Aren’t these roses beautiful? I bet they’re dead easy to make… I only wish that I paid more attention and showed a bit more interest when my mother tried to teach me to crochet when I was young!
originally posted on the particularpoetry tumblr
Posts Tagged ‘handmade’
Tuesday Huesday: Crochet Flowers
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012Wednesday Wish: 26 October 2011
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
Justin hasn’t suggested many items for our weekly Wednesday Wish post, but on our recent trip to the Lake District he spotted this Holland Esquire jacket in the Jules B menswear store in Kendal.
It was one amongst a number of gorgeous jackets in a beautiful window display. The quality & detail in the finishing are superb – just look at those sleeves!
It was priced at almost £400 – slightly more than his usual charity shop jacket buys…
…but it is a wish list after all!
Mini Mugs
Monday, October 24th, 2011
Following on from all the wonderful stuff in our recent Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair blog post, here’s some more hand crafted loveliness!
Justin’s brother, Damian is a very skilled potter and he dropped off some of his new designs on a recent visit.
Amongst them were these sweet espresso coffee mugs.
We love the tall narrow shape which still fits under most coffee machines and retains the heat of a small espresso very well.
He’s experimented with a few different glazes – various colours & textures – and they feel really good in the hand.
Small certainly is beautiful!
If you’ve got any favourites or feedback please leave a comment here. We’ll be sure to pass them on – Damian’s always interested to hear what people think – especially about new ideas!
Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair ’11
Saturday, October 22nd, 2011
The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2011 is being held this weekend in Manchester city centre – we went to the preview night on Thursday.
It was great to see designer-makers whose work we’ve long admired – there was also the thrill of seeing fresh, new exhibitors.
We featured Ken Eardley, whose ceramics are shown above in last year’s GNCCF blog post – once again, his stand had real impact. Things are going really well for him with magazine features such as this recent one in BBC Homes & Antiques.
Another striking space belonged to Jane Blease who works primarily with bentwood & reclaimed plastic often with her characteristic hand worked thread detailing. A recent artist residency in India has clearly inspired some of Jane’s new pieces. It’s interesting charting artists’ new developments & influences.
The Radiance stand belonging to Hannah Nunn always delivers the goods – her hand cut paper light shades look great when displayed en masse…
…and we loved her new seed pod window hangings.
Ruth Green, who we’ve seen at GNCCF in previous years, also had some lovely new works…
…and she’s also branched out into illustrated books, notebooks & note cards.
With autumn setting in, Andrea Lord’s &made display offered some warm seasonal comforts…
…such as these gorgeous cushions & cosies.
As we mentioned earlier, it’s really exciting to discover new makers and their work…
…we’ll highlight just a couple who made an impact on us.
The first was Gemma Truman, whose hand-blown glass & seagrass hangings and vases are absolutely exquisite – they’re inspired by South African weaverbird nests. We also thought they were very reminiscent of those old fashioned glass fishing net floats.
Second was Louise Hibbert.
Her pieces have a natural feel and use subtle, earthy, yet striking colours.
As you can see from her salt & pepper mills, they’re organic, tactile and oh so beautiful – they just cry out to be picked up, handled and caressed.
The show runs till this Sunday, so visit if you can! We’ve only featured homewares in this post, but there’s also lots of jewellery and fashion on display… and all of it’s for sale… so go on, get your Christmas shopping done early!
Wool Works
Sunday, October 9th, 2011
We’ve just bought a couple more of these gorgeous vintage 1960s embroidered pictures.
We already had this orange & blue wool work flower stem displayed in our bedroom.
We’re thrilled with our two new acquisitions – the workmanship is just amazing.
The design, textures & colours in this butterfly are just spectacular!
The same comments apply to this fabulous giant sunflower.
They were produced using a wide variety of wools, threads and stitches… the hand embroidery taking many, many hours to complete.
They have a real period feel, but are quite timeless – adding a lovely vintage handmade touch to any style of interior.
