Find quality hand made switchplates here

You want something more from your switchplates? Choose these hand made switchplates for an attractive alternative. Aren't we all charmed a little by the care with which something hand made is crafted. We feel something warm about someone's hands having created something...maybe long ago. It's not the same feeling we get from a mass-produced item. Enjoy looking through these switchplates caringly created by artisans across our country.

Flea Market Brainstorming

When you're looking for hand made switchplates, but don't quite know exactly what, take a look at eBay. It's the world's flea market and a great place to get ideas about what's available. You could even find something you love!

Where to Buy

If you are like me, you appreciate something different; something that didn't come off a mass-production assemply line. Hand made switchplates fit this "something different" characterization. You can first visit someone who is from my state, North Carolina, and has an interesting website name: Good Night Irene!. Irene Semanchuk started working with polymer clays in the early 1990's. She is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and a founding member of the Blue Ridge Polymer Clay Guild for which she at one time served as president. You will find seven themes in her switchplate collection: fern leaves, spirals, deco texture, hieroglyphics, fossils, horizontal patterns and her most fun glow in the dark! Take a peek.

From North Carolina, you can click through to a transplanted New Yorker's unique switchplates at Flopping Fish. Look through her four collections: Signature (of etched copper), Loft, Chroma and - yes we're in Seattle - Latte! She describes the Latte Collection as "not so vanilla, but not too out there." There you go. That might be just your cup of tea.On the other hand, if you "love making a statement," peruse the Chroma Collection. For those of you into "whimsical patterns and charming decorative touches," the Loft Collection may be for you. Her Signature collection will suite any stule, modern or old.

"...Three miles back a dirt road, through the forest across the creek and over the farm fields, in rural West Virginia, is the home of Switchplate Gallery. Family members, neighbors and friends work together in our little cottage industry to bring you our charming collection of switchplates..." With a description like that on their website, could you not visit them? Whatever your decorating theme, you are sure to find something you like in their large collection. Try and find a plain ol' swithplate here and you won't be able to. What you will find is a lot of Americana in their hand made switchplates.

A ferry boat ride from the Flopping Fish and a little driving will find you at Dimensional Colors in Sequim, Washington across Puget Sound from Victoria, British Columbia. Artist Barbara Gersenson uses powdered glass fired under precise conditions to create her unusual and beautiful line of hand made switchplates. You choose from what she has available now or request her to create something for you. You will receive pictures of her intended creation for approval.

Jason the Metal Peddler's goal is "to revive the master crafts of past days, and offer original pieces of quality craftsmanship and materials." He does that, among other items, by crafting solid, beautiful, hammered copper switchplates. Whereas copper-plated ones would wear down to the underlying metal, Jason's hammered copper versions - which also have a protective lacquer - will keep their "warm patina." Even with the fluctuating cost of copper, he refuses to compromise on quality. You can't argue with that, can you?

How to Search for Hand Made Switchplates

Tried some search engines already? Check out these searches by clicking on them:

Google : Yahoo : MSN : Visimo : IxQuick : DogPile

Open Directory : Yahoo Directory : eBay

Choices, Choices, Choices

I love options, and you may too, but sometimes too many can get a bit out of hand. Maybe you narrowed your hand made switchplates choices to a reasonable number. Want help making the final choice? Try Choose It.