Merry Christmas!

We would like to wish everyone who celebrates it, a very Merry Christmas, with lots of presents but most importantly in good health with friends and family!

Love this picture shared by petitplat on instagram, the package on the left has a necklace of us in it. The cake looks delicious, and petitplats work looks even more delicious, check out her site for miniature art which will make you hungry :)

Our Creative Space; Wire Weaving Tutorial

We want to share with you what we learn on our lessons. The Trabzon work is really hard and it will take a while till we have something to show here. But we are learning other cool techniques too.

This is one of the many types of braiding, done with the help of a small vice.

You put any even number of wires in the vice, depending on how wide you want your braid to be. In this case I used 10 wires. Divide the wires alternating up and down, here you see 5 wires bent up and 5 wires bent down.

Take the wire that is most  left and under, bring it across all the way to the right pulling with all your might and fasten it at the right side in the vice.

Then take the first wire from the upper left side with your left hand and the first wire of the down side with your right hand, and cross them, inverting their positions.

Like this.

Do the same thing with the second, third and forth pair of wires.

Remove the wire that you had fixed previously in the vice and cross it with the last remaining wire.

One goes up and one goes down.

Now all ten wires have changed position.

Pull outwards as hard as you can to smooth the wires

Open the vice slightly, push with your thumb till the wires are again flush with the jaws of the vice, and tighten again.
You have to do this after every row, but don't remove the braid off the vice till you are done.
This loosening and tightening again of the vice is tedious and time consuming, but you need to do it, in order to get a flat and even braid.

And than you start the following row by putting the utmost left-down wire across and fixing it in the vice.

This is the result. There is lot of room for improvement, my braid is by far not tight enough. It is really hard on the fingers!

Despite all the imperfections, Estella succeeded in making really cool stuff with my little braid!

Newly Listed: Embroidered Black Blazer

Embroidered Black Blazer Revamped Vintage Jacket Embellished with Embroidery by StarsWear
Four Red Lilies by hbphotographs
Color photograph of a flower Printed canvas with handmade wood frame by HIrelandPhotography
Monarch Butterfly on Verbena, decor nature artwork, butterfly photograph by NewLeafPics

Newly Listed: Organic Sea Urchin Necklace

Organic Sea Urchin Necklace Pink seashells and sea urchin by StaroftheEast
Old Door, Europe, stone wall, antique, home decor, wood by EdgingtonFineArt
Pink flower photograph, cosmos, naturephotography, garden photo by SusannahTucker
Photo of Berries with Echos of Berries - Fine Art Photo Dream's Echo by CarlaDyck

Newly Listed: Fairy Tale Coat

Fairy Tale Coat Jacket The Magic Swan Geese Child Vintage Gobelin Tapestry by StarsWear
Beach Photography, Red Stripes Houses, Travel Photograph, Architecture by hellotwiggs
Winter, Christmas, Snow, Rustic, Country, Woodland,  Fairy Tail by 8DaysofTreasures
Foggy Days - Yellow Flowers in a Foggy Seaside Field Polaroid Photo Print by sMacshop

Newly Listed: Vintage South America School Map

Vintage South America School Map Pull Down Map 1962 Geography by StarHomeStudio
Boat Print Photography, North Sea, Coral Art, Large Wall Art - Perfect Calm by AgaFarrell
Travel decor, Landscape photography, hot air balloon, Romantic Wall Art by PhotographyDream
Landscape Photography, Italian Mountains,Colors photo, Fine Art Print by RobertoLupiniPhoto

Silver Weaving

We just begun a new, very exciting class: silver weaving.

This kind of work is known as Trabzon (Trebizond) work and is done generally in 22kr gold. We begin with copper wire and than when the time is ripe, will continue with silver wire.

The teacher tells us that the technique has its origin in the Caucasus, where till World War I, was used to make body armor. You can use a bracelet to pull a car, so strong is it.

Here is a very nice YouTube film where the real thing (in gold) is shown. It is in Turkish,  but it is lovely and easy to follow. About six thousand women in Trabzon work in their homes making this kind of weaving or braiding.

The tools couldn't be simpler. A special pair of hand made tweezers, a pin or needle, and a tooth pick.

It is not easy to do, but we feel privileged to have access to such an special art form.

Besides the Trabzon work, we will learn many other types of silver braiding, used to make bezels, chains, and many other things.

All the braiding that you see in this jewelry is hand made.

For this work you use only a small vice and your hands.

The teacher is a lovely and competent woman and it is great fun.

Here you see the beginning of two different types of braids, with six and seven wires.

Newly Listed: Sea Treasures Keychain

Sea Treasures Keychain - Driftwood, Starfish, Glass by StarHomeStudio
Dancing Seagulls Ocean Coast Beach Cottage Decor Misty Nautical Pier by leedledee
Fine Art photograph Large wall art Wave sea ocean dreamy beach by thelastsparrow
Stormy Seas photography print, dramatic beach in storm landscape by FotografieKoehler

Newly Listed: Peacock Feather Necklace

Peacock Feather Necklace Vintage Watch glass, Peacock feather, metal, solder by StaroftheEast
A Girl and Her Peacock Art Print from an original acrylic painting by Irene Owens / TinyRed
Peacock Photo, Feathers, Vintage Tone Texture, Bird Lover, Home Decor by PrettyPetalStudio
Peacock Art Print - Peacock Artwork - Bird Art - Wall Art - Intoxicant by BlackInkArtz

Newly Listed: Seashore Town Coat

Seashore Town Coat Fairy tale Vintage Clothing Landscape Gobelin Fabric Plus Size by StarsWear
Blue Brown Photography light photo leaves branches wall art rust leaf picture by CarolynCochrane
Sewing Machine Still Life Photography, Urban Decay, Vintage Inspired by JillianAudreyDesigns
Hummingbird Photography - hummingbird on branch, wall art, home decor by LynnLangmade