Hi there, I have been challenged to ac tually use the blog section of my page her on British Craft House, so here I am. My name is Laura Edmunds and I am a beach clean artist based in Plymouth. I create pictures from the things that I find on beaches using as mush as I can to bring you happy, colourful, dopamine art. At the same time I want to show you what I find and the true state of the beaches and oceans.
Just a super short one for now, but it’s a start!
Cheerio
Laura
Making more sustainable choices doesn’t have to mean completely changing your lifestyle. In fact, some of the most meaningful changes come from the smallest swaps.
That’s one of the reasons I started In Stitches by Tracey—to create simple, reusable alternatives to everyday items that are often thrown away without a second thought.
Regularly used items such as makeup remover wipes, gift wrap, paper towels, cling film and plastic sandwich bags can all be switched to reusable versions. By doing this, you’re not only reducing waste but also saving money over time.
It’s not about being perfect—it’s about making better choices where we can.
Handmade reusable products have a unique advantage. They’re made with care, designed to last, and created by someone who genuinely values quality and sustainability. Every item I make is stitched with attention to detail, so it can be used, washed, and reused many times.
Choosing reusable doesn’t have to be complicated—it can start with something as simple as swapping out a single item in your daily routine and those small changes really do add up.
Through my shop, I hope to make it easier for people to choose reusable, reduce waste, and still enjoy beautifully made, practical items.
Thank you for supporting small businesses and making more conscious choices—it truly makes a difference.
Welcome to my little corner of the internet, where I set fire to things and call it art.
SO, WHAT’S ALL THIS THEN?
Right, let’s get one thing straight from the off – when I say “The Northumbrian Burn,” I’m not talking about that dodgy curry you had last Saturday night, nor am I referring to the state of your thighs after attempting a fell walk in new boots.
I’m talking about pyrography. The ancient art of burning designs into wood. Except I do it on bamboo chopping boards, because I’m fancy like that.
Started on the 30th October 2025 with nowt but a Facebook page and a dream (and some pyrography equipment that cost more than I’d like to admit), The Northumbrian Burn is all about creating unique, hand-burned bamboo boards in the traditional way. No lasers. No shortcuts. Just me, a heat source, 🔥 hours of patience, and the occasional singed fingertip.
WHAT WE’RE ABOUT
Honest Craft Everything is hand-burned. Every single line, every detail, every wonky bit that makes each board absolutely one-of-a-kind. If you want perfect uniformity, go buy something from a factory. If you want something with soul, character, and the occasional battle scar, you’re in the right place.
Sustainable Materials Bamboo isn’t just bonnie to look at – it’s brilliant for the planet. It grows faster than my to-do list, regenerates naturally, and is naturally antibacterial. Win, win, win. Plus, it’s kinder to your knife blades than traditional hardwoods, which your fancy Japanese chef’s knife will thank you for.
Organic Packaging None of that plastic bubble wrap nonsense here. Your board arrives wrapped in materials that won’t still be knocking about in a landfill when your great-great-grandchildren are having their tea. We keep it simple, sustainable, and honest – just like the boards themselves.
Slow Craft In a world obsessed with fast everything, I’m deliberately slow. Each board takes hours. Sometimes days if I’m being particularly fussy (which is always). You can’t rush art, and you definitely can’t rush burning intricate highland cow fur without it looking like a dog’s breakfast.
Proper Northumbrian Handcrafted right here in Hallington, Northumberland. Not outsourced, not mass-produced, not made by someone called Trevor in a warehouse in Slough (no offence to Trevor or Slough). Just me, in the North East, keeping traditional craft alive one burn at a time.
WHAT WE’RE NOT ABOUT
Lasers Look, I’ve got nothing against lasers. They’re great for eye surgery and cat toys. But for pyrography? Nah. There’s no soul in it. No artist’s hand. No happy accidents that turn into features. Just cold, precise, identical copies. Where’s the fun in that?
Mass Production If you want something churned out by the thousand, Amazon’s that way → Each board I make is individual. Unique. A bit different from the last. That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
Perfection Controversial opinion: perfection is boring. Those little variations, the slightly deeper burn here, the organic flow of a line there – that’s what makes handmade special. If you’re the type who measures the gap between sofa cushions with a ruler, we might not be for you. But if you appreciate the beauty in imperfection, welcome home.
Taking Ourselves Too Seriously Yes, it’s art. Yes, it’s craft. Yes, it takes skill and patience. But it’s also chopping boards with highland cows wearing flower crowns and Northumbrian sayings about bait. Let’s not get too precious about it, eh?
THE PROCESS (OR: HOW I SPEND MY DAYS PLAYING WITH FIRE)
WHY BAMBOO?
Apart from the fact that it sounds exotic and makes me feel worldly despite never leaving Northumberland?
Bamboo is genuinely brilliant. It’s sustainable, regenerating faster than my Netflix queue. It’s naturally antibacterial, so your cheese board isn’t turning into a science experiment. It’s durable enough for proper kitchen work but gentle on knife edges. And it takes pyrography beautifully, creating rich, dark tones that contrast gorgeously with the natural grain.
Also, it’s lighter than traditional hardwood boards, which means when you inevitably use it to gesticulate wildly while telling a story in the kitchen, you’re less likely to cause serious injury.
THE DESIGNS
From the sublime (intricate highland cows with floral crowns, detailed octopi that would make a marine biologist weep) to the ridiculous (Northumberian dinner choices, kitchen humour that’s borderline inappropriate), each design is hand-burned with the same care and attention.
Some are decorative art pieces that happen to be functional. Some are functional pieces that happen to be art. All of them are made with the belief that the things we use every day should bring us joy, not just utility.
WHAT’S NEXT?
More designs. More boards. More burns (hopefully just on the bamboo, not on me).
I’m always working on new ideas, taking custom commissions, and generally seeing what happens when you apply extreme heat to sustainable materials in a controlled artistic manner.
This blog will be a place to share new designs, talk about the craft, maybe throw in some care tips, and occasionally ramble about why traditional skills matter in our increasingly digital world.
IN CONCLUSION
The Northumbrian Burn is about making things properly, slowly, and with genuine care. It’s about sustainable materials, organic packaging, and keeping traditional craft alive. It’s about creating pieces that are genuinely unique, not just “unique” in the way that marketing people use the word.
It’s also about having a laugh, not taking ourselves too seriously, and remembering that at the end of the day, we’re burning pictures into bits of wood and calling it art – which is simultaneously ridiculous and wonderful.
If that sounds like your cup of tea (or your glass of wine, no judgment), stick around.
Welcome to The Northumbrian Burn. Where tradition meets bamboo, and nobody’s using lasers.
— The Northumbrian Burn Made in Northumberland. Burned by hand. Packaged with care. Delivered with love (and no plastic).
P.S. – Yes, I know “pyrography” sounds like something that should be treated with antibiotics. It’s not. It’s just Greek for “fire writing.” The Greeks had a word for everything, didn’t they?
These beautiful wooden boxes come in a wide range of styles with both text and imagery and are great for gifting – especially if filled with your loved ones favourite goodies! The natural wood grain can be seen in the boxes and they have a gentle curve on the corners.
There are five sizes to choose from ranging from a small square (14 x 14cm) up to a large rectangle with carry handles (45 x 16cm). Prices start from just £14 and as with all of my items they can be personalised to suit your needs.
These cute square boxes are the ideal size to store your pet treats in. They can have generic text or be personalised with a name.
Do Mum and Dad need to sort their “stuff” out? Then I have a perfect solution!
Enjoy these boxes with a beautiful hand drawn sunflower, or simply have custom text burned on to the wood.
A great box for the kitchen. Text could be amended for other treats – eg “Mum’s Chocolate”.
As I create every piece myself by hand it can all be personalised. Create a box as unique as your loved one for a never forgotten gift. Choose to have simple text or add in an image to make it even more special.
I hope some of these ideas were useful. Please follow me on social where you’ll see lots of behind the scenes pics and vids and find out about new offers.
There are lots of online and physical shops supplying tools for ceramics – from the hobby superstore stocking tools and materials for hundreds of different crafts & hobbies, to ultra-specialist pottery suppliers with clays, glazes and equipment for the most advanced ceramicist.
As a ‘hobby’ potter, I have become quite creative over the years, sourcing effective tools from some surprising places with an emphasis on reusing, repurposing and recycling things that would otherwise be thrown away. These ‘found’ tools were an absolute boon when I was making all my ceramics at home during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when I had no access to my usual tools & equipment.
I will give you here a random selection of the tools I use for various processes of making pottery …
Slab rolling
Rolling pins – these have to be wooden to stop the clay sticking to them as you roll it out; very cheap ones can be bought from supermarkets’ budget kitchen range.
Impressed marks
Bottle tops, buttons, pen lids – look at the textures on the edge or the end, pressing them into the clay will give you all sorts of flowers, ridges and circles.
Smoothing/compressing
Plastic card, plastic bag – reuse expired gift cards for smoothing clay slabs before using them for slab building. Thin plastic bags are great for burnishing (polishing) leather-hard pieces.
Paddling
Wooden spatula – again, it has to be wooden so that the clay doesn’t stick to it as you shape it; very cheap ones can be bought from supermarkets’ budget kitchen range.
Making holes
Ballpoint pen inner, straw – you can create small holes with a ballpoint pen inner, larger ones with a straw.
Glaze/slip mixing
Chopsticks, coffee stirrers, tea strainer – chopsticks and flat coffe stirrers are great for mixing small amounts of brush-on glaze. An old tea strainer good for sieving small amounts of slip or glaze.
Grass/moss for sculptural work
Tea strainer – it’s like magic – press a small amount of soft clay through a tea strainer and you have moss!
Clay reclamation
Pillowcase – I save all my clay scraps in an old pillowcase until I have about half a pillowcase-full they the pieces are bone dry. I then put the whole thing, pillowcase and clay in a bucket of water until it is slaked down (that is until the clay has disintegrated into little granules). I then pull out the pillowcase, allow the water to drain and then wedge the clay in the usual way.
I’m always open to new ideas, tips and hints – so if you have anything you have found that works well, please share!
A lovely message popped in via WhatsApp, from a lady called Clare from Wales providing me with her name and address telling me she had won the Advent Competition, so I immediately gave her the option of planter in the competition or if she would prefer an alternative to perhaps match a colour scheme. Do I have a blue one?, she asked, instead of feeling happy this single comment made me sad, as it confirmed what I was seeing, that not one person had visited my shop, as per the stats on the dashboard, not even the winner of the competition.
Anyway, today, I made a planter just for her in Ocean Blue. I really do hope she likes it, I checked tomorrow was ok for delivery, but haven’t heard back, anyway I am sure the courier can rearrange delivery if its not convenient.
On a more positive note, the herbs on my kitchen window sill are positively blooming. There is nothing like picking fresh herbs, the Mint is thriving, the parsley lovely and full, sadly the Basil is dying off slowly but gives off such an amazing aroma in the kitchen I am so pleased I picked it up.
I am still in love with my fence display of planters, the twinkling lights bounce the light off the plain metal ones, and the colours one just look so pretty with the lights, am pleased my brackets have worked as well.
Today, Easter Monday I received a message via the other side beginning with E and ending in Y … from a lovely customer who, 2 years ago ordered some bespoke planters, they took some time to make, I never heard back so wasn’t sure she was happy or not, however I wasn’t fazed as in my experience most people forget to leave good feedback, rarely do they forget to leave feedback for a negative experience, many tell the world so I assumed all was good.
Fast forward 2 years, to a chilled Easter Monday, and this lovely lady, Sarah, messaged me simply to say, she tried to leave feedback but couldn’t see how to do it, the remainder of her message is below (I did ask permission to post)
“They look really fantastic, we look like we have a wildly expensive landscaped garden at a fraction of the cost!” “2 years in and these still look new. Thank you so much we are really pleased”
So there you have it, Sarah G 2 years on and still her planters look like new.
For many small businesses, finding ways to be eco-friendly and more sustainable has definitely become more of a priority over recent years. Not only do we want to make sure we’re being considerate to our environment, but we realise it has become even more important to our customers too, who are becoming increasingly conscious of the environmental footprint of the products they purchase. However, it can be hard for small businesses to find solutions that can be financially viable when working on such a small scale, so in honour of Global Recycling Day, I thought I’d share some tips on some of the steps I’ve taken so far in trying to make Crofts Crafts more eco-friendly!
As a card maker who traditionally used cello bags to package my cards before posting out, I was super happy when I came across the Naked Cards campaign, which encourages online card sellers to “ditch the plastic cellos in favour of either ‘naked’ or paper packaging”. It may sound daunting at first as you worry about your products getting damaged in the post, but think about it – how often does that happen when you send a card yourself just in an envelope in the post? So it should really be fine packaged up without a cello on the way to its new home?! Naked Cards has a great list of benefits and FAQ’s you can check out for more info. The fabulous Emily at Skull and Cross Buns has also created a stamp that you can use on the back of your cards or packaging to help explain why your card has arrived naked!
I try to use materials that are either recycled or recyclable, both in my cards and in my packaging. Hands up, it isn’t always possible to make a completely eco card but I try to do what I can! I use recycled and recyclable card stock for the cards, and many of my embellishments are either made from card that can also be recycled, or some could even be taken off and reused for other crafting projects! My packaging is an area I’ve really worked hard on to try and make more environmentally friendly and I’ve found an array of small packaging companies that offer some great products for
this:
I also try to reduce waste wherever I can. My box of card scraps is ever growing, I encourage people to keep hold of their cards as some of them are ideal for framing and I’ve recently started making confetti bags with stamped out card that isn’t needed (and I found some great glassine bags for packaging these!). There is still more I hope to do and it’s an ongoing learning curve. Naked cards at craft fairs and for stockists where items get continually handled are still one I need to figure out – just having display cards out and using plastic free card clasps, are all options to consider.
It can take a while to figure things out, but I think it’s just about trying to do what you can and finding the best products and materials that work for you and your business – every little bit really does make a difference. I’d love to hear any other tips and ideas you might have so please do comment below!
I have to confess the weather of late has been confusing, from a cloud burst of snow one afternoon, clear blue skies followed less than 24 hours later, chasing its tail the howling gales and flash floods across the country, it’s cold enough to be winter, but the bright blue skies suggest a different story.
So what plants, bulbs, or seedlings can you realistically look at panting whilst the weather is so up and down?
To answer this question it does also depend on a many other factors, including but not limited too the PH levels of your soil, whether you live in a sheltered area or are fully exposed on a cliff top , availability of a greenhouse or somewhere light warm and airy, essentially draught free to give a few answers.
February gardening is all about getting the seeds planted, so get out your old planters and scrape off the top layer of compost and replace with fresh. Seed wise you can sow lettuces in readiness for fresh leaves in May June time, but do ensure they are protected, varieties such as Winter Gem, and Valdor are good winter hardy types but do make sure you plant under cloches
As a general rule, bulbs can be planted out as well, but do remember they tend to prefer light well draining soil, if they are left in wet, heavy soil they are unlikely to thrive. So you can consider broad beans, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, cabbages.
If you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse herb seeds, tomatoes, cucumber can get a good start.
I have started to list a few deeper, larger metal garden planters, these were specifically designed to enable the rooftop or patio gardener to have access to deeper soil thus enabling root vegetables to be sown. grown and eaten from the single metal garden planter. So if you fancy one do let me know!
Fi
In many towns and villages around the UK you will often see this beautiful ironwork frames sitting underneath a stunning set off windows, usually the sash wooden framed ones, not your modern uPVC triple glazed designed to lock the world out. This image was taken last year, on a damp grey drizzling kind of day, the triple story house in question is undergoing a mammoth refurbishment, formerly a butchers with the thick wooden floor and huge shop windows on one side of the property, and the other corner the image you see attached, the “private” entrance to the living quarters, notice the railings at street level to the cellar, or coal store as it may well of been. Anyway the reason for my picture….. whilst this one was made from wood, I can very easily make one out of metal, to sit inside these ironwork frames? I can also make the metal boxes to sit either sit of the entrance door, to plant a clematis or ivy from.
Of course you don’t need a fancy pants iron frame to hold a window box in order to breathe some life and colour into your windows, you just need a cill – here is an image from a very happy customer who loves gazing out of her kitchen window and seeing some flowers, some colour and not just her neighbours wall
So, I do take commissions, I always try to manufacture out of the “scrap” pile to reduce our carbon footprint, so if you would like to inject some colour in your window cill, maybe grow some lettuce leaves or have some herbs on your window ledge, do drop me a line and let me help you get growing!