What We Brought Home from IGMA Show

Okay - this will be a little show and tell and poor Chris will hang his head and cry when he sees the pictures I took of his treasures.  I even sat the camera on the shelf so it would be steady and they still look grainy to me.  But, Chris - you will have to take pictures yourself at some point and then you can post them on your Better Photo Gallery and they will be gorgeous.

Chris ended up with three wood turnings by the same artist. He bought two and one one in the live auction after the show. This little piece has a beautiful grain which changes appearance as you turn it this way and that and the light catches it. The lid fits perfectly and it's a sweet little piece.

He also purchased the bowl on the left during the show from the same artisan.  Again, the picture doesn't come close to showing the lovely grain in the wood and the fact that the band around the top is of a different wood.  The footed bowl on the left is the piece he bid for and won in the auction and it's a beauty.  Chris told me the way he got the very thin white pieces into the bowl was not with inlay, but by first composing a block comprised of dark wood pieces and light wood pieces in such a way that when he turned the block on the lathe, this was the result.  It is beautiful.  The base is a black wood.

And the piece de resistance for Chris:  this stunning ewer in sterling silver fashioned by Pete Acquisto - probably the best known miniature silversmith working today.  You may need to enlarge the picture on the left to see that the handle has a double row of beading running the length of it and is attached at the base with a leaf-patterned design.  I apologize that you see the reflection of my camera but that's how shiny it is. 



Chris certainly brought home the true treasures this time.  I didn't really buy very much, just enjoyed the atmosphere after a long time away from it.  I went hoping to find bits and pieces for my little half inch scale scene and I did find plates which was especially what I was searching for.  First bought some plain white porcelain ones and then discovered Ginger Langdon Siegel was there with her wonderful 3-dimensional framed miniatures.  I had visited her site on-line and saw that she had pretty little 1/2 inch plates made out of paper but on line she just had them shown in sets of 4 plates, all with different patterns.  At the show, she had a whole bunch of loose plates and I was able to pick out six of one pattern and I think 5 of another, so I'm pretty well plated.

I also bought a beautiful little handwoven basket of fruit that I can put on the hutch, table, or wherever and a little cookie jar.  And I finally found a globe for January's library scene that may someday get built. I will probably take it off of this base.  It was part of a boxed set she had made.  The top of the box had a little magnifying glass insert and was quite delightful but I didn't want it in a box so she said she would sell me just the globe and save the top to make another one sometime.  I've saved her information, but it's packed away until I get home so I can't tell you the name of the artist.  But she had all sorts of neat things, including orreries (those antique mechanical thingies that showed the sun with the planets extending out on arms around it).  If anyone wants the information on her, either e-mail me or say so in the comments section and I will be able to post it when I get back home in a week or so.

So I think that really and truly ends the report on my NYC and IGMA trip.  Kind of hate to see it come to an end, but I've enjoyed today too, getting up to Heather's new house without getting lost one time (thanks for the directions, Chris), seeing my wonderful grandkiddies again, and especially meeting the alpacas!  Weird but kind of endearing...I will be heading down to January's on Thursday once I know Heather has come through her "let's break her arm again and fix it right this time" surgery...poor thing.  I feel so bad for her.  But, hopefully a month or two from now, she'll be feeling pretty much like a person with two good arms again and can put all this behind her.