Christmas display and letterpress gift vouchers now in store!!!

 

We have been so very busy at both the Drill Hall Emporium and Flywheel with preparations for Christmas.  This is a result of our missing out on a proper Christmas trading period with Flywheel last year, we opened just a week before!  So we have went a little crazy with baubles, gift wrap and letterpress goodies at Flywheel.  At the Drill Hall we have created a subtle Christmas themed entrance. 

 

We have opened up our Cherrywood buffet de corps which now plays host to Christmas gifts wrapped with paper from Flywheel.

 

Displayed on the Spanish trestle table in front we have a small fawn and a very large elk antler with mercurised glass acorns. 

 

 

You may see that we have used vintage buckles for embellishment on the gifts.  These are made from bakelite, gilded metal, wood and mother-of-pearl.  Rhinestone buckles would also look nice but we have stuck to a more natural and neutral look. 

 

On the carved Indian table we have a brass tray set with a Christmas inspired candle, now available in store, and these gorgeous 19th century etched and gilded glasses.  Eggnog anyone?

On the French walnut armchair we have a super soft Scandinavian reindeer hide, so very cosy. 

Maybe we took things a little far by having our own resident "angel"?  But we really couldn't help ourselves. 

But that is not all we have been doing in preparation for Christmas.  At Flywheel we have printed Christmas gift certificates for the Drill Hall on our Chandler and Price platen press. 

 

These are letterpressed with hand mixed red ink on white cotton card and feature little snowflake details.  I want one myself!

 We as a family are proud to admit that we adore Christmas and the anticipation that grows as the countdown begins.  And now that it is officially less than a month away, we are already counting down!

 Until next time,

new in store! cabbage and roses cushions and very very cute gift tags

Image from here

For a while now I have been quite a fan of Cabbages and Roses, an English based clothing, homewares and fabric store.  I am particularly drawn to their famous range of floral fabrics, usually depicting roses.  I think it is the muted tones and the country look that I like, they suit both formal and more relaxed settings. 

Image from here

The English fabric works so well on Louis French chairs as well as with shabby chairs such as these.  

Image from here

These cushions are available on the Cabbages and Roses website, and they also have a blog too! 

Whilst in a homewares store in Surrey, I happened upon a piece of Cabbage and Roses fabric in their roses and tulips design.  I couldn't resist bringing it home in my luggage to make cushions for the store!

The resulting cushions are now on a pair of French armchairs in our soft furnishings room.  There are two retangular and two square cushions available at the moment. 

The colours are beautiful, I love the soft blue colour of the background.  We have teamed it with a neutral linen and vintage buttons. 

And whilst I was away, Rachel was busy printing more gift tags and adding to our current range...

 

I adore her new butterfly gift tag, it is beautiful!

As is this cheeky squirrel eating a nut on a branch.  How cute! 

Rachel has also been busy creating these little gift cards including an envelope of hearts "lots of...love"

And "hugs and kisses" and "with love xxx" gift cards for loved ones. 

These are all hand pressed using our Adana letterpress machine.  There is definitely a lot of love in each card...

new in store...hand printed gift tags using antique printer's stamps!

We have been very busy at the store making these hand printed gift tags using antique printer's stamps. We believe they will make a unique addition to a gift and are an alternative to madly hunting for the right card for the right person. I am sure you all know what I mean...last minute searching in the nearest newsagents amongst cards that just don't seem right?

The owl has already proved very popular, look at the detail of the press!

For those that are interested, this is how it works. Firstly the stamp is placed in a frame called a chase and locked into postition using conerstones.

We then use our vintage English made Adana press machine to impress on the tags. We add ink, of course!

And voila...the image on the tag. Well, to be honest, it is not that simple. There is a lot of trial and error involved with "working" the ink, the amount of ink to use, the amount of pressure to apply etc. But it is all fun.

Too much ink would mean the lovely detail of the feathers would not come out so clearly.

We use Hungarian hemp string for ties.

The tags on our counter after the ties are put on.

I think the heart design is adorable...for the romantic in us all. These would be great on wedding gifts.

These gift tags are $1 each for small and $1.50 for large. I am pretty sure they will not make us wealthy...actually, I am definitely sure!

But we have all had enormous fun making them. And that is what life is about, isn't it? Finding things that give us pleasure... Here are some other designs that will soon be made into tags, watch this space!

books, antique and French gifts

I was absolutely spoiled at Christmas! I was given many beautiful gifts by friends and family, such as these gorgeous little succulent shaped candles in tin pots and a set of slate garden markers.

I have admired this Spode cream ware bowl for a while now in our store. And I may have put out a little hint or two that I would very much like it for my kitchen. It is just so simple and lovely, do you agree?

And you may all know now my fetish for French glass jars. I received two such jars for Christmas. One can never have enough jars. The jar on the left is going to live in the kitchen and store flour and the jar on the right has a new home in the bathroom.

My cookbook collection grew with the addition of these books, above. I am about to start making my own bread, but first I must start a yeast in order to make nice sourdough bread. Wish me luck!

I could happily live on pasta and was excited to receive a book dedicated to the topic!

Time to catch up on some gardening, with none other than Mr Paul Bangay himself. This is his latest book and can't wait to read and learn.

And the perfect coffee table book for the self-confessed Francophile...Vintage French Interiors. Someone knows me very well indeed.

The book is filled with images of collections composed with that casual French flair. My feet are getting itchy just thinking about returning to Paris flea markets and little tucked away antiquaires.

And lastly, I received this exquisite Indian silver bangle which dates from the late 1800s. It is very intricately made and has mythological bird like creatures at the clasp.

I don't think I was exaggerating when I said I was spoiled at Christmas, what do you think?

antique gifts for Christmas (that you may not have considered!)

A friend suggested that I post some unique Christmas gift ideas, so here it is! A very small and inexpensive gift could be these gorgeous ceramic pudding dolls which date to around 1900. These miniature dolls were traditionally placed within the Christmas pudding. They are referred to as "feves" in France (Feve is french for Fava Bean, which originally represented the baby in French). Here are other gift ideas from our store that may just suit your hard to buy for friends and family...

For the homemaker...embroidered silk susani cushions from Turkey, handmade scented soy candles and silk ikat cushions, also from Turkey. These cushions have only just arrived in our store, just in time for Christmas!

For the linguist...tiny, tiny printer's stamps (you could send a message, or spell their name), leather bound Shakespeare volumes and a collection of printer's ampersands.

For the gardener...French herb pots, English watering cans and hand tools.

For the entertainer...French cheeseboards (these are a very popular gift at the moment, great for serving cheese or pizzas), French ebony handled knives, French linen harvest tablecloths, and French (of course!) chopping boards and bone handled knives.

For the cook...English cooking utensils, Mrs Beeton's home cookery book (opened at the pudding page, perhaps a recipe for next Christmas?), French linen tea towels, and big and small mortars and pestles.

For the decorator...lamps made from boot tree forms (arrived in store today), reindeer hide rugs, finger coral and sea fan coral, vintage glass fishing floats.

For the collector...chemist bottles, egg timer (this is so cute!), decoy duck, baby shoe lasts, boxed dominoes and sea urchins.

And for the very, very hard to buy for loved one, there is always our hand-stamped gift vouchers (on authentic elephant dung paper). Perfect.