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Handmade Fingerless Gloves, Note Cards and Earrings - Three for Thursday - January 7, 2021

Usually my Three for Thursday blogs have a theme, such as “flowers”, “animals,” “Valentine's Day” or “blue.”   But today I decided that three items from three artist friends would be a theme within the theme:  fingerless gloves, note cards and jewelry.  From Jacki of Christie Cottage are three pairs of hand knit / crocheted fingerless gloves; three notecards from original watercolor prints are featured from Roxanne of watercolorNmore; and three pairs of handmade earrings from me, Catherine of Shadow Dog Designs, are shared.  To see more of what each artist has in their handmade studios, be sure to click on the links above, the item photos or links below the photos to be taken to the shop.  I hope you enjoy these selections.  

A Mixed Bag - Artisan Handmade - Three for Thursday

This week’s Artisan Handmade  - Three for Thursday is a mixed bag of fun items, three items from three artists.  I checked my thesaurus for synonyms for “mixed bag” and picked out some of my favorites words, some I’ve never seen before :  admixture, anthology, collectanea, farrago, gallimaufry, medley, mingle-mangle, potpourri, salmagundi and smorgasbord.  What a fun selection of words!  And you’ll find this week’s Three for Thursday an equally fun mélange of artisan handmade beauties.  The three artists featured are Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions;  Jacki of Christie Cottage;  and me, Catherine of Shadow Dog Designs.  Enjoy this mixed bag of handmade gifts for a loved one or for yourself.

Flaunting Flowers - Artisan Handmade Three for Thursday

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change" – Buddha

Spring is in full swing here in the Desert Southwest.  Since there was more rain than normal during the winter and on into spring, the flowering trees and the wildflowers, especially the poppies in the Franklin Mountains, have been spectacular.  The various cacti and succulents haven’t started blooming yet with all their sometimes garish colors, but they should be extra pretty, as well. This time of the year, my thoughts always turn to working in the flower beds, trying to decide where to put “just one more” plant.  Watching plants reawaken and start their flowering is indeed a miracle . . . and does change my life for the better.

With flowers in mind, I decided this week’s Artisan Handmade Three for Thursday would feature flowers.  Three floral inspired handmade pieces, which turned out featuring mostly pink flowers, were chosen from the shops of handmade artisan friends.  The artisans are: Jacki of Christie Cottage; Roxanne of watercolorsNmore; and me, Catherine of Shadow Dog Designs. I hope you enjoy the handmade beauties.  And be sure to visit the shops of the artists for even more gift ideas - for someone you love or for yourself.

Shades of Purple - Artisan Handmade - Three for Thursday

Up until the 1850’s, the color purple was most often associated with nobility.  Cyrus, a Persian king, wore a purple tunic, adopting it as his royal uniform. Some Roman emperors even forbade their citizens from wearing purple clothing - under penalty of death. During the Byzantine Empire, rulers wore long purple robes, used purple ink to sign their orders, and their children were described as being “born in the purple.”  Why? The reason was that a pound of purple wool cost more than most people earned in a year! The color purple was produced from a species of rare sea snail, centered in the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. It took as many as 250,000 of the snails, which produced a purple staining mucus, to yield just one ounce of usable dye. After the fall of the Byzantine empire in the 15th century, the upper class monopoly of purple fabric waned - but it was still expensive.  It wasn’t until the 1850’s with the creation of the first synthetic dyes that the color purple became more widely available.  

I, for one, am glad that the color purple is now easily attainable.  With that in mind, this week’s edition of the Three for Thursday blog is titled “Shades of Purple.”  Three items from three handmade artists are featured. The artists are: Cathy of Crafting Memories; Roxanne of watercolorsNmore; and me, Catherine of Shadow Dog Designs.  I hope you enjoy all the different shades of purple found in the beauties shared.