(More) Bookmarks

By now, you may have guessed that bookmarks would be on my roster of holiday handmade gifts. I am lucky to have so many readers on my list, so just about everybody got a custom bookmark, and a book to put it in.

My mother and my sister each got a fleur-de-lys in all its tiny, hammered, oxidized glory. I expanded on my bookmark offerings, departing from the hearts and baubles I made so many of in the past two months. And now there are scores of ideas swirling in my head—a simple dangling charm is just so easy, almost any shape could be used for these. I am currently trying to narrow down my design choices for a few more bookmarks to round out the line. Any requests? Suggestions?

Five shillings for my father. My parents have traveled to Africa a few times now, so I used a coin from Kenya for his bookmark. A dangling object felt too feminine to me, so his is set in a bezel and attached directly to the silver hook. The coin I chose was beautifully time-worn, with some of the lettering nearly completely rubbed off. I like this idea of using a coin, and I was recently reminded of a Norwegian coin bookmark I had made for a friend a few years back. (I had forgotten about this completely. Scary!)

I am thinking of offering custom coin bookmarks in my shop. They'd be a nice way to remember a vacation, especially because it seems like coins are the one common souvenir everybody comes home with. (Then they end up in your coin jar, only to get rejected by the coin counting machine when it's time to cash your pennies in...)

Hope you new year is so far, so good!