The Big Brooch Swap!

My blog is really close to 500 posts (wow!) and to celebrate I'd like to (finally!) officially announce the Flower Press handmade Brooch Swap!

The idea came to me about six months ago and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. I love brooches and I buy them all the time, but for some reason I've never made one. With this swap I'm hoping to inspire my own brooch making and yours too.

In my research I've realised that there are limitless ways you can make a brooch and the bigger problem will be choosing just one! You can make a brooch with patchwork, felt, acrylic, clay, broken pottery, embroidery, beading, wood, vintage jewellery, resin, perspex, fimo, buttons, metal, leather, glass, lace, doilies, crochet, knit, game pieces and ephemera, card or paper, veneer and more.

handmade brooches I bought last year made by left Kristen Doran, right Erin Lykos.

Swaps can be lots of fun and give you a sense of community, they can bring inspiration, ongoing friendships and, in this case, you get a brooch too! I find they help fire creativity and its great to see what others come up with. This Swap is open to anyone anywhere (or if you only want to send locally leave a note in your sign up.)

I've set up a Flickr group for the swap to share inspiration, progress shots and finished brooches. I'll be sharing some photos of brooches from my collection and some inspiration mosaics. I'd love to see your favourites too, to share ideas and making. I've already found one great tutorial from Melissa of tinyhappy which explains how she makes her beautiful brooches, below.

In the last couple of weeks I've run the idea past a few lovely talented people to see what they thought. Luckily they were all excited about the idea and promised to join in. Thanks to lovely Kate for sharing her swap organising experience.

 

More of my brooch collection, a recent purchase from Anna Betts and a gift (the daisy brooch top left) from Melissa Wastney.

The Brooch Swap will run over two months starting from today. Sign ups will be open for a week from today until May 10th. Then you have seven weeks to make your brooch, until June 21st. I'm being generous with the timeline because the most important thing to me is that everyone follows through with their commitment. Please don't join if you aren't 100% sure you will come through with your part of the bargain. I know how those swap deadlines can suddenly appear at the worst time, and of course I'm happy to work around unavoidable delays.

To sign up leave a comment below with your blog or email and then email me directly with your name and address details (my email address link is up there on the left below the swap logo). I will send you your swap partner's details once nominations finish. Grab a Brooch Swap logo for your sidebar (on the left there) if you want and spread the word. Let the swap begin!!!