Fire engines and a piece of industrial history

Two weeks ago was this year's Oxford Preservation Trust’s Open Doors weekend, on 14-15 September, so we hot-footed it into town, brochure in hand, to find some hidden gems our children might enjoy.

Our first stop was the Fire Station, which was a big hit with my girls: they got to climb into the driver’s seat and beep the horn of the fire engine, and best of all, they had a go at knocking the hat off a child-sized dummy with the hose:

The firemen explained all their kit, from the boots already standing in the legs of their thick over-trousers, to the breathing apparatus stowed behind the back seats in the cab. 

It was busy, with hoards of excited children (and adults!) and there were yellow plastic fireman's hats to buy too - what more could a little one want?

From there we walked up Rewley Road to the old swing-bridge on the disused railway line from the Rewley Road rail station (which stood on the site now occupied by the Said Business School, and was moved to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre at Quainton Road railway station). 

The Oxford Preservation Trust are working on plans for a complete restoration of the bridge and recent work has included the clearing of the surrounding undergrowth so you can see what remains of the bridge and its mechanism. It’s beautiful, in an industrial kind of a way, and well worth a visit if you're in the neighbourhood.

Did you do Open Doors this weekend? What are your top recommendations for next year? Non-Oxfordians, do you have a local equivalent? Any favourites you'd care to share?

Getting my mojo back!

The school holidays are not an easy time for those of us who fit our work-from-home crafting in round our children, and I'm guilty of neglecting my jewellery work over the summer. But it wasn't just the necessity of spending more time outside in the sunshine with the children (oh the hardship!) that kept me from my jewellery tools. I can admit, now it's passed, that I had fallen out of love with my work. It's hard to say when exactly, or why, but it wasn't exciting me any more, and I was considering giving up altogether.

But things have been ticking over quite nicely without me at the Eynsham Emporium, so when I collected my last batch of earnings, I thought it was time to invest in some new beads. Over on Etsy I've been working in partnership with Anna Timbrell of Skittish Designs to critique each other's shops, and that process has helped me to focus. I went back over my designs and tried to pinpoint which ones I liked most and why.

Rose quartz and garnet bracelet

I realised what I've been missing lately is the earthy quality of semi-precious stones, which it what I used most when I first started out. They're just so damn beautiful!

Rock crystal necklace

Having made that decision I spent several happily indecisive days filling and emptying baskets in various on-line bead suppliers, until I hit upon some that just sang out.

Amethyst & amazonite bracelet

Suddenly I couldn't wait to pack the kids off to bed and get on with making things again - it feels like it did when I started the business, when I was making things I'd love to wear and feeling that pang of regret every time someone actually bought one and I had to pack it up and let it go out into the big wide world... And I can't wait to invest in another batch of beads. Happy days!

Amethyst & amazonite earrings

In keeping with the natural beauty of the semi-precious stones, I've treated myself to a slab of real slate (in the form of a sample floor tile from the local builders' merchant) to use for my photography. I'm really pleased with the results - what do you think?

Destroying a book?

A dilemma for you, my gentle readers: this is my childhood copy of A Traveller in Time, by Alison Uttley:

It was one of my absolute favourite books, first read at an age when I hadn't previously encountered the name Penelope and pronounced it to rhyme with antelope. Although traumatised by the fate of Anthony Babington (no spoilers here - he was a real Elizabethan) I was completely drawn in to the extraordinary world of Thackers, and used to emerge from reading sessions feeling slightly dazed by the modern world of a noisy family house. I must have read it many many times over the years, and it still conjures the same feelings, scents and flavours in my head. (Can a book have a flavour? If not, what's the word for that brain-hangover a book leaves?)

Sadly, like many well-loved paperbacks of its age, it has now fallen apart, and an almost identical version is in print, so I have bought myself a new one:

I'm now wondering what to do with the old one. I could just toss it in the recycling bin - after all it is, in the cold light of day, just a bundle of rather brittle old paper.

Being me, actually I can't do that. However, having purchased a new copy, I have no need for this one, and what's the point of letting it gather dust on my already overladen shelves when I'll probably never open it again, except to muse over it in a nostalgic kind of a way?

So here's where you come in. I'm considering taking the book apart to re-use some of the images or text. Have you ever dismembered a book in this way? It feels like destruction, but if I choose something that feels positive and creative there could be a phoenix-like quality to the things I create. Your ideas please, for the best way to make good use of these pages, and beautiful illustrations:

Should I fill one of those multi-windowed picture frames with the images? Or set small pieces of text or drawings under resin to make jewellery so I can remember the book while I wear fragments of it? Other suggestions? What do you think? What would you do?