Even better than déjà vu

Déjà vu is defined as a “feeling” of having experienced something before–this last weekend was even better. It was real.

A nice little bench to plop your tired art fair body on while gazing on the lily pond at Wellfield Gardens.

Wellfield Botanic Gardens in Elkhart, Indiana put on a superb version of their always superb Taste of the Gardens event on Sunday. Even the weather cooperated, providing the first really nice day of the summer outdoor art fair experience for me this year. The attendance was stellar, I hear the food was great as usual, you could dance to the music, and the artists and artisans were on top of their game.

I took a quick tour of the art and craft booths in the half hour before the event opened to the public and swiftly rated my chances at “best of show” as remote–there was so much really good stuff there! Some of it was purely whimsical and probably for that reason caught my eye.

The sign says it all, and the chimes all had a lovely timbre to them and did not sound all alike. The size was more what you would expect of a crystal chandelier than a wind chime…

Susan Staszewski is the architect of these repurposed glass bottle wonders and she says they are quite sturdy and handle the wind and weather exceptionally well. You can see more of her dazzling originals and get contact information at www.facebook.com/WineChimesWindchimes/  Don’t try to type it in, you’ll probably get the “wine” and the “wind” mixed up like I did; just click on the link, or if that doesn’t work, copy and paste in your browser. You won’t regret it!

Another intriguing artisan experience that grabbed me right away was the very weird (to me) but exciting form of woodburning Kevin and Chanda Dilks use to make fantasy designs that take on a shape of their own.

Here’s the finished product. The burned parts are filled with colored epoxy and the roughness sanded down for a smooth finish.

And here’s how they do it–with a power supply source (don’t try this without someone who knows what they’re doing as the power needed here can be quite dangerous) some wire and a couple of metal pins.

They’re in Bristol, Indiana and you can contact them at kandcdesigns@yahoo.com

 

So here’s one end of a vendor row, just across from that nice lily pad pond.

And here’s my booth enjoying some of the pleasant morning air down another row.

And how could I not show a closeup of said booth? The tent legs are even all straight too, unlike the last garden show in Chicago!

And of course I still have left you all hanging about that déjà vu thing. Nutshell version, the judges came by, said barely a word, and went on their way. A few hours later, a contingent of four smiling faces showed up at my booth to announce that they couldn’t help themselves, they just really loved my work, and were awarding me Best of Show once again. I was caught really flat-footed because giving someone that prize two years in a row is just insanely unlikely. Upshot is, I got a nice fat check and Wellfield Gardens now owns Sky Pads 20. It’s the one hanging on the right side wall, in the lower left hand corner. Since that’s too much word salad, I’ll just show you which one it is–