Do you need handmade supplies?

I'm an avid fan of handmade supplies over mass produced supplies. Why do I buy them? Because it makes the items I make from those supplies more unusual and in some cases utterly unique. Handmade supplies may cost a little more, but they will give your finished products a special quality and make them stand out from the crowd. I make most of my Pirate Pixie Hats from hand painted hand spun Bluefaced Leicester wool because it means that each hat is very individual in colour and the BFL wool is the softest wool I've ever found. I've yet to find a commercial mass produced yarn that made of BFL fibres.

Polymer clay beads like these always amaze me. I've tried many times to make patterned beads and have failed miserably. Keeping the patterns crisp and not ending up with a merged blob clay mess is very hard. Aslancrafts has a great many beautiful beads with intricate patterns in her shop. They would make pretty necklaces or bracelets, but I'd quite like to use them as buttons on my bags.

Well, with my love of BFL yarn how could I not pick some to show you. This colourful bulky weight yarn is a perfect example that shows off well how lustrous BFL wool is. I adore the mix of colours PrairieDaisyhandspun dyed the rovings before spinning this 2 ply yarn. I might have to buy some and make a new Pirate Pixie hat

JamnGlass made these incredibly gorgeous lampwork beads. The milky swirling peachy reds, cherry and blue/greens make a great mix. You will also find in her shop hand dyed ribbons of many colours.

Vansantdesigns has some fabulous hand marbled silk charmuse stretch fabric for sale. I chose to show you this blue one because I just loved the sumptuous hues and swirling shapes, but be sure to go and see the other fabulous marbled silks she has on offer if blue isn't your colour. There are so many projects you could use them in to make an amazingly unique and stunning item.

These copper pinheads attracted me just by their colour. The coppery ends and rose red tips look so pretty bundled together. Glittercritters shop has many hand made supplies mixed in with gem stones, glass beads and pendants.

Kjoosupplies has an abundance of beautiful felt beads like the ones above in her shop. These ones are such a beautiful green I chose them to feature, but all the beads in her shop are gorgeous so it was quite hard to just pick one set to show you.

So go out and look around for some handmade supplies to buy, so you can not only support another small independent artisan, but so your finished goods have that extra special detail that makes them stand out from the crowed.