Monday 17 December 2012

A very festive Make Your Christmas 3!

Wow! Only one more Handmade Arcade to go this year!

December is flying by - Handmade Arcade every week has kept our spirits soaring at this busy time of year! It's been great to mingle with makers and meet so many newcomers to the area. As alway's this past Saturday was no exception - McCoys Arcade was packed with some of the most brilliant creations - affordable decorations and christmas gifts - unique, handcrafted, original and best of all sold by the hands that made them!

We also had music arranged by Exeter Local Records a local distro selling a wide range of great music from the area, you can catch Tom this coming Saturday in the Arcade.

This Monday I wanted to write a little about a few of the artists who come to Handmade Arcade almost every time - they spend their evenings and spare days in the process of creation, and bring their very personal and thought filled pieces to HA! - I wanted to take a minute to write a few words about these very special people whose friendly faces and character filled creations you may recognise! 


Maker of some truly amazing beads and buttons, Madeline plays with fire to produce beautiful swirling colours, her beads are evocative of a dazzling array of constellations, swirling fires, gleaming rockpools as well as tiny intricate detailed pieces - whipping glass into tiny birds and delicate polar bears!




Madeline has a studio where she does all of her glass making -


"I’m always captivated by what glass can do as a material, the way it can be moved, and changed, the colours that can be encouraged to bloom in specialty glass such as silver glass. I work with my material, trying to understand it to improve the details and forms I can achieve. Of course glass will always find new ways to suprise you, its fascinating!"




Gemma Ritchie AKA Autumn Jitters

We fell in love with Gemma's illustrations instantly her nature inspired prints and superhero birds are always a huge hit at Handmade Arcade and it's always wonderful to see Gemma, and get to know such a lovely character!





Hop on over to Gemma's  blog or etsy for a little read about life in Devon!

The Spirit Forge


 Abi and Leon are two of the friendliest people you could ever hope to meet, they have been coming to Handmade Arcade since the warmer months and I'm constantly amazed at the new things they produce.

They create intricate and detailed models of imps and faeries, as well as scarab beetles pins and illustrations - here's a selection of their  awesome Christmas pieces they bought with them to Handmade Arcade.




"DISCLAIMER: The Faeries that we have found or which have come to us are not trapped, captured or held against their will. The lids are not sealed shut, they can come and go as they please, each Faerie chose how to decorate their very own Jar & we were very privileged to receive their names - such unique beautiful creatures!"

Little Owl Crafts

Heather Sturdy Sherwood can often be seen in the Arcade spinning or knitting her beautiful hand dyed and spun yarns. Heather lives just outside of Exeter and makes what I like to call art yarn - when knitted the beautiful colours of Heathers wool create beautiful swathes of warm colour!

It's been a pleasure to get to know Heather through Handmade Arcade, she's full of smiles and super friendly!


Concentrating or more likely avoiding the massive lens on Nath's camera!

Talks with a Devil

A few familiar faces at HA! 

The work of Barry Jack Burton.


Barrys sculptural work is astounding - his brightly coloured skulls are painted in a variety of techniques each have such a great feel to them, they are just the tip of what Barry Jack burton creates take a look at his blog for Barrys thought provoking descriptions of his pieces alongside a few interesting musings! 

We've commisioned Barry to personalise a skull for us - it will be really special to us to have something made that signify a meeting of minds and exceptance of states - where we are with this project and it's wonderful that it will be made by Barry - we'll definitely share the finished piece with you all!

Arrietty


Another person we love to have around is Laurel Coxon from Arrietty! Since we've known Laurel (only a little while) she's opened up shop in Magdalen Road and sells an amazing array of Handmade bits and bobs a lot of which is made by herself! Laurels unique collection of craft and magical goodness really does make me feel like a borrower! Laurel is always busy teaching at the college, running workshops, doing craft fairs and of course running the delightful wonderland that is Arrietty! 
Such a busy bee! We often see her riding her bicycle around town - basket brimming and hair flowing in the wind! Laurel used to live and study in Berlin - but she came back to live on on a boat....






The Arcade was filled this Saturday with such an array of things......




Artist Sarah Mcdonald joined us with some amazing record player clocks cakestands and badges - she'll be back next week with a larger table and much more awesome stuff!



Exeter Local Records provided some great musicians who came to play on the day!


 Emma made these awesome warm and toasty hot water bottle covers - I can say that because I bought one! :)


Wonderful illustrations and tees from Micky Jennings!


Madeline Bunyan's wonderful Robin necklaces!


 CD's and records from Exeter Local Records


Our favourite Guerrilla Knitter Lisa! and her beautiful knitted hats gloves and scarves!



No Guts No Glory's sister project Common Goals - Punk rock shirts for charity!



So Super Awesome - they really are! Claire Hollands great cards and tags made from dutch comics! Have a peek at her blog for some truly inspiring work!


Betty Thread so glad to have found Betty's beautiful things! - you can now find Bettys work in our neighbouring shop Good Golly Miss Molly!


Amie Coco had a beautiful selection of headbands as well as some great cards!  




We were chuffed to welcome back Abigail Mckenzie of Mary Mary Marmalade Collective! from down Plymouth way!  With a marvelous selection of prints cards mirrors and all sorts of joyous things!


We had such a brilliant time - thanks to all of you who came to the Arcade and made the warm and buzzy atmosphere of Handmade Arcade!

See you NEXT SATURDAY!!! for more festive Handmade Arcade action!

Hayles and Nath! 

xxxxx


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