a little more economical to cover and sell as another option.  Surfingcat and Angela from Crafty Goat's Notes each had great blog posts sharing various pens they had experimented with in covering and we really liked the Bic Soft-feel Retractable Click pen the best which is what we used here.  They come apart, simple to cover and then put back to together again.  One tip I learned about covering this type of barrel is to smooth a very thin layer of liquid clay all over before applying the sheet clay to eliminate any air pockets underneath.

First sights of the Spawning Salmon

It was a gorgeous sunny day when Dave and I delivered our art pieces to the gift shop at the Adams river park yesterday.  We took a stroll down the path and over the several bridges to see all the salmon that were spawning and what an awesome sight it was!  The fish were much larger and more majestic than I imagined they would be.  I love their rich red and green colors they transform into by the time they reach their spawning grounds.  The fish were very active, splashing about and literally jumping out of the water.  Both male and female will guard their eggs until they eventually die.

The whole experience was very awe inspiring and with it only taking place every four years is quite exciting to not only see it up close and personal but to participate in such an event is a real privilege.  Here are a couple photos I took of the fish while there.

Return of the Sockeye - Ready or Not!

After a few set-backs this past week with Dave in the hospital for four days, we still managed to have over 100 pieces of various items finished and ready to sell at the Salute to the Sockeye Event.

There is a log cabin at the local provincial park where the Salmon society are setting up a gift shop with various items from local artists.  We provided all sorts of goodies to sell including pens, magnets, jewelry, and even switch plate covers.  I created a good amount of spawning salmon pieces as well as other nature themed items.  Here is a photo of our display set-up --.  They are still working on getting the gift shop ready for it to open this Saturday so I will have more pictures for you later.

Here are some of the items we created for this event:

Totem Inspired Salmon Pins

Here are some more salmon pins I've been making in a different style to sell at the Salute to the Sockeye at Adam's River this year.  The technique is a spin on Julie Picarello's "lizard tails" and even though each fish was created individually in the same way, no two come out exactly alike.

They are in the same bright red and green as the spawning salmon as they turn this color by the time they reach the end of their trip where they spawn.  This style was inspired by the first nations native style art in our area.  The spawning grounds where the salmon return to is very important and sacred to them.  The salmon symbolize dependability and renewal as well as a provider of food.

Preparing for the Return of the Sockeye

I've been in full production these days preparing for the Return of the Sockeye  starting October 2nd.  There was an abundance of salmon this summer -- (millions) -- out in the Pacific ocean and a good amount of those are heading our way inland to spawn in the Adam's River.   We were fortunate to be juried into the local artisan gift shop they have set up at the log cabin there each year.  Thought I would show you how my spawning salmon pins are put together -- each one formed by hand so there are no two alike.