Irish Traditional Trades Fair

24/06/2023

The Irish Traditional Trades Fair is on this weekend!

It's a fine morning in Ballylongford for the second annual Irish Traditional Trades Fair, there's a good line up of traditional trades and crafts this year including some very rare and unusual ones.

And Art in the Mill is on in the ground floor of Ballylongford Mill, an exhibition of contemporary art by our resident artists.

Gates open at 10am, 7 Euros for adults and kids under 16 free...see you there!

20/06/2023

W is for Water Diviner.

Joe Mullally from Anam Spirit in Tralee is a traditional healer, spiritual teacher and water diviner who will be at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair this weekend demonstrating the fascinating ancient art of divining for water.

Not only will Joe be demonstrating himself, anyone who wants to see if they have the gift for divining will be able to try their hand under Joe's guidance.

It promises to be a lot of fun, as well as finding out more about the ancient energies and knowledge used by diviners and healers that is deeply rooted in Irelands past.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

17/06/2023

R is for Restoration Joinery.

Alan Jackson from Woodfield Joinery is passionate about creating beautiful traditional joinery for historic buildings, and specialises in conservation and restoration of windows.

From multipaned window sashes and fanlights, to church windows and trellised porches and traditional panelled doors, Alan's uses the same techniques and materials that were used in Georgian and Victorian joiners shops to repair and replace original joinery to the same high standard.

He will be at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair next weekend at Ballylongford Mill talking about traditional joinery, and showing examples of some of the historic Irish houses where you can find his stunning work.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

15/06/2023

W is for Wheelwright.

Andy Daly from The Wheelwright Ireland in Roscommon is the only practicing wheelwright in Ireland, and we're delighted to have him at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair next weekend talking about his work.

As well as wheelwrighting he's a wagon builder, doing restorations, new builds and repairs to all types of horse drawn vehicles including Drays, Gigs, Traps, Farm Carts, Traditional Bow Tops and Showman's Wagons.

Andy will have wooden wheels on display, showing how the components are put together, along with the specialised tools used in this fascinating and rare trade.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

10/06/2023

E is for Embroidery.

Gosia Rydzewska from Plantarium practices the traditional craft of embroidery, creating beautiful hand sown pieces and specialising in embroidered Irish wildflowers.

She will be at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair on 24-25 June demonstrating and explaining the process, use of different stitches, and displaying finished pieces.

We're now only two weeks out from this years Trades Fair at Ballylongford Mill in North Kerry!

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

03/06/2023

S is for Signwriter.

Neil Cunningham from These Hands : Signwriter creates amazing traditional hand painted signs, including lettering to historic Irish shopfronts.

He will be at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair at Ballylongford Mill over the weekend of 24-25 June talking about and displaying his work, which includes traditional fonts and colours and gold leaf.

Neil is especially passionate about hand painted Irish shopfronts, and is one of the artists helping to preserve and promote these uniquely Irish works of art from the past.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

27/05/2023

L is for Leatherworker.

Sheena Ryan makes amazing traditional leather items using vegetable tanned leather, linen thread, water based dyes, and local beeswax, with each part of the process done by hand, from design to cutting out the leather, stitching with traditional saddle stitch, burnishing, embossing, conditioning and finishing.

Sheena will be demonstrating leatherworking at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair and talking about her passion for living sustainably by repairing and caring for good quality, hand-made items that will last for generations, rather than the prevalent culture of discarding and replacing.

The Irish Traditional Trades Fair is an annual event held at the historic 1846 Ballylongford Mill in the village of Ballylongford in North Kerry over the weekend of 24-25 June, where Irish traditional trades and craftspeople from all over the country will talk about and demonstrate their work.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

20/05/2023

H is for Heritage Conservation.

We're delighted to have Ger Edwards and David McFerran on behalf of SPAB Ireland at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair talking about SPAB's work, and also demonstrating hands on restoration techniques to historic stonework.

SPAB Ireland, or the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, is a leading heritage conservation organisation that works tirelessly for the protection of Ireland's historic buildings, and runs training courses in traditional skills.

David is a conservation carpenter and joiner and will be talking about traditional carpentry, and Ger from Specialist Masonry Contractors will be demonstrating traditional repointing with lime on one of the stone walls in the Mill yard, which will be extremely informative for anyone doing work on an old stone building.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

13/05/2023

S is for Spinning.

Annie Gambrill from Killala Woolcraft is a spinner and weaver who tends her own flock of sheep and dyes and spins wool into beautiful hand crafted textiles, and runs classes in wool spinning and free flow weaving from her studio in Co. Mayo.

Annie will be demonstrating wool spinning on a restored 19th century wheel at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair on 24-25 June, and will have extra wheels and drop spindles to try your hand at spinning.

She will also be demonstrating how to make clay loom weights as part of an exciting project to re-create a warp weighted loom, an ancient device for weaving dating back to Neolithic times in Ireland.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

06/05/2023

W is for Woodland Crafts.

Dan McLaughlin from Wildwood makes beautifully crafted vernacular furniture and utensils out of green wood, from wooden spoons and forks to traditional Irish chairs and stools.

He will be demonstrating working with green wood at the Trades Fair at Ballylongford Mill on 24-25 June, using traditional tools including the shave horse, side axe, froe and beetle.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

29/04/2023

F is for Felting.

Our next exhibitor at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair over the weekend of 24-25 June is Mairéad Sharry, a felter and childrens book author who specialises in felting beautiful bowls from Merino wool.

Mairéad spent many years on the Aran Islands where she learned traditional Aran Knitting, spinning with wool from the local Galway breed sheep, crios weaving and felting.

Her colourful bowls will be on display and she will demonstrate how she inserts hand dyed Wensleydale curls into the surface of the dried bowls by needle felting.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

22/04/2023

T is for Traditional Carpenter.

James Grace from Grace Designs in Wicklow is a traditional carpenter, green woodworker, fine furniture maker and sculptor who does amazing creations in wood.

He will be at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair over the weekend of 24-25 June talking about his love for making structural frames in wood, including hand framed roofs and trusses built with traditional woodworking joints and wooden trunnels.

James' work is quite unique in Ireland, and maintains the highest levels of craftsmanship that went into building houses in the past that has been lost in modern construction.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

15/04/2023

F is for Foraging.

Our first exhibitor at the 2023 Irish Traditional Trades Fair is local Kerry business Wild Weeds Ireland.

Sarah and Noreen are two herbalists who are passionate about the ancient rural craft of foraging native Irish plants for food, and their healing and medicinal properties that have been used for centuries.

They will be talking about uses for native plants that can be readily harvested from the countryside like Gorse and Comfrey, and Bladderwrack from the sea shore, how to identify them and demonstrating how to make your own balms and medicines.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1903660450013805

01/04/2023

The Irish Traditional Trades Fair is back again at Ballylongford Mill in North Kerry over the weekend of 24-25 June, 2023!

There will be more exhibitors and live demonstrations this year with lots of traditional crafts for sale, and a section for contemporary crafts as well.
We're also holding an art exhibition in the Mill, with work by our resident artists and other local painters.

There will be regular updates on the Facebook and Instagram pages as the event draws nearer 🙂

https://www.instagram.com/ballylongford_mill/
https://www.instagram.com/irishtraditionaltradesfair/

03/08/2022

27/07/2022

We will have some fascinating traditional childrens games to entertain the kids at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair at the weekend.

Learn how children entertained themselves in the streets of Irish cities and villages 100 years ago with found objects like stones, pieces of slate and horseshoes, all instructions courtesy of the lovely people at the Irish Folklore Division of the National Museum of Ireland.

It'll be a wonderful opportunity to show your kids how children in the past entertained themselves before mobile phones!
The supervised games are free and included in the entrance charge to the Trades Fair of Adults 12e and Children under 16 free 🙂

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

23/07/2022

N is for Nettle Weaving.

Astrid Adler will be demonstrating the fascinating process of converting nettles into thread and producing textiles from this amazingly strong and versatile plant at the weekend of the Irish Traditional Trades Fair at Ballylongford Mill.

Nettles have been used as a traditional source of fibre for weaving into cloth for centuries in Ireland, and the raw materials were freely available for making clothing for the poorest members of society in the past who could not afford flax.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

21/07/2022

T is for Traditional Skills.

Irish Traditional Skills Initiative (ITSI) is a recently formed group passionate about informing young people about the benefits of a career training as a skilled craftsperson.
There is a critical shortage of traditional building trades in Ireland...thatchers, stonemasons, lime plasterers, traditional carpenters and joiners, as well as many endangered and rare crafts.

The future of preserving Irelands built heritage lies with the current and next generation of school leavers as older tradespeople retire, and the experienced members from Irish Traditional Skills Initiative will be at the Trades Fair with lots of information and to answer questions for anyone considering a career in a heritage trade.

More details on their website https://itsi-ireland.com/

19/07/2022

C is for Chairmaker.

Feargus De Brun is a chairmaker who uses native Oak and Ash and traditional hand tools including the drawknife, inshaves, cabinet scrapers and hide glue to craft the seats and spindles by hand, in exactly the same way craftsmen have been making chairs in Ireland for hundreds of years.

He will be at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair at Ballylongford Mill on 30-31 July demonstrating some of the techniques used in traditional woodworking, and will have one of his magnificent finished Gibson Chairs on display, a uniquely Irish chair developed in the nineteenth century in rural parts of the island.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

17/07/2022

Introducing our very special guests at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair from the United States...the Black Irish Band!

The boys from the band have an amazing collection of Irish Celtic and Americana folk music...about miners, cowboys, railroaders, sailors and firefighters, many written by songwriter and the band's lead vocalist Patrick Michael Karnahan.

They will be our very first live music act in Ballylongford Mill on the evenings of Thursday the 28th and Friday 29th July, in fact the very first time the Mill has been used for anything after lying unused and derelict for 40 years.

Then the band will be playing regular sets over both days of the Irish Traditional Trades Fair.
The band is included in the entrance charge to the Trades Fair of Adults 12e and Children under 16 free.

These boys are seriously good, if you see one band this year, it needs to be this one!

This is the link to their website:
https://www.blackirish.com/

16/07/2022

V is for Vernacular Shopfront Signs.

Dee Maher Ring is on a crusade to document and catalogue the beautiful hand-painted, hand-made signs on historic shopfronts that were once common all over Ireland, and that are now becoming rarer and harder to find.

She will talk about her passion at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair to help preserve and promote these uniquely Irish works of art from the past, together with photos of historic shopfronts and restoration work by signwriters using traditional methods and materials.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

13/07/2022

T is for Tanner.

Ragna Strub will be at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair on 30-31 July demonstrating the techniques used in tanning hides that have been used in Europe and Ireland for thousands of years, from Neolithic times up until the nineteenth century.

She will have concoctions made from natural plant and animal materials used in the tanning process, and talk about the highly labour intensive traditional methods used to produce leather and hides in the past.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

09/07/2022

C is For Currach Builder.

Eoin Reardon builds Currachs using traditional materials and hand tools in exactly the same way used by boatbuilders in Ireland for centuries, including steaming the timbers to shape, sheathing the wooden frame with canvas and tarring the canvas to waterproof it.

The construction and design of the Currach is unique to the west coast of Ireland, and Eoin will be at Ballylongford Mill over the weekend of 30-31 July talking about and demonstrating some of the construction methods used, and he will have a finished Currach on display.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair:
https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

06/07/2022

L is for Leatherworker.

Sheena Ryan makes amazing traditional leather items using vegetable tanned leather, linen thread, water based dyes, and local beeswax, with each part of the process done by hand, from design to cutting out the leather, stitching with traditional saddle stitch, burnishing, embossing, conditioning and finishing.

Sheena will be demonstrating leatherworking at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair and talking about her passion for living sustainably by repairing and caring for good quality, hand-made items that will last for generations, rather than the prevalent culture of discarding and replacing.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair: https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

25/06/2022

C is for Charcoal Maker.

Tim Stanley of Tim from Tang is a Forester with specialised knowledge of charcoal making and smelting of iron in a blast furnace, centuries old crafts practiced in pre-industrial Ireland.

He will be demonstrating charcoal making at the Trades Fair in collaboration with the Blacksmiths from Forged in Ireland, which will then be used by the Blacksmiths in their forges to produce carbon steel, a specific steel used in blademaking.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair: https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

18/06/2022

T is for Textile Printer.

Nicola Brown from Clasheen's sustainable textile practice uses home grown and locally foraged vegetation to print handmade felt, lambswool, silk, vintage linen and upcycled garments in an environmentally mindful and health conscious way.

Come and watch Nicola demonstrate this ancient craft that was used for centuries before the invention of synthetic dyes at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair over the weekend of 30-31 July, and see how leaves, seed pods, bark and onion skins can totally transform a piece of fabric or paper when boiled in a large metal pot!

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair: https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

11/06/2022

S is for Stonecarver.

Ruairi Dennison is a Sculptor, Stonecarver and Lettercutter, a Master Craftsman producing amazing creations in stone, who works on hand carved High Crosses and Memorials to Gothic Revival manor houses and Medieval castles.

He will be demonstrating stone carving at the Irish Traditional Trades Fair at Ballylongford Mill on 30-31 July, and talking about his passion for keeping an ancient craft alive and flourishing.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair: https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647

04/06/2022

C is for Cob Builder.

Gerry Cussen from Cob On is an artist and teacher, and an expert in earth building and natural sustainable materials who will be at the Trades Fair talking about her favourite building material cob.

Cob building is an ancient way of constructing walls using clay, sand and straw...a completely natural, recyclable, breathable material that makes a great thermal mass for storing heat, and can last for hundreds of years with proper care.

This is the link to the Irish Traditional Trades Fair: https://www.facebook.com/events/364443332380647