My favourite London shops ~ Stamps Galore: Blade Rubber Stamps

I only discovered Blade Rubber Stamps this year. Before I left for London for my annual summer holiday, I did a little internet search to see if there were any shops selling rubber stamps in London. There was a shop, and even better, it was basically just around the corner of where I was staying. And it's a wonderful shop. Stamps galore, from floor to ceiling, on all the walls. Wooden mounted and unmounted rubber stamps, acrylic / clear stamps, foam stamps, metal stamps, and of course a great variety of ink pads to go with them. And there’s loads more. Patterned papers, stickers, rub-ons, stencils, embellishments, punches – a whole range of scrapbooking supplies in short. The shop has a lovely atmosphere, with friendly, helpful staff. I ended up going to that shop not only once during my two weeks summer holiday, but three times. And of course I went again in October.

They also have a Made To Order Rubber Stamp service, run classes and have a blog with lots of ideas, blogging tutorials, freebies, workshops, videos and links.

The shop is just opposite the main entrance of the British Museum, in Bury Place, and it’s pretty much in between Shepherds Falkiners and the third of may favourite London shops. They also have an online shop, and when I asked them if it was possible to order from outside the UK as well, was told that they ship to everywhere and only charge the actual postage. The only exception are punches, which they don’t sell via mail order, as they are too heavy.

A bit over a year ago, I took a scrapbooking class (my first online class ever, and it was then, and because of it, that I started this blog). I enjoyed the class, which was based on colour, but I soon discovered that scrapbooking wasn’t really my thing. I completed three layouts, which I keep moving from one corner to the other, as I don’t really know what to do with them. Also, I found the whole scrapbooking supply industry far too overwhelming. There’s wonderful stuff there, no doubt, but it just left me with a feeling that it was all mainly about spending lots of money on all kinds of supplies, in order to create something, while I think that you should be able to create lots of stuff with only a small, but essential, supply of things. However, there are a few things, I must admit, I have come to love, most of all rubber stamps. I like to use them in some of my paintings, mostly in my art journal.

I really like these patterned cardboard letters I bought in October. The only problem with them is that I’m afraid I’ve already used up most of the useful letters and am now left with all the funny consonants. So now I’ll just have to use individual letters, rather than words, if I want to use them up.

I enjoyed doing these two pages in my art journal. I didn’t really know what I was going to do, I only knew that I wanted to use some of the supplies I had bought in the shop – the patterned papers, the stamps, the ink pads and the letters. I used acrylic paints matching the patterned papers as a base. The words then emerged in the process. Inspiration has been a big word for me this year. One of the biggest things to inspire me endlessly is nature, and colour has always been the driving force that made me pick up paint and brush in the first place. But it’s also the various products and techniques that inspire me to be creative and try out new things. I hope to give back to others a some of the inspiration I find in so many places and with so many artists out there.

And inspiring and inspired life – that is really what I’m looking for, and what I’ve been working hard at since the beginning of this year.

At Blade Rubber Stamps, they also have a great supply of magazines, such as Artful Blogging, Somerset Studio, Art Journaling, Stamper's Sampler, and many more. These magazines aren't available here in Switzerland, apparently, so it's nice to pick up a copy of some of them when I’m there. To be honest, it’s probably better they're not available here, as most probably, more often than not, I wouldn't be able to resist buying them. But it's nice to have the one or other from time to time. They're really inspiring, full of great ideas and photos.

So there’s now only one shop left in my little Favourite London Shops series. Next time, we’re going to take a step back in time and look at some very traditional materials – but in a different form.

Autumn in Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London

My favourite London shops ~ Shepherds Falkiners: A perfect paper heaven

For the past 5 years, I've spent at least one week of my summer holiday in London, taking courses in Book History at the London Rare Books School (LRBS). I love the area around Russell Square, in the famous Bloomsbury area, and I've discovered some fabulous shops which are leading my London Top Favourite Shops List. I've meant to write about my three most favourite art materials and craft shops alredy in summer, but I forgot to take the pictures of their shop fronts that I meant to. So I decided to put it off until after my short trip to London in October. But what can I say - I forgot to take pictures again! Well, I must have been so excited to enter the shops, that it completely slipped my mind (and afterwards had my hands too full...)!.

So I've now decided to write about them anyway. After all, I've got enough photos of the fabulous stuff I bought there :). All three shops are conveniently close to each other, and only a few minutes walk from the British Museum's main entrance. The first shop I want to share with you is the one I've discovered the first year I stayed in Bloomsbury: Shepherds Falkiners, a fabulous shop specialising in fine papers and bookbinding supplies, located in Southampton Row (turn left on Great Russell Street (facing away from the BM entrance), cross Southampton Row, and then it's just a few steps to your right). The shop, though not big, is nice airy and light, with some lovely dark wood furniture, and the colours, patterns and textures of the papers are just so wonderful, a real feast for they eye. It's probably a good thing I don't know anything about book binding, at least the practical-making-it-yourself-part, or I'd probably spend a fortune in there. They do have a series of courses they offer, both in London and Wiltshire, and I'm still hoping that they'll be having one at a time when I happen to be staying in the area. I've always fancied learning some basic book binding :)

I'v wanted one of those gorgeous boxes already the first time I've stepped into the store, but I never figured out how to get them home. No space in the suitcase, and back then, it was still strictly one hand lagguage policy in the airplane. I didn't want to send it back by mail either, as I feared the edges would all get damaged. So no chance. But this time, at last, I got my box! I took my big suitcase for the few days, half empty, to fill it up with goodies :). And I didn't just get a box, but also a pencil box, a pencil holder and a sheet of paper. I simply couldn't resist the paper, even though it's almost impossible to get it home without creases. But I'm going to clue it on top of something anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

I bought the bonefolder back in summer. I've been looking at quite a few bonefolders, but this one was the only one that really was perfect. The size and shape, and it's slight bend that makes it lie in your hand just perfectly. Why all that fuss about a simple bonefolder, you might ask. Well yes, maybe. But. It's the small details that turn an ordinary bonefolder into a fabulous, perfect one. And I love details :).

If you're ever in that area (and it's an areay well worth visiting), do pop in there and have a look. They also have notebooks, diaries, greeting cards and other things that make great gifts for people who appreciate quality paper crafts. And they also got an online shop (with reasonable shipping costs to Switzerland, which is not always the case), so I'm sure I'll be ordering some more of those papers :). Unfortunately, they don't seem to have the boxes in the online shop, though. Well, a good reason to go there again next time I'm in London :)

Oh and make sure to take a few minutes to visit lovely Russell Square. It's such a peaceful place, especially in the autumn light - and the café serves a tasty English breakfast too :)

Next Sunday, I'll show you another one of my Favourite 3 London Shops, and we'll be going stamping mad. (And maybe I'll even managed to get some pictures of the shop).

Have a fabulous longest-day-of-the-year Sunday!