Beads and Bead Shops

I've been collecting unusual beads for many years, with most of them coming from the Brighton Bead Shop where the selection is good, if a little stagnant, and staff are very friendly and helpful. Earlier this year I finally got to the Covent Garden Bead Shop - which is brilliant! Although it's a bit pricey, they do some amazing, unusual beads and have a large section of oriental-type beads.

I also found another little jewellery and gift shop called Tizzi's in Lewes which also sells some unusual individual beads. If anyone knows of any other really good bead shops or bead-selling websites, please let me know :)

As I have a really big stash of beads, I haven't photographed them all, but here are a few of my recent buys:

From top:
Large Kingfisher bead - Covent Garden Bead Shop.
Frogs perched on beads - Covent Garden Bead Shop.
Range of brightly painted wooden bird beads - Tizzi's
Tiny ivory-esque animal beads - Tizzi's (these really are very small!)

Belle and Boo

If you haven't already encountered the adorable Belle & Boo then please allow me to introduce them to you. From the imaginative mind of illustrator Mandy Sutcliffe, Belle is a bright-eyed, curious little girl who always wears the cutest vintage clothing. Boo is her bunny rabbit confident and companion. Make sure you take a peek at Mandy's blog.

This is from the website and sums up Mandy's work perfectly:

A contemporary twist on vintage charm...
Mandy’s deceptively simple and stylish images capture vividly those precious moments in time enjoyed by children. Whether it be feeding the birds and animals, hugging a tree or simply sharing a story with a friend, the experience conveyed is always pure, and often set in natural environments.

I came across Belle & Boo on Etsy at the end of last year and was incredibly tempted to purchase a couple of prints but decided to wait a while - then, much to my delight, I came across a number of my favourite Belle & Boo images in postcard form in Paperchase! So I am now the happy owner of these two images (below) which are set to be framed in mismatched old frames and hung in a collection of my favourite prints/images/photographs when I finally get my flat in the city! (I think my favourite is the first image here...) They feel much more like proper prints then just postcards as they are printed on thick, ever-so-slightly rough card (I'm sure there's a name for it!). Keep an eye out for them in Paperchase if you like what you see...

Geninne Zlatkis' birds

This isn't another jewellery-lust post, I promise! Instead it's a case of print-lust. I came across Geninne on Etsy a while ago and then today she popped up on the front page and reminded me why I had liked her work in the first place! Her limited edition series of bird prints and watercolour paintings have a distinct charm to them, as you can see below. I love the bright colours of the birds in contrast with the age-stained postcards on which they perch.

Geninne Zlatkis lives in a forest near Mexico City, two environments that seem to have really influenced Geninne's work which combines the bright colours many associate with Mexico City, with the earthy tones and natural forms of forest life. Perfect!

(Who can resist a bird in a fez?!)

Shoegazer Fashion

The Shoegazer umbrella is gradually opening up.... Please visit Shoegazer Fashion, run by a very good friend of mine, Poppy. Other blogs are following soon! {OvO} hoot hoot! x

Thank you. x

Jewellery - Grainne Morton

Let me introduce you to the work of Grainne Morton who uses found and vintage materials to create some of the most perfect brooches I have ever laid eyes on!

"The found objects I use in my work are the main inspiration for my jewellery. Collecting objects from the obscure to the miniature, found and fabricated, is the starting point for most designs.These objects become the narrative form for my jewellery and are collaged together by arrangement and rearrangement until all the objects connect with each other in order to create lively, colourful spontaneous stories."
"In most of my designs I aspire to evoke a feeling of nostalgia. I consciously work in a miniature scale, using a diverse range of materials in order to create attention so that the onlooker has to become more involved in the piece, hopefully sparking memory and thought, as well as making them smile."

I absolutely love the tree brooches, and the tiny printer's tray brooch would be perfect for my mum (who has become a bit obsessed with hunting out tiny and unusual antiques for the printers tray they have on the wall at home). Unfortunatly this jewellery is way way out of my price range, up to a couple of thousand pounds for some pieces! Still, it's nice to look and appreciate the work and time that's gone into them...

Jewellery - Glint

Glint - another find thanks to The Jewel Thief. I absolutely love their silver and gold ball ripple necklaces and bracelets!

The Jewel Theif

Time for some shop love! The Jewel Theif is nestled away in Brighton Lanes (on Dukes Lane - near M.A.C and Ted Baker if you fancy sniffing it out) and is a tresure trove of contemporary jewellery design. Since browsing the shop and their website I've come across a range of very different and very unique jewellery designers.
The one that caught my eye and drew me towards the shop in the first place was Tina Lilienthal, a German-born, London-based designer who graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2003 with an MA in Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery.
Tina uses a broad mix of metals, fabrics and plastics to create her unusual pieces. I love the skulls - they look so smooth and almost have a quality about them as if they were a character in a stop-frame animation film. Also, her brilliant strawberries and cherries look good enough to eat! My most-craved items are the skull with antlers (see below) and a perfect red heart with a blank silver scroll across it (can't find a picture of this but trust me, it's lovely!)
Tina Lilienthal's work:
I'll be posting some more Jewel Theif finds soon!