Tuesday 17 November 2009

Human Jewellery

Perhaps this christmas, you may find yourself trying to find a gift for the person who has everything. You will have trawled the net and the streets to find something quirky and unique and just right for them. If this person that you are shopping for also has a taste for the macabre, then I might just have found the perfect gift for you to give them. Both environmentally friendly and one of a kind, jewelry made from human parts could be the answer to your yuletide quest.


An Australian jewellery designer called Polly Van der Glas has come up with a collection of jewellery made from human teeth and hair (sterilised of course). These teeth rings would definitely be a conversation starter if worn on a date or basically anywhere in public.


These hair bracelets are slightly more discrete
and may be a good way to wean people off chewing their hair.

However, the best bit of the collection is this delightful hair purse. Take care not to hold it anywhere in front of your crotch or chin area - it could rather confuse people.
Aren't we all glad that there are people out there
with the time and the inclination to keep pushing style boundaries?


Wednesday 11 November 2009

How to make Christmas less expensive

Having recently taken in a stray kitten, my spare cash has rather shrunk. For the first time in a while, I have been thinking about why we all feel we have to spend so much money at Christmas.


A while back, I did a post on home-made gifts. Home made gifts can help you to ease your cash flow a little. I also think that it's a good idea to cut out unnecessary gifts. Gift-giving should be limited to close family and your partner; do we really need to be receiving gifts at Christmas from more than about 5 people?? Excessive gift giving is just a way to be more materialistic than we already are and find an excuse to shop.

A good idea is to combine a home made gift with a small bought gift. For instance, why not make use of special offers and get a few books and then give people a book and a home made gift. Another idea is to make your Christmas cards yourself. Buy some coloured card and cut out humorous pictures from old magazines and newspapers. Stick them on the card and add a funny caption.

Food is always a great home made gift to receive. Another good idea is something that I saw in The Guardian today. It sounds crazy but you can "knit" jewellery for the women in your life. You will need to know how to knit (easy to learn, just google it) and then you will need metal wire and some beads.

Instructions:

1. Thread all the beads that you want to use onto your wire. To work out how many beads to use multiply the amount of stitches per row by the length of the bracelet in centimetres (eg if you are doing a six stitch wide, 12cm long bracelet, I'd thread at least 72 beads on).

2. Cast on as many stitches as you think want and knit one row. As you knit the first stitch of the second row, bring one of the beads up to your needles and knit it into the fabric. Repeat for every stitch of the second row.

3. Continue knitting every odd row without beads and every even row with beads - this will ensure all the beads stay on the same side of the bracelet.

4. Once the bracelet or choker is long enough, cast off then fix a jewellery clasp to either end of it.

The end result looks pretty good and would make a great gift for someone.

Thursday 5 November 2009

Roxy Music 'If there's something'

I haven't really got a reason for posting this song other than just to share the magic. Wait until about 2 minutes into it and then the tempo completely changes and it suddenly takes off. I found it through that film 'Flashbacks of a fool'. Not a bad movie. When you listen to this you can sort of see why the girl who was dating Bryan Ferry's son switched over to dating Bryan Ferry himself. A bit of old age is nothing in comparison to being with a musical genius.

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Negative Space by Noma Bar

These designs by Noma Bar are incredible and thought-provoking.