Finding the perfect wedding gift is often very difficult! You want to give the bride and groom the very best gift that you can, but there is often questions of “Will they really like this”? or “Is this to their taste”?

 By following our list of “7 Tips” you can be certain of finding a gift that the couple will love and appreciate for many years.

1. Identify with the Bride & Groom – While this seems obvious, it is the most common mistake made when purchasing a gift for the couple! It important to understand the couples’ likes and dislikes; their décor style and colour schemes. So why not ask them if there is something you are unsure of or if you have a suggestion; particularly if you do not know the couple well. They will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Meadow Glass Bowl

WESTERN MAPLE SALAD BOWL

2. The Wedding Registry – If there is one, then use this as the key guide, especially if the couple is collecting a specific range e.g. dinnerware. Often Registry Lists are meant as guides; so be confident and seek out original and personal gifts.

3. Look for locally made Alternatives – Too often much of what we see in our department stores and boutiques is mass produced work made in a far off factory overseas. Wherever possible look for gifts that are made in North America and not just some import whose reputation has been built on advertising.

Apple Casserole Dish

4. Focus on Uniqueness – Consider locally crafted work. Most of this is unique and, unlike items made in some anonymous factory, local crafts people make work that is individual and one-of-a-kind. This does not just apply to a magnificent vase or a glass bowl. Even with a humble coffee mug, each one has a very slight difference. When just one person or a husband & wife team makes an item the numbers are small. It’s great for the couple to have something that is genuinely unique.

5. Focus on Quality – Local artists always take personal pride in their hand made work. I have yet to meet an artist who was not passionate about their work. From potters to glass artists to textile makers – this is their life and they are justly proud of their art. If treated well much of this work can last a lifetime. How many things can you say that about today?

CHARLES VAN SANDWYK 'AFFAIRS OF THE HEART' BOOK

6. Find a source for true Personal Service – Given time most artists will custom -make work to your specification. A unique wedding gift that has been made just for the couple is something that they will remember and cherish.

7. Check out local Availability – Many items may be matched or repeated. Full ranges are available that can be added to or simply collected over time. Not just pottery but wood or even glass. This can be very useful for the couple as time and money allows them to add pieces to their collections. 

8. Help your local Economy – Shopping locally helps your local economy and by supporting local artists it keeps money in the community and ensures that these hard learned skills are alive for future generations.

Large Pie Dish

9. Support your local Community and Help the Environment – A locally handmade gift helps reflects the community and region in which it was created. It has greater relevance for the person who purchased it and to the wedding couple to whom the gift is given. Local arts & crafts produce a minimal carbon footprint – little transportation and excess packaging is involved.

Mocha Pottery Mug

Side Street Studio has been supporting local artists for over 26 years. More than 300 local artists from pottery, jewellery, textiles, glass art, wood turnings, aromatherapy, cards, books, and lots more. Shipping is world wide with FedEx and Canada Post. http://www.sidestreetstudio.com/catalog/

1.  Uniqueness – locally crafted work is unique. Unlike items made in a far off factory; local crafts people make work that is individual and one-of-a-kind. This does not just apply to a magnificent vase or a glass bowl. Even with a humble coffee mug, every one has a very slight difference. 

Humble Cat Mug - Very Rare!

 When just one person or a husband & wife team make an item the numbers are by the nature of the process – small. It’s great to have or give as a gift something that is genuinely unique.

WESTERN MAPLE SALAD BOWL

2.  Quality – artists always take a personal pride in their hand-made work. I have yet to meet an artist who was not passionate about their work. From potters to glass artists to textile makers – this is their life and they are justly proud of their work. If treated well much of this work can last a lifetime.  How many things can you say that about in our society today?

GIVERNY GLASS BOWL

3. Value for money – Contrary to what many people still believe, buying directly from the artist or their local retailer can most often cost less than buying some mass produced item from a department store. Reduced transportation costs, no middle men and low advertising helps to keep costs down.

4. Excellent after purchase service. The artists really do care about their work! Artists are available to repair, alter, clean or replace your purchase. They are interested to help if there is ever a problem. You never need to speak with some remote Customer Service line.

CARNIVAL PEARL NECKLACE, EARRINGS & BRACELET

5. Personal service – many artists will custom -make work to your specification. If you need a gift for a special occasion then very often, provided that you allow enough time, the artist will make to your requirements.

6.  Availability – Most ranges are always available so that you can add to your range or just collect individual pieces  over time.  Not just for pottery but jewellery or even glass.

COPPER RUBY VASE

7.  Help your local economy!  Shopping locally helps your local economy, by supporting local artists it keeps money in the community and  ensures that hard learned skills are alive for future generations.

BABY WOOL SLIPPERS

8.  Help the environment! Local arts & crafts produce a minimal carbon footprint – little transportation is involved. Conservation is important to all of us. Much of what local artists use is recycled – including what little packaging is ever used!

9. Fun and Learning. It really can be a fun shopping experience – you get to meet the artist and find out about their skills, how they make their work, the huge time and effort that goes into a single piece. 

CHARLES VAN SANDWYK ANIMAL WISDOM BOOK

10.  Support you local Community. A locally handmade gift reflects the community and region in which it was created. It has greater relevance for the person who purchased it or the person to whom the gift is given.

APPLE DESIGN CASSEROLE

 Side Street Studio has been supporting local artists for over 26 years. More than 300 local artists from pottery, jewellery, textiles, glass art, wood turnings, aromatherpy, cards, books, and lots more. Shipping is world wide with FedEx and Canada Post. www.sidestreetstudio.com

BRONZE JAPANESE STYLE NEOLITHIC JAR

FLOWER CANE PERFUME BOTTLE

refined by the Romans and Persians. (Source: Wikipedia)

However, perfumes have been known to exist in some of the earliest human civilizations while modern perfumery is believed to have begun in Europe in the late 1800s.

MEADOW PERFUME BOTTLE

The composition of a perfume is often a closely guarded secret. Yet it is helpful to try and describe the perfume in a manner which is easy to understand. The German company

Haarmann & Reimer developed a simple but excellent system which describes a perfume based on three ‘notes’. Top Notes, Middle Notes and Base Notes.

Top Notes are the first scent you smell with a fragrance. The Top Notes are hugely important to the success of a perfume as this is your first impression. Perfumers at the major fragrance houses focus strongly on this top note for obvious commercial reasons. They are often referred to as the ‘Head Notes’.

Middle Notes are the notes which develop just as the Top Notes are evaporating away. They are often called the Heart Notes’ and form the all important ‘small’ body of the fragrance. Base Notes – These are the notes which develop as the Top and Middle Notes start to move away. When combined with the Middle Notes they form the ‘main body’ of the fragrance or perfume. They are usually ‘rich’ notes and appear after ~ 40 minutes.

To hold these crucial elements of a perfume together a well crafted bottle designed specifically for perfume is essential.

Quality Glass Perfume Bottles are made from blown glass which traditionally involves three furnaces. The first simply contains a crucible of molten glass. The second is called the “glory hole”, and is used to reheat the glass bottle when working with it. The final furnace is called the “annealer”, and is used to slowly cool the glass, over a period of a few hours to a few days, depending on the size of the pieces. It is very important to keep perfume away from heat or strong light. We suggest that you always replace the glass stopper after use and gently shake the bottle so as to help form an airtight seal around the base of the stopper. This way helps ensure the perfume bottle remain air-tight and so keep its ‘scent’ for up to several years.

POPPY GLASS PERFUME BOTTLE

All of our glass perfume bottles are hand crafted in B.C. by Glass Artist Robert Held and each is signed by the artist. Each stopper has a unique fit to the bottle that it comes with.

A unique perfume bottle makes a superb gift and one which can last for generations.

You can find more of our beautiful perfume bottles at http://www.sidestreetstudio.com/catalog/glasswork-perfume-bottles-c-2_129.html

AMETHYST ART NOUVEAU PERFUME BOTTLE

VIENNA PERFUME BOTTLE

or VIMEO at http://vimeo.com/11147141

Amazing creativity – in real time!

 From Side Street Studio www.sidestreetstudio.com

 I have been working in glass as an artist for over thirty years. I began as an apprentice in a studio involved in Stained Glass restoration and residential, religious and commercial stained glass commissioned work. I also had the prividge of taking a course in studio glass blowing at the Art College of Alberta in 1975. I set up my own studio in Nanaimo in 1977.

I began fusing and slumping glass as a sideline to my stained glass work in 1978 and completed a few commissions of fused and bent glass lamps for a Victoria restaurant. There was little market for warm glass at that time and stained glass and sandblasted commissions paid the bills.

 Over the years I would bend replacement glass panels for antique lampshades and make glass sculpture that included bent glass components. In 1992 I had a show at the Nanaimo Art Gallery at Malaspina University College featuring bent and fused plate glass sculpture.
The design process gets more involved all the time. Initially I was fusing fairly 2-D designs but after some study I began working in cast glass and colour bar last year, I’ve begun creating pieces with more depth and interesting elements inside the piece itself.

A lot of what I create needs cold work to produce a polished glass edge on these very thick pieces. The polishing process sometimes involves a diamond saw and a wet belt machine using over 6 different belts and finally cerium oxide and felt.
As I design and fire more pieces suggest themselves and soon they too become manifest. Even after all these years I still excited by all the possibilities that warm glass possesses. You can seem more of Chris Smith’s magnificent work at www.sidestreetstudio.com

CELTIC KNOT PAPERWEIGHT

Robert Held wrote’ “I was born in Santa Ana, California and aspired to be an artist from an early age. My father was a sculptor but only lived for the first six years of my life Yet he passed on the talent and appreciation of art that gave me the beginnings of a quest to create beauty in form and color.

COBALT ART NOUVEAU GLASS BOWL

In High School my paintings won the “Ebell Award” for promising students. I studied painting at Whittier College until ceramics artist F. Carleton Ball crossed my path.

To explore this new medium, I changed colleges, supporting myself through this time as the Art Director of the Los Angeles County Fair.

Pursuing a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Southern California, I was awarded the graduate assistantship. At this time, I won the prestigious “Glen Lukins Award” for new work in ceramics.

FLOWER CANE PERFUME BOTTLE

Upon graduating, I was offered a position as Head of Ceramics at a college being built in Ontario. I accepted the position becoming the youngest department head at the Sheridan College – School of Design. In 1968, after a visit to the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, I discovered a new love: the art of glassblowing. I returned to Sheridan College inspired and succeeded in launching Canada’s first college level hot glass program in 1969.This program allowed many Canadian artists to become skilled in this medium, and crowned me as the pioneer of art glass in Canada. Eventually, I left the teaching world, and in 1978 I began my own glass studio known as Skookum Art Glass Inc based out of Calgary, AB and operated there until 1987.

GIVERNY BOWL - AMETHYST

At this time, I moved to Vancouver, BC, and continues to enjoy much success there today at my studio: Robert Held Art Glass, and also through the many fine galleries and gift shops that carry my work throughout North America, Europe and Japan.

I use techniques that date back as long ago as 2000 B.C. however, my collections range from classic to contemporary.

MEADOW LARGE CRUCIBLE VASE

Some works are inspired by the paintings of famous artists such as Monet and Klimt, while others take inspiration from photographers and even interior designers. Our studio prides itself on providing its customers with a large selection of affordable hand-blown gift items, as well as my own individual creations for the serious collector. My glass work has also been chosen for many prestigious awards and collections. My goblets were selected to grace the table of the Governor General’s “Perfect Setting” and my newest commissioned piece: a glass bowl encasing 23rd karat gold maple leaves and sparkling dichroic glass now sits in Her Majesty’s Royal Collection.

PEACOCK FLAT VASE

In 2003, a piece from my Flower Line was selected as the Canadian Gift and Tableware Association’s Gift of the Year. My glass sculptures may also be found in major collections such as the Roland Michener and the Indusman.

POPPY PERFUME BOTTLE

In 2009 I created a bowl that our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper presented to the Premier of China at the start of the 2009 Beijing Olympics”.

You can see more of Robert Helds fabulous and great value work at http://www.sidestreetstudio.com/catalog/robert-held-m-8002.html?page=1&sort=3a

I have been working with glass, first, breaking it as a little kid, and later installing glass in houses and commercial buildings. One day a friend said, “You are a glazier, you should be able to make stained glass windows.” I had been interested, and now was challenged.

My first window was drawn out with a fat black marker, on a sheet of newspaper, and I learned to adjust. I finally had to put the window in storage, and let my mind dwell on it. A few years later, I did the Landmark Forum, and the next weekend I pulled the window out of storage and completed it. I have been having fun with stained glass for thirty years.

I live in Victoria, British Columbia, and five years ago I was given a job in one of the best stained glass shops in the Pacific Northwest, the Glass-Smith. I was doing regular glass work, and got to be around professionals who designed and built stained glass. The Glass-Smith offers classes in building stained glass, fusing, and I was lucky enough to learn glass painting. In the fusing class I was introduced to dichroic glass. It is magic for me. If you have ever opened a kiln with your work in it, you will be aware that a transformation has taken place. It brings mystery and wonder. The results are always a surprise.

Working with glass has been wonder full.

Angela Bone has been working with glass for five years, first as a bead maker, and is currently fusing large plates with a labyrinth design.  Angela, with the help of the Garden Committee at Victoria General Hospital, has created a permanent 45 foot diameter outdoor labyrinth on the grounds. She brings beauty, vision, and grounding to her work. 

You can see more of Ed’s and Angela’s superb work at www.sidestreetstudio.com

You can find much more of Mark’s excellent and intelligently produced glass at Side Street Studio.

I became interested in glass after taking a course in making a stepping stone from glass and cement. From there I have taken various courses with stained glass, using both lead came and the copper foil method, but after learning about fusing glass in a kiln, I was hooked.

The process of fusing glass has been around for centuries. To fuse glass there are sometimes as few as two steps or many more depending on the desired outcome. The glass, which is specially designed for fusing, is first cut into the desired shapes and then reassembled on a kiln shelf and fired in the kiln at approximately 1460 F, for up to 12 hours, as you have to wait until the kiln has completely cooled down (as I learned by opening it too soon and having my plate break because it cooled too quickly). Then the flat fused piece of glass is placed on a ceramic mold and “slumped” into your desired shape at a lower temperature of 1150 F, this again takes another 12 or so hours.

I have had many successes, and a few oopses that I display proudly in my home and I am always learning and trying new techniques which include sandblasting designs onto the glass, using powdered glass to make very interesting visual effects and some works that have a raised 3D relief.

You can see more of Debbie Jansens beautiful work at Side Street Studio in Victoria, B.C. and at Debbies web site.