FeltAid - back in action

As blogged here, Silverlight Jewellery created three special, Irish-themed pieces to be auctioned on Trade Me at $1 reserves, with 50% of the proceeds from the auctions going to The Salvation Army's Canterbury Earthquake Appeal.
I'm pleased to be able to announce that $62.92 was donated to The Salvation Army as a result of those auctions. Slainte!

As discussed in the same blog post, after the first earthquake (on 4 September, 2010), a number of my fellow Felt sellers created the FeltAid shop and accompanying blog. Whiteleaf Jewellery donated three pairs of earrings (I blogged about this here), all of which sold.
After Canterbury's lethal second earthquake on the 22nd of February, 2011, FeltAid has reopened. This blog post on the Felt blog explains further.
(And this post, by Lucy, the owner and creator of Felt.co.nz, gives a first-hand account of what the earthquake felt like.)

Whiteleaf Jewellery has again donated three pieces to FeltAid:

 Copper Hearts earrings: green firepolished glass and vintage copper heart charms

– still available from Whiteleaf Jewellery on Felt 

 Rough Amethyst With Silver: wire-wrapped stone pendant on chain 

– sold

 Lapis And Leaves earrings: bronze leaves on chain with blue lapis lazuli pebbles

– still available from FeltAid

'Rough Amethyst With Silver' and 'Lapis And Leaves' are one-off designs. 'Lapis And Leaves' is still available from FeltAid, and, while the pair of 'Copper Hearts' earrings that I donated has now sold, the design is still available from my Whiteleaf shop on Felt. 

Below is a sample of some of the handmade goodness that is still available from the FeltAid shop.

feltaid

$17.00

feltaid

$18.00

feltaid

$25.00

feltaid

$25.00

feltaid

$35.00

feltaid

$38.00

feltaid

$38.00

feltaid

$65.00

feltaid

$40.00

feltaid

$65.00

feltaid

$14.00

feltaid

$40.00

feltaid

$36.00

feltaid

$35.00

feltaid

$32.00

feltaid

$38.00

feltaid

$25.00

feltaid

$65.00

New Whiteleaf design: Ancient Root earrings

These were just listed in my Felt and Zibbet shops.

 Ancient Root earrings: available on Felt and Zibbet

Every now and then I create a design that I'm not sure that I like. I'll make it, and like it; but some time later - usually the next day - I'll look at the design again and not be so sure. Sometimes I vacillate for weeks over a piece of jewellery, liking it one day and wrinkling my nose at it in scepticism the next. Eventually I make a decision, taking one of two lines of thought about it:

either

'If I'm not happy with it, then there must be something wrong with it, so I'll ditch it',

or, 

'If I can't make up my mind, it can't be that bad, so I'll go ahead and list it'.

(You'll notice that even when I'm trying to make a decision, I keep my options open by allowing two potential decisions!) 

These were such a design: I liked them when I made them, but the next day I wasn't sure. They photographed well, but I procrastinated about listing them because I still wasn't convinced that I was happy with them.

Now that I have listed them, however, I have decided that I do like them. They're a tad unusual; even, perhaps, a bit odd; but in a good way - an earthy, 'gnarled old tree' sort of way. And gnarled, wizened, battered old trees can be easily as beautiful as young, fresh, beautifully proportioned trees.

I think that people are the same: there are some beautiful old people around. They have avoided growing truly old; they have an inner youth and joy, and it is from this that their beauty comes. 
Ageing is optional. Stay young forever, so that even when you are old, you will be young and beautiful.

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. 

~ Samuel Ullman 

Tweet

Felt Aid: craftily helping Christchurch

One of my most successful venues is the New Zealand based, handmade-only website Felt.co.nz.
Recently the grand and beautiful city of Christchurch - located in Canterbury, in the South Island of New Zealand - suffered dreadful damage from an earthquake that measured 7.1 on the Richter Scale.

Extraordinarily, because the earthquake struck at 04:35 (local time), most people were asleep in bed, with the result that, despite the severity of the quake, there were no direct human fatalities. Nevertheless, the beautiful and dignified city of Christchurch suffered terrible damage (and at the time of writing this post, aftershocks are still occurring). Sewers were opened, water lines were broken, buildings (many of them historic) and other property destroyed, and people and animals injured.
New Zealanders take pride in their willingness to help each other (perhaps a remnant of our colonial heritage, when neighbours were forced to rely on each other for survival), and the crafters and artists of Felt.co.nz were quick to come up with a way to help: FeltAid.

Here's an extract from the Felt blog post about FeltAid:

"In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Christchurch on Saturday September 4th, Felt sellers have initiated a fabulous fundraising venture to make a contribution to the relief effort in Canterbury. FeltAid and its accompanying blog Felt like helping out are the culmination of an entire crafty-minded community's desire to help out the best way they know how – by getting their craft on and giving you a chance to make a difference too!

Artists, crafters and designers from around New Zealand and beyond have donated their beautiful handmade creations to the cause, the FeltAid shop has been set up by a team of dedicated volunteers led by Sarah of Songbird Designs and Ana of Amiana, and Felt is offering its services free of charge, so 100% of the proceeds from FeltAid sales will go straight to the Red Cross Canterbury Appeal to help rebuild Christchurch."

And another extract: 

"FeltAid and the Felt like helping out initiative are going great guns raising funds for the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal. Around 100 sellers have generously donated their creations so far, from homewares and jewellery to art and accessories – and they've already notched up over 80 sales! If you haven't had a browse through FeltAid, there's a fabulous range of beautiful handmade things. It's a great opportunity to get some Christmas shopping started and help out the fundraising efforts for Christchurch and surrounds."

Many of my past customers have come from Christchurch, so Whiteleaf Jewellery donated one pair of each of the following: Cherry Blossoms earrings, Lichen earrings, and White Buds earrings. All three pairs have now sold.

 Cherry Blossoms earrings - available on Felt and Zibbet.

As a side note, I was chuffed to see this feedback (for the White Buds earrings) in the FeltAid shop: "Thank you so much for the gorgeous earrings from Whiteleaf Jewellery. They are d[i]vine and the packaging was beautiful."
I love it when people appreciate my packaging!

The paper that I use to wrap my Whiteleaf jewellery varies, but it is usually handmade. The current stuff is Fair Trade, and has pressed flowers and leaves in it. Gorgeous! The paper used for the package in the photograph above is stuff that I made myself, by hand, out of newsprint and old brown paper. It's the same handmade paper that I use for the background of my Whiteleaf jewellery photographs.

So far the FeltAid shop has been going well: at last count they had made 104 sales!
This successful shop will not be open for long, however: all proceeds will be given to the New Zealand Red Cross on 31 October, at which time the temporary Felt shop will close.

Before it does, however, here's a showcase of handmade goodness from the FeltAid shop.

Girls Messenger Bag ...

feltaid

$25.00

5 Pack Fantail Cards...

feltaid

$30.00

Tanzanite Swarovski ...

feltaid

$65.00

Chunky Deluxe Fabric...

feltaid

$110.00

Japanese Paper Bambo...

feltaid

$22.00

Daintree Concertina ...

feltaid

$13.00

Betty Bunny Donated ...

feltaid

$30.00

Pom Pom Flower Pen A...

feltaid

$19.00

Bellflower ~ Floral ...

feltaid

$39.50

Fluffy Blue Crochete...

feltaid

$30.00

You Swirl I Swirl Wa...

feltaid

$15.00

Kowhai' Botanical Ph...

feltaid

$18.00

Tweet

Whiteleaf update and new pieces

I'm very happy with the way my new brand is developing. There are a whole lot of new product lines that I want to introduce: pottery raku vessel necklaces, multistrand hemp bracelets, agate tusk necklaces, and others.
Below are a few of the newest pieces that I am particularly proud of.

 Relics. This necklace is one of my more unusual pieces. It features a sea glass 'tusk', hand carved vintage stone beads from Israel, an old ring, and a bronze casting of an antique coin.

Bronze leaf earrings. Light, bold, and earthy. And, of course, hypoallergenic.

Baneberry earrings. I made them, then, because I didn't know what to call them, Googled for plants with white berries. The first plant that came up was the baneberry plant (actaea pachypoda), and it was perfect. I could not have made earrings that look more like the baneberry if I had tried!

Lily Pad necklace. A gorgeous wee frog on a beautifully detailed and realistic lily pad.

These earrings haven't got a name yet, and haven't been listed yet. I love the fat, glistening glass pearls, like dollops of butter that are about to melt. Golden yellow and copper ... gorgeous combination.

Nettle earrings. Another botany-inspired pair of earrings. Dark green, irregularly shaped glass pearls with antiqued-brass coloured leaf charms. As a vegetarian with vegan sympathies, I don't like to use real pearls, so I go out of my way to find irregularly shaped faux pearls that will imitate the organic beauty of freshwater pearls.

Earth Dancer earrings. These, and their companion Earth Jester earrings, are a one-off design. The iridescent pumpkin-shaped beads photographed so well. I was pleasantly surprised.

Featherdown earrings. Another one-off design, featuring rhyolite rounds and antiqued-brass coloured feather charms. The soft, feathery markings of the rhyolite were difficult to capture on camera.

Dryad

I'm going to indulge myself slightly by showing you all a Whiteleaf piece that I made recently.

Its title is 'Dryad'. A dryad, in Greek mythology, is a tree spirit (specifically, an oak tree spirit; different plants had different spirits).
I had had the chocolate-brown agate leaf pendant hanging around for almost two years - it was something I bought when I first started making jewellery - and I had various plans for it, none of which worked out as the hole was too small. That meant I had to string it. With greens and browns and rust colours, I thought; Autumn colours. I got out all the suitable beads I had, realised that some gemstone chips naturally graduated in colour and size, and the design invented itself. 
I'm showing it off because it is quite different from what I've made before ... but I'm very proud of it.

I reshot this piece three times, because I'm not a good photographer and my camera seems to hate photographing gemstones; especially agates and jaspers. Doncha hate opinionated electronic equipment?

'Dryad' is currently listed here on Felt.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programme. With a quote from Samuel Goldwyn:

“I don’t think anyone should write his autobiography until after he’s dead.”