Friday 10 June 2011

Contemporary Craft Fair, Bovey Tracey, June 2011

Today I spent the morning at Bovey Tracey Contemporary Craft Fair thanks to a generously donated free ticket from jeweller extraordinaire, Christine Kaltoft.  (Sorry, Christine, I didn't find you there today; I shall look for you on Saturday.)

General view of fair:



Here are some of the craft stands that particularly piqued my interest.  This was my first love-at-first-sight - wonderfully quirky jewellery by Helen Noakes - (great website too, Helen!)  mini plastic figures inside perspex with silver fixings.  Very tempted to get some mini swimmer cufflinks made for N, but probably won't be able to find £100 to do so!


I was struck by the beautiful and subtly different blue glazes created by Taja (based in Moretonhampstead).  What a nice man!  I would really like some of these tea mugs:


Anya Keeley won the 'Best Stall' prize for 2011 - beautiful trinkets and animals made from recycled materials, books, maps.


And I admire the pzazz of Alison from Dr Beans Bags (Isle of Wight) who bring along customised handmade bags just for the denizens of Bovey Tracey!  (Does she do this for every village?  Clever lady!)


I attended a printmaking workshop for two hours and discovered the instant and random joys of monotype printing with Brian Norman:


My 'Sunset over Manhattan' looked better on the perspex block than on the paper afterwards!

At lunchtime, the rain arrived (therefore no photo of my shared al fresco lunch with L and two charming men who held up an umbrella to shelter the poor shivering ladies-who-lunched!) but I feasted on a homemade crab quiche alongside a scrummy chocolate and vanilla cupcake from the Devon Guild Cafe stand.

The overall quality of the wares on offer is top notch.  A totally brilliant place to buy all the presents you need for all your female friends and rellies.  The workshop was great fun (and very cheap) and the food was excellent.  The fair is on this weekend, Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 June 2011.  Get yourself over to Bovey for an inspiring day out!

Click here to see more of my experiences from the fair in 2010.

5 comments:

taja said...

Hi Kate, Thanks for a nice picture of my stand. I am looking forwards to reading your blog.

Liz Culver said...

I love all the blue earthenware! The photo really gave me a 'wow' moment. Beautiful!

just Gai said...

I remember being delighted by Dr Beans bags in a gallery in St Ives last summer. They captured the essence of the seaside.

Anonymous said...

i wanted to stop by and say hello! as a fellow devon bumpkin i love that you're trying to promote the county's produce! i discovered beany's a few months ago- produced in buckfastleigh! don't know if you've found them yet? nope, i'm not on commission otherwise i'd be laughing with the amount of people i've converted!!! i have a blog too :D http://vivoir.wordpress.com

maybe say hello and we can help get devon food, shops and overall offerings a bit better known?!

Grazing Kate said...

Thanks Taja for stopping by. I'm looking forward to buying some of your beautiful mugs in the future - glad you're local.

Yes, Liz, the blue glaze is really special.

Just Gai, I would have loved to have bought one of the Dr Beans Bags, but I'm on a seriously frugal mission at the moment! Maybe next year...

vivoir, thanks for stopping by, I look forward to exploring your mega-healthy blog and chatting about local stuff - I presume you mean the vegetarian 'sausage' style Beany? - think I've had them with my Riverford delivery.

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