all snowed in...

We're all snowed in here in Perth today. The schools are all closed, as are many shops & businesses, and there's not much movement out on the streets as the snow continues to fall.
And with no end in site for the big chill, what else is there to do but show-off some of the cosy wearable woollies we have in the shop at the moment from the likes of Donna Wilson, Erin McIntyre, Yungi, Catherine Tough, & Hilary grant! All the details of which can be found here.

We also have a range of very beautiful handwoven lambswool, cashmere & silk scarves by Shetland weaver Emma Blain (aka Aamos designs) which would make very special gifts indeed (£40/£45), and other lovely designs from Donna Wilson (tree cloud, rainbow, & pinstripe scarves, and tip-top hats).

Big thanks to the few brave souls who managed to make it to the shop today - with a special mention to the Ayrshire ladies (complete with walking poles) up here on holiday and hoping to make it home tomorrow. Let's hope you make it!

lightnight... and a late opening on friday

Tomorrow night (Friday 26th) is the kick-off of lightnight (em...weekend) here in Perth. Which in turn is part of the year long Perth 800 celebrations marking the 800th anniversary of the granting of the Royal Burgh Charter to Perth. To celebrate this there are lots of light type events happening across the toon - 'not only will key landmarks be illuminated, you will find dance, music, installations, exhibitions, storytelling, dramatised walks, talks, treasure hunts and much, much more' as it says in the blurb.

Here at boo vake we will be joining in by staying open to the grand old time of 8 o'clock. It will be cold out there so if you feel like joining us for respite and a wee winter warmer you know where to find us!

rob ryan

A small departure for us here at boo vake (as we don't usually take on licensed products, preferring to go straight to the maker/designer) but we couldn't resist the new goodies papercut artist Rob Ryan has designed for Wild & Wolf (I know, shame on us!). So for a limited time only we have a selection of these wares, the star of which I think will be the boxed set of 4 'four seasons' plates. Also we have mugs (above), notebooks, purses, wash/cosmetic bags, and some rather large bunting (which is virtually the length of the shop), all with Rob's very recognisable designs on. Pictures of more to appear soon.

boxed set of 4 'four seasons' 9" plates £25, boxed mugs £9, notebooks £8, wash bag £23, cosmetic bag £18, purse £10, printed cotton bunting (in bag) £25.

in the kitchen....

And staying in the theme....

These are some of the other things we have in store for kitchen dwellers. Details of which can be found here.

stuart gardiner

Introducing the 'glove & hate' single oven mitt by Stuart Gardiner - now in boo vake! Complete with hairy wrists and chunky gold chain, with 'love' on one side and 'hate' on other. Perfect!

And another one for foodies - Stuart's 'seasonal guide to British fruit & vegetables' tea-towel (which is kind of self explanatory). A guide to when we should be eating what, and a perfect gift for the budding cook or gardener.
'glove & hate' single oven mitt £14, 'seasonal guide...' tea-towel £9.50

open house

Friend of boo vake photographic artist Jenni Gudgeon is having an open studio event this weekend. You can find Jenni over in Dunshalt (near Auchtermuchty) in Fife.

And if you don't manage to make it remember you can buy a selection of Jenni's new photographic Christmas cards right here in boo vake.

day one....

As from today boo vake will be open EVERY day until Christmas! Including Sundays (12-4) and Mondays (11-5), and we may even throw in the odd evening. If you're on the mailing list then we will be in touch, if not keep an eye on the blog or website for details.

Above - some of the jewellery & accessories we have in the shop at the moment. Details of which are here.

his & hers

We've gone all ancient Greek with these new pillow-cases from Lush Designs featuring fabulous he and she centaurs. They come in a pair and would be the perfect present for a stylish couple.
pair of centaur pillow-cases £29

made by lori

New bird brooches in by London-based accessory designers Lori. The teardrop brooches are made from sustainable walnut and obeche wood, and come in a little customised cotton drawstring bag. Very lovely indeed.

teardrop bird brooch £20

been here long?

The most commonly asked question heard in the shop has got to be 'have you been here long?' To which the reply is 'hmmmn.... just a wee while'. For those not in the know we have infact been selling our wares in Perth since 1993. For anybody interested in such things there is now a potted history of the 'boo vake' on the website under 'about us'. One day I'll dig out some pictures of way back just to prove it!

gift guide update

Finally the gift guides on the website have been updated! Not everything is on there but it should give an idea of what we have here at the moment. So many things have been coming in recently that it's been hard to keep up so will get back to posting more very soon.
See the gift guides here.

new lightshades

Some of the lightshades we have in the shop at the moment from the ladies of Lush Designs. Above and below is the new London shade in cream & black (£48).

Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in red (pendant) or a lovely yellow (lamp). The yellow one would be perfect for a standard lamp (£60) - infact it would be perfect for my standard lamp at home...mmmm.

Small fox & cubs shades in red (pendant) or pale grey & cream (lamp) -£30. We have this design on a bag as well.

Wild Boar shades - the 'big stumpy' in green (pendant) - £72, and small brown/black (lamp & pendant) - £28.

shop signs

Just finished the first two shop signs using Alison Hardcastle's designs. One more to do....
Alison now has a blog, which you can find here.

cycling in islay & jura

A few pics from our wee cycle/camping trip to Islay & Jura last week. Despite the much wetness, damp camping, brain freeze, and looking like a midden for 3 days, this is what made it all worthwhile.....

waiting for the ferry at Kennacraig

the 8th century Kildalton Cross

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Islay is all about the whisky so of course we had to visit some of Islay's eight whisky distilleries (and Jura's one).

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Debbie's cafe in Bruichladdich

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Finlaggan

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Port Askaig

looking over to Jura

The Paps of Jura coming into view

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ferry over to Jura

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the walled garden at Jura House

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Had a really nice time, lovely scenery and met some lovely people (between the wetness). The final night we gave up on the camping and got a room in the Port Askaig Hotel.....

.....but just to show you it ain't all glamour this was our first night's camping. Tent put up in the dark in the Kennacraig ferry terminal carpark. Four tent pegs and tied to the car!

robin and mould

I try not to act on impulse (too much) when looking for new things for the shop but that all went out the window when I saw these screen-printed owls & cushions by Amy & Christian from Robin and Mould. And they certainly don't disappoint - beautifully made and even more lovely in real life!

Everything is hand screen-printed in their Wiltshire Studio using water based inks on a heavy linen/cotton mix. The owls come in either mustard yellow or teal (with teal or purple felt wings & feet) and are printed on both sides. The 'dream big little one' cushion comes in teal with a pure linen dark navy blue backing.

Come and see them for yourself!!

owl £20, dream big little one cushion (with pad) £24

mini mcghee

Had a great few days in Islay earlier this week (despite the damp camping and midges) but now back to a bit of catch-up.....

We now have some lovely woollen baby blankets by Mini McGhee here at boo vake. Mini McGhee is Glasgow School of Art graduate Nicola McGhee who, after a time in New York as a designer for Gap, has returned to her roots and is growing her range of contemporary baby blankets & nursery accessories. All are made in Scotland from supersoft pure new wool making them that bit special - and as such, Nicola is especially keen that they be handed down to future generations (and it says just that on the label!).
grass/grey baby blanket & pink/ruby baby blanket, £42

a little interlude (aka a day off)

The wee shop will be closed on Tuesday 21st next week. Back open as normal on Wednesday.

perthshire open studios

On Sunday we headed off to visit a few of the studios/workshops open for this year's Perthshire Open Studios. In the end we only managed a tiny bit of the orange and blue routes (as the area covered is so enormous) - which luckily included the workshops of woodturner extraordinaire Angus Clyne (no 84) and nearby sculptural ceramicist Shona Leith (no83), both of who do the most amazing work, and are lovely people to boot.

Beyond POS, for those wanting to benefit from their expertise, Shona holds regular ceramic classes at the Birnam Institute and Angus offers woodturning tuition in his workshop.

POS runs all this week and continues into next weekend (some are open in the evenings too). For more details check the website, or pop into the shop and pick up a brochure.
ps. Special mention also to boo vake favourite Ceri White (no75). Well worth a visit!

donna smith

These are some of the fabulous new brooches, purses and notebooks we have in from Shetland designer Donna Smith.

They are beautifully made in 100% wool felt with great attention to detail - what we've come to expect from Donna. Really lovely.

brooches £9, purses £20, notebooks from £14-£20 (with removable Windsor & Newton hardback notebook inside)

new shop designs!

Apparently life began for me on Monday (why do I still feel about twelve?!) - and to mark this coming of age I decided to ask much admired designer & printmaker Alison Hardcastle to come up with a design especially for boo vake. The brief was pretty loose (one colour, simple shape, orange or turquoise) and in the end I found it so difficult to choose just one of Alison's designs I went for two!! And here they are! Hope you like.

Over the next wee while one or other of these designs will be popping up on our signs, postcards, business cards and other shop paraphernalia. Thanks Alison!

the 'things i like' book

Resurrecting the old boo vake 'take a hint!! 'service we now have the 'things I like' book! Aimed at all those customers who are forever buying all their favourite boo vake things for everybody else but whose friends/family are frankly clueless when it comes to them.

And it works like this - you write down you favourite boo vake things in our wee book and we just carelessly leave it lying around the shop for anybody to see! Yep, that could be your partner, friends, family, workmates.... Who knows, it might just work!

And if you're a bit further afield but would like a page of your own you can always get in touch (mail [AT] boovake [DOT] co [DOT] uk) and we will fill it out for you!