A Fairy List for France

Once the human had pootled off in her car, the house was completely empty, safe enough for the little fairies to scurry around looking for a pen and paper. After all, even fairies need a pen and paper if they are to write a good long list and for sure, they would need a good long list if they were to take enough things & wings with them for a whole month in the sun.

'I can't find my sunglasses,' the little one giggled with glee, 't'will still be warm in France, even in September. Let's borrow hers'. She'll never notice'

Yes, my fairy friends, t'is the hand of good fortune and no doubt a fair sprinkling of fairy magic, that I find myself contemplating my own list for France. 

When I went out earlier this year, I stayed at an orchard of gites owned by an Artist. When I said that I would like to return for a longer length of time, she asked, 

'Do you do chanting?' 

And as luck would have it, chanting is precisely what I do, as I have been working on a collection of Mantra through Music and Mindfulness as part of my qualifying as a Sound Therapist this year.

So, I will be staying at the little gite, in the pear orchard, with the french doors overlooking the trees and pansies growing with glee in the brimming window box outside my window, for a whole month!

I can write and play and compose and 'be'

And just think of all that lovely french cake ...

Music, Mindfulness, Orchard & Cake

Who could want for more ...

                 

But then I remembered the little fairies who dance inside The Tethered Fairy Ring longing for the sound of ukulele strings and humming humans. 

and whilst sat next to Susan Berry as she notated my Symphonic Poem,  I wondered about the church in the village near the orchard in Lower Normandy and the wonderful acoustics in there and how  I had imagined Susan and I filling that little space with my ukulele and her harp.

And then my mind shifted and I visualised Susan and I out on the lawn between the pear trees ...

So, Susan is coming to France too!

And her Welsh Harp ...

Oh, and her husband and her son. 

They will stay in the gite next to mine for a week whilst I will be there for a month. 

We are performing The Tethered Fairy Ring in the beautiful little church with the fabulous acoustics, in the village and will no doubt be playing together in the sunshine on the lawn.

Aren't fairies clever little things making all this happen just because they know the sun in France still shines in September. Now then, has anyone seen my sunglasses, I know I put them down somewhere?

Away with the fairies ... does the story work?

The only way to tell if a story works ... is to tell it!

 

The Tethered Fairy Ring's very first airing was at Ammanford Theatre as part of Ffocus FFwrnes

 

 

 

These little girls loved it. I told them the story and then asked them to guess the characters as they came along in the ukulele performance.

 

 

They got really excited shouting out the names of the characters.

 

 

Ammanford Theatre foto's by Lucy May Constantini

 

 

It was enchanting.

 

 

Then I took The Tethered Fairy Ring to World Within a World Festival at Cwmdonkin Park to celebrate No.5 Dylan Thomas Birth House.

 

 

This lovely photo was kindly taken by Lazarus Carpenter.

 

 

 

Then, the very beautiful Mathew Belcher from Swansea Ukulele Group asked me if I would come and perform the piece in a quiet place in the park for a group of ukulele players.It was a very lovely experience and taught me a lot!   

 

Thanks a million Mathew, you rescued my little heart that day.

When my friend asked me to perform at his joint 110th Birthday Party ...

 

The Fairy Ring came with me & we had such fun.

I was amongst lovely like minded chums whom I love very much so it felt gorgeous.

 

The next outing for The Tethered Fairy Ring was ...

 

  at  People's Kitchen near Lampeter ...

 

 

 

 

 .... organised by a very beautiful soul

called Lunar Rage.

 

 

 

 

 

This was an AMAZING experience.

 

 

I was a lot more confident in the piece now.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I gave the Tethered Fairy Ring the biggest tester of all:

 

I performed it for 40 school children from Bigyn Primary School, funded via Arts Care Gofal Celf as part of the advertising for Ffocus Ffwrnes Family Fun Day, and then gave them all a ukulele lesson.

 

 

 

I now knew the story well enough to break within it, include the children more and to adapt it to fit the different concentration spans.
 

 

 

I asked them to leave feedback and it was all very positive. They really liked the story and equally, fell in love with  my L'il gang of ukes!

 

 

 

Then last week, I had a cuppa with Bob Edwards, who will recognise as POP from an ealier blog.
 

 

 

 

 

I performed just for him ...

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't have my ukulele with me but he loved the story and that absolutely meant the world to me because  he was part of the original inspiration for my piece. He is also a very creative person, who through working with me on lots of different projects in recent years, has become my friend.  His creative opinion means a lot to me.

 

And now I have written a few new themes into the story line and weaved the Waxcap Wizard into the composition, I reckon my Fairy Ring is almost a complete circle & is undoubtedly tethered to my roots now, in  every way.

Making Magical Logo's with Lo-tech & fairy dust

 

  

This is what I really wanted my
 

Tethered Fairy Ring Story Blanket

to look like, only round,

in soft but heavy calico, quilted ...

 

... with bell & shell tassels around it.

 

But as I explained in an earlier blog, that just isn't financially an option for me just now.

 

So instead I will use my design as a logo.

I think it could also work as the book/CD cover

 

How did I make it?

 

With low tech and fairy dust!

 

 

Here's the lo-tech bit ...

First I found a fairy stencil on line.

I spray painted her ... 

then I drew in a ukulele

 

 

 

Then I found a non-copyright mushroom that I liked the look of.

 

I printed them all out and made the design with  UPVA & bits of paper

on a A3 pad.

 

You can  still see the glue drying on this pic!

 

 

 

 

 

Now then, here's the hi-tech fairy dust!

I photographed it on my Samsung 3 and used an editing app to age the photograph.

 

Then, to experiment, I kept on saving it and applying another effect. And ended up with the one below ... which I also really like.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I put  both of my designs on facebook and asked my friends which they preferred.

 

They said ...

 

The one at the top of this page ...

which I tend to agree with ..

but I have a cunning plan for the grey/silver one! (which someone on fb suggested would look nice with glitter/sparkle on it, I like the sound of that and may give it a go.) 

 

In phase 2, when a fairy brings me the funds to make it so, I am going to do some very exciting things with shadow puppets & shadows generally, and make a film from them for The Tethered Fairy Ring ... and I think this darker logo  would be perfect for that!

 

Top tip: Bank your ideas!

I never, ever put an idea in the bin ...

in a lifetime, you'll be surprised at how handy a bank of ideas might be!