Haffina Creations: July 2011

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Promoting the Promoter

In this blog post I get to talk about one of my favourite Handmade people. I get to talk about a lady who gives a lot of her time and energy to the promotion of Handmade, as well as being an incredible artist herself.

Kimberley Kitchen, sometimes known as Makin' The Best of It, is one half of the incredible duo behind the Handmade Artists' Forum and Shop. This is a lady with an immense amount of talent. Not only does she handpaint glasses and framed wedding invititations, she also makes chainmaille. That's right, those wonderful intricate weavings of little rings of metal in to wearable pieces of art.

The focus of this blog post is Chainmaille by MBOI (Makin' the Best Of It - see). Let's be clear, there is a duo here, Kimberley and Andrew, but let's focus on Kimberley (Andrew doesn't need anything to swell his head more :P) This lovely lady makes some amazing pieces of chainmaille jewellery, and if she likes a weave but doesn't know how to make it she will learn it. And one of the things I love the most is that in most of her pieces she let's the chainmaille do the talking, instead of overwhelming it with lots of beads or focals. Whilst there is nothing wrong with adding beads, it is also great to see someone focus on the beauty of chainmaille by itself.

I'm going to stop talking now, and let you see more of her work (and Andrew's :D) Oh and you need to click this link to ChainmaillebyMBOI ... because that's where the good stuff is!

I want to take this opportunity to thank Kimberley and Andrew for all their support in the time we have known each other. I am honoured to count you amongst my friends.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Feature Artisan - Alchemy Atelier

The Handmade Artists' Forum has started a new blogring and once again I have stepped into the breach. So hang on to your seats whilst I take you for a whirlwind journey through the studios of various handmade artisans.

This week we are going to meet Alchemy Atelier. The creative goddess behind Alchemy Atelier is Shannamarie, who confesses to being a crafting addict since childhood. At that time her focus was more on sewing, including Barbie clothes (Barbie fan over here).

These days her attention has shifted towards jewellery, and she has a preference for earrings (hey me too!). A little trip into her Artfire studio will also show you she makes very nice rings. Let me show you a few things...

But what does a jewellery maker do when they are not feeling in a jewellery state of mind? Well this particular artisan pulls out fibre or yarn and makes needle felted poppets or amigurumi toys.

I always enjoy meeting new artisans who suffer from Craft ADHD like I do!
So, lovely readers, drop by Alchemy Atelier on ArtFire and check out the goodies Shannamarie has been making! And take a peek at her blog as well for some interesting and illuminating posts.