April 2010

Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

(And eyes and ears and mouth and nose)

Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

Heads:

1. Retro Repro Handmade make playful one of a kind hats with multiple ways to wear each style.

2. Liza Rietz began designing and sewing custom and retail pieces in 2001. Her designs are structured yet feminine.

3. Natural Born Beauties seeks to embrace the glamourous times of femininity from the past & join it with the strength & power of today’s modern woman.

4. It’s the little things make glorious cocktail heat and statement fascinators completely from scratch. Beautiful art for your head!

Shoulders:

1. Glasgow based Mairead has strong taditional roots – her shop name Breagha, is Gaelic for beautiful.

2. Sinem Inugur from Istanbul, Turkey makes sculpted everyday bags with all kinds of uses.

3. Mia accessories has been in my favourites list for the last few years. Emma, the face of Mia, is in the etsy europe street team. See also her stunning collars and chokers – very Mary Quant.

4. Miloo says “I just love all things handmade!!”

Knees:

1. Post is Gabby and Tal from Tel Aviv.
Gabby is a designer/illustrator and makes the socks, decals and prints.

2. Branch Handmade is a home and fashion accessories line that is focused on original hand screen printed designs.

3. Suppliers to celebrity customers, Amber and her husband have recently moved to Galiano Island and opened up a boutique called Sweet Somethings Gallery.

4. Legyviel in Rivendell sees her yarn as a white canvas – you never know what’s going to happen with it…

Toes:

1. Lila Sandals is the contemporary ambassador of traditional Bodrum sandals. Bodrum is a little seaside town on the Agean coast famous with its endless beaches, amazing sea, night life and sandals.

2. Welcome to SANDALI where all the sandals are completely unique & more importantly it extremely comfortable.

3. Hydra Heart offers vegan Eco-friendly shoes and clothing including these awesome bridal slippers!

4. Bagavond Bags’ objective is to provide stylish and unique bags and accessories in a responsible manner. We aim to make responsibility fashionable. Cue applause!

ALTOGETHER NOW!

Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

(And eyes and ears and mouth and nose)

Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes

Yesterday was the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission. The rocket was intended to be the 3rd spacecraft to land on the surface of the moon, until the Saturn V rocket malfunctioned and caused damage to the spacecraft’s cryogenic tank. After the accompanying bang and shudder. Jack Swigert uttered the immortal, yet often misquoted words – “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” A big one really, with vital oxygen venting into space – so with some urgency engineers and astronauts including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (the third Apollo XI team member was Michael Collins btw – remember that for a pub quiz) started work on a solution. Well, the command module did splash down safely ending a mission famously dubbed a ‘successful failure’. Notably, the dedicated crew, even in serious danger took photos of the far side of the moon. My manifesto for the week is to be that dedicated to doing every job that properly.

1. Adding vinyl art on interior walls is easier than hiring an artist and a lot cheaper. Apply to walls, windows, tiles, mirrors and doors etc. From Stickerbrand.

2. The Space Oddity – Disco Apollo headpiece by Mythunderstood who loves to make one-offs using vintage, found objects, organic materials, old textiles, toys and trinkets collected since childhood.

3. Elisabeth of Parsnip and Pear likes rain, blackberries and foxes – a girl right after my own heart. She makes badges from used and vintage books, catalogs, dictionaries and maps found in little shops & dark attics.

4. The brains behind Modern FX was born on a mountain top in Tennessee
 and later made us this wonderful tile of the moons cratered surface. I’d LOVE a room full of these babies!

1. alyoisius is  a displaced Londoner in Sydney who knocked out her front tooth with a lawnmower. She loves ELO – what’s not to love?

2. Space bracelet from Black Kat Designs by bead-maker Kat, who has been crafting since she was just a little kitten.

3. Moon brooch from Murgatroyd and Bean. Murgatroyd and Bean are an owl and  a hare who make wonderful things. Please see also their most excellent fox brooch.

4. Beautiful original Luna pendant by Grace Designs. And it’s ON SALE!

Swap out that plain boring cover for one of a Columbia Shuttle Launch to liven up your room! It’s from ShaZakLar. This kind of design-on-a-switch-plate-thing seems really popular in the USA – I wonder why we don’t do it more here. Perhaps it’s all in the wiring.

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So I’m sure we all know the space race urban myth that NASA spent a wad of dollars developing the Space Pen that writes in zero gravity and the Russians just took a pencil.  I’ve even heard that developed in to the tale of the Russian air filter blocked by pencil shavings. Unsatisfyingly untrue it seems, so in lieu of that, why not make some honorary room for neat-AS pencils.

1. Paper Pastries say that nothing is better than a hand written letter. Unless it’s written by an amazing pencil right?

2. Personalised pencils from Exclamations – your name, shop name, a celebratory message maybe?

3. Mariko (which means ‘bouncing ball’ in Japanese) is a high school English teacher by day and a lover of crafting by night. Try these Jane Eyre themed pencils for size (of coolness!).

4. I like to draw. I am awesome. These two sentences are etched into the sides of two wonderful blue pencils that are included in this pencil pack along with one 50-page drawing pad. Seriously, what could be better? From my craft and stationery heroine, Sarah Neuburger at The Small Object.

Rodger and out.

New and noteworthy… we have an exciting new partner in craft!

Ernest Wright and Son Limited are a the family company hand-producing all our Steel-city-quality scissors and shears. They are based in Sheffield, and have been, since four generations back, Walter Wright – a renowned ‘Little Mester’ of Sheffield – specialised in finishing scissor blades and gained the hallowed title of ‘master scissors putter-togetherer’. Each pair of scissors is produced at the factory in Sheffield’s industrial quarter – Kelham Island and is hand forged, shaped, hardened, sharpened and assembled. The scissors are top class artist’s and crafter’s tools; practical and hardwearing,with the weight and gravity of true workmanship. A lifetime’s scissors.

We are very lucky indeed that company director Nick Wright, on his mission to take the skills and traditions of ‘Made in Sheffield’ forward into the 21st Century is sponsoring our Craft Candy workshops by providing all our scissors. Yep, all of them. Papercrafts, embroidery, fabric shears – we are very privileged indeed. Find more news and see product ranges on the Ernest Wright and Son Limited Facebook page.

Did you know Ernest Wright and Son Limited can also offer scissor sharpening? They have been known to re-sharpen scissors that have been in use for over eight decades!

“We are but two halves of a pair of scissors, when apart… but together we are something.” ~ Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit.