548. Have a sword fight

 Last year, Bergstrom-Mahler Glass Museum did a Renaissance Faire themed Art After Dark complete with sword fighting. I wanted to go so bad but life got in the way and I had no one to go with. This year they were doing it again and I was bound and determined to go. Danielle put it on her calendar and I was going to be in training. Work got all messed up and I had to take some PTO so I could go but it worked out. 

It used to be once a month but now it is once a quarter, Bergstrom-Mahler Glass Museum hosts Art After Dark, a themed experience to see the museum after hours. The event is usually the last Thursday of the month and is free to the public. Food and drink are usually available for purchase. It usually runs 5:30-8:30.  I have attended a couple events over the years.

All I could talk about was getting to sword fight. I was going to be seriously disappointed if I wasn't allowed to participate. We got to the museum in time for a sword fight demonstration. That was pretty neat. They were quite talented.

Then we headed towards the back of the lawn to where WHFA Appleton (Badgers Den Sword Academy) was going to let you practice your sword fighting skills. After signing my life away, I donned my helmet and grabbed a sword. 

At first they gave me a long sword and my trusty opponent had a shorter sword. I felt this was a disadvantage so they found me a shorter sword.

The goal was to "behead" your opponent by hitting them in the helmet. I was not very successful. I was beheaded more than I was able to get behead my opponent. 

I was expecting more of a pirate sword versus a Medieval type T Sword. I wanted to swashbuck my opponent. Oh well. It wasn't a real sword but more heavy of form type sword but it felt very well. 

Needless to say I was not a very good sword fighter. Good thing I didn't need to pass that test to get knighted. 

After my attempts at sword fighting, we wandered around, sampled mead and beer, browsed the shops, and eventually completed all my missions to become a knight.

It was a fun evening. Hopefully they continue to have this particular Art After Dark. I'm sure Danielle would tag along with me again.

Now that I found out I'm not very proficient at sword fighting, maybe I can find out if I can master joust.  

Celebrating the Summer Solstice

The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass has Art After Dark on the third Thursday of the month. Danielle and I have been to several of them. This month theme was the Summer Solstice. Since we celebrated Festivus at the Glass Museum, I figured we better celebrate Summer too. They were promising me fire dancers. Ok, now I have to be there for the Solstice Celebration.

The Summer Solstice celebration took place on the lawn of the museum starting at 7:30 with ballet dancers. The fire dancers were scheduled for 8:30. We had to be back to my car by 10 since we parked at Kimberly Point Park and walked due to the amount of people there.

We snuck in the from the lawn while the ballerinas were dancing and plopped a squat on the grass. The ballerinas were very good. It was tough to see at times because of people with strollers in the middle of the grass but for the most part we could see. The dancers performed for about 30 minutes or so.

During intermission, I checked out the new exhibit downstairs. I wasn't quite sure what the exhibit entailed but it was very cool to look at, especially the women made from glass falling from the ceiling. I always enjoy looking at the most recent exhibit to see what sort of glass creations people make.

To advertise fire dancers, I was expecting several fire dancers performing at one time. Not one individual that did a few moves with a firey hoop for about five minutes... then we sat and wait (while the kids ran rampert around the grass) for the next performer. There was a good 10 minute break between preformers. And when I say performers I made one person with a firy hoop or rings. We stayed for three performances.

I get fire is dangerous and to have multiple people dancing with fire could get extremely dangerous but I felt very let down. Don't get me wrong it was still very cool to see them manipulate the hoops with fire through the air but was I hoping for a little more action.

Next maybe I will just celebrate the solstice by dancing in the yard naked.

Celebrating Festivus

I heard about Festivus, even though I'm not a Seinfeld fan but I never celebrated it before. The Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass was celebrating Festivus as part of their Art After Dark series. I told Danielle to mark it on her calendar, we were going. Between work and sickness, we almost didn't make it but the Festivus Gods were in our favor and we were able to celebrate Festivus.

What is Festivus? Well as I like to say "Airing your grievances so you can be joyful and thankful at Christmas". Festivus is more than that. According to Wikipedia "Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season." Apparently it's been around since the 60s but really has gotten popular since Seinfeld in the 90s.

There are many aspects to Festivus:

There is the Festivus Pole which is just an aluminum pole in the middle of the room. It's actually kind of boring. I guess it's supposed to represent the lack of commercialism in your life. There were songs you could sing around the Festivus pole such as "It's a Pole", "The Festivus Song", and "O Festivus".

Then you have the traditional Festivus dinner which is meatloaf and mashed potatoes. We had meatballs and M&Ms. Close enough. It was still tasty. It is difficult to put mashed potatoes on a stick.. maybe next year they will do potato puffs.

One of the parts of Festivus I was looking forward to was the airing of grievances. After my bad day at work, I really needed to air some grievances. I probably was a little too specific but I really liked some of the grievances people aired. Next year I'll have to be more creative.

The last part of Festivus was Feats of Strength. There were several feats of strength that the entire family could partake in -- staring contest, thumb wrestling, and arm strength. Gavin totally beat me at the staring contest. However after a slows start, I managed to take two out of three in the thumb wrestling competition. To find out who won the feats of strength, we held out paper weights in each hand. The goal was to see who could keep them outstretched the longest. Even with Danielle cheering Gavin, he tired out quickly and I was named the Feats of Strength Champion. Not quite sure how fair it was since there is a 30+ year age difference.

The Festivus celebration was a lot of fun. Besides the Festivus Celebration, we got to check out some really cool new glass creations in the museum.

I hope to be back next year for another Festivus celebration. Who knows maybe I will inherit an aluminum pole myself and I can host my own Festivus celebration.

Making Swizzle Stix

I saw that the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass was having an Art Activity Day where you could make your own stir sticks. I made sure I was at the library on the first to try to snag a FAN pass so I could make them for free. I did get my FAN Pass and Heather was going to make them with me.

The museum must have figured out a way to do these Art Activity Days without having too many people in the room at a time to keep it manageable. They give you a ticket with a time slot on it and that's when you show up and make your craft. Because we go there at 10, we got the 10 AM time slot and headed downstairs to make our swizzle sticks.

Basically we decorated clear sticks of glass with glass rods, beads, and glitter. W. e were to leave the middle open to give the sticks a more rounded stir stick look. This is AFTER I already made my candy cane looking one. So I followed directions on the other 3... I made a Wisconsin one, a Mickey Mouse looking one, and one that was supposed to be Christmasy and ended up looking like the Food Dude's Logo. Heather also filled her middles in to give it more color.

We left our unfired projects at the museum and let the experts do their job (aka fire our creations to fuse the glass into one). Two weeks later, I picked up our swizzle stix and am very happy with the results... even my candy cane one looks awesome. I just wish I filled in the middle more.

I can't wait to use my new swizzle sticks. I might have to throw a hot chocolate party or serve hot chocolate for the cookie exchange. I didn't think ever needed swizzle stix because we don't make mixed drinks ever but they are very pretty to look at and might just come in handy one day.

I love that the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum has these Art Activity Days and that the Appleton Library has FAN Passes allowing me to create cool glass creations for free. I can't wait to find another project that I want to make and hopefully I will get a chance to make one. Don't worry, I try to not to get a FAN Pass every month so others can have the chance to make to participate in the Art Activity Days or other fun Art Events in the area.

Getting Crafty -- Wine Bottle Planters

I picked up a FAN Pass to make a wine bottle planter at the Bergstrom-Mahler glass museum. I saw the event on Facebook and wanted to go but didn't want to spend $15 to make one. Danielle and Gavin joined me.

Technically we "made" a wine bottle planter but it really wasn't worth the $15.


First we picked out our wine bottle which was already cut in half.

Then we sanded the edges to make the smooth and inverted the top of the bottle into the bottom.

Finally we added a piece of screen with a string, some dirt, and planted a couple of seeds.

And then you took it home. Let's see how long I can keep my beans alive....

Basically they gave you a cut wine bottle you filled with some dirt... for $15. I can get a whole lotta potting soil, seeds, and pots for $15. We didn't even get to decorate the bottle. I was hoping to make a fun design on the bottle with glass pieces so it would be some funky planter outside my apartment. Heck, I'd even taken paint or even Sharpies. It really was kind of boring. I get it was a make and take but it was seriously lacking creativity. Next year, I'll let someone else have the FAN pass.

The Big Boohaha -- Art After Dark

Last year, I enjoyed several Art After Dark events at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass and was looking forward to more this year. They open up the museum up after hours and usually have a theme -- usually with characters or a special exhibit/event.

This month they featured a Halloween theme which is fitting for October. They said there was going to be haunting music and readings of Poe, Hamlet, and Harry Potter. Either Danielle and I got there super early before the party got started or there was a shortage of volunteers since I only saw a few of these special guests and no readings that I heard except when the person that was playing Poe or Hamlet was practicing.

Although we didn't hear any stories, we were "stalked" by a creepy old lady claiming this was her house back in the day.

She pointed out the hidden devils in some of the paperweights that was fine then she followed us upstairs and tried to get the glass to glow in the dark. Note to future self.. arrive later so can avoid creepy old ladies.

Besides we didn't need any help finding the creepiness of the paperweights upstairs. I pointed out that I found this paperweight a bit creepy....

Danielle proceeded to inform me that the roots of these flowers/trees/plants were actually humans. Apparently they brought out all the scary paperweights for this event.

As we moved back downstairs, we did see some cool glass pieces including a Chulily Piece. I love his work.

Very Dr. Seuss-like

Chiluly

More Dr. Seuss-like art

Another piece reminded me of Macaroni and Cheese.

On a whim, I decided to pose as the work of art and did it for a few pieces. Poe wanted to know how I was going to do the horse... I stopped when I got to the horse... too many people.

Now don't get me wrong. It was nice event. I just wish all the characters were telling stories. The museum did a good job at highlighting the creepy and scary pieces in the museum. I am not sure if they have always been out or if they just pulled them out for this display.

I am sure I will check out another After Dark Event this year.. hopefully without creepy stalker dead women.