Latest creations.. butterflies and gold

My latest creations for the Boutique! terrarium bottle pendants made with delightful little things like *real* butterfly wings, wisps of gold flakes and native Irish mosses and lichen. The butterflies were sustainably sourced from a butterfly farm, no wild or endangered butterflies here!

These vials are reminiscent of dusty old natural specimen jars, odd in their beauty and oozing with irresistible intrigue and mystery. A tiny world preserved, for you to wear.

I'm working to get these ready for a weekend I'll be spending doing demos and selling my wares at the Shanagarry Design Center in East Cork, so pop in and say hi if you're in the area this coming Friday, Saturday or Sunday. If you don't get a chance to see them in person, these bottles will be making their way to my Etsy Shop sometime next week (if any survive the weekend that is!).

Something new!

 

 

 Sweet and whimsical little necklace, made with a delicate little white feather encased in a beautiful glass vial and suspended on a sparkling gold cobweb chain. Feathers are a symbol of freedom, hope, new life and travel, and so this would be a wonderful meaningful gift for someone you know embarking on some new adventures in life!

Available from my Etsy shop!

Curiouser and Curiouser...

....are these little things I have been making of late. 

Introducing my new Curiosities and oddities collection! This strange and wonderful assortment was born from a particular fascination of mine with dusty old Victorian curiosity cabinets, of nature specimens and taxidermy,  of butterfly shadow boxes and miniature world terrariums and anything small and precious encased in glass. 

I have started listing these pieces in my Etsy Shop  and hope to have them all up in the next day or two!

 

The Sky Arts Portrait Festival

Last Sunday I had the privilege to be invited to set up shop at the Sky Arts Portrait Festival at the Royal Dublin Society! As I was in the process of moving house that week, things were getting a bit hectic and stressful to plan until my wonderful friend Molly, the artist and animal lover behind the beautiful Etsy shop Ewe Sir came to save the day and offered to make a road trip of it and help me out for the day. So we made some coffee, packed the car and hit the road for an action packed two days in Dublin!

 

Naturally, the talent of work at an event like this is going to be breathtaking, but I was still so bowled over by the array of styles and immense beauty of so many of the pieces. Pictured above are just some snippets of the incredible work on show. The picture of the little boy above turned out to be my personal favourite of the day, although it wasn't easy to choose from such an array of talent!

 

We had such a fun, mad and exhausting day taking silly photos (did you spot my 1950s mannequins hand?), confusing LOTS of people with our polkadots, matching mustard yellow cardis and red locks and of course, meeting lots of new customers!                        

                             

 

 

 There was all sorts of cool stuff happening around the film set, I especially loved the work of street style artist Morgan. Not many people know it, but in another life, I spent a few years involved in street art here in Cork (before I discovered tea-dresses) and I still find this style of work, and of this beauty and skill so exciting to see!

Another wonderful artist I stumbled across was the lovely lady behind Carol Farrell Illustration. Her whimsical and colorful work is right up my street, and I love her bold use of colour and animal imagery.

I saw so many wonderful artists, who sadly, I did not manage to get around to photographing who also attended the event to trade. To name but a few: Nice Day Designs, Tanya Bond and Jokamin, so be sure and go and have a look at their beautiful Etsy shops so you can see for yourself!

So between the madness of moving house (and my studio and 4 cats) and preparing for the festival, things have been so quiet around the Boutique lately, and I do apologize for being so dull! Unfortunately I only have two hands, and my kitties don't make very good employees, but I promise I will get cracking on listing some new treasures on my Etsy shop few days!

In the mean time, I hope you go out and enjoy this fabulous heatwave!

Giveaway!

 Over at the Ruby Robin Boutique page I am hosting a very special collaborative giveaway for a pair of my 'Make a wish' dandelion seed earrings and a 'Feed your face' gift set full of amazing goodies from Cork based organic skincare company Bia Beauty! Don't miss your chance to win all these fabulous treats, the competition runs until next Sunday and you can enter here! Good luck :)

Because two wishes are better than one!

 

Hello peeps! Just a brief post to show you something new I made recently. Here are my 'Make a wish' earrings, made with hand blown glass orbs, stuffed full of delicate little wishes and accented with glorious gold toned brass and sparkly Czech glass bits! 

I have been dying to make these for ages, so I didn't waste a minute when my supplies arrived on getting started, and I had lots of fun taking the photos too as I got to play around with back-lighting which I LOVE! The beautiful jointed doll is actually a Japanese 1970s replica of a popular Victorian design, isn't she lovely!?

I am looking into making a silver version of these too, so if you would like a pair instead of the gold, please get in contact and I can make sure you get a pair from the batch I do!

They are now available to buy in my Etsy shop. 

 

 

 

 I also finished the latest addition to my Language of Flowers collection! This is my 'Never Forget' botanical specimen necklace, made with delicately woven little preserved  strands of real dried Forgetmenots encased in an elegant glass vial!

I've always had a thing for Forgetmenots, they have a strange charm all of their own, perhaps due to their symbolic meaning as a flower of remembrance, romantic tragedy, true love and fidelity.

If you are so inclined, this strange and beautiful piece is available to buy here.

Anyway, I hope you're all having lovely weekends where ever you are! It's blustery and grey here, so I'm going to spend today working and catching up on my cat cuddles!

Latest offering from the Boutique!

Now you can enjoy 4 pairs of very pretty earrings for the price of 3 with my pick and mix earring set.

Enjoy!

Sneak peak from the Kinsale craft market!

 

Of some new designs all packed up and ready to go to the Kinsale craft market in the morning! I have a crazy weekend of trading ahead of me with my good friend Molly of Ewe Sir, with three fulls days of crafts fairs, so I'm really happy to have some new things to bring with me! 

I love how these little vintage thimble pendants turned out, I've been meaning to make them for ages and I think they're so wonderfully whimsical. The glass rose orb necklace is such a romantic and elegant piece, full of blushing cerise rose petals and suspended on a beautiful cobweb like bronze chain.

 I'm also getting to try out my brand new display tomorrow, so I hope I'll have some pictures of that to share with you soon! Hope you all have a lovely sunny Bank Holiday weekend where ever you are!