Saturday, October 1, 2011

Customer Fabulousness!

September was super busy, gearing up for fall and winter weddings so the blog was on hiatus for a month. But heading into fall also means that knitwear season is also starting so everyone has been after wooden buttons and during the past month I have been receiving some great pictures of customers work using the buttons on their work.
Gina, from Delaware, who knits these fabulous lightweight lacework swing sweaters used the Turquoise Flower Bead Wooden Buttons to fasten it.
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She also later knitted the same sweater but in red as a gift and used the Queen of Heart Silk Buttons in her own custom sizing.
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And after providing me with her honest opinion of the wooden buttons, she now has a tagline in the wooden button listings so other buyers can see what she thought of how they were to use:
"They are SO lightweight! This is a real joy when using them on a hand-knitted item! They don't weigh down the garment or stretch out the knitting." - Gina, Delaware USA.

Anne, from Massachusetts, used the Spinning Butterflies Wooden Buttons and Hawaiian Flower Dome Buttons on her very first knitting project, and it turned out fabulously!
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And Victoria, from California, placed her own specially sized request for some Prince of Wales Check Buttons to use on a new skirt pattern she was trying out. The original sizing of the buttons were WAY too big so we worked on getting the pattern placement of the fabric right on the small size that she needed.
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She wrote all about how she made the skirt and where she got her supplies on her blog here. Check it out!

Thanks for the pictures everyone! It’s always great to see what people do with the buttons after they have bought them. So fee free to send over pics of your work!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Back to School

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It’s that time of year again, and what better way to personalise your school sweater than with your name spelled out in wooden letter buttons?
I was commissioned this week to make 2 sets of buttons spelling out little boys names to go on their new sweaters.
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These are going to Norway.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Halloween a Little Early

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It’s still a little early for Halloween, but here’s a custom order I just completed for a Halloween day wedding. They are to go in the bridesmaids and maid of honors headpieces which is why they have added glitter sparkle and one has red eyes and three have black eyes.
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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Bridal Commission Piece

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Working from this original design I was commissioned to make one in a colour to match the brides dress and use her own colours and flowers in a 1940s/50s style.
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After matching the silk to her vintage dress, I blocked and wired a base, then pleated the top layer, stitched it down, covered the back in plain silk and edged it in bias tape made from the same silk.
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As she has very short hair she decided she wanted some kind of small clip to hold it on as a big barrette would slip out and a headband or elastic would show on her head.
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To make sure it stayed in place I put 2 strong small clips, but going in opposite directions. The idea is to clip the back one in place first then swing the front one downwards slightly to catch more hair and stop it moving on the head as the hair wouldn’t be pulled back in an updo creating natural tension.
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Then we worked on placing the pieces from her own bouquet she had sent to be added, green calla lilies, wired rhinestones and peacock swords, and finished it off wrapped in loops of teal ribbon.
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Finally topping it off with a big poof of Ivory English veiling, and a secret rhinestoned initial letter A brooch hidden in the back as a secret love note to her new husband.
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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Haauuullll!!!

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I had to run into town for a few bits yesterday and finally managed to get the 1” round labels for my Brother labelmaker. I had had them on order from a store in town who took SEVEN weeks to finally tell me they were on indefinite back order with the manufacturer, even after they told me several times they would be receiving them to send out to me within 5-7 days. Funny that the manufacturer has them for sale on their own website the whole time. From now on we’ll only buy from that store if the item is physically on the shelf ready to buy as this isn’t the first time they have kept us hanging on an exorbitant amount of time with a pre-order item.
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But now I have the nice neat little labels needed for my small bridal button looping packaging as well as Thank You stickers and web address stickers for tissue wrapped items and neat business return address labels – Yay!
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Now this ‘stuff’ has be niggling at me to buy for a month or so now, and I needed to go to the florist supply store to pick up a tall pillar candle anyway so I finally gave in and bought some. It’s weird! But great! It kind of looks like silly string made into mesh, the receipt lists it as Sisal, but its definitely a man made foamy concoction. It does have some stiffness to it, but I’m going to gently steam it at some point, I do want to keep some of the stiffness in parts to create a cage type feel to the finished hat.
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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Haaauuullll!!!!!

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Finally got into the city yesterday to pick up some much needed supplies. Replenishing the basic bridal looping stock as well as adding a brand new colour, Gold, PERFECT for eveningwear and alternative bridal colours.
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I needed some wide White lace for another future project, and this one pretty closely matches my Black and Pink ones so it will be perfect.
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Then I hit up the millinery store and scored some beautiful Tiffany Blue Starbright straw, which is for a very special top secret project! And some more basic black millinery wire. I found another unusual braid I might have to go back for to use in the top secret project.
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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Customer Fabulousness!


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Photo Credit:  L. Scabrat 2011

So I have been super busy all week with some big intense custom orders, literally working til 10pm each night, not even time to consider a blog post, but I was taking pictures to post this week.
So it was a nice break to receive an email from one of my clients at the button shop earlier on this week with pictures of the dress she had designed and made herself and finished with a ‘necklace’ of buttons.
She had seen some buttons in my store, but she wanted them to be bigger and asked my opinion on what fabric to use after she explained she was using satin with a chiffon overlay, so I suggested the black silk charmuese, a satin effect but with a warm gauzy glow rather than a harsh sheen like poly satin, with would replicate the gauziness of the chiffon.
And here’s then end result, it looks rather fabulous! I hope she has a great time wearing it to her sons wedding.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Sketchbook

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Just doodling with a glass of (red) wine, practicing sketching on the drawing tablet.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Sketchbook

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“The” Orange mini base which has been sitting there for months waiting the thing that’s going to finish it, well its going to be finished with stripped bright turquoise coque feathers. Complimentary colours and all that.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Brides Across America

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Recently I was asked to re-create some missing buttons from a dress donated to a military bride by Brides Across America.

This is one of the original buttonsSlick_TopAnd here are my copies work in progress, 4-365 2011 015worked over an Ivory Silk Charmuese Bridal Button, then beaded with dozens of tiny clear cupped sequins, silver lined clear seed beads and centred with a bigger seed bead.
6-365 2011 031Brides Across America donates free wedding dresses to brides either serving in the military or marrying a serving soldier, as a way of saying thank you for their services. www.bridesacrossamerica.com

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Mail Haauuuullll!!!!

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Some goodies came in the mail today! Miyuki Drop Fringe Seed beads, in from L-R: Red Light Topaz, Matte White Pearl and Lavender.
They are tiny, only about 3mmx4mm, but they are perfect for what I need.
I’m going to wire them and use them as handmade glass flower stamen.
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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Monday, July 11, 2011

A few of my little friends!

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These have been keeping me a little busy lately. Love the way the light has played on the surface of the satin through the blind slats and leaves of a tree outside the window. They are actually a mid silver grey and not so light as the pictures.
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Thursday, July 7, 2011

New Daphne Guinness Book

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Today I pre-ordered my copy of the brand new Daphne Guinness book by Valerie Steele.
It isn’t available til the beginning of November 2011, duno if I can wait that long!

Considering Valerie Steele is the director and Chief Curator of the Museum at FIT I’m hoping its going to be filled with a bazillion pictures, narrating her life, rather than words narrating a few pictures.

I knew of her, always photographed front row at fashion week, muse to many a designer, wearer of Alexander McQueen Armadillo shoes (not even in her size but worn last minute with toilet paper stuffed in the toes, go on I dare you to even get up on those in your size!)
But the first time I learned about her in depth was the March 2008 issue of British Vogue (how I miss my monthly fix of British Vogue) in a cover story entitled The Incredible World Of Daphne Guinness, where she talked about her life post divorce from the Greek shipping billionaire Stavros Niarchos, her position in the Guinness family, and how she was planning a massive auction of her couture collection for charity later that year, but how she was finding it hard to decide what to part with and what to keep.

Known for her striking platinum blonde and black striped hair, creating a headpiece effect in itself, when she wears a hat, she really wears a hat!
And now she’s the proud owner of the entire collection of the late Isabella Blow’s wardrobe including 50 Philip Treacy hats, many of which were designed just for Blow, to wear as well now too.

Daphne Guinness by Valerie Steele, Yale University Press $45, available now on pre-order from Yale Press and Amazon

Eeeeee I REALLY cant wait til November!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Smartie Blocks

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Last month I started a brief post on just a few of my new blocks. Today I’m going to talk about my two smartie blocks.
Both from Guy Morse-Brown in England, the smaller one was a birthday present to myself last year and the larger one was a birthday present from my family this year.
The 4” one I have created my own ‘puller’ to remove it simple from underneath a stiff blocked piece as the edges curve inwards. The ribbon I used is thin enough not to create a raised mark on the outside of the piece. Its knotted tightly over and over underneath to provide something to hook your fingers inside and sharply pull it out.
I’ve made some of my most popular pieces as well as competition winning pieces from it.
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The Vintage Bride
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Union Jack Mini
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Dainty Miss Leopard Mini  Freshly Picked Calla Lilies
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Very Vintage Chocolate Lattice
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Very Vintage Red Petals
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Origami Waterlily Mini
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And the competition winning Fame and Glory Ascot mini.

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