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Addicted to vintage... We are designer/makers based in the South of England with more than a slight obssession with vintage jewellery. Its past life. Its secret history...one careful owner or three? Who knows...but we just can't resist it or the urge to recycle it. Rework it. Repurpose it. Re:design it, into unique handcrafted contemporary pieces for the 21st century woman...well we can't wear all of it ourselves. That would be selfish (apparently).
Showing posts with label upcycled. Show all posts
Showing posts with label upcycled. Show all posts

Friday, 5 August 2011

Too distracted to blog

Such a lot has been happening over the last couple of weeks that the blog has taken a back seat!  Not good.

First we’ve had the fig tree dug up – a sad, sad day.  It had grown very big, was too close to the house and in the way of the new door proposed for the kitchen so it had to go.  Such a shame as it was loaded with fruit.

The same day we had the Eucalyptus tree lopped and the Olive tree trimmed.  All are growing so well in our little suntrap patch!

Next we started to turn out of the kitchen ready for the refit in September.  We still have quite some way to go; compressing all we want to keep into our already overcrowded dining room cum office cum studio will be no mean feat.

Now today the guys are here mending the sash window in my bedroom.  Thank goodness it’s warm as not only has there been NO window actually in place but the front door has been wide open too.  And they have to come back tomorrow to finish the job.  It has been quite a big one, with repairs to the frame, a new panel of glass and now rehanging and weighting – oh and of course these jobs aren’t cheap.

In between this we’ve been busy making jewellery and adding it to our ETSY shop first, a little tweeting, a newsletter and keeping our Facebook page alive.
 
 
Silver doodle necklace



And also building ETSY treasuries and being featured in one (Summer Fever).  These really are fun and I find building them very therapeutic.  I made a conscious decision with the two I’ve built this week to take a different stand than usual.  So in the first one ‘More than a doodle’ I purposely included no jewellery, but concentrated on drawings, prints and photographs.

In the second one built this morning, I thought about things I like and that make me smile and produced ‘Birds of a Feather’.  Birds and things to do with birds feature in this one.  I just had some fun with it.

Hope you like them both.  If you want to keep up with our mad and serious creative moments, please follow us here, on Facebook and on Twitter @armcandii.

Saturday, 12 March 2011

What weekends were made for

We're so excited...our jewellery will soon be available at Fisherton Mill
hand knitted wire cuff embellished with vintage pieces & freshwater pearls
For those of you who are not familiar with the Mill, it is the south of England's largest independent art gallery and features the work of over 300 artists and designer/makers. Formerly a grain mill built in 1880, it now houses gallery space, studios and a fabulous cafe.

It is situated in Salisbury, Wiltshire and definitely worth a visit. Think lazy Saturday afternoon...punctuated with fabulous food in a building that wouldn't look out of place on Grand Designs, filled with beautiful objects to browse if you can drag yourself away from the paper...you're already there aren't you?!

Opening times:
10-5pm - Tuesday - Friday
9.30-5.30pm - Saturday

Friday, 11 March 2011

The jewellery or the website...which came first?

Well...the jewellery came first in armcandii's case & dictated the need for a website - an essential marketing tool for any designer/maker who wants to reach the masses. 



But what I'm really asking is which comes first on a daily basis? Which is priority? Both need each other after all. I'm constantly torn because I'm passionate about design & can express myself through both mediums. I can lose myself for hours in either...fortunate in some respects, because I can design our website to look & do exactly what we want, but the jewellery doesn't make itself...

And the point of all this deliberating? Our recently revamped website. Many hours well spent showcasing our current collections: couture, celebration & confetti. It's worth a look, if only to see where I used the hours I could have been re:designing vintage jewellery!

Sunday, 8 August 2010

vintage goodwood

Well the headbands for Vintage Goodwood are coming on fine. One is finished & the second will be by tomorrow. Watch this space...


see the finished headband on Etsy