30 years old... Seriously.

This time next week I will be 30.

I would have had my awesome joint 80s school disco party and I will be another year older.

I am not ready to be thirty. For one I don't feel like I have been on this earth for thirty years. I still feel in my mid twenties but that is not the case.

At thirty I am suppose to be married, or had my first child/second or a full time job and own a house, even if it is just renting.

I have none of those things.

I still work my part-time weekend job.

I live with my boyfriend at his parents house

I have no kids and still don't feel the want to have kids yet.

I thought I would feel that way by now but I just don't.

Is there something wrong with me? 

I am happy with my life as it is. Sure, I would love to have my own home and have more money in a better job but with this job I can at least dedicate serious time to my craft business.

I have big plans for Wylde Embers. I am more excited about that than the thought of having a child! To me Wylde Embers Pyrography is like a newborn enfant. Something I want to nurture and grow. This year has been the play stage, gaining the knowledge and skills needed for pyrography and next year will be the growth of my business. That is what I really want to do.

My website:  http://wyldeembers.wix.com/wyldeembers

I know many women are leaving it later to have a family but with that comes the risks and dangers. The later I leave it, the bigger the age gap between me and the baby.

I worry about it a lot but I can't let that be the reason to have a child! It has to be the very fibre of my being, what I want most in the world and right now... I don't feel that it is.

I know that my family are waiting for the grandchildren to come. I feel like I am letting them down as they are also are getting older and our family is getting smaller.

Again, I can not use that as an excuse to have something so important, so life changing, as a child!

Where am I going with this post? I don't know but it's thoughts and feelings that just needed to come out.

The next post will be about my 30th party and will be a lot more upbeat I promise.

Thanks if you have taken the time to read this.

Until next time!

Wylde Embers

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts of late. Had a lot of personal issues to sort out over the last couple of weeks.

I have also been keeping busy doing my pyrography. I have now created a Facebook page for my wood burning which I have called Wylde Embers.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wylde-Embers-Pyrography/502518209783842

I have created several boxes including a Elen of the ways box and a Avalon tarot box for Zee.

Elen of the ways box featuring a doe. 

Zee asked for a box to keep her Avalon oracle cards safe and asked that it included images associated with Avalon.

I got busy sketching out some ideas on paper which I then drew on to the box. As I worked more ideas for images came to mind and the box turned out to be one of the easiest designs I had made. I look forward to next weekends moot when I can give it to her.

This was based on a image her husband took of her greeting the sunrise.

Have also been creating totem key rings and I made a key ring for one of my work colleagues of his pet dog Diesel.

I have been a digital artist for over ten years, I love creating art in this medium but I had a hard time explaining to others how the images are created. With pyrography nothing needs to be explained. You can easily tell that all the markings have been created using a hot tool.

Everyone seems to really like my new art medium and I am loving my new craft. You can find me busy burning designs almost every day and I am getting commissions.

One such commission was for a key ring featuring a antlered goddess form and a copy of a box I had already made but had sold before.

Also I have been busy studying for my Celtic Moon pagan project. The purpose of the project is to dedicate time to explore our spirituality and perhaps look at other paths that perhaps have always intrigued us but never been more than a passing interest.

For me I have chosen to look at shamanism in it's many disguises but mostly the use of drums in shamanism. I will explain this further in a future blog post.

Until next time!

Moots, friendship, drumming and pyrography!

The weekend just gone was very busy for me.

One of our Celtic Moon sisters, Fawn, was back in the UK after being away since the Pagan Pilgrimage last year!

After work on Saturday I went to pick up Fawn from the train station and then we were off to Dartford to see the rest of the Celtic Moon clan for a social get together.

Also when I arrived at Breaca's home she told me she had a surprise for me which turned out to be a beautiful sculpture of my patron Goddess Elen playing a drum. I absolutely adore it!

Photo by Breaca.

Afterward the meet up I drove back home and Fawn stayed the night with me as she needed to go back to Canterbury and I was headed there the next day because of work. Plus she got to meet Keijo!

With the lovely Fawn

The Celtic moon circle all together 

The next day I dropped Fawn off in Canterbury although I couldn't say goodbye very well so I will say it here.

It was lovely to see you again Fawn. Good luck for the next stage of your journey and see you again later in the year. Xx

On Sunday night it was a trip over the Dartford bridge for the Celtic Moon Grove moot at Esther and Martin's abode. A lovely relaxing evening followed with chat, yummy soup and discussion about the future. Rather than drive home that night I decided to stay and enjoy E and M's company a little bit longer.

On Monday we went into town to trawl the charity shops and picked up some amazing bargains, including this little guy, who I just fell in love with and couldn't leave behind!

He is hand carved out of Meadswood from New Zealand and at a pound he was a steal! 

Then Esther took me to the QD store and to the aisle which contained lots and lots of plain wooden boxes, perfect for pyrography. I almost brought their whole stock!

That afternoon I showed Violetstar the joys of pyrography and being a talented artist she took to it straight away.

That evening I went along to the Southend Dolmen grove moot and Imbolc ritual.

This was a lovely gathering of souls which also included a talk on natural dentistry and a raffle. I didn't win anything from the raffle but I did put in one of my pyrography key rings as a prize which someone won and said they really liked it. 

At the end of the night we gathered in a circle to do some drumming which I really enjoyed and once the beat picked up and I felt it I began chanting. I wasn't expecting to do so but because I have been attending the Shamanic drumming circles over on the Isle of Sheppey where shamanic drumming includes chanting I just couldn't help it. 

When the drums quietened and came to a stop I was surprised that people actually thanked me for doing the chanting!

As it was quite late one I was invited stay over another night with the lovely Esther and Martin.

The next day saw us going back to QD's to get more wooden boxes and doing more pyrography.

A lesson in pyrography. Photo by Esther.

Day like these don't come around often but I love it when they do!

More fun with pyrography

Blessings of Imbolc to you all. Finally we are seeing the light lasting that little bit longer each day and the first stirrings of green shoots can been seen in the brown earth.

The past week has been quite hard for me as one of the members of my family is quite ill in hospital and we are unsure at the moment for their future.

I have been keeping myself busy of late with my pyrography. Since I last posted about it I have been bust practising the craft on paper, wood and leather.

here is a selection of what I have burnt so far:

Lady of Avalon and Badger keyring

keijo our dog

Dia De Los Muertos 

  

 Mountain Lion and cub with a work in progress showing sketch, outline, shading, shadows and finish.

Thor's hammer

Taking photos of pyrography is turning out to be quite difficult and they look better in the flesh.

I am loving this new craft and have many requests for designs which I look forward to starting on. I am currently waiting for some small plain wooden chests to arrive that I plan to decorate.

The art of burning

For Christmas I got a pyrography tool. I have always wanted to take up this craft as a hobby and I am having a lot of fun trying out the different nibs.

So far I have only burnt on thick gsm paper but I can't wait to try burning images on to wood and leather.

This was my first large image attempt, still along way to go but I am happy with the result.

Also, happy birthday to Elvis and David Bowie!