New Charms in Stock!

Having completely sold out of all of my handbag charms last week, I have had to quickly make up some more for the website.

All of the charms are unique and are made using beads reclaimed from broken up jewellery as well as some new beads and handmade beads. Some of the handmade beads are ceramic and glazed with dry glazes but most are beads I have made from fimo.

Hopefully the new charms will be popular as the previous ones. More will be added to stock shortly - when I have time to make them!

Black Is The New Gold!

Just as I had blogged about gold vintage handbags being the latest must have item, I sold three black vintage handbags. Just goes to show, I know absolutely nothing about current market trends! If anyone can predict next week's trend, I would be grateful so that I can stock up.

The three bags, were sold to two different people, one in the USA and the other in France. The French lady bought a lovely 1950's handbag with a rose design and a fushia pink lining. I have had the handbag in stock for a while and had recently reduced the price. That obviously did the trick!

The other two handbags were older, one was a beaded Art Nouveau handbag and the other a small round beaded purse, probably 1930's-1940's. Both were quite recently acquired and both needed a small amount of work on them to bring them up to saleable condition. I had never actually attempted any beadwork before, so I was quite keen to see what I could do.

The Art Nouveau bag had a patch of beading missing in the middle of one side. The beads really needed replacing to stabilise the remaining beads surrounding the area. By sheer chance, I had come beads that were a near enough match to be used to fill in. Just repairing a small area made me really appreciate the work that originally went into making beaded handbags. No wonder they were expensive in their day!

The small round purse had some beads missing, a long tubular bead was snapped in the middle and the main structure of the beadwork on one side had come loose. Again the beadwork really needed repairing to protect the rest of the beading. Trying to recreaate the symmetrical arrangement of the bead network really got me thinking. It was not as easy as it first appeared. I was quite pleased with the final result though and the repairs I carried out to both handbags has certainly given me the confidence to take on more vintage handbags in need of some TLC.

Two Bowls, Two Designs

I spent some of yesterday and today wet felting a couple of bowls. I haven't done any felt work for a while and really felt in the mood. The trouble with wet felting is that you can't really start and stop it, you have to pretty much finish the whole felting process in one go. That means you need to have a spare few hours to make anything, which is sometimes easier said than done.

This weekend, I knew I would have some spare time, so made a note in my head to definitely do some felting. I had been wanting to try out a couple of bowls for a while, so that is what I decided to make. They are really easy to make as you simply use a ball, in this case a football, as a mould to apply the wool to. I used some knitting wool to start with, in two colours, just for interest and then used a variety of complimentary colours in merino wool. Once you get started, keeping the wool on the ball is actually quite easy.

I gradually built up layers using the colours I had chosen, applying soap and water as I went to help the felting process. Once I was happy with the thickness, I finished with a final layer of dark blue merino which I spent quite a long time rubbing with soap to ensure a good felt. When I was happy with the stability of the felting, I put the ball into the washing machine on a 60 degress cycle. This ensured that the felt got a good pounding to mesh the fibres together and also rinsed out all of the soap I had used. I didn't add any detergent to the cycle as a lot of fabric detergents have any felting chemicals in them to protect your clothes.

Having been spun at the end of the wash cycle, the ball was fairly dry when I took it out. I gave it a quick iron to flatten the fibres as it was looking a bit fluffy and then came the exciting bit, cutting it open. As you work from the inside to the outside, you are never quite sure how it will turn out. I have to say I was really pleased with the resulting bowls.

One bowl I decided to simply sew on a felt flower made from matching merino wool. The other bowl, I thought I would be a bit more ambitious and apply some beadwork to the outside. I threaded pink, green and blue seed beads onto beading wire and then sewed the length of beading onto the felt bowl. I think both options have worked well and I really don't have a favourite between them.

The vibrancy of the colours of the wool always really appeal to me, which is why I think I love felting so much. Also the softness of the merino makes objects really tactile. I guess felt bowls aren't very practical though, a bit like a chocolate teapot! They are definitely more decorative than anything else.

Kitsch Peacock Shopper

I went to a local auction yesterday and picked up a couple of vintage bags that caught my eye. One of them is the most kitsch, 1970's shopping bag.

Now I realise it is not to everyone's taste but it just took me straight back to my childhood. I used to have a small purse with plastic beads glued onto the fabric and this bag is made in just the same way but on a much bigger scale. The peacock pattern is repeated on both sides to create a pretty striking bag.

Update: Someone else loved this bag too, as it has now been sold!

Thinking Outside of The Box

I am a huge fan of mixed media and try to utilise different items in many of the pieces I create, whether in my textiles or ceramics. I can't help looking at objects and wondering if they might be useful in some future piece or other. Often some strange item can inspire a whole creative train of thought.

Obviously, I look at clothing for fabric and am often found with my scissors in hand chopping a shirt apart. Skirts are great as you usually have quite a large area of useable fabric without too many seams. Old curtains are even better, with velvet ones being a particular favourite of mine. Wool jumpers are also very useful for machine felting. Obviously old buttons can be easily salvaged and put to good use, together with oddments of ribbon and lace. Recently I was given a whole bundle full of men's ties, some of which have already found themselves appliqued onto a bag, with another in the making.

Thinking outside of the box is really important when using mixed media. The principle doesn't just apply the textiles and ceramics I enjoy. All manner of items can be incorporated into jewellery, sculpture, paper crafts and paintings too. You really just have to keep an open mind at all times.

An excellent hunting ground is the local hardware store. I just can't help myself when it comes to metal and wooden curtain rings, different types of wire, copper tubing and metal nuts. Whilst in the hardware store the other day, I discovered they sold various thicknesses and colours of cording. I had been searching craft stores for it to no avail, so you can imagine my delight! Alongside that, I found different types of chain being sold by the metre, presumably for sink plugs and the like. I did get a few odd looks as I was muttering aloud about the fantastic chains that were available and imagining the uses.

A few months back, I was in my local kitchenware shop looking for a spatula. Amongst the cleaning items I came across the run of the mill silver metal scouring pads. However, they also stocked copper ones too. For some reason the copper ones had a beauty and almost organic quality all of their own. I had to buy one! I haven't quite found a use for it yet, but I will.

All manner of natutal items can be useful, shells, pine cones, stones, wood. I have used leaves as templates before for ceramic projects and have just discovered skeleton leaves. They look so fragile but are actually remarkably robust. Obviously they are great for card making projects but I thought I would try and utilise them in a felt piece. I think the resulting vessel was quite successful.

I am not alone in using every day materials, with more and more emphasis being placed on recycling, people are finding new ways to reuse products all the time. Plastic bottles are becoming fleece clothing, tyre rubber becomes shoes, clothing is shredded and used to insulate cars. All around us artisans are using glass found on the beach, broken china and even plastic bags to create new and beautiful pieces.

Hopefully, you will be inspired to experiment a little too.