The Lost Trades Fair - Kyneton

The weekend before last  was our long awaited visit to the Kyneton Lost Trades Fair, now in its second year and much bigger than the 2014 event according to one local.

Originally this tribute to the traditional trades and the people who made them, fitted entirely into the Kyneton museum, with some of the artisans working from their nearby premises.

Now the festival, created by chairmakers Lisa and Glen Rundell, spills over the Kyneton racecourse with 84 stall holders and incredibly, 13-14,000 visitors this year.

When we arrive we darted like arrows straight from a bow to the coffee at Monsieur Pierre, past the warning signs posted on trees as we entered that wasps were about. This fellow in the coffee queue appears to have come prepared for jungle warfare with the wasps.

The weather was glorious and the setting at the Kyneton Racecourse was perfect. There were traditional kids games organised including a coconut shy.

But the amazing artisans were the stars of the fair and included:

• an armorer (one who makes armour -yes I had to Google this!) 
• basket weavers
• barrel maker
• stonemasons
• leather craftsperson
• blacksmiths/forgers
• hand made felt milliners, 
• fletcher (person who make bows and arrows - another Google search!

And makers of things for which, surprisingly  I could not find on titles on Google. If you know what they are called please let me know! These folk, in the main,all have day jobs but some  have given up their day jobs to follow their passion.

• Cane fly-fishing rods, 
• rocking horses,
• rope
• kayaks, 
• sway back chairs,
• knives, 
• shaker boxes.

In a mixed crowd of young families as well as older folk, it was not unusual to hear the over-fifties exclaiming that they had seen these trades as children and it brought back some fond memories of family friends, local tradespeople or older relatives who were involved in the work.

Father's with young sons stood entranced at the farrier's display. The Hiawatha tent full of hand-crafted imaginative play toys was very popular also. In fact it was hard to tell who was more into it, the dads or their kids! I could hardly get this shot for fathers standing in front of the tent!

The ages of the craftspeople varied from mid twenties through to 80 and there was a real buzz as the morning went on - and not just from the uninvited guests of local wasps.

Cane fishing rod maker local, Ken Bradbrook, considers himself a novice--and heretic --rod maker . Ken, who has been making rods for only a couple of years, shocked old timers at a split cane rod making conference in the USA with the idea of using a saw rather than a knife to slice the bamboo into pieces ready to made into a rod.

Ken is very proud of the fact he uses local and found items to up-cycle such as reindeer antlers (presumably when the deer are finished with them) when crafting the rods as well as a palm nut to create an ivory like finish on the end above the handles. At the moment he is experimenting, using his wife's vacuum cleaner hose as a template for cutting, with pieces of cork he is recycling for the handles.

 The fly designs he and his mate David use are also hand made - including this  tiny mouse  on David's hat and "fly with eyes"  The mouse will apparently catch very big trout fattened up on local mice if you get to NZ at the right time of year. David was very interested to hear that chickens eat mice (ahem - please excuse the random but obligatory chook reference)  and that some local farmers up Wangaratta way brought in a flock of Turkeys to clean up a mouse infestation! Classes in rod making are coming soon so please email Ken if you are interested. Puangue@bigpond.com.

Mouse Fly Design

Woodhenge carvings by Ronnie (Veronica) Sexton amaze reminding me of the sadly small copy in poly-resin we bought in Salisbury Cathedral in England 12 years ago. This cross is a testament to patient crafts-person-ship. It was also a pleasant surprise to find yet another woman crafting - I had assumed Ronnie was a bloke.

Cheering the gals on I next have to laud the work of  "thornologist" Dr Katie Ellis  who creates these most wonderful traditional structures, but specialising in hedges. I absolutely want these in my next garden - they speak of all things heath and heather, badgers and owls, crab apples and winding roads through hedgerows.

Photo courtesy of Danielle White at "The CountryPhiles"

They also recall David Holmgren's farm at Daylesford where I first saw similar structures. Traditional hedgerows are totally sustainable lasting for up to 200 years if maintained, are much more attractive than fences, and made from local materials which provides habitat for local wildlife. It can't get much more eco friendly!

 “I guess my main aim is to re-gentrify the countryside – to reintroduce these old cultural art-forms ...,” says Kate (Source: The Country Philes)

Then  there are the amazing rocking horses made by 26 year old Olivia O'Connor. Each horse is made from Australian grown Radiata pine and the stand from native Australian Hoop pine timber.

Olivia finishes them with a genuine hand stitched leather saddle and genuine horse hair - and she told me she rides every horse she makes; "Wouldn't you?" she laughed. "Would you like a go?" In my official role as "Blogger and Interviewer" I felt this would be undignified, but darn it now I wish I had!

These are heirloom pieces to be handed down from generation to generation at few thousand a piece and after a month of labour. Olivia studied set and prop  design at NIDA learning the skills she utilises here. The fact that all props created after a long labour have to be destroyed for legal reasons led her to question the effort involved, leading her to this current creative work. Contact Olivia here:  http://www.oliviaoconnor.com.au/

Basket weaver Christen Jo Stone  creates magic with natural found fibres that add exquisite form to natural beauty. Weeds and Reeds

 

 

Brodie Barnett-Noor creates these gorgeous shaker boxes in all sizes, available from Rundall and Rundall.

Last year Glen and Lisa  Rundall, of Rundall and Rundall chair-makers  and importers of fine crafted goods, (only when not available to be sourced locally), created the first Lost Trades Fair in the local museum. Now here we all are, eating yummy Sidonia beef burgers and listening to local folk artists in between visiting some of the most fascinating fair stalls I can honestly say I have ever been to.

Many of these artisans run classes in creating similar masterpieces ...so get those creative skates on folks and bring on the Lost Trades Fair 2016!.