Valkyrie Pewter

Ren faire Friends, Fellow Creatives and Pewter fans:

(This is an updated version of this post)

We had a friend we were thinking might be able to help at Great Lakes Medieval Fair this year but life came up and they no longer can do so. Thus we are re-engaging with folks about interest in helping at Great lakes and also Ohio Ren. If you want to chat with us DM here, or me (Brian Carnes) or (Elizabeth Carnes)

We are looking for someone for the full run at The Great Lakes Medieval Faire. This person ideally might be someone we know reasonably well and can trust with responsibility as we will need this person to pick up and run with things and communicate super well with us fairly quickly.

We have conversations started Brian plans to continue but if we've talked already and you are still interested or you feel this sounds like you - please reach out!

We may also be looking for a bit of additional coverage for select days. This could be someone creative that is local to the area (we would love to find a new person for this).

The Great Lakes Medieval Faire is 3 hours from the Columbus Metro area and 5 from Cincinnati. It's between Cleveland and Erie PA near Ashtabula. If you are not reasonably close to this location or not looking for a long drive this might not be a win for you.
If you are in the Columbus metro area Carpooling from Columbus may be an option for most weekends.

We are ALSO looking for a Sunday person for Ohio ren ... We have a lot more coverage for this show but it's also bigger. I have a couple of good conversations started for this role but have not made a decision yet. Ohio ren is 1 hour south of Columbus, slightly less from Cincy and about a half hour from Dayton. Again If you are not reasonably close to this location this might not be a win for you. If you are in the Columbus metro area Carpooling from Columbus is an option as long as you are able to show up in a timely way at our Columbus meet up location..

OK here are the details for the interested folks!

What we look for:
We are looking for someone that is engaging to talk to, loves the fair environment and talking to patrons, but also likes to learn, and enjoys working with their hands on fine details.

The ideal person will be asked to work with small tools and make customizations to jewelry pieces. This is a collaborative team environment that requires multitasking. The Fair runs rain or shine so this person will need to be OK with working in heat or windy/rainy faire days.

At Valkyrie Pewter we value the customer experience and love bringing art to life for them. Our family has been making pewter by hand for over 40 years! While any crafty or jewelry background, or experience with small tools could be of help, you do not need to have any experience working with pewter.

We believe in the "Fair Family" model. We are looking for people who WANT to work with us at fair and share our passion. We are not really looking folks that are looking for "just a job." Similarly, the job is by the day, so basic adulting is required even if we laugh and joke like kids. We are looking for people that are just as happy to sell and help customers as they are to work with creative arts. Our crew does both, often at the same time.

If this might be you or you know someone who might enjoy this, reach out to us!

Well after a busy 9 weeks has come to an end for 2025. We at Valkyrie Pewter want to thank each and every one of you that visited our pewter shop over the last 9 weeks! It's always a huge change to wake up Monday after fair and realize you don't have another weekend to cast or make new product for.

While we are done with Ohio Ren for the year, we will have the mobile version of the pewter shop at HMGS Fall In in Lancaster November 7-9 ...

Then Brian and the Valkyrie Pewter crew (Dave Ed Elizabeth Layla and Wanda) will be starting out 2026 with Brian teaching at Codemash and the rest of the crew running the maker lab at the conference. Brian will be teaching classing in digitally sculpting models for jewelry. Wanda will be demonstrating a hobby casting process in Delft clay, and we will have the mobile pewter shop with us. From there it off to the races and a full schedule of shows for 2026. We'll be back Great Lakes Medieval Faire in July and Ohio ren in August before you know it!

For now Brian of course has final weekend photos from around faire. And for now we say to our O-ren friends ... "Health to the Company!"

Brian's Studio log - BRONTI update:

Brian's Studio log - BRONTI update:

Just in time for the last weekend of and my pewter fans at HMGS Fall In, my Bronti sculpt has completed the journey from the digital ether to the handcrafted metal world!

For those who have not see my prior posts on this, Bronti is a i sculpted in with the goal of replacing an old charm that had down missing in our mold library over the years, and also to become a friend for my earlier Nessie sculpt. .I then them and showed them around fair to see if people thought they were cute enough. COUGH i mean to 'workshop the product viability' ... Anyways i wanna thank Becca Dunlap Beth Minster and honestly a list too long to post for the gas up. Bronti seemed to be popular for sure.

With the knowledge that Bronti had passed the cute test it was time to make Bronti in metal. Bronti went back into CAD where i produced a larger momma Bronti, and then made a sprued 3D-printed frames for molding.

With that done, i want to thank David Oberting for pouring the rubber, and for casting the pieces, Chris Henney for cutting the mold Wanda Gatewood Harmon for torching and finishing them and Elizabeth Carnes for liberating them from the tumbler early this morning.

So Bronti is here! We should have 4 pairs of earrings available Saturday at the Valkyrie Pewter shop along with 4 of the larger momma Bronti and 3 of the small Bronti. The smaller statuary Bronti are in limited supply as the mold has an issue that will require us to remold her before we can get them consistently. If you want one, message Elizabeth or myself or come see us at Ren fair!

Bronti update from Brian: Bronti (the ) is my new friend for Nessie i sculpted in a couple of months ago for . I test them a few months back and have been showing them off and giving them away as plastic pieces since. It seems to be well received thus it was time to make a real version in metal. I made two molds, one as a larger statuary piece and the other with the original tiny bronti, and the earring/charm version Today I can report Bronti has been molded successfully and castings are being produced as we speak!

We are using a new rubber for this project due to the regular rubber being unavailable this season .. There is a bit of a learning curve to that thus the earrings and the larger Bronti are coming out OK, but the smaller statuary Bronti will need to be re-molded. These guys will be cleaned up by hand and with a torch, then oxidized and tumbled for a finished piece. I'll be sure to post finished Bronti cuteness as soon as i have some to show off.

It has been a unusually warm run for this year ... no real rain days, or autumn chill .... until this last weekend. We had a breezy warm sunny Saturday followed by an overcast rainy chilly Sunday. Brian Carnes (IG ) made it out for some photography, which of course as is our practice we are sharing here for all of you to enjoy. We have ONE last week of Ohio ren for 2025, and then Brian and Elizabeth will be off to Lancaster PA for HMGS Fall In (a historical miniatures show) They will have the road version of the pewter shop there, and our cast master David Oberting will be be demonstrating Brian's . But that is then and you still have 2 more days to come see us at the pewter shop. and for now, enjoy the pictures!

Week 7 was Highland Weekend at Ohio Ren. The shop was busy with the sell out crowd. Brian has the privilege of also being the photographer for the Highland crew who has the honor of running the audience participation at ... So in addition to a few ren fair pics he'd like to share a whole lot of shots of the marching of the cabers, the highland games, Group shots with the highland crew, and more. We hope you enjoy the photos and come and see us for one of the final two weeks of Ohio ren for 2025.

Week 6 Of is in the books. Brian has been a busy bee setting up new casting equipment, but has finally finished his weekly edits of fair moments! Enjoy! We hope to see all of you at the pewter shop this weekend for Highland weekend!

We have added a linked Instagram page for Valkyrie Pewter. More here soon! We plan to cross post to both platforms

Brian here! I was thinking it might be time for a fresh banner here! Viking weekend at i took a number of pictures in and around the shop for a bit of a web refresh ... Here they are for you all to enjoy!

Its going to another hot day today. We have a limited number of handmade, pewter accented bodice chillers to keep you cool. Stop by and check them out!

Time Travelers weekend of is in the books for 2025... In addition to the awesome costumes through out the village, It is the first of two Albannach weekends at the show this year. Brian Carnes captured lots of images of the band and the patrons enjoying it, as well as some of the parade and around the village. Four more weekends to go. If you are at fair be sure and come say to us at the pewter shop!