my slide show here:... 221 pictures in all.
use the cursor to roll over each picture for a word or short description.
or you can go to my flickr "London" album and read all the captions too here.
I am going to post a few of my favorite purchases here with some stories in case you may be short on time. Wait, I mean in case you have some time to kill.
Here are the earrings I got that I claimed were so expensive. They are from a shop called "Basia Zarzycka" located in Sloane Square. It's a stop on the underground line. In case you ever need to find it. They have an online shop, but it is nothing like the store. The store is covered (every square inch) with little stands on shelves filled with jewelry, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, scarves, and more. My eyes were popping out! My husband waited outside and I am so glad he did. I don't ever want him to see me like that. Some things were meant to be kept secret.
Actually, they were 98 pounds and if you multiply by 1.94 that equals $190 today. Anyway, I love them. They are made of brass findings and pacific opal swarovski crystals. They make me feel beautiful! and that is all that matters to me.
and another pair (not nearly as much):
and one more. O.K. I splurged. (he, he)
I got this little velvet strawberry too and I'm not going to tell you how much it was. You'll only laugh at me. It is so perfectly made. I like mementos like this. I don't go looking for clothes, too much time and effort to find them and try them on. I like small things that will remind me of the time I was walking down the street and saw this shop with the outrageous window and I had to go in.
These are some gorgeous grosgrain ribbons and tiny velvet flowers I found next door in a shop called "VV Rouleaux". Not very expensive at all and in colors that have been hard to find where I live.
Wood and metal printing blocks from a Covent Garden market stall. They are small. The longest is 1-1/2 inches long.
A beautiful fold out card that came as a gift with a tube of lip gloss for my daughter. The brand name is "jelly pong pong".
I also got her a cute little bag to carry things around in. Here is the tag from the bag which echoes the design on it. I like the message. My daughter loves bags and will probably have 200 to 500 in her lifetime. You think I'M JOKING? Hmmph!
One day I met up with Kelly Harcus. I met her at Artfest two years ago. We talked, had lunch, shopped in Neal's Yard for small things and went to the Victoria and Albert Museum and met up with her book arts group to view a couple of exhibits on book making. One was called "Certain Trees: The Constructed Book, Poem and Object 1964-2008". The other is called "Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book". Both were very interesting to me. In the "Certain Trees" exhibit I saw a piece of paper on which was typed, over and over again "for it not to be worth the paper it is printed on it has to be printed for it not to be worth the paper it is printed on it has to be printed for it not to be worth the paper it is printed on". I liked it and you can see it in my slide show... at some point.
Here are snapshots of the covers of two small journals I got for 3 pounds 80 each. They have the same kinds of drawings throughout them and they are pricelessly well made. I have hours of entertainment before me reading them and showing them to friends. If I find something in there worth sharing with you, I will.
More from the "Victoria and Albert" or as Kelly calls it, the "V&A". By the way, she is taking part in an exhibit there herself very soon. An exhibit on handmade books. Isn't that exciting?
carved wood stamps and miniature accordion books
and "plastique" as my husband calls it - small rings with farm animals and some kind of farm thing, a water mill? I don't know but it's so cute!
I like all these little things that I have never seen before. Fun to collect, easy to lug around or ship home. No one knows how practical I can be.
More later. Getting this all up was HUGE! and thank you for being interested.
