Friday, June 17, 2011

Been busy! Midsommer is coming..



Happy Midsummer! Tradtional fare,Surstromming , note bulging can..mmm! It's ready!

Well I have been fairly busy with new work, and orders for our Viking age stuff. This is a good thing! It means we can pay bills, eat and keep the lights on. We have had a rainy , cold and rainy spring so far. Great for slugs, not so great for growing anything except root crops, and even they have been sulking. June is shaping up to be another cool one, but that won't deter us from celebrating Midsummer, the Summer Solstice this weekend with friends. We also celebrate it on the Solstice proper, with a swim in the river, and a picnic. I suspect this year though, it's gonna be a quick dip, as the winter snow melt is still filling the mountain rivers with freezing cold run off. Hypothermia is not part of my plans that day. There is also the added bonus of our own local Midsommer festival on the 25th, (Midsummer proper in most of Europe). This event is hosted by the League of Swedish Societies, and has gotten so popular they've had to move it to a bigger park this year. They will have a maypole, but I bet there won't be surstromming, infamously stinky fermented herring. My Swedish friend Marta assures me I would love it!


Detail Of Hearts

Finished up a nice fireplace screen, bleeding hearts. I designed it, and forged out the pretty bits, and handles,Hubby forged the frame, stretched the screen.



Putting on the Beeswax Finish

We use a traditional beeswax/turpentine finish for most of our interior projects. Those are my lovely hands buffing that metal..


All ready to go to it's new home!

We also built this same client a handrail, but I need to get over there for some picture taking. They were thrilled with our work,and I can't wait to see this screen with a fire behind it. I love what I do and am truly grateful that I get to do this for a living!
Now it's off to get ready for the weekends festivities. Gte some spuds and dill, roast some ribs drink some good beer, laugh and celebrate the turning of the wheel!Have an awesome and wonderful, magical Midsommer, Sonnenwende, Midsummer, Solstice! The Sun is at her height, and will slowly descend back to her winter depths from here on out.