good Archives - Try Handmade

Far East Style, Home Town Goods

September 17, 2018 by Valerie Williams 1 Comment

Normally my shopping instincts are sharply honed onto pretty things to wear: clothes, shoes, jewelry, anything I can sew a flower on to, that sort of thing. But every now and then my eye is caught by beautiful home accessories, and I get the itch to beautify my living space, not just my closet!

Sue Henry is a sculptor and ceramic artist whose work moved over to textiles when her children came along. A dusty studio filled with fragile, breakable things was no longer practical with little ones running about. She decided to take up carving linoleum blocks – the tactile experience reminded her of her first love, working in clay.

Sue has been an artist all her life, and remembers her first creative instinct being about creating comfortable places to live. As a little girl, she wanted to be an architect and an interior designer. It just seemed like a natural next step to print her designs on textiles to create beautiful, functional home goods.

Seeing the lovely things that Sue makes really got me thinking about how I’ve been neglecting my living spaces lately. Her designs are full of movement and energy, and I love the bold colors she uses, which really make the designs stand out.

Every item at Tulusa Home Goods begins with a linoleum block hand carved by Sue. She is inspired by her travels to India and South East Asia, and her love of cooking, architecture, and design. The designs are printed on cotton or linen canvas with solvent-free block printing ink. The pillows are stuffed with organic kapok, a fluffy, soft, and environmentally friendly alternative to polyfill. The textiles are designed to be functional and durable, and are machine washable.

Included in the collection at Tulusa are pillows of all sizes, including large meditation pillows, and table linens of all types. Sue’s favorite part of the creative process is carving the linoleum block, so there’s really no limit to what she can print on, once she completes a design.

Right now, the most popular item at Tulusa Home Goods is the Ganesha pillow. Ganesha is a Hindu deity who is the remover of obstacles, and the bringer of good fortune and new beginnings. A good friend to have around as we approach the busy holiday season and the new year, wouldn’t you say?

You can find Tulusa Home Goods at Sue’s online shop, and you can also contact her for custom orders or to be invited to her December pop-up shop in Alexandria, Virginia.

The Comforts of Fall…

September 5, 2018 by Amy L. 1 Comment

Fall leaves photo from Mist Flower Photo

It’s arrived here on the West Coast… What you ask? Oh you know – that time of year where we get upwards of 20 rain-filled days at a time! Sure, sure it makes everything green. But it also makes everything just a little bit grey too. Yet I can’t help but feel a bit excited too – this is the time of year that I think many of us relish creature comforts just a little bit more. It’s the season where coziness and sweet treats are given more priority than any other. It’s also a time when we come together more often as families for various gatherings – here in Canada, we’re already celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend.

Pumpkin Spice Cake Truffles from: Lolli Dreams

One of my favorite things at a family gathering has got to be playing board games. My family is fiercely competitive and a win at Scrabble or any other game is followed by jubilant cheers from the winner, possibly some dancing around the living room – while the “loser” is forced to watch this gloating with at least a reasonable amount of good cheer!

Handmade Chess Pieces from: Chessets

Family gatherings aside I always see autumn as a time to make the home just a bit more bright and to add a touch of fun here or there. From pumpkin scented candles to candy corn scented soap there is no shortage of great items to be found.

Candy Corn Soap from: A Breath of French Air

While the wind is howling outside and showers are falling – I do always remind myself too, that spring and summer aren’t really that far off!

Head out on the highway!

September 2, 2018 by Rebecca Hadfield 1 Comment

Escape or Explore Ring (above) in recycled eco-friendly fine silver, by Happy Go Licky.

The car is tuned-up, gassed-up, packed-up, and you’re finally on the road…now what? Is it possible to get to your destination without making a huge impact on the environment and your wallet? Getting better gas mileage is the key to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and saving money.

It should go without saying that you should keep your cool behind the wheel, but did you know that aggressive driving causes you to use extra gas? Simply by accelerating and decelerating smoothly and slowly, you can increase your gas mileage by as much as 30% for highway driving. And, as a bonus, you won’t annoy everyone around you!

You’ve heard the expression “speed kills”. Well, it should come as no surprise that it wastes gas, too. Driving over the speed limit is not only unsafe; it is a huge drain on the fuel tank. Consider taking secondary highways to help keep your lead-foot in check. Not only are posted limits lower, the temptation to speed is reduced when others aren’t whizzing past you like Kimi Raikkonen. (Tip: if you have cruise control, use it to help maintain a constant speed.) Optimal fuel economy will vary from vehicle to vehicle, but gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 100 km/h, so take your time, enjoy the scenery and put all of that saved gas money in this upcycled seatbelt wallet, above, by Interrobang.

Many urban centres are cracking down on idling and for good reason – idling vehicles contribute to pollution (both air and noise) and get zero kms /litre. It’s a myth that restarting your car uses more fuel than leaving it running, so turn off your engine when packing or unloading your car and while waiting in the seemingly endless line-ups for ferries, highway road crews, accidents, etc. To keep your little passengers happy (and quiet) while you wait for the all-clear, give them something fun to do. These little lap-sized, portable Creativity Wallets (above) by Ducks in a Row Boutique keep paper, crayons and artwork organized and at your child’s fingertips. Ideal for the backseat, they’re also perfect for keeping kids entertained in restaurants and waiting rooms.

And, finally, pack light. Before you add the weight of passengers and luggage, remove unnecessary heavy items from your vehicle. An extra 50 kilograms of cargo in your vehicle could reduce your gas mileage by up to 2%. This, of course, affects smaller vehicles more than large, but any little bit helps. Plus, you’ve gotta leave room for souvenirs! The locket set pictured above, cleverly made from a recycled auto part, saves space by giving you three looks in one, simply by switching between the three magnetic lids. I love the vintage travel theme, but there are literally hundreds of attractive options (pun intended) available in the Polarity shop.

Next week: A Movable Feast

Lavender Field

August 29, 2018 by Erika Jurney 10 Comments

Lavender Field: I’m a self-made crafter and forever a learner.

My style is very unique as I don’t follow any trends, but actually make my own.

I have an insatiable urge to create, create, create stuff with my hands. After all that’s why God gave us hands…. to put them to good and creative use!

Colors, nature and my surroundings in general are my inspiration, and I have this unconscious habit of always picturing ugly things turned beautiful.

The variety of styles I create reflect exactly that: my love for variety. Variety in jewelry, clothes, music, decor, food and styles in general.

And check out her attention to detail in her custom work. Nice!

Clothing to dye for

August 26, 2018 by Helen Hobden 1 Comment

Tie dye is classic hippy style, but I don’t actually always like it. I think it works best when you’ve got subtle shades of the same colour happening, rather than as many different bright colours you can throw onto a t-shirt at once. Shades of pink from bright to pale to white looks girly and pretty and can be quite fairy-like. Ocean blue greens look lovely together and remind me of summer holidays and mermaids.

When I was pregnant with my first child, we were kindly given lots of hand-me-down baby clothes, including several baby-grows and vests that were once white, but were now stained and looked a bit grubby. Apart from that, they had plenty of life left in them, so we bought a couple of packets of dylon and set to work making various patterns. Not yet knowing the sex of the baby, we went for purples. We got so many compliments on those baby grows – I wish I had set up a hand-dyed baby grow business there and then. Oh well! Never mind, other people thought of it too and you can now buy some fabulously dyed outfits for babies.

A dark colour and black always looks good too; especially purple or red. This often has a pagan or witchy feel about it and is great on long dresses.

You’ve also got to be careful of the pattern. My preference is when the fabric has been scrunched and dyed for an all-over random effect. Lines across the item of clothing usually look good, but be warned of circles – the technique where you put a marble or something into the material and tie up the area around it so that afterwards you’re left with circles spreading from a central point. For some reason on men’s t-shirts, the point is right in the middle, highlighting even a slightly over-weight stomach. On women’s tops, two circles seem to always highlight the nipples – fine if you’ve got the confidence for this eye-catching look, but not so good when one of the tie-dyed circles is a bit wonky!

Sources: Mountain Girl Clothing, Singin’ a Sweet Song and ilovewaterlily.