So……what’s in the Crafty Cupboard right now?
Here we are again, home and twiddling our thumbs…. so let’s make the most of this time…..up-cycle some rubbish, use our imagination and have some crafty fun!
Here’s a project that can be as big or small as you like….. CARDBOARD CITIES……
If you have a favourite toy figure then you can make it to scale for them, or maybe you can build a model that represents your own home or village/town? Of course you can also simply let your imagination run wild and create a completely imagined town or city. These can then be used for play, performance or simply hung on a wall as a sculptural work of art!
Just take a look at this amazing example….
……for instructions go to our GUGGLEHEADS page and for supplies go to the Crafty Cupboard!
Happy House Building Guys.
Holey Moley, it’s Holy Family time…….
Here we are, it is the week before Christmas, we have heralded, journeyed, husbanded [the sheep!] and are now heading for the the stability of a manger….
So… Mary and Joseph were as surprised as many about the arrival of the Baby Jesus and so they feel the wonder too. They sit around the manger feeling, probably, a little enthralled. So they need a sit down. Let’s use beer bottles instead of wine, not only will it please beer drinkers but it will also allow for a more creative tableau… 
You will also need some balls: from the crafty cupboard, to create the baby Jesus. Using four balls of varying sizes and an uncurled paper clip, attach all the balls together like this… 
Grab some calico to create the ‘swaddling’. Swaddling was basically wrapping a baby up to make it feel secure and keep it warm… 
Tear strips off of the calico and… 
Wrap them around the baby body, remember to paint his head first…. 
You need no prompting about how to create Mary and Joseph, just a couple of tips: Firstly, if you tie the belts much lower and let a lot of material spread out behind them, it will create the illusion that they are kneeling. Secondly, Mary and Joseph would have been basically, but warmly dressed, so no bling here! 
Next, create your manger. A manger was a rudimentary eating station for the animals that normally inhabited the stable. Find some cardboard and cut two oblongs with slits in and two the centre as shown here… 
Slot the pieces together to form an ‘X” shape. 
Paint the manger and add some soft bedding…Ive used shredded Gugg bills…. 
Now add your Mary and Joseph heads, headdresses and beards [not for Mary, obviously] and draw in the features for all three figures. HOLEY MOLEY THE HOLY FAMILY!
Our full tableau can now be viewed in the window of the Stalbridge Post Office. To enter the Competition you will need to take a photo of your Upcycled Nativity Scene and send it to us on out Facebook Page here.
For more details on the competition click here
Have fun and a Merry Christmas!
A very wise man once said….. ‘oooh look there’s a star, let’s follow it and worship whomever it leads us to…’
The History behind the Three Kings/Wise Men/Magi in the Christmas Story
After Jesus was born, Wise Men came to look for him, probably from an area which is now in either Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia the Yemen, or an area in what’s now southern Turkey, northern Syria. Although they are often called the ‘Three Kings’, the Bible does not say how many there were, or that they were kings. One theory is that they might have been Kings of the Yemen, as during this time the Kings of Yemen were Jews. Three is only a guess because they brought with them three gifts: but however many there were of them, they probably would have had many more servants with them.They were certainly men of great learning. The word Magi comes from the greek word ‘magos’ (where the english word ‘magic’ comes from). Magos itself comes from the old persian word ‘Magupati’. This was the title given to priests in a sect of the ancient Persian religions such as Zoroastrianism. Today we would call them astrologers. Back then astronomy and astrology were part of the same overall studies, and a science, so went hand in hand with each other. The magi would have followed the patterns of the stars religiously. They would have also probably been very rich and held high esteem in their own society and by people who weren’t from their country or religion.
They had seen an unusual new star in the sky, and knew that it told of the birth of a special king in Israel. No one really knows what the new star in the sky was, and there are many theories including comets, supernovas, a conjunctions of planets or something supernatural!
The Magi would have known about the prophecies of a special Jewish Savior (also known as the Messiah) from when the Jews had been held captive in ancient Babylon several hundred years before.
Legends are told about them and they have been given names. This is how they are often described:
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Gaspar, who wears a green cloak and a gold crown with green jewels on it and is the King of Sheba. Gaspar represents the Frankincense brought to Jesus.
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Melchior, who has white hair and a white beard and wears a gold cloak. He is the King of Arabia. Melchior represents the Gold brought to Jesus.
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Balthazar, who has black skin and a black beard (or no beard!) and wears a purple cloak. He is the King of Tarse and Egypt. Balthazar represents the gift of Myrrh that was brought to Jesus.
Herod asked the Wise Men to find Jesus and tell him where he was, not so he could go and worship him as he said, but so he could kill him. He thought that Jesus sounded like a new King that could come and take his power away.
When the Wise Men found Jesus and Mary and they gave their gifts to him. The gifts seem quite strange to give to a baby, but Christians believe that they had the following meanings:
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Gold: is associated with Kings and Christians believe that Jesus is the King of Kings.
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Frankincense: is sometimes used in worship in Churches and showed that people would worship Jesus.
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Myrrh: is a perfume that is put on dead bodies to make them smell nice; Christian believe that it showed that Jesus would suffer and die.
The gifts are also all things that come from east of Israel in Arabia.
When the wise men were about to go to tell Herod where Jesus was, they were warned in a dream not to, so Herod could not carry out his horrible plan……
The wonderful thing about the wise man for us is that the tradition of gift giving at Christmas still goes on! [ooops sorry, I wasn’t mean to say that…]
Anyway, as you know by now how to dress your bottles I’ll skip all that part and just put pics of how I dressed mine as Kings….There is plenty of King Bling now in the Crafty Cupboard, help yourself…Instead what we will focus on here is the making of the gifts…..Soooo let’s get gifting….CLICK HERE
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Christmas Jumper Day ‘Jumps’
Slight change of plan as #mrsclaus was double booked! Our Christmas Jumper party will now take place from 3.30 until 5.30 on Wednesday the 16th December…..pop along for a piccie with Santa’s Missy, a wee pressie from the North Pole, a mince pie, a swipe at our pumpkin piñata and other little games; all proceeds to #savethechildren #christmasjumperday2020Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children!
This week @ #thegugg we are enjoying the reopening of the #wesca mixed show in the #milkingparlourgallery (open from 11-3 daily) and looking forward to our #christmasjumperday on Friday from 3.30-5.30 with activities and Christmas jumper photo opps, with the wonderful Cara Wildeman, plus pressies from Santa! All in aid of #savethechildern Pop along in your Crimbo sweater, grab a mince pie and take a swipe at our Christmas pud piñata…Ok, so Christmas is on….
Our ‘Merry-Christmas-go-round’ pop up xmas fair will take place on Thursday! 
Our Nativity Scene Competition is on into its second week! Huzzah!! Luckily our pop up Christmas market can still go ahead in Tier 2, and we will be putting in place systems to keep us all as COVID safe as possible, let’s have some socially responsible festive fun! If you would like to pop along to the Christmas market then we are having two ‘sittings’ to maintain a the COVID safe environment. There will be a Merry-Go-Round system in place, simply follow the signs.
They are between 4-6 and 6-8 pm. We have 22 stalls for your delectation, offering such delights as jewellery, ceramics, knitwear, prints, woodwork, vintage items, embroidery, pocket money presents, Xmas deccies, Christmas family photos, chutneys, cakes and more…..come get all your Christmas pressies in one place…
The As The crow Flies shop and Milking Parlour Gallery will also be open and brimming with beautiful bits and baubles…
PLUS Bakerman Dan will be here serving up his usual Thursday fare, alongside turkey, stuffing and cranberry baps!
Lots of lovely festive frippery…..music, food and free mulled wine!
AND REMEMBER….. If you are interested in entering out Christmas Nativity Competition then then visit our GUGGLEHEADS! page for full instructions and pop along to the all new Crafty Cupboard on site….
The Crafty Cupboard Nativity Scene Competition!
The Crafty Cupboard is back to keep us occupied during Lockdown 2! Bigger and better, new and improved…….
So to get us all feeling crafty and ready for Crimbo, this week sees the launch of our up cycled Nativity Scene Competition in association with Dikes and Sons Supermarket.
Everything you need to create your scene can be found at home, or by taking a quick visit to the Crafty Cupboard on site at Guggleton Farm….
In true Christmas story style we will start off with the shepherds for week one, move on to the Herald, Gabriel, and Star in week two, then the Kings [three] and finally Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus….
Full instructions for Shepherd week can be found by clicking here.
Once you have completed your scene photograph it, then we will post details of how to enter the Competition and where to send your images. Deadline for entries will be Sunday 13th December and judging will take place w/c 14th December.
The winning entry will be announced on Monday 21st when you can collect your prize from Dikes just in time for Christmas!
GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY AND GUGG BLESS US, EVERYONE!
Lockdown 2: MORE ALTERED STATES
This fabulous, mixed media, show of the work of 19 WESCA members opened to a successful and socially distanced talk on the 30th of October, and then had to close a week later for obvious reasons…
To give you time to get along and see it we have taken the decision to re-open the show after Lockdown 2 [which we hope will mean doors open again at 11am on the 3rd of December] for more information on WESCA click here, on the reopening click here.ALTERED STATES – WESCA
the uncomfortable beauty of terrible things
opening tomorrow, 2/10/20, this show brings together three of the prize winners from guggleton farm art’s summer open 2019, go figure, sue baker Kenton, sasha constable and matthew hayward.they were selected by the judges, wendy elia, david cobley and anthony connolly after a long day of deliberation on the assembled works of the 24 finalists.
during the go figure exhibit curator, deanne tremlett, brought together the finalists, over two days, for discussion and cream tea.
these discussions resulted in the theme for this show. little knowing how sadly portentous their discussions were, the participants explored, amongst other topics, Artists’ use of the seductive formal qualities of art to better engage the audience when communicating difficult subjects; finding beauty in even the most dreadful things. much of the work in the show, opening in the milking parlour gallery tomorrow, has been created during the recent national lockdown, whilst also developing themes already observable in the artists’ work.
The exhibit will open with a socially distanced, facilitated ‘in conversation with’ reception, hosted by andrew stooke, and available online post event. tickets for this free event are available though eventbrite here.
