The Earrings
One of the stage crew came up and asked if I did repairs. I was a bit reluctant but asked him what it was he wanted done and he explained he had a lovely Chinese cast iron teapot which he used as a kettle when travelling, but that the knob on its lid had broken off; was there any way that I could replace it for him? A creative repair then, not exactly run-of-the-mill, so of course I said yes.
I explained that it wouldn’t be like the original but he was happy to leave it up to me. I forged a little snail-like spiral knob for it and he was delighted.
He offered to pay and I explained my barter challenge.
“Oh, if only I’d known – in my other life I’m a silversmith. Maybe I can send you something? What kind of jewellery do wear?”
A few weeks later the most beautiful pair of earrings arrived in the post – swan heads tucked into swan wings. I have worn one or both of them daily ever since. They are just lovely and were immortalised in a free-hand machine stitched portrait of me by another artist on the Greencrafts field which, as it happens, was another barter.
And as a wonderful addendum, I met him at a subsequent festival and he told me how his live-in van had been stolen and he was devastated, in part because he thought he’d lost his Chinese kettle with it – and then he found it, together with other feared-gone treasures, tucked safely away in a cupboard at home.
Kate The Wordsmith 