Gabberdashery!

Bbel jewellery will be part of the amazing Gabberdashery shop at the Standon Calling Festival this weekend!

Gabberdashery is a beautiful new project - a collective of creatives- artists, designers, milliners and other talented people selling there wares at gigs and events curated by the amazing Gabby Young!

Look out for more Gabberdashery events - updates will be on the Gabby Young Style Blog - check it out here.

Bust Craftacular

I'm all set for the Bust Craftacular tomorrow - lots of new designs including some cave girl hairclips and kiss rings- see them all on the Bbel stall! 

12 midday – 7:00pm

York Hall, 5-15 Old Ford Road,

Bethnal Green,

London E2 9PJ

 

The Bust Craftacular is an indie shopping bonanza, which boasts 60 stalls of the hippest in handmade. Entry is £2, and the first 100 people through the door get super-duper goodie bags!

More Hearts!

I'm gradually getting things uploaded to the Bbel shop - inbetween making and designing and settling back into the studio.  So far I've got these new heart pieces uploaded, they are all handcut and I'm loving the red and silver together.  

The earrings are around 1.4cm across and fill the earlobe, I made a pair for myself as well and have not taken them out since!

Back in the Studio

I am days away from returning from my travels...I'll be back in the studio on 13th May and the shop will once again be fully stocked with fox stoles, feathers, hairclips and doves.  The shop has been looking rather empty as designs have gradually been selling out whilst I've been away.  I'm excited about getting back and launching some new necklaces and a new range of bracelets.  Watch this space for pictures coming soon!!

Update

I am away from my studio at the moment, infact out of the UK, and promised to put updates up about when I'll be back and making more FOX STOLES!!

I have been inundated with messages since the last feature of the fox stole on the etsy facebook page - they sold out straight away.  I will be making some more as soon as I get back to the UK - hopefully in the next few weeks, maybe ash cloud dependant! I will put an update here as soon as I know when I'm flying back.  In the meantime, all items in my etsy shop are available and ready to be sent out by my kind helper in the UK!  If you would like your fox stole as soon as possible, please message me at info@bbel.co.uk and I'll put you on the reserved list for the first ones made!

The next update is the brand new collection from friend and fashion designer, Kylie Malcolm.  Her pieces are so beautiful - she uses hand printed and vintage fabrics, cute, quirky with a bit of rock and roll and a touch of glamour - I love them!!
Check out all the designs at the rokit website.

Find her collection at Rokit.

Things I like

Art print by My Folk Lover, find the shop here.

Beautiful bag by Ninu, find the shop here.

Golden harness by Norwegian Wood, find the shop here.

Speakeasy Vanilla Perfume by Wiggle Perfume, find the shop here.

New Designs Coming Soon

I've been working hard on some new designs - and thought I'd give another sneek preview. 

This is the new rose necklace so far, I've been working on the shape and pattern of the rose and I'm really pleased with how it has turned out, it will then be listed in the shop soon! The necklace is another wrap style and the two rose buds thread through the rose and hang low on the chest.

The kiss kiss necklace that I wrote about a few weeks ago will be available soon. I'm making the kisses a little larger so they really stand out, they will rest high, on the side of the neck with the rest of the necklace wrapping around twice.

Guerilla Gardening

Well, I was going to do a post on winter warmers and lovely knitwear, but I've decided that spring is (or should be) just around the corner so a post on how to brighten up our urban spaces would encourage that spring sun to shine on us!

GuerillaGardening.org was started as a blog around 6 years ago and provides tips and information on how to get involved in illicit cultivation around your cities. 

This photo was found on the Aitoa Arkkitahtuuria, a Finnish blog (in English) with some great posts on 'Green Architecture'.

Photo from the Heavy Petal blog - a colourful US based blog about gardening, seeds and the great outdoors. 

Seed Bombs are a brilliant way to get started and you can buy them ready made, or make your own at home, check out this video at the Guardian online for your DIY instructions.  You just take a walk around the city and lob them into any spaces that look like they need a bit of greenery.

This is technically a Seed Ball, as pictured and described on the Heavy Petal Blog here, but a Seed Bomb is exactly the same thing, you just happen to throw it into spaces which are not your garden.

Another guerilla gardening tool is moss grafitti, you can see the Heavy Petal post on this here, including a recipe for making your moss starter.  This is a photo of someone embellishing someone else's work!

If we're talking about graffiti then I have to post some photos of one of my favourite kinds.

Photo courtesy of cherryflava

Photos courtesy of craftism blog (this blog has some really interesting posts - the author is doing a thesis on the relationship between design and vernacular craft and posts about her research so far)

For more projects going on within visual resistance, check out the Just Seeds website, they are a US based Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative, you can read about their projects here, including drawing resistance and the God Bless Graffiti Coalition.

Ofcourse, if this post is going to finish on a note of visual resistance, I should ofcourse provide a link to the greatest of them all, Banksy.  I lived in Bristol for five years at the time when Banksy was getting well known but not quite the global recognition he has now, I LOVE his work and seeing it around my favourite city was always a joy. I have in my possession several of his books, and the dialogue that accompanies the artwork is inspiring, insightful and full of political humour and common sense, check them out from your local independent bookstore!

Circles and Squares

Lovely designs, available as postcards or printed on T-shirts and Hoodies. 

Check out their shop Circles and Squares here

Road Trip II

I can't remember how I first came across all the mountains, it was a link from another blog, and since then I have regularly dropped by to see the lovely images that Amy collects.  From here you can see some beautiful finds, including these books from whale heart 

and the Dictionary Book by Sam Winston

                                                     

 'Like people, the alphabetically constrained words yearn to release their individual potential. They want to escape the dictionary’s regimentation and come together to tell a story. But when the words break free, so do their letters. They scatter and tumble across the page, reflecting meaning through visual representation. For a time it’s wild and exciting but when things look to be getting out of hand the Alphabet arrives to remind everyone of their responsibilities. Order returns… but the world and it’s words will never be quite the same again.'

                                               

Dictionary story book is available to buy here

From here, I was inspired to look up some handmade books on etsy and found these lovely bright bingo books from somavenus

                                           

And if, like me, you've been thinking about giving bookbinding a try - check out this website for loads of information, tips and supplies, edenworkshops

   

Creative Play

I recently bought this lovely book by Keri Smith, which emphasises the need for creative play in our everyday lives.  See it on her website here.

So, for your fix of creative play, here are links to one of my favourite sites for tutorials and ideas - www.craftgossip.com.  This site collects tutorials, home made designs and lovely quirkiness from all over the web.  I particularly like the recycled crafts section and the edible crafts section.

Heart cake, posted on craft gossip and originally found on i am baker where you can find the tutorial to make it.

Love letter cake, posted on craftgossip and originally found on giver's log.  Made with food colouring and edible paper - brilliant alternative to a valentine's card!

Kiss Kiss

I've been working on the spring/summer pieces and am designing some new wrap necklaces.

This is a sneak preview of the kiss kiss necklace, it wraps around twice with two solid silver kisses resting on the neck and hangs low on the chest.

I'm hoping to get the new designs in the shop for easter.

Thanks to all the blogs which have featured Bbel recently, the fox stole still seems to be a favourite amongst other bloggers and I was thrilled to be featured on Covet & Want.

Since then, I have been inundated with orders and requests for the fox stole - I am currently sold out and am catching up with orders.  I am hoping to have it back in the shop in March - until then let me know if you would like to order one and I'll make sure you're top of the list!

Miss Haversham's Jewels

I work in both silver and acrylic - I often play around with different materials to see which suits each piece and design.  For example, the geese migration necklace, which I was keen to make since I found a beautiful photograph of canada geese, silhouetted against the sky, can only be made from white acrylic.  I thought about producing a silver version, but it just wasn't the same.  It's one of my favourite necklaces, and can't really be appreciated until it's on!

I then found some amazing sheets of recycled materials and really wanted to use them in my designs.  And, yes, I tried it out with the geese, but I had to stick with the super whiteness of the acrylic.  But when I started on my Miss Haversham's Jewels collection, I knew the yoghurt pot and refrigerator sheet was perfect.

This design is part of the pearl necklace collection, which also features the pearl necklace brooch - both hand cut from recycled yoghurt pots and refrigerator seals sheet.

More recycled designs will be coming soon - look out for my recycled coffee cups!

Jo Askey

I loved Jo's artwork as soon as I first spotted her shop on etsy.  It wasn't long after that I approached her to design the banner for my shop - her work has an individual style which I really like.

Jo's work is 'inspired by the quirky and the poignant and by the beauty in every day objects and situations. She loves to focus on the little details that can sometimes go unnoticed'.


You can check out her website here.

Lindsey Mann

I wanted to publish some of the beautiful work by amazing jeweller Lindsey Mann.  I went on a course in silversmithing and anodised aluminium with Lindsey and found her work so inspiring - she mainly works in hand printed anodised aluminium, and mixes this with silver work, semi-precious beads and found objects.  Her work is exquisite and is shown in galleries all around the country.  The Tate Modern have recently purchased some of her designs - here are just some of the designs from her past collections.

Love her cut-out badge postcards too

You can check out her website here.  Lindsey teaches silversmithing and anodised aluminium workshops at her studio in Hampshire all year round, you can get in touch with her through the website.