Showtime Again! Chimacum Arts and Crafts Fair 2022

And so, we have come to the final event of 2022, as well as one of our favorites: The annual Chimacum Arts and Crafts Fair!

It was my intention to post well in advance of the show, but "the usual" happened: We get really busy ahead of events, so we get caught up in making items rather than writing blog posts.

So instead we'll share a few impressions from the show... which also capped off our first year "back" on the show circuit after what we now think of as "The Covid Years."

All in all, it was a good show, and we were happy to re-meet some old familiar faces, as well as make some new friends! There's little doubt that many people are experiencing challenging economic times, and it was primarily "the little things" that were the hot sellers. 

Of course, every show has its own unique character!

Somewhat noticeable — on a more personal level — is the fact that the whole "Community Rocks" craze that took off around 2016 or so has somewhat died down. 

When I originally started painting Alchemy Stones (almost 15 years ago!), it was a very esoteric artform and there were only a few dozen other people in the US that I was aware of doing it. 

The whole landscape changed with Community Rocks projects springing up in every town across the nation and abroad... and suddenly "painted rocks" became quite commonplace.

It seems like Alchemy Stones have now become more "interesting" and unique again... and I'm happy about that!

Meanwhile, Sarah's Faery Howses and Alchemy Stones are becoming more and more integrated as a "joint but individual" venture. Not so long ago, we acquired the domain "Sticks and Stones" which will take over as the "umbrella" over our creative projects... but Alchemy Stones and Faery Howses will continue to be their own "brands," as well. 

Like many things, it'll be a slow and gradual process to meld it all together!

We'll try to post updates as we progress, but Alchemy Stones and Faery Howses are only part of our creative lives, so it'll take time!

As always, we are very grateful to the organizers of the Chimacum Arts and Crafts Fair who always put on a great event! What was particularly nice about this year's event was that we are now able to set up on Friday evening, which is a lot better than having to get up and put together a booth at oh-dark-thirty in the morning!

Last but not least, thanks to the many who came by and visited the booth during the two days of the show! We hope to see you again at future events, or via our online stores!

Christmas in July: First Show in 2 1/2 Years!

We usually take Alchemy Stones to a number of fairs, shows and festivals every year. It's a great way for us to meet people, and for folks to actually see (and touch!) the stones in person!

Because of the Pandemic and the attendant health risks, there pretty much were no shows during 2020 and 2021. All we ended up with was a list of cancellations, and then an empty events calendar.

Of course, that's perfectly understandable: a large group of people attending a show in an enclosed space would pretty much have been what they label a "superspreader event."

So we stayed home and did our best to share Alchemy Stones online.

The opportunity to finally "get back on the show circuit" presented itself here in July, when our local Unity Spiritual Center had their first event after the pandemic... a "Christmas in July" arts and crafts sale, featuring primarily local artisans.

It was nice to get back out, and we enjoyed a very nice event!

It was also the first time the growing collaboration between Sarah's "Faery Howses" and my own Alchemy Stones came together.

From this point forward, you can always expect to see the two quite different — but complementary — creative endeavors side-by-side, when we are doing outside shows!

Our next major show will be one of the biggest on our calendar: "Crafts by the Dock" here in Port Townsend in September. It's one of the longest running events in our area, and runs in tandem with the annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors to our town, every year.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and we hope to see you at the next event! In the meantime, why not visit one of our online shops to see the latest Alchemy Stones and Faery Howses?

A Little Bit Different: A Look at "Pale" Alchemy Stones

Alchemy Stones are almost all painted on beach rocks that we find on local beaches around Port Townsend and sometimes out on the Pacific Coast.

The only stones we bring home are the ones that are flat enough and smooth enough to take a detailed painted design.

Although you might look out across a beach covered with loose stones, only a tiny tiny percentage of what you see will actually be a smooth stone. Most stones have tiny cracks in them, or they are uneven in some way, or irregularly shaped, or they have dimples and bumps in them that make it impossible to accurately paint tiny lines.

Cracks, in particular, are the enemy of detailed design. Whenever paint hits a crack in a stone it fans out like a lightning bolt and immediately your design is destroyed.

Most Alchemy Stones are painted on near black rocks that we pick up, 90% of which are basalt... which polishes up extremely smoothly in surf. Most pale stones tend to have a high quartz content, which also means there are almost always tiny cracks and fissures between the individual quartz crystals or grains.

From time to time I've been asked why I don't paint on "other colored stones" and the answer is invariably that it's almost impossible to find any that are smooth enough to paint.

Certainly, you may have seen painted stones of many kinds and colors if you belong to a local rock painting group, but that only works if you're painting larger areas in a solid color or very broad line designs.

Occasionally I'm fortunate enough to find a pale stone that is smooth enough to be painted on. However, pale stones account for only maybe 5-10% of all Alchemy Stones. While a pale stone might be unusual, it makes them neither "rare" nor "better" than their darker counterparts.

It does make them different in the sense that I get to work with a new set of color contrasts, and some people by far prefer the paleish stones because of this. For me, working with them offers a nice change from what I am usually doing!

Happy New Year 2022!

 Everyone here at Alchemy Stones — that would be myself, Sarah and the ever-helpful studio cat Shadow — would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

Let us hope this coming year is a good one for all of us!

2021 was not the busiest year in our history, largely because the ongoing pandemic situation in the world kept us from attending outside shows in person. We did our best with online sales, but it's just not quite the same as allowing people to actually hold an Alchemy Stone in their hands.

We plan to develop our online presence further in 2022, as it does not look like the world situation is going to change much.

In the meantime, if you happen to be one of the fortunate people who now owns an Alchemy Stone whose back number begins with AS*21, you own a piece from the smallest production year we have had!

Over the next 3-4 weeks, I shall be working to add "Heart Stones" to the online stores in time for Valentine's Day! 

In the meantime, a heartfelt "thank you" for your support over the years!