Hoolala Jewellery & Modern Frippery

Georgian Lover's Eyes

This week I have been catching up with all my commissions and listings after arriving back from The Very Bazaar that took place in London. I managed to get lost in Battersea and arrived late to the fair so I didn't have enought time to go round all the stalls, however next time I will be more prepared and come armed to do business cards swaps and take a camera! It was lovely to meet so many people and I gave out lots of cards. I also met the girls from www.craftermath.co.uk who were just lovely. If you get chance and you are a crafter in the UK please drop by their site and say hi!

Meanwhile I have been asked for a Georgian Lovers Eye pendant which is a lovely idea.The history of Lover's eyes is rather romantic. It is said that in the late 1700s George IV of England fell in love with a commoner while his father George III was at war in America. The young prince's lover bestowed him with a a miniature painting of her eye in a locket therefore she remained her anonymous to everyone but him. They became very fashionable and lovers would commission paitings of each other eyes to wear as brooches or lockets.I am so pleased with the results he looks very much like the poet Byron.

I am also working on another Seven Deadly Sins Charm Bracelet which is different to the last two I have made and I will upload the pictures as soon as it is finished. Meanwhile if you like my work and think you might like an autobiographical charm bracelet then please do drop me a line and we can discuss your ideas.

I have made another vintage charm bracelet with all sorts of goodies that were left in my bead box. It is dazzling and crammed full of eclectic whimsical charms, some vintage and some handmade, my favourite charm is the little silver horse which reminds me of my childhood when I used to cry to the closing credits of Black Beauty because I was just overwhelmed... at the age of 3! Oh dear...

You can view the bracelet in my little etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/view_item.php?listing_id=578601

The Very Bazaar

I am busy this week preparing to take the Hoolala Circus out on the road. If you hapen to be in London please drop by and say hello I will be at The Battersea Arts Center in London from 10pm till 4pm.

Writers Block

I have been preoccupied since I last wrote with various commissions which is very exciting considering they came an indirect consequence of starting my blog! I have been asked for a personalised version of the Seven Deadly Sins and Heavenly Virtues charm bracelet and a charm bracelet based on the literature of Tennyson, Christie, Nabokov, Fitzgerald, Bulgakov, Shakespere and Douglas Adams. I decided that I needed to get my hands on more books to get a feel for the literature bracelet so I took myself off to my local recycling center to rescue some books. I ended up with a huge bag full which included some really damp paper back novels, two beautiful old atlases with some unusual maps which I have earmarked for a future project and an interesting leather bound bible which I feel I need to turn into a clutch bag.

Whilst I was out and about I decided to stop for lunch in my local antiques center. I found a lovely set of tiny lead cars for £8 and a beautiful old Kewpie Doll. I am not sure she is original but she is certainly older than the one I have so I bought her too for £10. The lady at the desk was quite intrigued so I gave her my web address for the new Hoolala shop at www.hoolala.co.uk then she could see the kind of things I create. I also rescued a copy of the Midwich Cukoos by John Wyndham, it isn't very old but it did give me an idea of making a bracelet dedicated to the Strange and Beautiful. I remember listening to the Radio 4 when they broadcast it as as serial last year - it reminded me of a time when my sister and I had identical hair cuts whilst were in junior school which prompted one of our teachers to remark that we looked like a couple of Midwich Cukoos. They didn't know the half of it...

It worked like a charm

I have been so busy the last few days I decided that I will make a rule to post at least once a week. I wanted to write everyday but I think that may be wishful thinking. I have been finished the Seven Deadly sins charm bracelet, almost finished the Anna Karenina bracelet and I have started a surprise bracelet for my mum with great grandparents, grandparents, parents, daughtrs and grandchildren. I am pleased with the beginnings but the large charm in the middle might end up as a necklace as I feel it might be too large to wear everyday. I also need to make a decision on which bead will compliment the photographs. I started thinking that may be birth stones would be fun but I don't think anyone can remember the dates of the Great Grandparents. I don't have time to search although I would love to do the family tree at some point as it is quite interesting on both sides.

The first bracelet I finished was Seven which I absolutely love!
I created several handmade charms with the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Heavenly virtues then I strung them all onto a silver plated bracelet with various charms I have picked up on my travels such as: Swarovski crystals, skulls, a cross, a charm made from bone and some curious porcelain teeth. I realise the teeth might not be for everyone and so I have given the client the option of taking them off!

The second bracelet I have nearly finished is the Anna Karenina bracelet.

The charms have been made from my victorian scraps archive and my own photograph archive from my days as a small antiques dealer. They include a little brass book with a hand drawn picture of a Russian cavalry officer, a portrait of Tolstoy, Tolstoy's signature, a small postcard of the film poster freaturing Greta Garbo, 2 Russian icons, her initials in Russian cyrillic script, a vintage gold cross and some semi precious stones all srtrung on a gold plated charm bracelet. I am just waiting for some gold filled pins to finish the beads and then it is ready to show to the client.

Friday brings thunder and lightening

When I went into my studio yesterday there was a massive disturbance going on outside in the garden. I opened the window to get a better look and there, furiously hopping up and down the garden wall,was a tiny little wren. She was having a heated argument with a robin over a tree. She lives in the tree and I think the robin might have fancied his chances - the tree dates from about 1880-1900 I suppose it was worth defending.

That little incident prompted me to root out some of my antique bird prints and make some larger bird charms which I will make into pendants and some into charm bracelets with vintage components.

I love the robin and the swallow pictures they look beautiful. I did find a wren but she looked a little pug-faced so I decided to make one of the wren at a later date.

Today you can hear a pin drop outside we are due some thunderstorms and everything has taken cover including the cats. The village usually end up with powercuts as we are at the end of the line for power, phones and broadband so I have decided to concentrate on constructing two charm bracelets I have been commissioned for, the first one is dedicated to the Seven Deadly Sins and the other is dedicated to Anna Karenina.

I find Russian history fascinating as my Great Grandfather was Russian and I still have a picture of him in my studio. He appeared in England supposedly from nowhere, there was talk of him arriving here after defecting which I find so romantic. I often imagine him escaping by rowing down a river somewhere in Russia in a little boat like they did in The Great Escape.

Meanwhile just to wet your whistle I have created some Russian Tolstoy-esque charms and turned them into a necklace as a sample for my client who happens to be the author Jackie Mitchard. She found my shop on Etsy and asked if I could design her a bracelet.

I have made up some sample charms I created with a image of an antique purse I have and an old film poster from a postcard. I can hear rumblings of thunder coming ever closer so I will sign off before I get cut off and post more photos of what I am up to later on today.

Ta ta.

The circus that is Hoolala...

My name is Sam and I work out of a miniscule studio in deepest darkest Oxfordshire with my two cats for company, Oscar, who thinks he is a boy and Marshmallow who is a wicked goblin re-incarnated as a kitten. When I am not copywriting or creating literature I design and make jewels and frippery or rescue old books and collectibles.

Hoolala was born over a year ago when a dear friend of mine asked me to design a jewellery collection for a chain of spas. I accepted and the collection sold out in a matter of weeks. I decided to create a brand and then if I ever got bored of jewels I could concentrate on frippery. It hasn't really panned out like that though I have had such great feedback about my designs that it has just gone from strength to strength and I now supply several galleries and online boutiques with my wares.

I have always collected old paper, books and collectibles and in a previous life I used to run a small antique stall with my sister which was really good fun. Most of my designs are influenced by the sorts of things we used to sell such as Victorian ephemera and I had a passion for the small found objects which now inhabit various jars and teacups in my studio.

I also have a beautiful photo archive which influences my work and when I am not out and about with the camera you can find me indulging in afternoon tea (one of my absolute favourite pastimes), reading, riding my mountain bike in beautiful Wales or surfing in equally beautiful Devon.