I've neglected lost and found of late, but for wonderful reasons I promise. Last week myself and Danny along with eight of my old school friends headed to Malta to celebrate the wedding of Chris who I've known since the grand old age of three, to the lovely Nadia, a native of this gorgeous island.

 

Thanks to them both for the perfect excuse for a holiday and a wonderful welcome.

And the one euro pints didn't hurt either!  

 

 

A headless virgin

So you may remember that I had an exhibition in April that required me to transport virtually everything I own down to the PS2 project space, and then all back home again a month later. I was prepared for the simple fact that not everything would survive the perilous journey in the back of a van.

Mary was the sole casualty.

Mary is a treasured piece of my weird holy paraphenalia collection but she had already befallen a decapitation and been glued together again before I even bought her so this breakage was not a huge surprise. I did intend to glue her back together again but as with most decrepit things I own, I get to like them as they are after a while.

I found this glass cloche in TKMaxx the other day and a virgin's head seemed the only sensible thing to put under it. The gold frame was a bargain charity shop find and the photograph in it was one I took in Galway and exhibited in a photographic exhibition I had many moons ago. The actual sheep's skull was found on a separate jaunt (my mum wouldn't let me bring the one in the photo into her home!)

In case you're interested, the tall candle stick came from a Greek pottery studio we visited on honeymoon, the material came from Thailand and the tray is made up of loads of real butterfly wings. It's one of my favourite finds ever. Gosh It's all a bit macabre isn't it?

Room tour: bathroom

I know you've all been dying to see some photographs of my bathroom. No? Well here they are anyway.

It seems that I'm incapable of visiting a beach without taking half of the shells and stones home with me and so they inhabit the empty space at the end of our bath. Some came all the way back from my year in Australia and some from our Greek island-hopping honeymoon but most are of the domestic variety.

You may have spotted the strange piece below which I painted a face onto. It caught my eye on a walk on the Strand beach in my home town and at first look I thought I'd discovered a fragment of an old fresco because I saw the ghost of a face, but alas it turned out just to be my over-active imagination. I brought it home though and tried to make it into a treasure by painting over the face that I imagined at first glance. It became another of my weird home-made presents to Danny.

The rather dried-out St Brigid's cross was made by me on the morning of our handfasting ceremony and my mum gave me the boat ornament as a reminder of all the sailing I did in Australia.

Elise (the bike) lives in our bathroom despite it being on the first floor because there's simply nowhere else for it to go. It's good exercise just getting it downstairs and out the front door!

The gorgeous carved piece of slate below belonged to my parents, or rather it still belongs to my parents but has found its way to my house. It represents the lamb of god and reminds me of the images in the Book of Kells. It is signed by an Eamon MacClior as far as I can make out. The bride and groom rubber ducks were given to us by Dan's mum on our wedding day.

Do you collect stones and such? How do you display yours?

Lost & found exhibition opening.

And straight on to the opening! It was such a great night and really busy with lots of friends and family there as well as both of the late night art tours visiting the show. The room certainly felt cosy then!

There was even spontaneous dancing to Otis on the record player.

Thanks to everyone who came down. It's open all month and I'm planning a craft workshop and a couple of intimate get togethers down there. Stay tuned for details.

A home from home.

All done! I finished the last few bits and bobs down in the space and generally enjoyed it all day. Here are pictures for your perusal.

On the home stretch

It's been quite a day. We made great progress in the space today though there are still a couple of little bits and pieces to do before the clamouring hoards arrive tomorrow evening. It feels nice and cosy though.

BUT this morning I moved a ladder, forgetting that there was a hammer on top if it and it fell, pointy end down onto my head. And THEN I closed my finger in a car door and I now have a half blue nail. I'd show you photographic evidence but I'm concerned you may be eating at the moment.

One has to suffer for one's Art, doesn't one?

Today's find

More religious paraphernalia to clutter up my home! But this one is unusual for being ceramic rather than plaster like most of the ones you find in Irish homes. It looks like it has a bit of age to it too. I couldn't resist.

You can just make out 'St. Joseph' written around the bottom of the statue but he's a bit of a mystery because Joseph is normally portrayed as a fairly benign father figure with a beard and brown robe while his guy is fresh-faced and carries a sword. Perhaps it's a whole other St.Joseph. Feel free to enlighten me in the comments.

As a side note, if you happen to be selling your house, and if you happen to believe in this sort of thing, a statue of St. Joseph is meant to help it sell quickly!

Going deeper underground

This is Danny descending the wooden staircase down 54 floors into the Wieliczka Salt Mines near Krakow last week. Luckily there was a lift to take us back above ground, although that was quite an experience in itself because they insisted on squeezing 9 of us into a space that appeared made for no more than two. Below, Dan and Mary wait in the cold for the bus to the mine.

The mine is like nothing I've ever seen before - we went 135 metres underground but only saw one percent of the mine. But what a percent! There were sculptures, underground lakes, huge chapels and amazing salt chandeliers, all made by the miners in their spare time over the last few hundred years, and the mine has been in continuous use since the 13th Century.

This is the mind-boggling St Kinga's Chapel which is carved entirely out of salt including the floor tiles and crystals in the chandeliers. Like most visitors I licked the wall, just to check. And yes, it tasted of salt funnily enough. Most amazing of all is that this chapel and all of its sculptures were carved by three men, working one after the other. That's dedication.

The salt looks almost like granite most of the time but the light behind the statue below shows how clear it actually is. This was one of the most interesting places I've ever been and it helped that our guide Sebastian had us in fits of laughter the whole time.

Now if only I could have fit one of those chandeliers in my hand luggage.

Today's find: more holy stuff!

Introducing my latest addition to the collection of religious icons. It's a kitsch sort of thing but that's never put me off before! I like the lace and 3-D roses stuck inside the frame. Merry Christ-mas!