Simply the Best!

This week's Handmade Artists' Forum Blog Ring Featured Artisan is none other than Kimberly from Makin The Best Of It. Kimberly is one half of the dynamic duo that are responsible for the creation of the Handmade Artists' Forum and Shop, as well as being an incredibly talented artisan in her own right. She is mum to two boys (deserves a medal..boys are hard work LOL) and she also puts up with Andrew (the other half of the dynamic duo)!

When Kimberly knew she was up to be featured she suggested people could do a feature on the HAF shop instead, which really is just like Kimberly - she spends an enormous amount of time (along with Andrew) supporting and promoting other handmade artists. But Kimberly deserves to be put in the spotlight, she really does create some amazing pieces.

One of the areas she excels is handpainting glassware and home decor. I would love to own her creations, mainly so I could just drool over them! She also creates chainmaille and gorgeous jewellery, especially with Sea Glass, another reason I love her to bits.
So do yourself a favour and drop by MakinTheBestOfIt , Chainmaille By MBOI (Andrew makes Chainmaille too), or her blog, and see for yourself what a wonderful artisan Kimberly is.

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In the pursuit of Creativity.

I am back again with another Handmade Artists' Forum Blog Ring artisan feature.This week we are looking at Creative Minds. They make fabulous jewellery, which is available for sale on their website. They use some great materials, including Fimo and Paper beads, as well as crystals and pearls.
They hope one day to be able to open a bricks and mortar store to sell craft supplies and teach classes, especially to kids.
Creative Minds also maintains a blog where they feature handmade artisans.
Check out Creative Minds for yourself.

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T.Rusk4U

I have been horribly lax and let a week go by without doing the HAF blog ring member feature. I am going to rectify that.
The member featured March 14th to 21st was T.Rusk4U. The talent behind T.Rusk4U is Teresa. She creates some wonderful pieces that can be seen in her Etsy store and in her WinkElf store.

She also has a wonderful blog where she features the talents of other artisans, as well as interesting posts about all sorts of things. Drop by and check out how wonderfully talented Teresa is.

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A Textural Adventure!

I am back again with another Handmade Artist's Forum Blog Ring Feature, albeit a few days late. This week our featured artisan is Pleasant Peasantry, which is actually a husband and wife team who hail from Chicago. Both are long time crafters who have tried their hands at many different crafts over the years. Their Etsy store is a lovely mix of macrame and ceramics, or as their tagline says - Your One-Stop Shop for Pots and Knots.
Now having played with clay a bit, and with fibres, I can say these are both very textural crafts. They are hands on and a lot of it is based on feel. There is also a methodical, meditative aspect to the producing of these articles.

The end results are fantastic, nothing 'daggy' about the macrame pieces they produce. Gone are the days when macrame was just used for plant hangers, with the use of finer fibres fashionable jewellery pieces are created. They have a wonderfully beachy feel.
Their ceramics are brilliant, with interesting uses of glazes and ceramic techniques to produce fantastic usable pieces. Their store is well worth a visit, and they are also happy to make items on request.
Recently they have begun a journey of discovering in the world of book binding, and you can see this journey on their blog - The Craft Journals, which also has artisan features.

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Wooden It Be Nice?

Ok - I will apologise straight up for the terrible pun! But I picked the title because the Handmade Artists' Forum Blog Ring feature artisan this week is Jan from JewelryByJanelle. She creates the most amazing pieces of jewellery from wood that she shapes and finishes herself. They are so beautiful to look at, and I'm certain they are wonderful to wear as well.

She also creates wonderful pieces using Swarovski, Czech and Gemstone beads with a range of different metals.

She has just recently been bitten by the Chainmaille bug and is producing some gorgeous pieces.
Jan is also very active on HAF and with the HAFteam on Etsy. She is a wonderful artisan and a lovely person. You can see her work at JewelryByJanelle on Etsy and JewelryByJanelle on Handmade Artists' Shop. You can also read her blog.

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