Monday 23 February 2009

London market haul

This weekend provided lots of crafting inspiration! Clare (of Candy Land) and I were in London and decided to check out Broadway Market near Bethnal Green. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with this place - it had a good vibe but since there were only two 'craft' stalls there of interest (one selling vintage buttons and the other the amazing work of Buddug and Jessie Chorley), we didn't really feel it justified us going so far out of our way - especially since we were pretty sure we could get Buddug and Jessie Chorley items at Sunday Up Market the next day. Anyway, after months of lusting over them on line, I finally bought a Buddug brooch. I love it to bits and am wearing it right now! From there we went to the flagship Paperchase on Tottenham Court Road and bought various materials (as well as some lovely owl tea towels!), although they didn't have the small or oval canvases that I'd been planning to buy since I last visited. Oh well, that just means I'll have to pay them another visit sometime soon (...any excuse!)

On Sunday, we met up with Ele (of
SeiSei) and headed to Brick Lane to visit Sunday Up Market - a much more successful trip! We came away with our purses lighter and our heads spinning with inspiration!
Purchases included a beautiful greeting card from
Rosie Wonders
(a favourite stall of mine that I blogged about a little while ago) which I plan to frame and hang with a collection of other prints and canvases. Rosie told us her cards are available from the big Paperchase - so if you're in there, be sure to look for her stuff!
A close-up of the card I bought
Clare and Ele both bought brooches from Rosie too. Clare’s has a Robot on and Ele’s had a Russian Doll on it.
I also bought this acrylic brooch of a ringed planet with a little rocket hanging from it, I didn’t catch the name of the stall but they had some really nice acrylic-based jewellery. I suspect this brooch will end up being a gift for my boyfriend... infact I know it will :)
After wondering up and down Brick Lane a bit, and stopping to scribble down some ideas, we found another section of market in a similar vein to Up Market. Here we found the Twinklebug stall and after cooing over some of the products got chatting to Bianca Nepgen, the genius behind them. If you like slightly gruesome things made to look beautiful, then you’ll like her stuff! She makes fascinators and head wear as well as brooches and rings which include centre-pieces like bugs dipped in glitter and nestled in a bed of lace and ribbons.

My last purchase of the day (simply because I ran out of cash and there wasn't a working cash machine for miles!) was this fox silhouette brooch - after my fox-lust blog I could hardly walk off and leave it could I!
So, for anyone who wants to get their hands on some beautiful and unsual items, I would definately suggest you check out Brick Lane on a sunday. I know we plan to go back... with more cash in our hands!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Im so glad you had a nice time in London. The sunday up market is my favourite, I spend far too much money there and love sitting on the pavement in the summer eating huge stuffed chicken wraps! Wonderful buys too, I always find the best jewellery down there.

ShyShoegazer said...

Thanks :) I think I would have spent far too much money if there had been a cash machine near-by so it's probably just as well I was limited! Haha. I can't wait to go there in the summer too :D x

twinklebug.com said...

I just came across the sweet things you wrote about my work, thank you so very much. I am so touched i had to make a eblogger account to say so. I am hopefully having my website go live in the next couple weeks and my new work is even prettier and more horrible than the old! I would love you opinion on that when it's done! Do add me on facebook or myspace and i will lt you know when it's done. Love Bianca (Nepgen of Twinkebug)... Smooch!

ShyShoegazer said...

Hi Bianca :) Wow, I am amazed you stumbled across my blog! I'll keep an eye on your website - I'm excited to see all your new creations! I'm fairly new to the whole crafting scene (well, new to actually blogging about it and selling stuff) so it's nice to have met you and made a contact! I hope everything goes well with the new site and will definately keep in touch. xx

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