Historically creative

When I say Irish crafts, what comes to mind? for me it's aran knits (cable knit sweaters) and hammered bronze that sticks out. However I attend the National Crafts Fair at the RDS every year, so I can tell you that in 2013 there is a huge variety of crafts on offer from Irish artists and craftists. The quilting exhibition area is always an impressive selection and is a must-see.

Ireland is perhaps known as the land of 'saints and scholars' but perhaps that should be 'saints, scholars and really crafty folk' as we have a rich history of arts and crafts; Irish crafts go back to the Stone Age when items were crafted out of necessity.

A trip to the museum will show you quite the array from functional utensils, functional but stylish to simply stylish. 

Or how about The National Gallery or for modern work we have the IMMA which also does workshops. I partook in the chocolate and charcoal one several years back and it was a great experience, creating with other likeminded folks.

my old college work space - creative chaos in Dublin

Keeping traditional crafts alive and adding their own contemporary twists - there are over 800 artists and craftists in the Etsy Ireland team, you can find their goodies on Etsy by running a search for the team tag: craftyirelandteam

Is that spring in the air?!

Looking out that window today I could scarcely believe that spring is finally in the air. We're talking serious weather here, we had snow last week - snow in Ireland used to be an unusual enough occurrence in the past. Even if you did get snow it was usually in November or early December. Then those crazy winters we had a few years back started... I recall being stuck down the country in Killarney for a couple of weeks at one stage. It's a pretty picturesque place to get stuck though.

Chilly as it still was, I actually had the studio door wide open today. It was just too nice to otherwise.
An ultra productive day it was too:

The Gathering of all things Irish

Did you know that 2013 is the year of The Gathering here in Ireland? Over 70 million people worldwide can claim ancestry and this year Ireland is reaching out to it's fellow brethren from all corners of the globe. It's basically like a year long party that kicked on in style with the mother of all parties in Dublin on New Years Eve. It was a spectacular sight, even from the safety of my living room (with my TV).

Town, villages and cities are holding festivals and events all year.
I attended one or two myself but it's barely April so there is plenty of time for more craic! (for the non irish folks out there: craic is fun in a nutshell)

A gathering for all

party people

                             

my cousin Oisin giving us some tunes 

                                                   

Later in the year i'd love to hold a little competition (from Petras Creations) in honor of the Gathering but I really have to think about how i'll do it. Maybe I can have people share stories about Ireland, or their crazy party stories! I often get lovely messages from customers and folks I trade with, telling me about their own links to Ireland, how much they like it here and so on. It's great to hear others love Ireland too.
Once you ignore the politics! Ireland is a country with a rich heritage with soul.

As I make this post it is Easter Sunday - happy Easter. So that means it is also the 97th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Our very own battle for independence.

Stephens Green, Dublin

Killarney

Ballybunion Beach Killarney, co. Kerry

Killarney