What do inner tubes, old leather sofas and Woodford aluminium water bottles have in common? Well, if you’re a crafty and colourful accountant, you might be making them into earrings! Yes indeed, Woodfordian Fiona thinks anything can be an earring (according to her friend). And now, ‘anything’ includes the water bottles branded with art from the Gavin Ryan-led community poster project (the poster triptychs of 2019/20 through to 2023/24) sold through the General Store.  

I had received an email from a volunteer asking, “do you want this?” with a photo of a cute little water bottle.  I was perplexed. I personally have a few of these bottles floating around, some with my camping gear, another in my car. I thought it strange to be getting this offer. It turned out this volunteer had heard of someone making earrings out of the bottles. I was intrigued. 

My first thought was, ‘this must be an Arteries project.’ I rang Irene, the head of Arteries and Venue Decor for the Festival. She had a vague recollection that a volunteer from the General Store, possibly named Nicole, was making them. And that Nicole had a friend called Amanda.  

Next call was to Renae, General Store Manager. She too had heard about the earrings, but she knew no more. I rang the only Nicole volunteer I knew from the General Store; alas, she was not the mythical maker of water bottle earrings. 

I called the mysterious Amanda and, finally, I had found someone who knew exactly what I was talking about – hallelujah! Her friend and fellow Woodfordian named Fiona was the creator in question.  

Fiona, who calls herself a ‘colourful accountant’, likes to keep her hands busy while she’s enjoying a bit of TV. She’s been making earrings each year to donate for sale at the Junction Park State School Fête. Once home, her eyes landed on the Woodford water bottle, and she could see its potential. She began right away to transform it into a set of earrings.  

Now, she’s on a mission to make 100 pairs that will be sold at the General Store. 

If you have any old Woodford water bottles that you’d like to donate to the project, feel free to post them to us at PMB 2, Woodford, QLD 4514. We’ll make sure they get to Fiona so she can keep making these gorgeous earrings. Then keep an eye out for the earrings at the General Store. If you participated in the poster project, there’s even a chance you could get yourself a pair of earrings with your tiny bit of art on them – now that would be wild!