All products are still available to buy when you next visit the Dharma Hut.
My crafty nature has evolved over a period of time. I have friends who make beautiful jewellery, crochet, sew, do patchwork, paint....and I could never find a "hobby" that suited me, that I was passionate about and could lose me for hours on end. Having studied Aromatherapy, I knew the therapeutic effects of the oils of plants, but I became more and more interested in their *traditional and magickal uses of the plants themselves.
I love gardening, I love being outdoors and I have always come home from long, lazy walks with my dogs with pockets stuffed full of rocks and seed heads and unashamedly....the odd bit of molten metal that I've convinced myself has fallen from space! I love nature and the power of plants and it was this love of nature and an extremely over-active imagination that set me on my current path.
It started with smudge sticks. I have a LOT of Lavender and quite a bit of Sage and Rosemary so I started to bind my own to use for cleansing the house. I decided to take some to a fair where I was offering taster treatments and I sold out! People were fascinated. My sage isn't White Sage. White Sage doesn't grow here and I believe in using what we have around us and not in shipping things thousands of miles. So my sage is local and even better, from my own garden. My smudge sticks are guided by the seasons, sometimes they may hold roses, bay or fennel within - each with a different energy and property. After this, I started to look more into the magickal side of plants and the folklore around them. In this way I got sucked into the Land of the Fae (Not literally - yet!) The Land of the Faery Folk. And real Faeries, not Disney princess fairies.
There are a lot of beautiful faery doors/dwellings/houses out there. all different shapes and sizes made from all different types of materials. Mine had to be made from natural materials, using bits and bobs that are found and then made into something magickal. Yes, OK, my glitter isn't pooped out by unicorns but you get my drift. My imagination is my ally here. I look at things slightly differently. You see a poppy - I see a chimney pot. You see a birch pod - I see an owl. You see a seashell - I see a toadstool. That type of thing. To date I have sold over 50 faerie dwellings! Again, it depends on the seasons and I collect materials (always windfallen) whenever I can. They are delicate constructions and even though i have successfully posted them out to customers, I prefer not to so they are always listed as collection only.
There are other bits and bobs in the Dharma Womble Emporium too from time to time. A family member donated a substantial number of wine corks (no comment) so I made some Christmas trees. I get given fabrics so I occasionally make rag wreaths or garlands. What I make depends on what I have and more importantly what is on offer. I also have some non hand made items in the shop, things I like myself such as incense, candles and crystals.
Everything I make do make is a completely unique piece filled with energy and imagination! Everything is made using materials that are either foraged, recycled or grown in my very own garden. I keep the environmental impact of my crafts to an absolute minimum (including reusing old packaging to send goodies in the post!) and I only take what nature is able to give.There are times of year when my little shop will be bare but at other times it will be brimming with seasonal curiosities. If you would like something specific please do not hesitate to contact me to see if I can help.
What's next? Who knows! *Please note that my "crafty side" is professionally, a completely separate entity to my therapies. Although I am passionate about plants and their many uses, I am not a herbalist and can not/will not discuss traditional medicine when treating clients.