The Mystery at the Craft Show

The other weekend the Lit Chicks went to our local craft show. On our way in we passed many people on their way out carrying a large metal spiky looking thing. I was intrigued, I had never seen such an item and it appeared to be very popular. I went on a hunt to find the vendor selling them and to find out what the mystery item was.

Tea Cup Bird Feeder

 As we wandered the aisles we commented on many of the vendors who are into recycling (or should that be upcycling?) items. There was one vendor that made garden stakes/bird feeders out of teacups and saucers, another that made wind chimes out of liquor bottles and a large wooden ball, they made more of a bonging sound than a chime. One booth that drew me in was The Cat & the Fiddle. There were wonderful wind chimes made with kitchen items - much like the box full I just donated. The gentleman I spoke with was Alex Naredo. He said that he had been doing this for twenty years. For this past year Mr. Naredo has been traveling up and down the East Coast selling his creations.

Wind Chime Craft

Mr. Naredo kindly gave me permission to photograph some of his items to share with you. But, alas, the pictures were on my phone and it developed technical difficulties. Moral of the story - always save pictures to the memory card.

One of my favorite items was a wind chime made from a pastry blender. Hanging from it was a cookie cutter and flattened silver spoons. For contact information scroll to the end of the blog entry.

Something else that surprised me at the craft show was how many vendors there were that were selling prepackaged mixes. There were more kinds of soup and dip mixes available than I could imagine. With all the samples being offered it would be easy snack your way from one end to the other.

Finally, in the last row, I found the seller of the mystery item.  It was...

   

 

                                                                                                                      a bottle tree! 

"Long ago, across the rural southern United States, people made bottle trees, also called spirit trees, to keep evil spirits away by trapping them in bottles. Blue bottles attracted evil spirits the most, according to the folklore, then sun would come out and destroy the spirits. People would remove and plug the bottles, then release the plugged bottles into a river. In more recent times, bottles trees, usually made from dead trees with shortened branches and wine bottles of all sizes, represent works of art. You can also make bottle trees from metal."

Not being a wine drinker I was not familiar with such a thing.  In this same booth one of our group purchased a garden decoration, a daffodil made from spoons. Hmm, kitchen items in the garden. I see possibilities.

 

There you have it, a slice of life in our little town. Visit your local craft show; you may never know what whimsical treasures you will bring home.

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Photo by ERIC BELLAMY

The Cat & the Fiddle 

Silverware Creations & Whimsical Art

by Alex Naredo and Rick Thomas

P.O. Box 300

Como, CO 80432-0200

719-863-7145, 303-385-7716

catandthefiddle1 (at) gmail.com