Handmade in Wales

Wales is a stunningly beautiful place to live. We have hills, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, rugged coastlines, sandy beaches, trees, grass, castles and amazing views. All of which leads to people being inspired to create. Today I have five fellow Welsh artisans work to show you.

Hopscotch is a free form fabric and fibre artist. When you look at her work you can see the inspirations she takes from nature, colours and textures around her. The work has a very organic feel to it as if it has grown lovingly from her fingers. Very beautiful and very exciting to see. You can see her passion for her work in every piece.

Clair Wolfe is a jewellery designer that creates predominantly in silver a large range of styles. I adore the piece above for it's asymmetric simple design. A lot of her work is also inspired by nature. Simplicity in jewellery is my love and Clair has so many stunningly stylish pieces that appeal to me. Take a look through her site and see for yourself the beauty it holds within.

Liz Plummer works in textiles and print. Her work, again is very obviously inspired by her surroundings and places she has been. There is a great feeling of texture and depth in Liz's work. The piece above is entitled 'Dilapidation' and is inspired by how beauty can be found in things that are decaying. I agree, the way things weather and fall apart intrigue me. It's as if they are returning to the component parts so that something new can grow from those components. Liz and her work have captured my imagination.

Jane of Hooked Yarn share a passion with me for yarn and uses her crochet skills to make useful and beautiful goods. These hair clips are just so cute. The colour combination is just perfect. Jane also uses her crochet skills to make jewellery from wire and beads. This is something I've never tried. Jane has mastered the craft as you can see in her shop. I love that wire that is so very strong can be made to look so delicate, giving the pieces such an elegant look.

Magic Pumpkins & Faery Dust is a site that I love. It really appeals to my Pirate Pixie side. The site is full of fun hand crafted goods that can inspire imagination. From Unicorns to faeries and Kings to pixie boots, this site bulges at the seams with delightful joy. In this fast moving, pressure filled life, I think we all, young and old, need to take time to be creative in our minds. Let your mind dream of being a magical wizard or a princess in a tutu. Yes it's not real and yes somewhere those bills are still waiting to be paid, but set your mind free for a few minutes each day. You'd be surprised just how much fun it is and just how much better life feels when you do.

So as you can see, Wales is a place that creativity thrives and imaginations soar. Maybe it's down to the mountains blocking some of our view, so we always have the ability to fantasize about what is on the other side, or maybe it is in our Celtic blood. Whatever it is I'm so glad to be living in a place were the rivers run deep, the grass grows a lush green and the land rises up to meet the sky.

Written by Lynne of the PiratePixieCrew and Hyperloop Hoops

Our recycling month begins with St Davids day.

Today is the first day of our month of featuring people that use mostly or all recycled items to make their goods. It's also St Davids Day and as a good little Welsh girl, I thought we should mark that fact by combining the 2 topics. As the Patron saint of Wales, David is celebrated by little girls wearing the national costume and the rest of us wearing Daffodils or leeks in our button holes. Some young boys are also seen sporting the red and black dog tooth waistcoats and flat caps or the national rugby team's jersey.

So, before showing you some of the lovely items I've found to share with you, I thought I'd give you the recipe for a welsh tea loaf that you can make, and eat, in honour of the lovely St David.

Ingredients for Barabrith Cake

350 grams mixed dried fruit
400 ml cold tea (strong)
250 grams brown sugar
600 grams self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1 medium egg

How to make Barabrith Cake

1. Put the dried mixed fruit into a large bowl and soak over night in the tea.
2. Add the sugar and spice to the bowl and mix in.
3. Beat the egg and stir into the mix.
4. Add the flour and stir in with a wooden spoon.
5. Pour the mixture into well a greased loaf tin.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/356 F/gas mark 4 for 1 1/2 hours. The cake will be brown and firm.
7. Turn out on a wire rack and allow to cool.
8. Serve sliced and spread with slightly salted butter.

The maker of this cushion has the perfect name to start this month off. Useitagain made this cushion from vintage linen and the pretty yellow and orange flowers reminded me of the national flower of Wales, the daffodil. It has a very 1920's arts and crafts look about it. I like it's cheery spring look very much. By taking old damaged pieces of linen, and recovering the undamaged parts to make her pieces, Useitagain is giving something that most would throw away another lease of life.

As coal has a large part to play in the history of Wales, when I saw this vintage book up for sale I knew I had to include it. I have no idea where ArtPhotoGirl found this well used book but I'm glad she did as it made me smile when I saw it. After a bit of a search on the net I found out this book was first published in 1935 and was an American tale of the coal industry rather than anything to do with Wales, but coal is coal I guess.

This unusual item is a pretty vase made from a blown bulb. St David is always pictured with a dove on his shoulder, hence I picked this item to share with you. Rainestorm has other pretty recycle bulb vases in her shop. They come with a suction cup so you can attach them to a window. I think a row of these in a window with tiny flowers standing in them would look gorgeous on a cold spring morning.

Now you might say, what do recycled plastic fencing tote bags have to do with St David, well in all honesty nothing, but the maker is called David. These great orange totes come from Davidshockdesigns. He makes them from the discarded builders temporary fencing plastic that you can see on most building sites around the world. Not only is David removing this non biodegradable litter off our streets, but he is using it to create a useful product that I think looks great! Yay David!!!

I hope you have enjoyed my St David's day post and go away now and make yourself some Barabrith to munch on. Have a fabulous St Davids day and raise a glass to the Welsh. We may be a small country that many have never heard of, but we are proud to be known as Welsh!