Http://TheDancingGoats.com

The Imaginarium Forge is the The Dancing Goats ETSY Shop BLOG!

The Dancing Goats at the Chautauqua Festival at Chillicothe MO…September 8 & 9, 2012

Festival Time

Part of the traditional craft village, we demonstrated traditional fiber tools while the rest of the fiber folks worked at the Sheep to Shawl demonstration. Weavers, Potters, Broom Maker, Decoy Carvers, Dulcimer maker, Basket Makers and a Story Teller…Makers all!

Chautauqua, Chillicothe MO

 

Become a Maker with tools and instructions through The Dancing Goats, Folk Ways Retreat

Show Time!

The Spiral Dance of the Chimney Swift:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDancingGoats

At the World Sheep Festival Campground

Bethel MO:

Two Videos on You Tube of the Swift's Evening Sky Dance

Http://TheDancingGoats.com

 Natural History phenomenon fascinated all of the great naturalists and close observation of nature changed them. Leopold, Krutch, Muir, Darwin, Thoreau…Riveted by the natural world and Gaia’s vanishing wonders.

 So are we & our travels to the regional festivals always present opportunities for observing the natural world…

A Quiet Moment after Festival's Close

 

 Chimney Swifts, along with all of their avian kind are ancient creatures and their counter clockwise spiral stretches into ‘The Dark and Backward Abysm of Time’, to quote the bard.

 I’m sure they do not care, but they are my favorite little bird & always make sure not to disturb their nests in any dwelling…CO detectors are a good idea if you cohabit with them…

 The colony at the campground at the Bethel World Sheep Festival is the largest I have ever seen and rivals the spectacle at Carlsbad…As best figure, they always start to gather around the time of the boundary between Civil and Nautical Twilight…That’s around the time the first stars begin to shine in dark sky locations. Several thousand of them live in one old school chimney.

 The show lasts for about 15 minutes and they swirl round and round in a big social visit before diving into their vertical stack of a home…My own little colony of Swifts seem to get more vocal as the time draws near to migrate…

 I have looked into the eyes of a couple of them I have saved in the past & there is a brightly burning intelligence and spirit bound up in a very small and delicate package…

 Where did they live before we came along?

What are they saying to each other?
Do they look forward to their winter sojourn?
Where do they go in the winter?
What is up with the Counter Clockwise Spiral?

 The unanswered and unanswerable questions in natural history are always more fascinating than the things we have answered…

Http://TheDancingGoats.com at The World Sheep Festival
Bethel MO September 1 & 2 2012

Symbiosis:

 

How long have we been partners and lived in Symbiosis with the creatures we call farm animals?
Much further back than anyone currently believes is my guess.

The mysteries surrounding the varied forms of plant and animal domestication that human kind performed in deep prehistory, keep getting pushed back by new discoveries…

 

Shep working the flock

 



The different varieties of the Shepherd Dog is one example. To see them work is a wonder to behold & is also one of the reasons we like the  regional Sheep and Wool festivals…There is usually a competition to see which dogs perform the ancient rituals and commands the best…

Time to Go Where Shep & Shepherd desire

 



Perform they do…The dogs in line waiting their turn are always more riveted by the competition than anyone else there & watch the moves of their fellows with thoughtful contemplation…If that sounds far fetched…Go watch them some time…

 

Bunnies: Another Favorite...

 

A little orange bunny: The hit of the show...

 

Bunnies, especially the angoras, who lived in the tents of the middle east, seem to almost like their confinement…Their coat and wool is exceptionally soft.

 

Confinement is Safety!

 

 

 

The Dancing Goats at The Bethel Missouri World Sheep Festival: Visit Http://thedancinggoats.com

 

Spinning Tools come in a Cornucopia of Forms

 

Preparations at one time were targeted at Festival Season which starts for us on Labor Day Weekend. The Internet makes Festival Season lots of fun…I pick only the best shows to go back to & have strict criteria set for our return to any venue…For everything else, look for us on ETSY & EBAY...

 

 

The Distaff & The Bowl: Necessary Accessories

 

My target for inventory is around 500 items to fit in a 10 by 10 space…My customers like variety and Spinning & Weaving tools have been made in an amazing array of forms throughout endless millennia …We combine the old with the new in our line of spinning, weaving and knitting tools and see traditional tools forms as a place to start…No rules…Just Guidelines! Much like Captain Barbosa’s Pirate Code…

Striking a Match to the Smoldering Fire in the Mind...

 

 

Learning to make things…To become a maker…That is what we help people do at shows…Demonstrating and teaching the ancient traditional craft practices based on the Northern Folk school tradition is what the TheDancingGoats Folk Ways Retreat is all about…



The Dancing Goats at the Bethel Missouri World Sheep Festival:

 

The Start to a Muddy Weekend...

After the summer's drought, the rains of Isaac are welcome in the Midwest, even at the expense of festival time…The odd summer has been disturbing and fatal for many creatures and plants & whoever has made it this far has been given a reprieve. My newest time lapse covers about ten minutes at sunset on August 31st 2012 as one of the northern bands of Isaac’s remains rotated in overhead: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDancingGoats

The little community of Bethel Missouri, annually hosts our favorite festival…We are veteran craft show vendors and of the scores of shows we have participated in, The World Sheep Festival is one of the best. As a maker of Spinning & Weaving tools, we look for shows that are fiber related and are not too big and not too small…A Goldilocks conundrum if you will. The World Sheep Festival is JUST RIGHT…

The Table is Set...

A 10 by 10 space is all we require at festival and we will demonstrate traditional craft tools & deploy about 500 items…I call the first step of configuring the booth, ‘ Setting the Table’…

Find the Poet’s name at the end of the video and use it on our ETSY Site: http://www.etsy.com/people/TheDancingGoats

For a 10% discount on any item…

The Dancing Goats Folk Ways Retreat:

Http://TheDancingGoats.com

Oak Knoll Farm OKF is a small holding in the heart of Little Egypt...OKF is named after the long closed commercial operation, Oak Knoll Nursery & has two mature Chestnut Oaks planted long ago by Eddie the Nurseryman at the top of the knoll.

OKF in Little Egypt

The Folk Retreat will feature intensive weekends Friday through Sundays...Visiting and resident Maker Artisans will practice their respective crafts and retreat participants will be able to 'Learn or Enhance' their Maker Skills...

A Specialty: Wood turning

A varied palette of Maker Artisans: Wood turning, Woodcarving, Hot Glass, Cold Glass, Nantucket Basket Making, Hand Thrown Raku Ceramics, Appalachian Broom Making, Spinning, Weaving, Rug Hooking, Knitting & Found Object Modification

The Forge of the Minds Eye!

Based on the North Country Retreat, students will become Makers working alongside Journey person Artisans...

Varied Studios, Including Our Specialty Craft Tents





Long days...That do not seem like it...Time flows differently in 'The Maker Zone'!

Watch our You Tube Channel, TheDancingGoats for informative videos, lessons and our activities as we build the Folk Retreat: Http://TheDancingGoats.com

Visit: Http://thedancinggoats.com

A Wood-Turners Muse:

A Matched Boxwood Pair

Of all of the thousands of odds and ends I have handled and sold over the last 30 years these 2 little Apothecary Spoons are among the most treasured.

Finial Detail

Probably used in a pharmacy in Victorian England...They are too odd, broken and arcane to have much monetary value, but look at the craftsman work in their making...

Broken but not damaged!

Boxwood & Lathe Turned & the little bowls are carved.

A Delicate Touch in the Making

I have been turning for 30 years and cannot produce items of this skill level at a marketable price.

Is a plastic measuring spoon a better alternative? Perhaps so, perhaps not…These items always provide an example of what to work for in my turnings…Quality effort that was probably just a Journeyman effort on the part of the turner that made these items. They are items I come back to and aspire to…

Like Tolkien, I feel we have lost something in our headlong rush to mass produce and consume…Perhaps these little spoons were in use in the shire?