Tag: shopping

My little Islay Cottage (courtesy of Islay Celtic Craft)

Islay Businesses

Back in June I bought my first Islay cottage. Not one I can stay in, my budget doesn’t stretch that far, only a tiny one I can enjoy looking at standing on my Islay shelf. It comes courtesy of Gordon and Mairi Want’s Islay Celtic Craft Shop. This is how it looks:

Picture of a small model of a decorative cottage with a rowing boat outside
Islay Cottage from Celtic Craft (1)

It’s a small cottage at the shore, a rowing boat tied up on a pole just outside. A chimney for the fire of course. You won’t be able to buy this specific one, as each of the cottages they sell is handmade and unique. You can find more of them on their Facebook page (link above) or even better by visiting their shop just outside of Portnahaven on the back road past Kilchiaran to Port Charlotte.

Picture of a small model of a decorative cottage with a rowing boat outside
Islay Cottage from Celtic Craft (2)

When you visit the shop you’ll find all kinds of great local art and Islay things. If you’re lucky you also get to meet a very friendly cat (unfortunately can’t remember its name). Not to forget, Gordon was very helpful and found the perfect box to get my cottage home safely.

Oh, and the cottage wasn’t the only thing I bought. But that’s for another post…

Nice Islay light (courtesy of Islay Prints)

Islay Businesses

This is a long overdue post, but better late than never. I think I first saw them back in November 2023 at a Christmas fair in Bruichladdich Hall. Bonnie of Islay Prints had some lamp shades with Islay nature related prints on her stand. We had a chat about them and I learned that they come in different sizes and various prints and colours are available. I thought they would look great on two lamps I had, especially as I wasn’t too fond of the original shades.

Picture of a Wet Meadow lampshade in ochre from Islay Prints
Wet Meadow lampshade in ochre from Islay Prints

We agreed that I would measure the sizes I needed when I got home and then order the ones I wanted. For various reasons I didn’t manage to do that for a few months, but just before my visit in April 2024 I finally got my act together and finally placed my order. I decided to go for the Wet Meadow motif in ochre for both, as I wanted some mild warm light from the lamps.

Bonnie was extremely helpful and managed to make the shades while I was on Islay, so that I could pick them up from her workshop and save on the postage. They were safely packed in a cardboard box and travelled home on my passenger seat. Once I arrived home I quickly exchanged the old shades for them, very simple and easy to do.

I’m very pleased with them, they are exactly like I was expecting them. Only thing to point out for this particular version I think they need a bulb with a warm tone. I had a more white bulb in one lamp first and a warmer more yellow in the other. It made a significant difference and I soon changed the white bulb to a warmer yellow as well. One is standing next to me as I’m writing this, providing some background light at my desk. The other one is on my dining table.

If you’re interested, check out the Handmade Lampshades section on Bonnie’s website. While you’re there also check out the Handprinted Greeting Cards (I’ve got a few of those as well), Linoprints and Homewares (I’m considering some of them as one of my next purchases)

Islay Business (1): Spirited Soaps

Islay Businesses

As mentioned in my post about supporting Islay businesses during and after the Coronavirus pandemic I’m planning to write about various Islay (and Jura) based businesses over the coming weeks and months. I’m hoping that they will be able to continue working in some way provided it is safe and sensible (and permitted) to do so and in some cases still fulfil online orders. If they can’t I’m hoping we can help them to rebuild once life starts to return to normal. With that let’s get started, admittedly with a rather obvious choice considering how often we’ve been asked to wash our hands:

The company in question is of course Spirited Soaps founded by Ailsa Hayes over a decade ago. As the name implies the main product is …. soap. Soap with an Islay touch.

Screenshot of the Spirited Soaps website
Islay Business (1): Spirited Soaps

Spirited Soaps is working with the various Islay distilleries, offering a variety of solid and liquid soaps. There’s also a very nice lip balm, which I use after my Islay visits (I think the combination of sunshine and wind makes my lips dry out). Take a look and hopefully you’ll find something you like.

Supporting Islay (and other islands) businesses

Islay Businesses

When wrote that I wasn’t going to be able to visit Islay for the foreseeable future because of the Coronavirus pandemic I mentioned that I was I aware this was going to hit many local businesses, but that I didn’t have a solution to help them. I also believe (and fear) that we’re going to have to live with the various restrictions related to “social distancing” (I know, horrible term, I hope we can find something better) for quite some time. Just today Calmac announced that they wouldn’t accept any new advance bookings until 15/Jul. From everything I’ve read and seen so far I wouldn’t be surprised if certainly the first phase will last 4-6 months and there will be impacts for at least 12-18 months, depending on how quick a vaccine can be delivered. I know nobody wants to hear that, but I believe (and fear) that’s realistic. So what can we do to help local businesses? I still don’t have a solution (and probably never will), but at least there are some first shoots and ideas:

While the main hit will of course be on direct tourism businesses like accommodation providers, tour guides and transport businesses (and I freely admit I don’t have clue how to help them) there will be a secondary impact on a lot of smaller makers. Small businesses with one or only a handful of employees, producing a variety of goods, often related to local materials and traditions. They often heavily rely on tourists buying their products, be it in their own premises, be it at tourism attractions. With hardly any or even no tourists coming at the moment they lose a large chunk or even all of their income. At least some of them also sell online (or will soon) and at least as long as they can still ship their orders this is where Rhoda’s idea comes in:

Rhoda (who among other things runs Tiree Tea) has set up isle2o – Support the Scottish islands during Covid-19 by shopping from the comfort of your sofa! It’s a directory of island based businesses which sell online, so you can order from home to support them. As of writing this there are five Islay based businesses and one Jura based business listed, but I’m sure there will soon be plenty more. So why not take a look at the listings and if you find something you fancy place an order?

You might have noticed that for this post I’ve created a new category, “Islay Businesses”. There’s of course a reason for that. I’m going to try to promote a number of Islay (and Jura and Colonsay) businesses here over the coming weeks, in particular those who also sell online in some shape or form. It might help, it might not, but I’m certainly going to try. In the current situation I think we’ve got to just try everything possible.