cottage handcrafts

CONNEMARA MARBLE:

Connemara marble is a natural green rock. Its colour marking and veining are unique to the West of Ireland and reflect the beauty of the Connemara mountains. Geologists estimate that it is about 500 million years old. It ranges in shades from dark to light green and makes beautiful jewellery and souvenirs.

On the Aran Islands the hand knit sweater was worn by every fisherman. It is made of heavy oiled wool. It was warm and kept out the wind and the weather. Each family had its own traditional stitches. These designs are based on the patterns of nature, a diamond twist, a honey comb. This ancient tradition is still being preserved by our knitters today. Each of our handknits are personally signed by the knitter.

The first chapters in the story of turf were written tens of thousands of years ago when over long periods of time successive layers of plants and mosses withered and died in water-logged areas, building up by slow degrees the bogland that at one time covered one seventh of the surface of Ireland. Turf, or peat, as it is sometimes called, makes an excellent fuel, and for centuries has been cut and saved by the people of the bogland districts who use it in their homes or sell it in neighbouring towns.

THE FRIENDSHIP RING:
Two hands and a heart - " I give you my heart". Designed by "The Joyces' of Galway in 1692, it gets it's name from the Claddagh near Galway. A Galway girl's most prized heirloom is a Claddagh ring that has been handed down from mother to daughter for generations.