Butch crafts
We now have a new craftshop in Akureyri, and I think I like it.
It's where the old AB-buðin used to be - the old 'girlie' crafts shop that did paints and stamps and papercraft and beads, that sort of thing. That closed about a month ago, which was a shame, but I'd watched it being worked down for at least the last three months. It was also not the cheapest of shops, even for Iceland, so I only tended to use it for last-minute stuff and would get planned projects either online or while I was in the UK.
The new shop is completely different. It's a butch craft shop. There's a little paper, but far more in the way of tools for woodworking, silversmithing, leatherwork and glasswork. I had no idea it was there until S at fencing mentioned it (she's into jewellery-making) so I popped along today to have a look. The old place was run by what I assume was a married couple; she worked entirely in the shop but he also did some framing. The new one might well also be run by a couple, based on the general feel of things and the fact that he1 was wearing the most marvellous wooden bow tie. He2 was very helpful and made sure that I had the right diameter of leather thong to go with the clasp fittings I bought.
I don't think I'll need to go there often, but it'll certainly be handy to have somewhere that does real tools rather than papercutters and embossing templates. Partly because I'd bought all of the interesting embossing templates that AB-buðin had in stock, but partly because I'm now looking at trying my hand at something new. For instance, I'm going to have to buy a few things so that I can finish off the silver pendants that E cast in silver for me a couple of months ago. I really need to have at least one of them cleaned up and wearable by Coronation in January. I'll just have to sit down and make a list of the things I need before I go back.
It's where the old AB-buðin used to be - the old 'girlie' crafts shop that did paints and stamps and papercraft and beads, that sort of thing. That closed about a month ago, which was a shame, but I'd watched it being worked down for at least the last three months. It was also not the cheapest of shops, even for Iceland, so I only tended to use it for last-minute stuff and would get planned projects either online or while I was in the UK.
The new shop is completely different. It's a butch craft shop. There's a little paper, but far more in the way of tools for woodworking, silversmithing, leatherwork and glasswork. I had no idea it was there until S at fencing mentioned it (she's into jewellery-making) so I popped along today to have a look. The old place was run by what I assume was a married couple; she worked entirely in the shop but he also did some framing. The new one might well also be run by a couple, based on the general feel of things and the fact that he1 was wearing the most marvellous wooden bow tie. He2 was very helpful and made sure that I had the right diameter of leather thong to go with the clasp fittings I bought.
I don't think I'll need to go there often, but it'll certainly be handy to have somewhere that does real tools rather than papercutters and embossing templates. Partly because I'd bought all of the interesting embossing templates that AB-buðin had in stock, but partly because I'm now looking at trying my hand at something new. For instance, I'm going to have to buy a few things so that I can finish off the silver pendants that E cast in silver for me a couple of months ago. I really need to have at least one of them cleaned up and wearable by Coronation in January. I'll just have to sit down and make a list of the things I need before I go back.