Boston Handmade Holiday Gallery 2012

The holidays are fast approaching and once again the artists and craftspeople of Boston Handmade have come together for a holiday gallery exhibition. Located at the Christina Hurley gallery at 554 Washington Street in Canton, Massachusetts, the exhibition includes a wide array of beautiful handmade gifts. I am honored to have my hats and hair accessories included in the show again this year.

My friend Wendy and I model Bird Nest Fascinators at the opening reception

The show officially opened with a reception last Saturday, and the gallery was packed with people looking for unique items for their loved ones. I sold a headband to a nice lady who was looking for a gift for her eight year old niece. She even asked me to write her a little note on a business card. I think this is my first request for an autograph!

My headbands and bobby pins on display

Of course, holiday shopping is just getting into swing this weekend. Instead of heading to Wal-Mart or other large corporate retail chains today, why not head to the Boston Handmade Holiday Gallery tomorrow for Small Business Saturday instead?

A collection of Bird Nest Fascinators waiting for you to take them home

Millinery Marvels–KittyKanzashi

Since I’ve been incorporating origami in my millinery designs, it seems only natural that I would eventually be drawn to tsunami kanzashi: the Japanese art of creating flowers from folded fabric. I have begun to make my own tsunami kanzashi hair pins, and I am pleased with the way they have come out. However, I cannot even begin to hold a candle to the intricate work of fellow milliner KittyKanzashi.

Kanzashi hair band by kittykanzahi

Each one of these flowers was painstakingly hand crafted, with every petal folded and sown individually. Kitty’s work is an impressive display of technical skill, but what I admire most about her work is the creativity of her designs. In the headband pictured above she has arranged the flowers in a “spiral galaxy pattern.” In addition to hair bands and combs, Kitty makes stunning kanzashi bridal headpieces, like this crown:

Imperial Hime Bridal Crown

Tzunami kanzashi are a traditional Japanese art form, and these folded flowers have been adorning meiko for centuries. Kitty’s work draws on that traditional aesthetic, but she takes it in her own, unique direction. Her creativity is expressed in this Stormy Sky Tsumani Kanazhi, which incorporates felted merino wool:

Stormy Sky Tsunami Kanzashi

Weekly Wishlist–High Tea

Although my husband was born and raised in Kenya, his mother is British and it is her culture that he most inherited, particularly a penchant for tea. I never used to have more than an occasional cup of herbal tea on a cold winter afternoon. Since hooking up with Hassan, however, I find myself drinking at two to three cups of black tea a day. My wedding vows included a promise to make him tea whenever he was ill. When neither of us are ill we split the tea making duties. And of course, nothing makes tea better than some handmade goodness to go along with it.

 I pity the fool who doesn’t want this teapot:

Mr. Tea Pot by LennyMud

And of course to remind us of why we drink tea, we could use these delightful tea bowls:

Keep Calm and Drink Tea by Holly Slay

And of course, we need something to drink. My husband prefers the simplicity of tea, Earl Grey (hot), but for myself I like the spice of a good Chai.

Loose Leaf Rooibus Chai Tea from TheRobinsNest

Millinery Marvels: Talulahblue

I have often felt that modern Western culture gives too little regard to the forehead as a site of decoration. We paint our cheeks and our lips, pierce our ears and our noses, but the space from our eyebrows up to our hairline is sadly ignored. Fortunately, British milliner Talulahblue is working to rectify the situation with her wide variety of stylish headbands.

This gorgeous piece, titled Ruby of the Orient in recognition of Eastern cultures longer history with forehead decorations, is a beautiful example of inventive millinery. The peacock feathers are hand curled, and Talulahblue has created a lovely satin cameo to anchor the feathers. The beaded trim provides my favorite forehead decoration.

Handmade Gifts for Men

Having taken the handmade pledge, I am always on the look out for great hand made gifts for everyone I know. Read more, and see my list of picks for men on the Boston Handmade blog!

Unisex Ring by Christina Hurley

My new favorite hat

This is my new favorite hat. I experimented with new techniques of feather curling in this hat designed for the Uforge Gallery September assignment: Chanel vs Harajuku. I’ve tried to combine the elegance of Coco Chanel with the spunk of Harajuku. What do you think?

Milinery Marvels–LaPetiteMenagerie

Deck of Cards Pillbox hats by LaPetiteMenagerie

Artists draw their inspiration from the things they see around them, and milliners are no exception. It takes true talent to take the everyday and turn it into something extraordinary. That is why I am so impressed with the millinery work of Shelby, the creative mind behind LaPetiteMenagerie. Most of us have a deck of cards sitting around our house somewhere, but how many of us would look at those cards and say “Let’s take this and make it sexy”?  But that is exactly what Shelby did with her Deck of Cards series of pillbox hats. Each hat is constructed in buckram and wire, covered in black and white leather, and then decorated with rhinestones and veiling. I challenge each of my readers (and myself) to look with new eyes at the things we see around us and see if we can find some new inspiration in them.

Model – Kitty Kosmo
Photographer – Luminous Lizzy
Hair & MUA – Sarah Rochelle
Corset – Sweet Carousel
Photo used with permission from Shelby of LaPetiteMenagerie

Weekly Wishlist: Sleep!

As a new parent of a one month old, there is one thing I am wanting right now more than anything, and that is SLEEP!

Tote by theboldbanana

 Theboldbanana has me pegged. I mean, who doesn’t like naps. I’ve always been a fan, but now I’m a connoisseur. There’s the five AM nap on the couch while the baby spends an hour grunting and squeaking his way to a poop in the co-sleeper next to daddy (who is much better at sleeping through the gastric symphony), the five minute half-a-sleep doze in my nursing rocker; and the 20 minute nap with my finger in the baby’s while he sucks vehemently, and I try to convince him that he’d like to sleep too. Really. Please?

Happy Nap by zetie

Basically all I get are cat naps. Photographer zetie captured this little kitty mid snooze. Personally, I don’t know why they call short little dozes “cat naps.”  My cats don’t just sleep for a few minutes here and there. They sleep all the time. While I am propping my eyelids open, they are passed out in the nursery with me, as if to taunt me. Often in the baby’s crib or bouncer.

Heffalump, photo by me

Weekly Wishlist–Mother Earth

Earth Day is right around the corner, so today I’m browsing wonderful eco-friendly and recycled handmade goodies. While there is a whole world of brand new, sparkly craft supplies out there (and I confess I have very little will power in craft stores), these wonderful artists have created their treasures from what others might mistake for trash.

Reclaimed wood MP3 player stand by fromMarz

This fun dragster style MP3 player stand is made entirely of reclaimed wood scraps. This stand is also great for cell phones or for holding business cards. James of fromMarz rescues discarded fence wood before it can make it to a landfill and uses it for all his woodworking projects. Scraps from larger projects become small treasures like this one.

Recycled paper earrings by shearmoresheep

Once upon a time  the paper in these earrings made up the pictures and pages of National Geographic and Time magazine. Monica of shearmoresheep preserves the beauty of the paper in these gorgeous swirly earrings. Her packaging is also made from recycled materials so her customers can be sure of an eco-friendly shopping experience.

Eco-Ninja Plushie by EcoWeaver

And if you don’t do your best to conserve our resources, you might just find this Eco-Ninja standing over your bed. Except you won’t find him there, because he’s a Ninja, and you’ll never see him coming. This delightful plushie is made from Eco-felt, a fun new form of felt made from recycled plastic bottles. Trinity of ecoweaver sources all of her beads and embellishments from fair trade sources, seeking to have a positive impact on the world.

For more Earth Day finds, check out my “Love your Mother” Treasury:

Weekly Wishlist–Is it Spring yet?

This time last  year I was still living in sunny Hotlanta, wearing tank tops and skirts and walking barefoot in my backyard. This year, in Boston spring is creeping up a bit more tenuously. A few days ago I was out in a skirt and no jacket. This weekend we are supposed to get a frost. So in an effort to entice spring to get a tighter grip on New England, I offer you some dreamy handmade spring picks:

Spring Dress by Pinkmouse

Things like this beautiful spring dress from Pinkmouse make me not-so-secretly wish I was having a little girl. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally excited about the upcoming birth of my son, but there just isn’t as much awesome stuff for little boys on etsy as there is for little girls. I love the bright green skirt on this dress, and the billowing sleeves. Come to think of it, maybe I should just see if she could make one in my size!

Gabon Ebony Hairstick by Grah-Toe Studio

I keep thinking about getting my hair cut, and then changing my mind at the last minute.Things like this beautiful calla lily hair stick from Grah-Toe Studio call out to me, and then I want to grow my hair out even longer so I can wear them. I adore lilies of all sorts, and calla lilies are particularly sensual. I can’t imagine anything more springy then sitting on my back porch, reading a book, with one of these tucked into my hair.

Flowers in Blue from Artbygeorgia

A few years ago I bought my mother some paintings by Georgia Pistolis for mother’s day (or was it her birthday? I don’t remember) and I have wanted to get some for myself ever since. I love the simplicity of this watercolor painting. Georgia captures the image of these flowers beautifully, without getting mired in the details. The colors are bright and vibrant. What better for spring than some lovely flowers?