Try Handmade

Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.

Oh, Canada!

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Unlike our neighbours to the south, with their somewhat-brazen flag waving, we Canadians are notoriously humble about our patriotism. Sure we show our red maple leaves with pride, but it is always with an underlying sense of moderation and polite restraint. However, the one day of the year that we allow ourselves to really let loose is July 1st, when we take a collective day-off to observe our Nation‘s birthday. In honour of Canada’s 143rd, I’m inviting you to embrace your inner Canadian and take a peek at some terrific handmade finds from the unabashedly polite people at the top of the continent.

Rhonda, of My Handbound Books is a bookbinder and book artist hailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who is constantly working on new ways to practice her craft and often includes an eco-friendly element. Some of Rhonda’s journals are made entirely from recycled/reclaimed/repurposed materials; to create the one pictured above, she didn’t have to go any further than her stash of leather scraps and salvaged trims and closures. To match the virtue of the cover, it is filled with unlined cream paper with 30% recycled content. Check out Rhonda’s blog http://myhandboundbooks.blogspot.com/ to see more of her eco-friendly projects, including her awesomely kitschy “as seen on tv” product box journals.

Released in 1983, Bryan Adams’ album “Cuts Like a Knife” was the third studio album by the Canadian singer/songwriter, and can easily be credited for giving Adams his first real mainstream popularity in both Canada and the US. Montreal’s Odd Bob has taken this iconic piece of Canadian music history and preserved it as a funky piece of functional art for the home. The signed and numbered piece has been carefully reshaped and three non-slip feet have been added. It even comes complete with its original cover! (Music lovers and collectors need not worry – Groovebowls are made only from records that Odd Bob has deemed “unplayable”, due to pits and scratches.)

Mariclaro Canada is a small design collective based in Toronto with a mandate to design and create sustainable products. The bag pictured above, made from seatbelts, upholstery and bike inner tubes, is a perfect example of their work. Created from 99% recycled materials (the thread makes up the remaining 1%), it is a truly unique, one-of-a-kind piece. Toronto locals (and visitors to “The Big Smoke”) can find the brick-and-mortar Mariclaro shop at 457 Roncesvalles Ave, just south of Dundas West.

Lucky me – one of my favourite Canadian designers just so happens to live right here in my home province! Winnipegger Kelly Ruth absolutely loves Manitoba summers and you can tell by the way the vibrant, earthy colours of her hand-dyed garments (pictured above) reflect the natural beauty of our ever-changing prairie landscape. By using special, fiber-reactive dyes on super-soft and sustainable bamboo-blend knit fabrics, Kelly creates one-of-a-kind pieces that no only look gorgeous when you buy them, but will not fade over time.

The upcycled Canada atlas envelopes at the beginning of this article are made by Prairie Peasant, a member of the Etsy Trans Canada Team. Visit the team blog to find out how you can win one of two fabulously Canadian prizes in their “Handmade in Canada Party”. Hurry – the contest only runs until Canada Day!

Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is a celebration marking the anniversary of the enactment of the British North American Act of 1867, which united two British colonies with a province of the British Empire into a single country. Similar to the way Americans celebrate their Independence Day, we Canucks will spend the day with family and friends; eating, drinking, gathering, parading and setting-off fireworks…with the utmost of polite moderation, of course.

Natural Deodorant

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I was quite skeptical of natural deodorant. Although the idea of it being aluminum-free appeals to me. And there is the concept that commercial deodorants are usually antiperspirants, which is unnatural, since humans are supposed to perspire.

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Still, thoughts of squiggly, stinky lines engulfing me like Pigpen from Charlie Brown persisted. And I’m running out of spa and beauty products to discuss – though each week a new one seems to appear. So, armed with the idea that in the 90s, horrified though I was by her revelation, my friend who never wore antiperspirant also never smelled bad… I decided I should try it.

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Interview With Tish of Artish

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[hLeah]

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Tish Maguire of Artish has no pets, which is understandable when you learn she has two girls, Poppy and Daisy, four and two respectively. Plus! By not having pets, she eliminates a whole aisle at the supermarket! Tish and her husband, Nigel, live in Hunter Valley, in New South Wales, Australia.

Tish traveled around a fair bit growing up; living in Papua New Guinea, the USA, and London, and visiting lots of other places. She lives in the country, about an hour or two north of Sydney. She likes being close to the vineyards and the mountains, not far from a myriad of beautiful beaches, and close to the city.

You can find Tish on her website, Artish, and at her Etsy shop.

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When/how/why did you start crocheting?

My mother taught me to crochet (and knit) a long time ago – but I didn’t ever really do anything with it for quite a while. My mother and I now live in different countries – so when I became interested in fiber again, I bought a book to refresh my memory. I’ve been making scarves and beanies randomly over the last 10 years, but mostly just for myself to wear – because I could never find what I wanted in shops, and because I like fashion to be personal, not mass produced. Then friends and family started asking me to make things for them, and I started giving my creations as gifts because the house was getting too crowded.

Aside from these reasons, I also had two babies, and needed something that was indoor-friendly and didn’t need to be put too far out of reach of little hands.

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How do you figure out the color combinations?

My process is fairly random, and often accidental. When I do have a plan, it usually starts with an idea that requires hunting for the right fiber to create it. But most of the time I start with one ball of yarn that I love and then add colours or textures that just look or feel ‘right’ to me. If I find I can’t create anything and have Knitters Block, I will generally start with two yarns that I think DON’T go together, and I’m often pleasantly surprised by the results.

Where do you find your yarn?

My yarn comes from everywhere! Local shops, on the internet, on Etsy, from friends (I’ve even recently been offered the wool from a friend who has become the owner of a sheep!), and from re-purposed items that I unravel and reuse. I love the internet, and could (in fact, I probably do!) spend hours on there browsing yarn stores.

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Do you have a favorite kind of yarn?

Not really. They each have their pros and cons. And it varies from season to season, and it depends on what I want to use it for.

Is this your day job or your side job?

This is my day job now. It started off as a hobby since I have two girls aged 2 and 4, who keep me very busy. It’s now become quite consuming, and is fast on it’s way to being a full time job.

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Do you do other kinds of arts/crafts?

My first loves are painting and drawing. I found it difficult to paint when my girls were born, so I started turning to other creative things that I could do indoors, and could leave out without it being a hazard for the girls. Now it seems to have taken over, but I would like to get back to my art one day. I also love to sew, take photos, and play around with web design.

What is your best selling item?

Scarves are absolutely the best sellers. They are so versatile, and appeal to women, men, and children. After scarves, I’d have to say that wrist warmers are the biggest sellers.

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Do you have a workspace or workroom? What does it look like?

I have a workroom. It is not ideal! It’s too dark and too small. It consists of some lovely square pigeon-hole-type shelving for my wool, and a desk where my sewing machine and other various bits and bobs live. I also have some shelves and big rectangular tubs for storage of completed and abandoned
projects. My scarves all hang on racks. Every now and then I am inspired to give it a thorough Spring Clean…. then it slowly ends up in chaos again as I create things!

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Stress-Free Challenge.

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Some good advice from Claire & Me Designs.

We’re constantly being reminded that we’re living in a stress-filled 21st Century, then on the other hand we’re being slated for being stressed out. The truth is simple: stress happens. We just need to get better at coping with it.

We’re either ‘Too blessed to be stressed’ (the very idea of that is just utter garbage to me) or we’ve to ‘Keep calm and carry on’ (which works in the short term but is never a long term solution.)

I don’t have the answer to a stress-free lifestyle but it has become very apparent to me that stress is a Big Problem. After all, the newspapers are obsessed with it and it’s causes. Pharmaceutical companies seem to be making billions off the back of it. And we’re seemingly becoming more and more stressed out.

And I have reached the conclusion that filling your walls full of inspirational, quirky and fun stress-boosting posters might help. Such as this cute illustration by Laura George.

In all seriousness, though, it feels like we’re either doing too much or not enough with ourselves, our lives, our goals, our commitments.

We’re trying to juggle our happiness and meanwhile keep everyone else happy.

We’re smiling and nodding at the boss, telling them that yes we can do that bit of over time, all in the hopes of them furthering us up the career ladder.

We’re wives, mothers, fathers, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, daughters, sons and so on trying to deal with those relationships that life throws at us unprepared for and to ‘learn on the job.’

We’re crafters trying to push our latest project into making amazing sales. We’re photographers, dreamers, writers, intellects, artists and academics all looking for our break, our way into the World and for that penny-dropping moment of complete bliss and happiness.

Happiness seems like the anti-thesis to stress; wherever stress is, happiness is not. It’s like stress walked into the party and happiness walked out with it’s chin up in the air and a snooty snort as it passed stress as if to say; “Pft, I’m out of here! I’m not sticking around for any more of your drama!”

I definitely believe that happiness can be achieved in this life. I have experienced material happiness (as in the short-term burst of pleasure you experience when you buy something new for the first time) and I have experienced natural happiness (that long lingering and memory making happiness you get from wonderful life experiences) so I know this can be achieved. I also know that the majority of people in the World will have experienced the feelings I have described above – so happiness is real. It’s not some mythical creature that lives in a cave. It can happen to you.

There are no rule books on combatting stress (okay, well, not counting Chicken Soup for the Stressed Out Soul and all those like-wise books, of course) but there are techniques you can learn to avoid the impending doom of stress.

Again, here I go with the advice;

Befriend someone older than you. Most of my older friends have a much more laissez faire attitude towards life than I sometimes do. Like when I worry about wrinkles, my Gran will tell me; “You don’t have any wrinkles! Don’t worry about those things in your 20s, enjoy yourself!”.

Those who have more life experience just don’t care about life. In a good way. And spending time in the company of those who don’t sweat the small stuff will definitely have an effect on you. You will soon learn to loosen your grip on what does and what doesn’t matter – and wrinkles at 25? Perhaps, but what can I do? And does it really matter? Life your life without vain anxieties.

One time, while watching a programme about water-skiing my Gran (who can’t swim, let me remind you, but went down various water slides on a holiday in Spain when I was 8) advised me to “try things” in life. “I wish I had done that,” she told me, pointing to the screen where a terrified looking woman was being prepared for her first water skiing adventure. “You should do that.” Umm, while I don’t think I will take up water skiing just yet I think I will take her words to heart. Don’t sweat the small stuff, listen to your elders and heed their advice.

Do something you love every weekend. It doesn’t have to cost loads of money. What do you love? How can you do this for as little cost as is possible? Fill your weekend with things you love; eating chocolates and staying in your pyjamas all day? Doing housework while blaring music full volume? Taking pictures of old couples sitting on benches in the park? And if something does cost you some money, don’t STRESS about it – just let it be. You can make more money but you cannot buy a new heart (which will be in the firing line if you stress any more.)

Remind yourself that being a person is hard and you’re doing a good job. You’re not a terrible person. You’re not doing everything wrong (I go through these paranoid trains of thoughts about 1000000 times a day.) You’re not letting everyone down. You’re not disappointing your parents – and if they’re not happy with you, don’t sweat it, they’ll get over it and if they don’t? Well it’s still not worth stressing out over.

Get professional help if it’s needed. There are some things that need a professional. There is a lot of negative association with therapists, but if they work for people – how can someone say that is a bad idea? I have no stigma or issue with therapists. They provide a service and the process of therapy can really heal people. A lot of creative people suffer with mental health issues and it’s no laughing matter. Get help if it’s what’s required.

Knit happens. Knitting and other crafty projects can be very relaxing. Take on something relatively simple, something that won’t annoy and frustrate you and call it your Stress-Free Challenge. Whenever you feel the stress building up, take out the crafty project and work on that.

Take a chill pill. For years many have told me to “take a chill pill” and although I hate the sentence and every other emotion it drums up, it’s still true. Take a chill pill. Cool off and forget about things that don’t matter. If someone is being an opinion pusher and it’s stressing you – so what? They won’t change their minds about their opinions just because you’re right – in their minds they’re eternally right. Let it be.

Take time for a break. You make time in your day to eat, to visit the toilet, to do the basics so you can make time for a proper break in the day. It’s also very, very, very important that once you complete a huge project or task that you take some time out after it’s completion, stand back and take a deep breath. Appreciate that the hard part is done and now you can relax…until the next big thing.

Moved by rhythm…

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If you’ve been reading my posts lately you know that I’ve found this New Year to be really meaningful. I’ve been learning new things about myself, and what happiness and fulfillment really mean to me. I was chatting with a group of friends last week and we got to talking about life’s rhythms and living more simply. At first the idea of “simple living” was a bit of a turn-off for me, as it almost sounds unattainable. Let’s face it – life is complicated and the devil is often in the details. But as one of my friends explained, it can be more about prioritizing those things in your life that are the most important and structuring your life in such a way that you’re really taking care of your most important needs.

That I can sign up for, and it’s really what I’m all about these days, so it totally clicked with me. This last week I’ve been trying to build more structure in to my every day life through scheduling that is a bit more detailed, but still allows for some flexibility and breathing room. So far I’m finding it to be a very nurturing practice.

We live in an interesting time – perhaps unlike any other. For many of us, we work facing computers day in and day out. For some, upon arriving home, more hours are spent in front of a computer, socializing, shopping and reading…. While I love my computer as much as the next person (and perhaps sometimes more) there is something about how our work and play is structured these days that may not always be ideal or even totally satisfying.

I think that is why nature photography resonates so strongly with me. It is always a reminder to me of where true beauty is, and lately it’s been helping me to consider the many ways nature can inform us. Fruits and trees and flowers have their predictable patterns and seasons, and they need to nurtured, as do we.

Throughout this post I’ve shared the beautiful work of Lupen Grainne, whose work I found on Cargoh. Lupen is a self taught photographer from Portland, Oregon who now lives in Sonoma County, California.