Wednesday 22 June 2011

Tales from the Shop Floor

Every handcrafted item is made with love.  Some items also have their own stories to tell, either linked to how and why they were created or to the customer who buys it.  I recently created a newborn hat that is going to have a working life in a photographic studio.  I love the idea of this – Mosaic Tree’s baby hat taking pride of place on baby’s head in treasured photo albums.
Two crafters with on line shops on Folksy (affectionately known as Folksters) have shared their experiences with Mosaic Tree.


Elissa at Not Just Handbags hand makes handbags, accessories and homeware.  She loves working with all kinds of fabric and loves getting custom orders to design and create.  She’s just done a commission  for a customer who needed some clutch bags making and she used the excess trim off her bridesmaids dresses to make them. 

Not Just Handbags can be found at


Sally-jo is the crafter behind The Bead Bounty.  This is her ‘tale from the shop floor’:
“I was commissioned to make jewellery for a local museum, to accompany an exhibit that has just opened of Saxon jewellery, found in a dig just up the road from where I live.  They called me 2 weeks before the exhibition opened.  Having had the Saxon jewellery doing the rounds for at least 4 years and many jewellery makers wanting to be involved, I felt enormously privileged  that they asked me to contribute.   The Saxon jewellery is the most significant find of it's kind in the U.K. as there was a Princesses grave discovered in the dig and people from all over the world will come to see it.  I have called my jewellery the "Princess Collection" as my name actually means Princess."



To see Sally-jo’s creations and buy your own piece, visit Kirkleatham Museum, Redcar, Teesside,
which is open from 10am Tuesday to Sunday.
Keep in touch with The Bead Bounty:
www.folksy.com/shops/thebeadbounty
Facebook – search for Sally-jo Drinkel

To keep in touch with Mosaic Tree, www.facebook.com/MosaicTree, follow this blog www.mosaictree.blogspot.com, Twitter - www.twitter.com/#!/MosaicTree

2 comments:

  1. What interesting stories. I like the idea of upcycling a dress into a handbag.

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  2. Yes, I agree - I'm sure that there's lots of other unusual stories out there - so, if anyone else reading this has one, do get in touch nad perhaps it could be a future blog entry. Thanks.

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