Craft Gossip

The largest independent craft review site since 2007

When Glass Blowing and Recycling Meet

by

LIQL6601_856f7ba3-3569-4496-8644-f2b6c43d1932_largeAustralian glass artist Ruth Allen makes the coolest light fixtures by Upcycling glass bottles and creating the coolest pendant lamps and drink wear sets. She takes bottles and cuts and cleans and then uses her glass blowing techniques, turns them into very cool, one of a kind pieces for functional art. Look through her selection of products…I’m loving them. What a great way to use bottles. I personally would just flatten them in the kiln, maybe cut and grind for a glass or lamp, but she really takes it to the next level!

Pellegrino_Set_detail_shop_544e7836-e4f6-4062-9f11-a59ca9c5bb80_large

Read These Next

Have you read?

Designer Spotlight: Patterns by Anna11

I’ve mentioned before that sometimes when I pick designers to write about for this spotlight feature I leave myself notes about what I want to talk about. For Patterns by Anna11, I wrote “grumpy cat birthday.”

What I meant was that I wanted to talk about this cat cross stitch pattern of a pretty grumpy looking cat in a party hat and holding a balloon. This is pretty much how I feel about birthdays, so it caught my eye.

The project is 114 by 120 stitches, and it uses 21 colors. The pattern notes suggest the size for a few different sizes of fabric, but at 14 count it comes out to 8.2 by 8.6 inches, or 20.7 by 21.8 cm. The pattern uses only full stitches.

This project, while it delights me, isn’t actually that representative of what’s going on in this shop. There’s a lot of Disney and Harry Potter inspired projects, including a cool “magic letters” alphabet (there’s also at least part of a floral alphabet, a baby animal alphabet, as well as those using Stitch and Moana).

There are a bunch of pretty mushroom patterns, a variety of floral wreaths and other designs for wedding announcements, a super cute reading dragon, a set of Pokemon designs and more.

I don’t know that there’s a common thread that ties it all together. Lots of characters you’ll know in designs inspired by their looks in movies, but also other cute stuff, floral designs, nature and of course some Christmas designs as well.

You’ll have to go check it out at Patterns by Anna11 on Etsy to see if anything strikes your fancy.

And if there’s a cross stitch designer you love I haven’t featured yet, drop a note in the comments or send me their info through the form at the “submit a DIY” link up at the top of the page.

[Photo: Patterns by Anna11]