The Blind Man of Seville & a few Pom Pom's

Last week just seemed to fly by with me yet again pulling out various materials and then creating a pile on the floor enough to make me weep, it was only just recently that I had spent a couple off hours tiding it all up and neatly arranging on my shelves, oh well and if national pom pom week doesn’t exist then I hereby declare that it does now, well at least in my house. I have been making shoe clips and bobby pins out of vintage silks, ribbon and crepe-de-chine, a far cry from when I was a wee tot and made them with wool normally multi –coloured, they were then dotted about my bedroom, they got added to my gloves and hats and I can remember once tying them to the handles of my bike which I thought looked very cool! 

It also seemed that every given chance I got  last week I stuck my head into a book by Robert Wilson “The Blind man of Seville” which I am sorry in one sense to say I have now finished and although it had me cringing in parts, a brilliant story which I found both fascinating and harrowing, a moving account of a man facing the most heartbreaking truths about his life. Kicking off as an off-key detective story and quickly turns into a tense psychological thriller where the momentum never flags. Highly recommend.

Well not sure what I will end up doing this week, the garden is looking very grey in parts, the weeds are thriving as usual and as spring has sprung I need to get out and get cracking. As for the pile of material I will walk round or over it but no way am I putting it back yet, might just get a pom pom attack again.

Wishing you all a happy and creative week.

Geisha Finds on Etsy

Can't quite remember where I saw a photograph of two beautiful geisha girls and it made me wonder if I would find  anything on Etsy relating to Geisha. Just typing in the word Geisha netted me a mere 6,049 items!!! I was not disappointed in my finds, in fact far from it; I discovered beautiful mosaics, photography, shoes, dolls and much more. I have picked a few from my search and hope you like them as much as I do. I can browse through the remaining 6,045!!!  another day.

The first to catch my eye was this Original Beautiful Japanese Geisha Doll. Her beautifully ornate Kimono costume is made from brocade kimono fabric with gold/metallic thread. She is wearing a beautiful complete metallic hair decoration with original wraps holding her hair in place, and is holding the Emperors samurai helmet in one hand and tassles in the other. Exquisitely decorated throughout, this is a high quality collectors piece. http://www.etsy.com/people/Yesteryearessentials

 

Next came these pom pom platform Slippers from http://www.etsy.com/people/crownofthorns 



A stunning 18"x24" glass mosaic picture ready to hang. It is the second piece in my series of "Women of Fantasy" . This Geisha named Sakura translates to "Cherry Blossom". All glass is handcut with reflective backing to bring out the colors. Her fans and kimono are lined with glass beads. This piece is classy and very subtle, but speaks volumes and will look awesome on your wall. http://www.etsy.com/people/RedCanyonGlass

 

Fabulous photograph of traditional dress and shoes from http://www.etsy.com/people/January10th

And finally  from http://www.etsy.com/people/mysweetseptember  This lovely necklace with a gorgeous print entitled "Midoriki from the Wakamatsuya Establishment," from the series "Contest of Beauties in the Pleasure District" 1795-1796. The reverse side is a piece of Japanese washi paper. The pendant measures 1 inch by 1 1/2 inches. A sterling silver jump ring is soldered to the top.

Krishenka’s Treasures Giveaway

It’s time for another fun giveaway. I intended to run this yesterday but best laid plans and all that! Each day I will be adding a new treasure for you, vintage lace, silk,buttons, embroidery and more but will kick off with this little blue silk finger pincushion as you might just find it useful when you see what's coming next:). In the next few days I will be adding a new treasure for you, 14 items in total. Value will be in the region of €50 and I will pick a winner on the 1st March 2012.

Rules are very simple. I would like to increase my Facebook fan page, so all you have to do is click here , hit the like button it’s that simple. If you are already a fan and would  like to enter my giveaway then just leave a comment on this post and you’re in.

If you share my giveaway on your blog, facebook, twitter etc, thank you so much and do please tell me in a comment and you will get another entry. You get a big virtual hug if you follow my blog  but it's not mandatory to enter.

Good luck xx

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Krishenka

http://pinterest.com/Krishenka/

https://twitter.com/#!/Krishenka

1.Blue Slub Silk Finger Pin Cushion
2.Embroidery Kit Book Mark
3.Sheet of Silver Embroidery Transfers
4.Cream silk with Floral Print
5.Vintage Scalloped Lace, this is gorgeous girls
6. A few buttons for you to play with
7. A goodly chunk of cotton eyelet tape
8. A good handful of Lavender (you can have dried roses if you prefer)
9. six patchwork squares red and biege
10. Scrapbook stickers
11.Blackwatch Tartan Ribbon
12.Set of Three Keshi Bobby Pins
13.Set of Three lavender poppits
14. €20 voucher including postage for any item in my shop
tada

My Fidgets from Scotland

A few weeks ago I hosted a giveaway for Mary from The Vintage Arcade . The winner duly announced and Mary sent off her package to the lucky lady, she also told me that she was going to send me as a thank you some “Fidgets”. Now being a fellow Scot I am only too familiar with this word fidget, this was used by my mama on a daily basis when she would say to me, “Christine for goodness sake will you stop fidgeting”. I might add because my mama is no longer here to tell me to stop fidgeting,  I can fidget as much as I like, but what I would like to know is , how on earth did Mary know this fact in our short acquaintance?

The postman arrived today and lo and behold I got my Fidgets all nine off them! Now what do I do with them? I am thinking that I just have to fidget with them, which I might add I have already done. The last thing I want to do is have them in my pocket and fidget with them as how many times have you seen a guy fidgeting with whatever is in his pocket (note the sound of coins jangling to disguise what they were really fidgeting with)!! So I am going to hang them by my work table and when I look at them I can, if not fidgeting already, have a wee fidget with them.


I digress. My main point here was to say thank you so much to Mary for making me my own personal Fidgets, they are amusing little things and each time I look at them  they will make me smile, and the fact that Mary made them especially for me makes them very special indeed.

Here they are so if you ever see something similar then chances are that Mary made them.

Name and Shame "Rings and Things" Ripoff

I am sharing this story written by Mary from ThinguMaBobs to show her my support that stealing from Hand-made artists is not acceptable. If you happen to buy from this company, then read the following and maybe you will think twice. Feel free to share this and you can read more about it, and their history of stealing from hand-made artists, here: bit.ly/A0ESDL

Rings & Things has been a trusted supplier, old-employer and so I thought, sincere friend, for years. In addition to working my tail off for their bottom line, I've bought thousands of dollars worth of supplies there- and sold my leather beading components to them since my products inception in 2007. I was pleased to see Tafuri Tough Leather beading supplies became best selling items for my old comrades.

Recently, this "Buy-Local Buy-Handmade" company exported some of my product concepts, designs and ideas.... to China, adding a new line of leather beading components that look strikingly similar to samples I've personally delivered to their buyers. I'm floored to see my samples become imported knock-offs and can't imagine the impact of this kind of business practice to other hand made sellers and to my own employees. While I was an employee at R&T, I have to admit, I witnessed them doing this same thing to other hand-made artists. I spoke my peace, and trusted that the business practice was something they would not continue. And all has been well for several years. Until today.

While getting ready to place an order, I noticed a new product line- leather cuff blanks and wrap style bracelets- imported from China, and strikingly similar to my own. Even the color names "Scarlet Red and Denim Blue" were once our featured favorites (before etsy search relevancy forced me to change them to "blue and Red". I tried to bring my concerns to their attention, but they've had no response. Zero. Odd, given the 17+ year history of our business relationship.

If you are a hand made maker and supplier of beading components, you may want to do a quick search for your goods on the rings-things website, juuust to be safe.

****Black Gold****

 What do Easington (England), Merthyr Tydfil (Wales), La Houve(France), La Camocha (Asturias) and Sant Corneli de Cercs (Catalonia) have in common?

Stumped? Well, the answer is coal mining and I recently had the opportunity to stay in the tiny village of Sant Corneli perched high in the Spanish Pyrenean foothills.  I have always had an enormous respect for the miners who sacrificed their health, and often their lives, to extract the black gold which fuelled the Industrial Revolution and am fascinated by the close knit communities that evolved around this most dangerous of occupations. To me, these communities epitomised the solidarity of working men and women and showed how mutual support and collaboration enabled these heroes of the industrial age to prevail under the most arduous conditions. 

To give you some perspective, San Corneli was part of a collection of local mining villages that, in total, had an astounding 700Kms of mine galleries – enough to stretch all the way across northern Spain as far as Burgos in the west. Of course there are no working mines left now – and perhaps this is no bad thing – but their legacy lives on and there is no better place to revisit the past than the Mining Exhibition in Sant Corneli village where the history of mining in these inaccessible mountains is charted in a way that gives a detailed insight into the lives of the miners and their families as they toiled and sweated in the dark and the dust as well as struggled for fairer employment conditions.

A visit to the exhibition is an absolute must if you are in the area and the “piece de resistance” at the end of your visit is a trip by mine-car into a 400 metre long gallery and, as you make your way back out on foot and view the various tableaux, you feel that you have travelled back in time.

Although a tiny village, San Corneli is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty and, despite its size, also boasts an excellent little hotel (Santa Barbara) and restaurant so an overnight stop or short break will allow you to appreciate the hospitality of the village, eat wonderful traditional Catalan food, visit the past and explore the area.
 Links:

www.mnactec.cat/museum/museu_de_les_mines_de_cercs_es.htm


www.booking.com/hotel/es/santa-barbara.en.html


www.restaurantsantabarbara.com/