Tag: handmade

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Hello!

Watendlath Lake District cottage with bunting and tree

Hello from Cumbria, where, ironically, we actually seem to have avoided all the snow! The usually wettest place in England, is currently not wet at all.

I thought I’d try blogging here after joining a British Craft House workshop the other day, where it was recommended.

My name is Nicola, and I create miniature Lake District cottages right here in Cumbria. I used to sell in the two Cherrydidi shops, in Keswick and Ambleside, but unfortunately they closed down, which put an end to my shop sales. Since then I’ve stocked with another couple of places, but sales are slow and shop rent is expensive, so I’ve moved online, using Etsy first and now The British Craft House, which seems a good fit for my handmade products.

My work has also been slightly slower than I’d like due to being a carer for 2 of my 3 children (a teen and an adult), so there’s a lot to fit in with school meetings etc, around attempting to sell my creations.

My background is in traditional animation (I have a BA Hons), so I love a whole range of creative activities, and have recently tried making some silver clay products too, which I hope to add to my shop soon – watch this space.

Anyway, must go for now – the laptop is needed for my daughter’s homework!

Thanks for reading.

Nicola

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Introducing myself and my handmade products

Woman smiling and holding a wine glass up to the camera

Hi, I thought I should probably introduce myself and tell you a little bit more about my business and how I started it.  For the past fourteen years, I’ve actually had a different business that I started from scratch, as a mobile dog groomer.  I bought my converted van and started up in August 2011.  At the time, I was desperate to get out of my teaching job at the local college.  My business took off far more than I ever thought it would.  However, by 2020 my van was starting to spend more time off the road and in the garage, so I decided that I really needed a second income, so that whilst the van was in the garage generating huge bills I could still be earning money.  That’s the downside to being self-employed, if you’re not working, you’re not earning.  On a weekend away in the New Forest (my favourite place on earth) with my lovely sister, she bought a lovely necklace for herself and bangle for me.  Both were silver, my bangle is set with a large amethyst (my birthstone), and her necklace was made of large, geometric, brightly coloured shapes.  It was those two pieces of jewellery that set me on this journey.  I found myself wondering if I could make something like them.

I did my research and found a course in silver clay with the lovely Emma Gordon and the Silver Clay School.  I did the free pendant challenge – and was absolutely hooked! So I signed up to her course and haven’t looked back.  I absolutely love working with the silver clay.  It can be worked, molded, cut and sculpted just like ordinary clay.  Then when I fire it – I still hand fire with a blow torch which adds a whole new level of excitement to the process as I quietly pray that I don’t burn down the kitchen lol – all the organic clay burns off leaving 99.9% pure, fine silver.

I also love the fact that the silver is recycled from the film and photography industry and there is absolutely no waste.  If it goes wrong during the first stage, I can just roll it up and start again.  If it goes wrong during the dry stage, I can just grind it into powder, add water and turn it into clay or clay paste.  If it goes wrong after I fire it (I have melted one or two pieces), I can send it off to one of my suppliers and they recycle it into sterling silver chains, earring posts, hooks and scrolls.

There is nothing like the feeling of someone liking something that I have designed and created enough to not only part with their hard earned money, but to actually wear it on their person.  It’s amazing and the joy of handmade is that every piece, even if the same design, is different and unique.

I have also now branched out into resin homeware and gifts, which is enormous, messy fun, but more about that in another blog.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you like my designs.

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Handmade Resin Flower Jewellery

Blooming For Beauty: Handmade Resin Flower Jewellery

There’s something magical about capturing nature’s fleeting beauty and turning it into something you can cherish forever. That’s exactly what we do at Just Like Mildred—a mother-and-daughter team creating handmade resin jewellery that preserves real flowers in timeless pieces you can wear every day.

Real Flowers, Preserved in Resin

Each piece begins with carefully selected real flowers—delicate petals, tiny blossoms, and soft greenery—that we dry and prepare by hand. Using high-quality UV resin, we encapsulate these natural treasures so they stay vibrant, protected, and as beautiful as the day they were picked. No two pieces are ever alike, making each item truly one-of-a-kind

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Designed to Last

We know jewellery should be as durable as it is beautiful. That’s why we use stainless steel components in all our creations. Stainless steel is hypoallergenic, tarnish-resistant, and strong, ensuring your jewellery stays stunning for years to come. Whether it’s a pair of earrings, a pendant, or a bracelet, you can wear our designs with confidence every day.

Handmade With Heart

Behind every piece is a story of creativity, love, and connection. As a mother and daughter duo, crafting together is our way of blending generations—combining skill, imagination, and a shared love for nature. Every design is lovingly handmade, meaning what you wear is not just jewellery, but a piece of our family’s passion and artistry.

A Gift from Nature, Made Just for You

Our handmade resin flower jewellery makes for meaningful gifts—perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, or simply treating yourself. Each design carries the charm of natural beauty, captured in a way that never fades.

🌸 Jewellery that blossoms forever. 🌸

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The Benefits Of Natural Handmade Deodorant

 

Why Natural Handmade Deodorant Is the Switch Your Body Will Thank You For

In a world that’s finally embracing cleaner, simpler ingredients, your skincare routine is a great place to start—and what better product to rethink than your deodorant?

We often apply deodorant without a second thought, but conventional options are frequently packed with aluminum, synthetic fragrances, and preservatives that can disrupt your skin’s natural balance. That’s where natural handmade deodorant steps in—not just as an alternative, but as a better way forward for your body and the planet.

What Makes It “Natural”?

A truly natural deodorant skips the harsh chemicals in favor of skin-loving, plant-based ingredients like:

  • Arrowroot powder – absorbs moisture and keeps you feeling dry

  • Baking soda (or baking soda-free alternatives) – neutralizes odor naturally

  • Coconut oil & shea butter – nourish and soothe sensitive underarm skin

  • Essential oils – provide light, natural scents without synthetic fragrance

Every ingredient serves a purpose, and nothing is included that your skin doesn’t need.

The Handmade Difference

Handmade deodorant isn’t just about what’s inside—it’s about how it’s made. Small batches mean better quality control, freshness, and less waste. When deodorant is made by hand, there’s a level of care, intention, and sustainability that mass-produced products can’t match.

Plus, you’re often supporting small businesses, local artisans, and makers who are deeply passionate about wellness, sustainability, and ethical production.

Why Go Plastic-Free?

In addition to being good for your skin, many natural deodorants come in plastic-free, compostable packaging—so you’re doing your part to reduce waste with every swipe. Switching to a sustainable option is a small change that adds up over time, especially with products we use daily.

Will It Really Work?

Yes—and better than you might expect. While there may be a brief adjustment period as your body detoxes from conventional antiperspirants, most users report a noticeable improvement in skin health, odor control, and overall comfort within a couple of weeks.

The key is consistency—and finding the right formula for your skin type. Whether you’re drawn to herbal blends like clary sage and juniper, or fresh scents like grapefruit and sandalwood, there’s a natural deodorant out there for you.

Final Thoughts

Switching to a natural handmade deodorant is more than just a trend—it’s a commitment to self-care, sustainability, and simplicity. It’s about choosing what’s better for your body, supporting mindful craftsmanship, and reducing your environmental footprint—all in one easy daily habit.

Your underarms (and the Earth) will thank you.

 

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Waste not ~ to ~ want it!

One of the things I really love about working with silver and copper is the endless opportunities they is to be creative.  You can use every single bit of the silver and copper not wasting a single speck.

I use various techniques to make the most of these versatile metals. My favourite, without a doubt is using a small blow torch to melt down my off cuts. Even the dust created by filing and tiniest off cuts from cutting and shaping can be used as long as it’s clean and doesn’t include any contaminants.  To make sure this is the case, I clean down my bench between each project, or use of different metals so that I don’t mix silver and copper shavings together.  I keep little pots on my bench for each different metal to pop in my off cuts and sweep in the dust after filing to reuse.

Over time you can accumulate lots of metal from making and I have set myself a challenge for this month to use up my collection in as many creative ways as I can.

I have started with the easiest of all, making silver pebbles or nuggets.  To do this you simply pile a bit of  silver together and use the torch to melt it.  This causes the silver to ball up into a natural pebble shape. Once cooled you can turn this into anything from a charm to pendant or process to make sheet or wire. 

These two projects both began the same way, by making pebbles. For the heart I hammered it almost flat then used a sharp edged hammer to create a crosshatch effect.  I cut a little copper heart from a small scrap of sheet and soldered to the pebble then textured this with a diamond tipped hand tool to create that pretty frosted sparkly effect.

For the paw print I melted a tiny amount of copper in the same way and flattened with a hammer for the pad and used tiny off cuts from punching holes in copper for the toes.

Next week I’ll be using different techniques so watch this space for more waste not to want it projects.

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Five ways handmade soap is better for the planet

Handmade Lavender Rose soap

Swapping from liquid soaps in plastic bottles is a great way to help the planet. Here at Gower Lavender we work hard to make our business ‘planet-first’. We have solar power, we grow our lavender without weedkillers and pesticides, our packaging is made of compostable and/or recyclable material, and we use natural, ethical ingredients in our products – and we NEVER use palm oil.

If our business can make planet-first changes, then we reckon you can too. Swapping to a solid soap is a simple change which can have far-reaching benefits.

Here are five reasons to make the change:

1) Solid soap uses less water than liquid soap, so it takes up less space and is lighter – that makes it more efficient to transport, reducing its carbon footprint. And better value for you too!

2) You can say goodbye to plastic packaging. Did you know that only 9 per cent of the plastic ever produced has been recycled? Even if you diligently put your old bottles in the recycling, there’s a high chance they won’t be recycled, ending up in landfill instead

3) Handmade soap is better for your skin. Most liquid soaps are detergent based, stripping moisture from your skin without replacing it. A proper cold process soap like ours is ‘superfatted’, meaning it contains extra oils which hydrate your skin as you wash

4) Buying a handmade soap from a British artisan maker or crafter means you can get much more information about the ingredients, the process and the people behind the brand. You’re also keeping money local, which is better for British businesses, and for the British economy. It also has less distance to travel, and lower ‘soap miles’ equals better for the environment

5) A bar of soap lasts longer than liquid soap, so you don’t have to buy it so frequently – again, better for the planet and better for your pocket!

We take great care in our range of lavender soaps, using as many local, Welsh ingredients as possible, including our own Gower-grown lavender of course! It makes the perfect gift for someone eco-conscious, or who loves eco products but doesn’t want to compromise on luxury. Take a look at our range, and make the swap today!

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A Mouse for all seasons!

Earlier in the year I was wanting to do something a bit different with my very popular little mice and came up with the idea of combining them with my love of embroidery.

I am lucky to live in a very rural part of the country which makes me always aware of the turning seasons.  I always look out for the first lambs in spring, the first swallows, elderberry flowers, blackberries, the first frost and the first flurries of snow on the hill.

It felt natural for me to design my Seasonal Mice.  I started in Spring with the first embroidered Mouse, to me the colours of Spring are vibrant greens, yellows and blues.

From there it was early summer, and the garden was full of pink foxgloves and the lavender was just starting to show some colour, I put together some ideas and came up with my Summer Mouse.

Autumn seemed to be coming quickly this year and my thoughts turned to a new mouse, not a harvest mouse but a celebration of the hedgerows with purple brambles, and spotty toadstools.  Also, I love late dahlias, so the brown stems and orange blooms were included.

And so, we are into autumn and the mornings are getting a bit crisp and chilly, so my next Mouse is of course Winter.  Still a work in progress but watch this space as they say!

I hope you enjoyed my seasonal mice; my hope is that they will become an annual feature of my work, but I won’t ever make too many of each, I just have an idea of the design and embroider them freehand so no two are ever totally identical. Next year’s may be different again.

Thank you so much for reading x 

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February 2024

It’s February 2024 and Dangles HQ quite frankly needs tidying up and a bit of a kick-start to get the creative flow going again.  

I wish I could Dangle all the time but sadly, that’s not an option at this point.  So for now I continue to work full-time and work on all things wire in my spare time.  Until fairly recently, this has meant that wire twisting has very much been on the back burner, although I did have a small flurry leading up to Christmas 2023 when there were some markets to attend and stock to prepare for those events.

In effort to get things moving for 2024 I have re-opened the shop after a long hiatus and am slowly listing some pieces for sale.

So far, there are some reel bouquets, place settings a couple of bee-themed items and a piece of framed wire art.

I love the reel bouquets – each one is different, there will never be two the same so if you purchase one of those, you can be sure of owning a truly unique piece.  I like bright colours and am never one to avoid a bit of a clash of colours if I can.

The Bee my Valentine hanging decorations are fun as well.  I do only have four of those available, unless I can find any more of the red glass beads in my stash!

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What’s in a name?

Annie handmade leather head collar

I thought I’d tell you a bit about my brand name. Sulana Leathercraft is named after my gorgeous Arab mare Annie aka Sulan Anastasia (her Sunday name!).

Annie is the reason I started my leatherwork journey as I was unable to find a bridle that fitted her in a colour I liked so I decided to learn to make one myself – as you do!

Little did I know this would spark a passion (and addiction!) in me to work with leather. I started by practising my skills and making gifts for friends and family. The feedback was good so I decided to take the plunge and make more diverse items. I love finding a new pattern or a leather I haven’t worked with before and trying out how it works, how it handles and what the finished product looks like. It doesn’t always turn out well but hey, that’s how we learn right?

I am pleased to say that over the last 18 months my skills have gone up and my injury rate has gone down so something must be working!

I love when a potential customer asks if I can make something bespoke for them as this starts a fantastic collaborative journey where I can help them bring their ideas to life!

Needless to say – Annie has more bridles than she can possible need now!!