March 2008 St Patrick's Day
March greetings everyone! We are a little closer to Spring each day and it will be truly welcome here! This has been a seemingly very long Winter!
As I release this, Skeetie is away in Daytona for Bike Week and I miss him fiercely! I am lost without my other half. At least he can enjoy some warm weather for a little while. Let's hope he brings the warm weather home with him. He earned this break for sure and I'm glad he can get away for a bit with the guys.
While he's away, I will be in the studio creating new pieces. We have accumulated lots of great oddities for me to use in assemblage during our frequent antique jaunts. I can't wait to work with all the stuff. The latest piece is entitled 'This Woman's Work' and as soon as I can get some good pictures of it, it will be listed to the Enchanted Forest Shop.
The new Tiki Shrines are in the works and the first of them have been listed to their web segment. I'm sure many of you have seen their web segment already. I've collected some fabulous old boxes to use for them. The Shrines are of varying sizes, both with and without lights, created to house the Tiki God (or other Icon) of your choice! Tiki Shrines
I got my tribute to little Micky Spillane in ink recently in the form of 'Canis Strategema' by Scott Musgrove and this particular piece by Scott looks like it was drawn directly from my little old chihuahua! Eric did another magical job on this piece that has extra special meaning to me. Love out to Eric for all his help and for being such a good friend.
My nephew, Anthony, had me on a quest for something called Monster Bones. These are apparently very hot with the kids right now but are retired so you can't get them easily. I found him some on Ebay but they weren't easy to grab! It seems alot of people are wanting these things! He'll be happy.
Priss turned me on to a fabulous new book recently called Secrets of Rusty Things by Michael deMeng. The book is a work of art in itself! Also some other great books I've recently aquired are Tiki Quest~Collecting the Exotic Past by Duke Carter and the Artifacts and Crafts of Papua New Guinea~ A Guide for Buyers by the Handcraft Industry of Papua New Guinea. And the one I can't put down is Four Corners by Kira Salak.
Skeet and I took a trek out to rural Pennsylvania to pick up some great boxes of drawers that he found for tools and supplies for my studio. Before picking those up we went to the Weil Antique Center in Allentown for our weekly antique fix. The snow had fallen the Friday before (about a foot at least!) and we were supposed to make this trek on Friday but we were snowbound. The roads were clear by the time we left for our adventure on Sunday morning. It was another perfect day with the exception of the ticket Skeetie got.
It has been so very cold here in the Nor'east and the winds have been terrible. The Warrior Witch in Winter hats and scarves in the Magical Bag Shop are the perfect defense against the cold weather. Thanks goes out to Merrill who is the most recent owner of a Warrior Witch in Winter hat! Wear it with magic, Merrill! Merrill has a shop in Palm Coast, Fl called Merlin's Mercantile and said if Skeetie stops in during bike week, she'll give him some stuff to bring back to me 'on the wind'! How fun & magical! Thanks & hugs, Merrill!
My friend Domi from Tiki Central is a dealer in South Pacific antiquities and artifacts (as well as a fabulous artist!) I had gotten a huge and magical ancestor figural Tiki statue from her and some ornate phallocrypts. Including one that is unique to a secret society of "confirmed homicides". She taught me alot about the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea and the Asmat people. It is very fascinating! Of course, being Tink, the simple Tiki quest is never enough. I have to go for the old exotic artifacts~ the oddities and hard to come by pieces and I have found some wicked cool stuff!
Skeet is the same way, having expensive tastes when it comes to vintage automotive memorabilia (and we've found some GREAT stuff!!) We are both always looking for the hard to find stuff. It makes the quest all the more fun and, of course, we make every outing a total adventure and never come home empty handed (lol).
February 20th was the total eclipse of the moon! How magical that was! We were awed by the beauty and power of the moment. I tried to photograph it but really needed a special lens. It could not be captured the way it appeared. I even took Mick out wrapped in blankets to see it. Of course, Mick's blind, but I figured he might absorb some of the Moon Magic!
They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. What's better in cold weather than baking something warm and wonderful? How about a little comfort food for your favorite person? I made these for Skeet during the blizzard:
Tink's Wicked Walnut Brownies
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate chopped
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 c sugar (I use organic)
1 c chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
3/4 c mini semi sweet chocolate chips
1 c all purpose flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13 x 9 x 2" baking pan with non stick foil.
2. Combine chocolate and butter in a medium sized saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth, about 4 minutes. Let cool slightly.
3. Stir in sugar, walnuts and salt. Stir in eggs one at a time. Stir in the mini chips, the flour and the vanilla. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with additional walnuts if desired.
4. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until brownie is dry on top. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes then use foil to lift brownie from pan. cool, cut & eat with tea, coffee or a huge glass of cold milk!
We are definite foodies. We love good food and are always seeking out unique foods and fabulous places to try. There are so many wonderful restaurants that you couldn't hit them all in a lifetime! Of course, we do have our favorite standbys! We also love vintage cookware and kitchen gadgets as well as fab old cookbooks. I have been collecting cookbooks since I was a youngster!
Well, I think that is all for now! Soon it will be Spring and I am SO looking forward to that. There are a few more antique dolls for sale on Ebay and I have just started to list some of the antique teddy bears. I'll list more while Skeet is away. I have a couple of days off, too, and will use them to work, work, work (and arrange the studio some more!) I have to sort my supplies into the new drawers we got! That will be fun and will make my studio more organized and efficient! Come home to me soon, Bello!
Giorno Del Santo Pasquale Felice! (We're not ALL Irish on St Patrick's Day!)
Tink
Tinker's Web Item Pick for March:
Tiki Shrines
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