Yesterday I did a demonstration on making pine needle baskets at the Besser Museum. It was great and the people were quite receptive, asked a lot of questions and I gave out a lot of business cards for The Drake's Nest Studios. The demonstration was from 1 pm until 3 pm and they kept having to bring out chairs for people who wanted to sit and chat and watch. The only down side was when I first set up a woman came in as I was just starting a basket, which is the hardest part of dealing with the pine needles, and wanted to know what I was doing. When I opened my hand to show her and explain, she grabbed the little beginnings and goes, "Oh, what's this for?" and pulls off the needle guide and handled it so roughly that she broke the pine needles. Needless to say I was not a happy camper but very nicely told her she wasn't to handle the materials and ask if she wanted to see something. She got quite snotty about it, but I did manage to keep my cool as I recollected teh damaged work, undid everything and started again with fresh needles and ignored her. She soon left. All and all, it was a wonderfully enjoyable day. I was doing the demo as a member of the Thunder Bay Basket Guild and promoting our exhibit of baskets there at the museum. The exhibit runs until September 11th, so if you happened to be in Alpena, Michigan, do stop in and look. They also have a wonderful WW II Exhibit honoring those who fought the valient fight. The exhibit is made up of pieces from various collectors and most of the exhibit is provided by a Mr. Dove who is working on getting a history museum totally aimed at WW II started in our area. He could provide the entire museum himself as he has over 1000 pieces of memoriabilia. I provided an extensive collection of WW II Nose Art found on the airplanes back then.
My studio will be having its grand opening in 2-3 weeks. Just need to put everything in its place and tidy up, as much as possible as I will be commencing to work in it just as soon as I have everything in it. I will be posting pictures on my Blog, http://www.drakesneststudios.wordpress.com, and on my website, http://www.drakesneststudios.com, of the completed studio. So why not pop in for a visit.
Just a reminder that the Great Lakes Lighthouse Festival is from Oct. 7-11 in Alpena, Michigan and the main even is held at the Recreational Center. I will be its official photographer this year and we will have all sorts of vendors from Stainglass makers, to wine makers to artists - both visual and recording. Not to mention artist, food and a down right good time. Do stop in and see us, it is the 15th year for this and is quite the thing to see. All the lighthouses will be open during this 4 day event.
Guess this wasn't such a quick update after all . Thanks for listening!
Terri at the Drake's Nest in fallish Ossineke, Michigan
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