I will be walking untold miles throughout the day while I’m performing at a 35 acre renaissance festival. I’m thrilled to “people” (with safety precautions) again!
Until the day after a first rehearsal when my legs reminded me how much time I sat around the house in 2020 instead of being active and out and about. Let’s hear it for Epsom salt baths!
A walking (or more like hiking towards the end of the day) stick should help. Let’s make one!
I’m performing a fae (a fairy. Well, actually, I’m a gnome) character at an outdoor renaissance festival. True to a gnome’s (and my own) Scandinavian roots, I’m fair skinned and burn easily in the sun. I’m also not fond of standing out in the rain without an umbrella either.
In the past, I carried a waterproof bamboo parasol but that is not really going to work for the over the top Shakespearean fairy esthetic I need to create. Can we talk about how difficult it is to design a mythical creature described as looking like a human the size of an 8 year old boy and looks like she belongs with a group of fairies who look like natural elements like this this acorn green man wall decoration (you can buy it here.) (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience.) Elizabethan fairies look less human and more like trees, flowers, animals with a humanish face. The more human-looking Tinkerbell type of fairy we are more used to came about during the Victorian era.
I figure the best way to do that is make a waterproof canvas bamboo parasol in the shape an ivy leaf.
Columbus has many visit this type of business, stamp a passport, and collect a prize trails. We have a local coffee trail, craft brewery trail, a local small business trail, and a delicious donut trail among others. I recently learned about a cool one in Dublin, Ohio – The Fairy Door Trail. Dublin goes completely nuts for all things Irish, Celtic, and St. Patrick’s Day. So it makes sense that they start a new trail by putting new fairy doors in their local small businesses in March for St Patrick’s Day just in case a leprechaun would like to use it. Which is mighty thoughtful.
I fell into an Internet fairy door rabbit hole after that and wanted to add another fairy door to my house just in case a fairy, gnome, leprechaun, or hopefully - a Borrower - would use it. I loved the Borrower books and movies as a kid and I often think a Borrow probably borrowed that thing I can’t find (which is way more fun than acknowledging I misplaced it.) If you don’t know what I’m talking about you can read The Complete Adventures of the Borrowers series here. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience)
It’s National Craft Month so why not make an indoor fairy door (or the mythical sprite of your choice) to celebrate?
Let’s make stuff!
