Home > Uniquely Unspoilt Magazine > Issue 9 > crafts

~~Buying crafts around Scotland~~

Scotland's wide range of home grown crafts can be found in even the smallest of villages, with many shops also offering the chance to see the artists at work behind the scenes before you buy.

Many skills go back hundreds of years and combine local materials and folklore to produce something with far more character than the more readily available mass produced souvenirs.

Here is a selection of craft shops worth a visit:

1.  If you fancy something relaxing after the festive season, a visit to Glenelg Candles near Shiel Bridge in Ross-Shire could do the trick.  Inside the curved, grass roofed building set in a Georgian walled garden, the craft shop sells unique, hand made candles, including aromatherapy and Highland Landscape versions.

2. For a slightly more unusual souvenir, Dandelion Designs in Skye specialises in pyrography, a technique of engraving an image onto wood with a hot wire.

The shop has everything from clocks to wall plaques on show, mainly produced on site and by local Skye artists, inspired by Celtic Art, Art Nouveau, and the local environment, heritage and landscape.  Every single piece is a one off - both because of the grain of the wood and the artwork - and is etched onto sycamore.

Literally meaning to draw or write with fire, pyrography is a slow, steady process going back thousands of years and examples can even be seen in prehistoric cave paintings.

3.  The Johnnie Armstrong Gallery in Teviothead, near Hawick in the Borders, feels more like a museum than a shop, as the jewellery on sale is exhibited alongside original historic artefacts such as arms and armour from the times of the Border Reivers.

Everything on sale is made from gold or silver, and is researched, designed, made and sold directly from the premises, as well as being historically based in Scottish, Celtic and Viking styles.

4.  For a really unusual setting, The Black Sheep and Handloom Weavers shop in Tarbet by Loch Lomond sells crafts of all kinds under open beams and with a backdrop of the original Tarbet church's stained-glass rose window.

Hornwork, glass sculpture, woodturning, knitwear and much more is available to buy from March to December, when the shop is open, although several items are available year round from their website.

5. Over on the East coast, Crail Pottery in Crail, a historic harbour town in Fife, is based in a beautiful Mediterranean yard filled with flowers, pots, and fruit trees. You can see the workshops in action, and
admire/try not to break the results in the shop which sells everything from cooking pots to garden pots in a whole host of colours, and all made on site.

6.  For another chance to see craft making in action, the Caithness Glass Visitor Centre , on the coast in Wick shows glassblowers busy at work.  Admission is free, there is a shop and restaurant.  The centre is also a four star Visit Scotland tourist attraction.

7.  Lastly, for something less easy to break (and where you could even make a potential investment), Growlies of Scotland, based in Johnstone in Renfrewshire has hand chosen teddy bears both from Scotland and around the world on display, including prestigious Steiff grizzlies, some made from mohair and plush and even old bears looking for a home.

Cottages relevant to this article

The following holiday cottages are situated within easy reach of the locations mentioned above: