The complete collection story

Collection Philosophy

This collection celebrates the traditional crafts that have survived on Scotland’s islands because they produce objects of genuine quality and lasting value. A hand-turned wooden bowl requires decades of experience to create properly. Long stitch bookbinding takes patience and precision. Sand-casting metal from hand-carved originals demands both artistic and technical skill.

The makers work on Skye, Harris, Mull, Arran, and Bute – not in factories, but in workshops overlooking the sea, in converted sheds, in studios built specifically for their craft. They use materials with stories: reclaimed whisky barrel staves still carrying the scent of spirit, sea glass tumbled smooth by Atlantic waves, Hebridean Tweed handwoven in islanders’ homes.

These are the opposite of mass production. Each piece takes time, skill, and attention. Each one will last decades.

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Detailed Product Information

Eilean Donan Castle Ring – £210

Maker: Fine Celtic Jewellery, Isle of Skye
Materials: Heavy hallmarked sterling silver
Technique: Hand-carved original, cast in silver
Size: 12mm wide, sized to your order
Workshop Location: Under the Cuillins on Skye

The maker hand-carves the original depiction of Eilean Donan Castle, then creates a mould for casting in sterling silver. Each ring is made to order in your size. Made start to finish in the island workshop, then sent for hallmarking (the official stamp guaranteeing silver content and maker).

This isn’t a stock design mass-produced – it’s original artwork by the maker, cast in heavy sterling silver that will last decades.

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Blue Coral Bowl – £55

Maker: Harris Glass Studio, Isle of Harris
Materials: Fused glass in coral pattern
Dimensions: 25cm (10″) diameter
Workshop View: Studio overlooks the bays of Harris

Each bowl is individually made from strips of glass arranged by hand in a coral design. The strips are fused together in the kiln at precise temperatures, resulting in a glossy finish. The flat fused piece is then placed over a mould and returned to the kiln at a lower temperature where it “sags” into the bowl shape.

When the sun shines through, the bowl casts beautiful coloured shadows across surfaces. You can request alternative colour combinations – the maker can create custom shades.

The maker started in a tiny kitchen kiln, fell in love with the process, and eventually moved to Harris where the studio window looks out over the island landscape.

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Whisky Hearts (Set of 2) – £20

Maker: Honest Coffins, Isle of Arran
Materials: Oak barrel staves from Lagg Distillery
Surface: Hand-sanded, original patina partially retained
Hidden Detail: Charring underneath from barrel’s spirit-holding days

These tea light holders are made from oak staves that previously held whisky at Arran’s Lagg Distillery. The maker hand-sands each piece but keeps some of the original patina. Turn them over and you’ll see the charring that gave whisky its colour.

If you breathe in really hard, you might still catch a faint whisky aroma.

The maker also works with timber grown on Arran and milled locally, and uses virtually all recycled packaging. He’s just started learning Gaelic.

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Hebridean Tweed Long Stitch Journal – £39

Maker: SollasBooks, Outer Hebrides
Cover: Sea glass green Hebridean Tweed from Adabrock Weaving Company
Binding: Traditional long stitch with exposed decorative sewing
Paper: 160gsm acid free, deckled edges with texture
Pages: 112 pages
Dimensions: 11.5cm x 16cm x 2.5cm

This journal combines two island crafts: handwoven Hebridean Tweed and traditional bookbinding.

The cover uses actual Hebridean Tweed in sea glass green – fabric handwoven by islanders in their homes in the Outer Hebrides. The binding is long stitch, a traditional technique where the thread sewing the pages together is visible and decorative on the spine.

The paper inside has deckled edges and a lovely surface texture that makes it a joy to write or draw on. The wrap-around blue leather band fastens with a bone clasp.

This is a small artisan bookbinding studio in the Outer Hebrides creating journals meant to become companions for writing, drawing, or note-taking over years.

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Marble Pendant – £38

Maker: Gneiss Things, Isle of Harris
Materials: Sustainably sourced stone from Isle of Harris and Isle of Lewis
Size: 5cm x 2.6cm
Cord: Adjustable

Each pendant is hand-carved from stone sourced from Harris and Lewis. The natural variations in the marble mean every piece is truly one-off – no two pendants will have the same pattern or colour variations in the stone.

The stone is sustainably sourced from the islands, hand-carved, and comes ready to wear with an adjustable cord. At 5cm x 2.6cm, it’s a statement piece that showcases the natural beauty of Hebridean stone.

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Hand Crafted Yew Wood Pen – £45

Maker: Hebridean Pens (Andy), Isle of Mull
Materials: Yew wood, hand-turned on lathe
Workshop Location: Craignure, Mull
Experience: 15 years turning pens
Mechanism: Rollerball taking standard refills

Andy has been making pens in his workshop in Craignure for 15 years. Each one is hand-turned on a lathe from Yew wood. The natural colour variations in the wood mean each pen is unique.

This is a functional pen for daily writing, not a display piece. It takes standard rollerball refills. Comes complete with presentation sleeve, bag or box.

Andy says these make “a perfect gift for someone who has everything or a special souvenir of your time enjoyed in these magical islands.”

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Hand Turned Fruit/Salad Bowl in Scottish Ash – £135

Maker: Tim Saul, Isle of Bute
Materials: Scottish Ash
Experience: Learned wood turning in 1960s, returned after 50-year hiatus
Philosophy: “The wood always dictates the final form”

Tim learned wood turning in the 1960s on the Isle of Wight where his father and uncle ran a workshop making pottery and turned items. After a 50-year break, he returned to the lathe during Covid lockdown and now works on the Isle of Bute.

Each bowl is hand-turned from Scottish Ash. The grain pattern is unique to each piece of wood. This is a functional bowl for fruit or salad – designed to be used daily and to last decades.

Tim’s woodwork teacher at grammar school called it “wood spoiling” and constantly repeated “measure twice, cut once” – advice that stuck for half a century. The inspiration of seeing the finished item emerge from a mystery blank of wood keeps him striving for greater standards of workmanship.

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Green Sea Glass Trinket Bowl – £48

Maker: Skye And Shore, Isle of Skye
Materials: Various shades of green sea glass from beaches
Technique: Tiffany copper foil method
Dimensions: Approximately 4.5″ diameter, 3″ height

This bowl is made from sea glass fragments collected from Skye beaches. Each piece is wrapped in thin copper foil, then the wrapped pieces are arranged together like a complex jigsaw puzzle. Solder is applied along all the joints to bond them together.

This is the Tiffany copper foil method – the traditional technique Louis Comfort Tiffany developed for his famous lamps. It’s painstaking work requiring hours of careful assembly.

The finished piece is polished and sealed with carnauba wax. Because each uses different sea glass fragments collected from beaches, no two bowls can ever be identical.

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Why this Collection Matters

Traditional Techniques That Take Years to Master

Wood Turning: Tim learned in the 1960s. Andy has 15 years experience. This isn’t something you pick up in a weekend workshop. Understanding how different woods behave, how sharp tools need to be, how much pressure to apply – these skills build over years.

Stone Carving: Hand-carving pendants from Harris and Lewis marble requires understanding the stone’s structure, grain, and how it will break or split. Each piece of stone behaves differently based on its natural composition.

Metal Casting: Hand-carving the original, creating moulds, casting in silver, finishing and sizing – each step requires skill and experience developed over time.

Glass Fusion: Knowing how different glass behaves in the kiln, arranging patterns that work when fused, controlling the sagging process to create bowl shapes – all learned through trial, error, and practice.

Bookbinding: Long stitch binding with exposed sewing that’s decorative as well as functional requires precision and patience. The stitches must be even, the tension consistent.

Copper Foil Method: The Tiffany technique for stained glass work – wrapping each piece, soldering joints, creating three-dimensional forms that hold their shape and strength.

These aren’t crafts you master from YouTube tutorials. They’re skills built over years, often passed down from previous generations or learned through formal apprenticeships.

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Visible Craftsmanship

You can see how each piece was made:

• The turning marks on wooden items
• The exposed long stitch binding on the journal spine
• The hand-carved detail on the silver ring
• The individual glass pieces in the fused bowl
• The jigsaw of sea glass fragments in the trinket bowl
• The barrel stave grain and remaining patina on the whisky hearts
• The natural stone patterns and carving marks on the marble pendant

This visibility is intentional. These makers aren’t hiding their methods – they’re celebrating them. The evidence of hand work is part of the aesthetic, not something to be erased in pursuit of machine-like perfection.

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Materials With Stories

Reclaimed Whisky Barrels: Oak staves that held spirit at Lagg Distillery on Arran, now given second life as tea light holders. They may still carry whisky’s scent. The charring underneath tells the story of their previous purpose.

Collected Sea Glass: Fragments tumbled smooth by Atlantic waves, collected from Skye beaches, transformed into decorative bowls using traditional stained glass methods. Each piece spent years in the sea before becoming art.

Hebridean Tweed: Handwoven by islanders in their homes in the Outer Hebrides. Protected by Act of Parliament – by law it must be handwoven by islanders at their homes, made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the islands.

Scottish Wood: Ash and Yew grown in Scotland, turned on island lathes by makers who understand how different woods behave. “The wood always dictates the final form.”

Sterling Silver: Heavy hallmarked silver, hand-carved and cast on Skye under the Cuillins. Properly hallmarked with official stamps guaranteeing silver content and maker.

Hebridean Marble: Stone sustainably sourced from Harris and Lewis, hand-carved into pendants. Each piece shows unique natural patterns formed over millions of years in the islands’ ancient geology.

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Supporting Island Livelihoods

Each maker in this collection is trying to sustain a viable business on a Scottish island – competing with mass production while paying island costs for materials, heating, and shipping.

When you buy from this collection:

• You help sustain craft workshops in remote communities
• You support the viability of traditional skills
• You contribute to island economies where every business matters

Island populations face significant challenges – young people leave for education or work, services close, ferry-dependent economies struggle. Viable craft businesses help people stay in or return to these communities, supporting local school rolls, using local services, volunteering, and maintaining social fabric.

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Meet the Makers

Fine Celtic Jewellery, Skye

Works under the Cuillins creating hallmarked sterling silver and gold jewellery from start to finish. Hand-carves original designs including this depiction of Eilean Donan Castle near the workshop, then casts them in precious metals.

Gneiss Things, Harris

Hand-carves pendants and jewellery from stone sustainably sourced from the Isle of Harris and Isle of Lewis. Each piece showcases the natural patterns and colours in Hebridean marble, creating one-off wearable pieces that celebrate the islands’ geology.

Harris Glass Studio, Harris

Started as a hobby with a tiny kitchen kiln bought as a Christmas present. Fell in love with the process of designing and making glass, experimenting with different ideas. After visiting Harris many times, took the plunge and bought a house there. Studio is in Cluer, a small village in the bays of Harris. “I count my blessings that the picture is the view from my studio window!”

Likes to experiment with new designs and techniques, loves the excitement of opening the kiln each morning to see what transformation has taken place. When not in the workshop, can be found running with dog Scout or coaching gymnastics.

Honest Coffins, Arran

Makes various items in wood – currently most signs and decorative pieces use oak from Arran whisky barrels. Also works with timber grown on Arran and milled by a friend who lives just up the road. Products vary slightly according to the piece of wood used.

Just started learning Gaelic – happy to consider suggestions for new products, especially with Scottish and Gaelic sayings (please provide translation). Uses virtually all recycled packaging.

SollasBooks, Outer Hebrides

Small artisan bookbinding studio in the Outer Hebrides creating journals and books using traditional binding techniques combined with Hebridean Tweed from Adabrock Weaving Company.

Hebridean Pens, Mull

Andy has been making hand-turned pens in his workshop in Craignure for 15 years. Inspired by the stunning nature and landscapes of the Hebrides and his love of crafting wood. Each pen is unique, elegant, fun and memory-provoking – a perfect gift for someone who has everything, to celebrate an important occasion, or as a special souvenir of time enjoyed in these magical islands.

Tim Saul, Bute

Started wood turning in the 1960s whilst at school on the Isle of Wight. His father and uncle were creative craftsmen with a large workshop making pottery and turned items for sale in their retail shop. Pottery, ceramics and handcrafted wooden items were constantly produced in winter months for sale to masses of holiday makers who descended each summer.

Now residing on the beautiful Isle of Bute, after a hiatus of some 50 years, encouraged by Covid lockdown, has returned to wood turning. His woodwork master’s constant rhetoric of “measure twice, cut once” has remained in memory for half a century. The inspiration of seeing the finished item emerging from a mystery blank of wood constantly encourages striving for greater standards of workmanship.

Skye And Shore, Skye

Collects sea glass from Skye beaches and creates bowls and decorative pieces using the traditional Tiffany copper foil method. Each piece carefully assembled like a complex jigsaw puzzle before soldering, creating unique items where no two can ever be identical.

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Techniques Explained

Wood Turning

The maker mounts a block of wood on a lathe that spins at high speed. Using various chisels and gouges held steady against a tool rest, they shape the spinning wood – removing material, creating curves, achieving the wall thickness and form they want.

The process requires understanding how different woods behave, how sharp your tools are, how fast to spin the wood, how much pressure to apply. Get it wrong and the piece flies off the lathe or splits. Get it right and a rough block becomes a smooth bowl or elegant pen.

Tim’s woodwork teacher called it “wood spoiling” because beginners ruin a lot of wood learning. After 60+ years, Tim knows what the wood wants to become.

Metal Casting

The maker hand-carves the original design – in this case, Eilean Donan Castle. This carved original is used to create a mould. Molten silver is poured into the mould. After cooling, the piece is removed, cleaned up, sized, and finished. Finally, it’s sent for hallmarking (the official stamp that guarantees silver content and maker).

Every step requires skill and proper equipment. The workshop must have casting facilities, proper ventilation, tools for finishing, and knowledge of how silver behaves when molten and when cooling.

Glass Fusing

The maker cuts strips of glass and arranges them in a pattern – in this case, a coral design. The arranged glass goes into a kiln programmed to heat to the exact temperature where glass softens and fuses together (but doesn’t melt into a puddle). The kiln must heat and cool at controlled rates to prevent cracking.

For the bowl shape, the fused flat piece is placed over a mould and returned to the kiln at a lower temperature where it “slumps” or “sags” into the mould’s shape. The finished piece has a glossy surface from the fusing process.

Long Stitch Bookbinding

The pages are folded into sections (signatures). The maker sews these sections together using thread that goes through holes punched along the spine. Unlike hidden stitching in most modern books, long stitch binding leaves the thread visible and decorative on the spine.

The Hebridean Tweed cover wraps around the sewn pages. The leather band and bone clasp are added. The result is a book that opens flat (useful for writing) and displays the binding technique as part of its aesthetic.

Tiffany Copper Foil Method

Named after Louis Comfort Tiffany who developed this technique for creating his famous lamps. Each piece of glass (in this case, sea glass fragments) is wrapped with thin copper foil. The wrapped pieces are arranged together. Solder is applied along all the joints, melting to bond the copper-wrapped pieces together.

For three-dimensional forms like bowls, the maker must understand how to create a structure that holds its shape while being strong enough to maintain integrity. The finished piece is polished and sealed.

This is painstaking work. A single bowl might contain dozens of individual sea glass pieces, each wrapped in copper foil, all soldered together joint by joint.

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PRICE RANGE & VALUE

Collection Price Range: £15 – £110

Understanding the Value

The £20 whisky hearts versus £5 tea light holders from a high street shop:

• Made from actual Arran distillery oak barrels (reclaimed material with story)
• Hand-sanded by island maker
• Retains original patina and barrel charring
• May still carry whisky scent
• Supporting island craftsperson, not factory production

The £135 ash bowl versus £20 factory bowl:

• Hand-turned by maker with 60+ years experience
• Scottish ash with unique grain pattern
• Will last decades with proper care
• Each piece shaped individually on lathe
• Grain pattern and final form dictated by the wood itself

The £210 silver ring versus £50 mass-produced ring:

• Heavy sterling silver (not plated)
• Hand-carved original design
• Hallmarked (official guarantee of silver content)
• Made to your size on Skye
• Original artwork by maker, not stock design

The true cost per year of ownership often favours the handmade item that lasts decades over the cheap item that breaks or wears out quickly.

Quality items that last are more sustainable economically and environmentally than cheap replacements.

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Sustainability and Impact

Environmental Benefits

Traditional, Low-Energy Production:

• Wood turning uses pedal-powered or basic electric lathes
• Bookbinding requires no powered equipment beyond basic tools
• Glass kilns are heated only when needed for specific firing schedules
• Metal casting uses less energy than factory production
• No production lines running constantly

Reclaimed and Natural Materials:

• Whisky barrel staves given second life
• Sea glass collected from beaches (cleaning up debris)
• Scottish wood, locally sourced
• Hebridean Tweed handwoven in islands (minimal transport)

Durable Goods That Last Decades:

• Hand-turned wooden bowls improve with age and use
• Sterling silver doesn’t degrade – can be cleaned indefinitely
• Properly bound books last centuries
• Glass pieces don’t fade or deteriorate
• Well-made functional objects become heirlooms

Minimal Packaging:

• Makers use simple, often recycled packaging
• No excessive marketing materials
• Products shipped directly from maker or warehouse

Shorter Supply Chains:

• Made in Scotland, sold in Scotland (or shipped direct)
• No factory in Asia, warehouse in Europe, shop in UK chain
• Fewer transportation steps = lower carbon footprint

Social Sustainability

Fair Payment to Makers:
The commission-based marketplace model means the majority of each sale goes to the craftsperson who made the item, not absorbed by multiple middlemen.

Supporting Rural Communities:
Island populations face challenges – services close, young people leave, ferry-dependent economies struggle. Viable craft businesses help people stay in or return to these communities.

Preserving Traditional Skills:
When makers can earn a living from their craft, they can teach apprentices or share skills with younger generations. Without market demand, traditional techniques die out.

Contributing to Island Economies:
Every business matters in small island communities. Craftspeople who can sustain their work contribute to school rolls, use local services, volunteer, and help maintain social fabric.

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What Does “Artisan” really mean?

The word “artisan” gets misused in marketing – stuck on factory products or items with minimal handwork to justify higher prices.

In this collection, artisan means:

• Traditional techniques requiring years to master
• Visible evidence of the maker’s hand
• Small-batch or one-off production
• Materials chosen for quality and story
• Objects made to last decades
• Makers who can explain every step of their process

These aren’t products designed by one person, manufactured by another, branded by a third. These are objects conceived and created by the same hands, in island workshops, using skills built over years or decades.