Try Handmade

Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.

Papaver Vert

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Papaver Vert: Patty Benson started Papaver Vert in 2007 making her small apartment shared with her husband, into a small creative studio in Northern California. Based on form, function and bold color, Patty’s work utilizes the time consuming technique of crocheting and wet felting wool to create tactile pieces with a contemporary twist.

Learning how to crochet a few years ago, she immediately found a medium that combined her love of wool with her love of home decor. Feeling that home accessories shouldn’t just be limited to ceramic or glass, and that felted wool doesn’t have to mean something old-school, she loves the idea of taking the ancient technique of felting to design something entirely new.

Patty loves that wool is a renewable resource and she stands behind a non-mass produced sensibility. Each piece is lovingly handmade in her studio and she figures the more attention put into the craft, the better the quality, the longer it will last and the less need to buy more, more, more.

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Michelle Prosek

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Michelle Prosek: I am inspired by the flowing organic forms of nature and the clean lines of geometry and architecture. I love experimenting with new ideas and pushing the boundaries of what glass can do.

I personally cut, carve, fuse and shape every single one of my designs to ensure that they are all one of a kind works of art. Each finished piece can take up to 90 hours to complete. I often feel like a pioneer in the glass fusing arts, because I am constantly creating new techniques and methods for working with kiln-fired glass.

Tableware made with love in Pawtucket

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With my five year wedding anniversary fast approaching I have been thinking about what fun it was to make registries. The excitement of a new life, new belongings and maybe a new place to call home. Even with all of these presents, building your life is always a work in progress. You find new objects you love more than the ones you already own, styles and aesthetics change. But there are some things which are timeless and Gleena is the perfect blend of classical and modern which will never get old.

The medley of white and blue is soothing. I love that the middle plate, being half blue and half white, brings the large plate and bowl together. Each piece has their own personality yet they are still a cohesive set.

It is in this set that you can best see where the artist draws her influence from. She grew up in Russia, summering in a country house surrounded by her grandmother’s gardens. She seems to handle these memories carefully as they are important to her. Asya displays detailed images on hand-shaped forms, showing that memories can change shape over time. I love the cheery yellow she chose. Makes for a great presentation.

These plates don’t need a special occasion. I would love to have these for everyday use. The sea inspired glaze adds a dash of color without overpowering the simple design. The typeset imprints make for a great detail.

This cup is my favorite out of all her work. The blend of color and form are just darling but the quote and stamped letter make this cup perfect. Sharing tea is most certainly a celebration, toast to something grand.

Asya does a great job of mixing her love of form and function with her passion for graphic design. This cup displays her happy union of numbers, letters, color and shape. I love her subtle introduction of color, it is never overpowering and always just right.

These bowls make for the perfect presentation. Asya makes even the simplest of pieces elegant with her attention to detail. She carefully adapts the form to better serve it’s function. In keeping these bowls white, she draws attention to her beloved form which were inspired by gourds found while traveling in French Guiana.

I think celebrating five years should call for an updated registry. My wedding was lots of fun and I would love to do it all again with Gleena’s shop at the top of my registry list. What would be on your list?

Taylor's Eclectic

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Taylor’s Eclectic: Entirely hand sculpted of paper and wire, this extremely intricate abstract vase truly is the queen of the ocean. The second installment in my ‘Under the Sea’ series, this vase is translucent on a sunny table and equally beautiful on a cloudy day.

A highly tactile piece, the Jewel of the Ocean has individually pieced ‘bubbles’ that rise and fall across it, creating various dips and rises to run your fingers across. These dips and rises are inspired by the constant ebb and flow of the ocean and its’ abstract texturing and shapes.

The rich plum base color has been painstakingly pieced around each and every ‘bubble’ to allow for optimum translucence so that the colors and textures in this vase may be fully realized.

Living Arrangements Part One: Happy People = Happy Homes.

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I’m writing a Two Part series on Living Arrangements. This post is all about Happy Homes, how to be satisfied with your home and how to make the best of what you have. In the next series I will talk about the many different living arrangements people have around the World and why adopting a simple home can save you money but not take away from what you want from your living space.

As someone who has spent the better part of a year looking for somewhere new to live I can safely say that the whole experience of house hunting is not a pleasant one. There is a lot of bureaucracy involved, for a start. There are a lot of places we would like to live in but they are well out of our range in terms of everything humanly possible.

I think the problem with finding your ‘dream home’ (which is entirely like anything you’d dream up in your mind, non existent) is that when you set your standards they are rarely met. And if one or two things don’t fit, you make them fit so that a house becomes your home – and I’d go as far as to say that it turns into your dream home.

There is an age old “if these walls could talk” saying that I’ve heard more times than I care to count. If my walls could talk then I would consider getting my home dedicated/exorcised. Also, consider the certain Swedish furniture conglomerate that ran a TV ad campaign a few years ago in which they proclaimed that houses had souls – that love, not money was what gave the home it’s soul. I’m not swayed either way on the argument myself so, do you believe homes have souls?

What is it with our need to constantly categorise and humanise everything? After all in the Wizard of Oz there were three non-human characters all searching for human traits and body parts. The lion wanted to be brave, the tin man wanted a heart and the scare crow wanted to have a brain – I don’t even want to think how he functioned without one. They were humanised, much like Andy’s toys in Toy Story , the talking horses, cows, sheep, dogs, cats and everything in between that we’ve seen our whole lives. Animals and non-human characters speaking like humans and having human feelings and experiences.

Now homes have souls, hearts and our walls might be able to speak. I wonder if my walls are crying. No? Oh it’s just a leaky roof.

To be happy in your home, you need to be happy first and foremost. Where the house is plays a part in it; is the neighbourhood decent for your needs? If it’s not, do you have adequate security measures? Do you have enough room to swing a cat? If you cook a lot, is the kitchen to your satisfaction? Do you have the number of rooms you honestly need? If you have most of these things and you’re satisfied with your life in general then you’re more likely to have a happy home and be happy with your home.

I personally believe that most people have more than they need out of their homes yet they are not satisfied with their home and then I see others who struggle happily with what they already have. It’s all about perspective.

So, how can you be happy with where you live? It’s simple.

Get comfortable with where you live. Metaphorically and physically. When my couch started to get lumpy I felt annoyed at the couch. Then I realised if I throw a couple of pillows down I have comfort once more. It’s also about acceptance of where you live – if you want to stay there long term, be at peace with this. If you don’t, do something about it.

Big Love. No, not the TV show. I’m talking about thinking before you speak, acting before you react and flighting before fighting. In short: cut the crap. Stop picking at your house mates for every little niggle you feel about them. Show them love, bake them cookies, lace their brownies with tranquillizers if that’s the only act of kindness you can perform for them and yourselves – just don’t implicate me on that one. I’m working on House Harmony myself so I know this one can be tricky, especially when someone has annoying habits. The point is you need to learn to deal with it if you want a happy home. So deal with it!

Keep it fresh. A clean home to me is a happy home. When my home is a mess (around 98% of the time) then I feel a mess (so, again, 98% of the time.) I like to let the air circulate in my home by opening windows wide and keeping all doors open to let some good fresh air into them. Get others involved in the cleaning and running of the home, leaving it all up to one person is never going to create a happy atmosphere …okay who am I kidding. You can’t get others involved unless they want to be, so either live with the fact you live with slobs and do everything yourself, hire a cleaner or accept the fact you’re the slob of the house and you’re quite happy with the mess.

Make it personal. Add your own touch to your home; change over photographs in frames every few weeks of happy times you’ve had. Keep a diary of things you’ve learned that make you happy in the week (a challenge I have just started.) You don’t have to fill your home with ‘things’ to make it pretty; a nasty couch can be transformed with a favourite throw – or why not try and make some silhouette pictures? As seen on Life Is Sweet.

Join me next week when I talk about living in shipping containers, tents and the man who invented a sliding door system in his flat all in order to get more space from his living space.