Celtic Barrettes .Com

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Personal and product history info at the bottom of the page.

Free shipping on orders of $50 or more.

 Barrettes/Hairclips  and Ponytail Clips

 About the Artist:

I am an American artist/craftsperson born (1942) and raised in Seattle. I have a broad background of experience of "the road less traveled" kind,
including being a U.S. Army Infantryman, a dropout hippie since 1967, a college student, a jailbird (marijuana back when mere possession
was a felony in every state of the union, life imprisonment in Texas, Death penalty in Nevada, not a $50 fine like in Oregon years later),
a candle maker, a calligrapher, a jewelry maker, a Muay Thai kick boxer, a boxing announcer, a wholesale jewelry businessman,
lived with hill tribe people in Northern Thailand, a crafts fair vendor, a retail shop owner, a live music bar owner.

Was partially raised in boarding schools and children's homes, lived 3 years including summers at the now infamous Briscoe Memorial School,
a Catholic boarding school in Kent, Washington, run by the Christian Brothers of Ireland,
and 13 months at the Stubblefield Children's Home in Walla Walla, Washington. Attended about 14 different schools counting colleges.

For anyone familiar with, or possibly  went to these schools in the greater Seattle area or the Bay Area in California, here is a list of the schools I attended:

                                   1948-1949 - 1st and 2nd grades - Mount View Elementary School - White Center area - Seattle
                                   1950 - 3rd grade - Alki Elementary School - West Seattle
                                   1951 - 4th grade - St. Anne, Catholic elementary school, Queen Anne Hill - Seattle, Redmond Elementary - Redmond, WA, and another elementary school in Las Vegas. NV
                                   1952 - 5th grade - Holy Rosary Catholic elementary school, West Seattle
                                   1953-54-55 - 6th, 7th and 8th grades - Briscoe Memorial School - taught by the Christian Brothers of Ireland - Kent, WA
                                   1956 - 9th grade - O'Dea Catholic H.S. taught by the Christian Brothers of Ireland - Capitol Hill area - Seattle - Queen Anne H.S. - Queen Anne Hill area - Seattle, WA
                                        Flunked due to not enough attendance as I was a juvenile delinquent and skipped school a lot.
                                   1957 - 9th grade second time - Pioneer Jr. High - Walla Walla, WA
                                   1958 - 10th grade - Queen Anne H.S. again. Had to quit school and join the Army.
                                   1960 - U.S. Army in Germany - H.S. and College GED certificates, same as finish high school, and one year college credit, 17 years old.

                                   College years
                                   1963 - Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, CA
                                   1967-1970, and 1973 - San Jose Community College, San Jose, CA
                                   1984 - Evergreen Community college, San Jose, CA

Joined the U.S. Army the day after my 17th birthday (October 1959), stationed in Germany at Ayers Kaserne in the 36th and 46th Armored Infantries
10 miles from where Elvis was stationed, he left one month after I arrived, 31 months of life and training tougher than boot camp (1960 -1962),
forty soldiers to a room with bunk beds, each soldier had a foot locker and a wall locker which had to be inspection ready 24/7, 365 days a year, very strict
regimented life, inspection every Saturday morning, if you got even one "gig" (demerit) you didn't get an overnight pass, I only had 1 overnight pass
in over two and a half years in Germany, the only upside being I got out two years before the Viet Nam War started.

Worked in 12 casinos in Reno and Lake Tahoe (1965), had 18 jobs that year. Because I've always been an idealist,
I decided I couldn't work for the war mongering, anything for a buck, "Evil Corporate System", so dropped out (1966) (much easier to do then than nowadays
when most everybody's life has been co-opted and can't even conceive of a life outside the "System") and became a craftsperson out of economic necessity,
not out of any artistic impulse.
 Oh the joy of 40 plus years of life as a starving artist without a weekly paycheck and no security or medical insurance.
Gary Cooper (Will Kane) of High Noon got nothin' on me! Yee haw! C'est la vie!
Last and longest job within the "System" was for 7 1/2 months making bucket seats for the 1966 Mustang at Ford Motor Co. in Milpitas, CA just outside San Jose.

Was a hard core hippie dropout through the 60's and 70's (still am) in the San Jose/Los Gatos CA area, 50 miles south of San Francisco,
peace marches/demonstrations, S.F. Winterland Ballroom concerts every weekend for years, the more famous Filmore Auditorium only seated
1200 people so promoter Bill Graham opened up the far larger Winterland which seated 5400 people. Once the Winterland opened it was the real star.
Big groups would play at the Filmore on Thursday and at Winterland Friday and Saturday. Got to see Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin,
The Doors with Jim Morrison, Buddy Rich, John Mayall with Peter Green, early Fleetwood Mac, all the 60's S.F. groups and others,
Grateful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Co. with Janice Joplin,
Quicksilver Messenger Service, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, Albert King, Ike and Tina Turner, Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield,
Rolling Stones, Ritchie Havens, Santana, Ravi Shankar, Hugh Masakela, Steve Miller, Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Sons of Champlin,
Seals and Croft, New Delhi River Band, James Cotton, Bo Diddley, Taj Mahal, It's A Beautiful Day, Mother Earth, Chuck Berry, Lee Michaels,
Dr. John, Loading Zone, early 70's saw The Doobie Brothers, The Tubes, Buddy Guy, Charlie Musselwhite, South Bay Experimental Flash,
Led Zeppelin, Robben Ford,  Elvin Bishop, Little Walter, Junior Wells, Chick Corea, Larry Coryell, and tons of other groups for the astronomical price
of $3.50 for a triple bill concert, went to the Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and the Altamont Festival (1969) (big bummer).

Lived on the G.I. Bill ($100-$120 mo.) when going to college (philosophy/psychology major),
was a self taught candle maker (1970 - 1972) started on a $50 investment,
calligrapher (1973 - 1975) learned one college class, started on a $50 investment,
and self taught acid etched jewelry maker (1975 to present), started on a $50 investment.

Been living in Thailand 17 of the past  24 years, employed and lived with up to 28 hill tribe people (Akha, Lahu and Lawah refugees from Burma)
for 5 years in Chiangmai, have had 2 shops at the local Night Bazaar (1986 and 1990), and 2 different bars (1991 and 2008 to 2010).

Took up Muay Thai kickboxing at the age of 48 for four years, some peace loving hippie, eh?, one professional fight on my 52nd birthday,
win, three round decision, my opponent was 23, for which I earned a big $4.00,
possibly the oldest westerner (farang) ever to have a professional Muay Thai fight in Thailand,
(Guinness Book of World Records where are you? this ain't tiddlywinks you know!),
was also the boxing announcer 4 nights a week for 3 years at a local boxing venue.

Took early retirement at age 62, been taking it easy since then, opened a small live music club for two years in September 2008.

Product history:

My jewelry has been sold in I. Magnin's and Capwell's department stores in the Bay area, Chico's stores, and hundreds of finer boutiques
and gift shops all across the United States. I have personally traveled up to 30,000 miles per year for many years and shown my line of jewelry at the
New York International Fashion Boutique Show (4 times per year), and the Los Angeles (2 times per year), San Francisco (2 times per year),
Seattle (2 times per year), and Portland, wholesale gift shows.
Also put in about 10 years selling my wares at arts and craft fairs, Celtic fairs, and Scottish Highland Games in Northern California and Western Washington.

Lifetime Guarantee:

If one of my bracelets ever breaks under normal use, please return it to me and I will replace it free of charge.
If it is an old design no longer in production I will inform you and you may choose any other current design.

Metal Content:

I use the finest metals available to handcraft my products.
The yellow metal is Brass, an alloy of 85% Copper and 15% Zinc.
The silver colored metal German-silver, also called Nickel-silver, no real silver in it, is an alloy of 65% Copper, 17% Zinc, 18% Nickel.

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Copyright© 1975 & 1997 by Robert Irving.  All rights reserved.