Last weekend was a very busy one! Here in Menai Bridge on the Island of Anglesey, Dylan's organised a Seafood Discovery Day on the Princes Pier right on the water front.
It was my first outdoor event, thankfully the weather was kind, although in the build up it was forecast to be thunder and lightning all day. Thankfully that thunder didn't start until after the event was over!
Originally I'd planned on giving people the opportunity to print off a flat fish. Flat fish are less challenging to print from as they are obviously not as three dimensional. I'd given Andy a call to ask him to get me something but as it turned out the wind was really tricky in the buildup and it made getting out fishing very hard and when he did there wasn't a lot to be had.
Then I learned that the site didn't have any hot running water for washing hands and that was a real problem. You can't have people printing a raw fish and then just wiping their hands and using some sanitizer if they are going to go off and eat food. As the main focus of the event was eating sea food it was just to risky to use a fish.
So I had to do some quick thinking and come up with a plan. My stall was all booked so I was expected to be there. I could just go and sell my work and talk about what I do that was my first option. However that just didn't feel like it was going to be enough. So after some time digging aroun on the internet, I found a theatre props company that were selling some rubber fish. It's always hard to tell from a photo if something will be right or not, but with no better alternative, I paid my money and waited to see what would show up. 
A couple of days later Freddy arrived. Thankfully he was pretty good and I was able to take a half decent print. I decided for ease for my customers that printing onto fabric would be easier. As you'll know if you follow me on here, flattening a print on paper is no easy task. Where as, with some caution, a print onto fabric can be ironed. The image below is of my test print which I framed up and I think it looks pretty good.
So I headed out at 8am on Staurday with a car full of prints, printing materials and some trepidation. I popped down to the site the evening before and realised how windy it was. Coastal weather is a funny thing and it wasn't too bad just up the road but the pier is very exposed and it was really blowy.
Anyway with the aid of some props and gaffa tape, I managed to secure my prints and set up for printing. I just had time to grab a coffee before the site was open to the public at 10am. I can't believe it but I didn't even get chance to take a photo.
From 10am right through to 5pm I never stopped all day. I met some lovely people and printed shells and fish all day. So much so I ran out of fabric. It wasn't just kids who were printing I had plenty of adults wanting a go too. Nobody seemed to mind that Freddy wasn't real and those that weren't too keen on him printed a scallop shell instead.
All in all the day was a great success. I'd like to say I could recommend food or some of the other amazing activities that were on site but I really had no time. The event also had live cookery demos, a full bar, hot food including Mussels, Paella and fresh Oysters. A fishmonger, fisherman, RLNI, Anglesey Sea Zoo, Psyched Paddleboarding and of course RibRide boats.
All in all, it was an amazing day well worth attending for me and I think for the public who came along too. Hopefully there will be more of this sort of event in the future.