These beautiful cloth dolls are crafted by the hands of a folk artist lady in Kalocsa, Hungary. They are dressed in colorful Kalocsa folk costumes with hand embroidery on the dresses, ribbon in their hair, and a handkerchief in their hand. The doll is available in 3 colors (red, green and lilac), and a male version. Available now from Folkology: Handmade Kalocsa Folk Art Dolls

Matyo embroideries are not only the most ornate but probably the most widely known among the many unique regional folk art styles of Hungary. Their popularity lies in the colorful and densely decorated compositions on roses and other flowers adorning clothing and household items. I am excited to present two great books on this unique embroidery style, now available in the Folkology shop:

The Matyó Roses: This exquisitely photographed viewbook presents an overview of the colorful and varied decorative style preserved in the Matyo region, Mezőkövesd and its neighboring villages in Eastern Hungary. Numerous hand-embroidered textiles, folk costumes, traditional houses, and matyo festivities are pictured. A great gift for those interested in Hungarian embroidery.

Embroideries of Mezőkövesd Vol. 2: This book is a collection of freehand matyo embroidery patterns from original folk art embroidered clothing and bed linen items found in Hungarian museums. The presented designs are from the early period of matyo folk art, when only a few colors were used and the decorations were placed less densely on the fabric than in later periods. The traceable pattern sheets for embroideries on 28 different items are presented in color. (Out of print, used book, available in limited quantities.)

Unfortunately the Folkology site experienced some downtime due to a network failure last week, so I decided to extend the Summer Sale until the end of the month. Enjoy refreshingly discounted prices on the classic collection of Folkology cross stitch patterns and playing cards until August 31st, 2007.

I am excited to announce three new product collections now available from Folkology:

Vintage embroidery books

Folkology grew out of a hobby of mine, selling various Hungarian items on eBay for fun. After a while I started concentrating on Hungarian crafts and culture, and some products proved to be eternal favorites with my customers along the years: especially vintage books on Hungarian embroideries and other crafts.

And starting today, some of the best books ever published in Hungary on the subject are now available in the Folkology shop. These are used out-of-print books, thus available in very limited quantities, so if you see a book you fancy, grab it while it is still available. (And if you’ve always wanted to try your hand at learning Hungarian, we now have 2 beginner’s vocabulary books available, as well!)
Click here to see all Books, and look for the NEW! icon for the new arrivals

Handcarved wooden bowls

And that’s not all! Folkology is proud to offer a new handmade folk art product straight from the source: our handcarved wooden bowls and plates are made by a folk artist in Eastern Hungary according to traditional methods, out of aspen wood. These stylish bowls match any interior style, they are versatile, to be used at your dining table or as decorative accents around your home.
Click here to see the entire selection of wooden bowls

2008 Calendars now available

Time flies so fast, it’s already calendar season! Last year, our Hungarian craft and cultural calendars were hugely popular, but wait until you see this year’s designs. The Art Nouveau Budapest and the Budapest Anno are my personal favorites, but all of them are so good-looking you might just want one for each room in your house. And this year the calendars also come in new formats: in addition to the standard wall calendar size, there are smaller rectangular, and narrow strip sizes.
See all our 2008 Calendars here

Stay tuned for even more, coming up in September! Enjoy the last weeks of summer!

Our blue-dye fabric collection continues to be a great success, fabric has been flying out the door this spring. I am happy to announce that three new fabric prints are now available in addition to our staples, and all three are charming additions to any crafty projects:

But that’s not all, discover our new finished blue-dye products collection, which features charming bags. aprons and table linen made of our blue-dye artisan fabric. All the products featured in this collection are made by the family workshop that produces the fabrics, a guarantee for the quality craftsmanship.

Don’t forget to read up on the history of Hungarian blue-dyeing and the making of these unique batik fabrics in our article.

We have two new indigo blue products in the shop:

You can save 20% on our blue-dye fabric fat quarters by choosing the fabric bundle of 5 different fabrics. You receive 5 fabulous fat quarters for the price of 4, one each of the five beautiful designs available currently.

Also new in the shop: indigo-blue handpainted wooden eggs. Perfect easter decorations or gift items all year round. They are made by the same family workshop that produces our blue-dye fabrics. Each one is handmade and unique.

I am very excited to be able to offer a lovely easter egg painting kit, available now at the Folkology Shop. This kit is handmade by a folk artisan family in Budapest, Hungary and it offers a fun hands-on crafty experience in Hungarian traditions. (If embroidery is too ambitious for you, try this kit to get aquainted with the unique decorative heritage of Hungary.)

The kit includes a handmade wax pen that is used to draw motifs on the eggs with beeswax. The eggs are then immersed in dye, and the waxed areas remain undyed, just like with batik fabric. Read more about Hungarian easter egg decoration and see our Easter collection.

Photo: Hungarian Museum of Ethnography

The new Folkology shop is now open to everyone. Welcome and have fun browsing our new goodies!

If you have been to Folkology before, you will notice that we look different this time. Not only that, but there is a newly redesigned shop with a brand new collection of Hungarian crafts and culture.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the new Folkology, and invite you to look around our new site. The new shop is currently open only to those close friends of Folkology who received the early-access password from us in email. The curtains open for the rest of the world at midnight this Sunday. (If you’d like us to remind you when the new shop opens, click here to tell us and we will email you at midnight this Sunday when you can visit the shop.) Update 11/27: We are now open!

Until then, here is a sneak peak into what is waiting for you, in addition to our cross stitch pattern collection, when we open:

• Beautiful handmade blue-dye fabric in exquisite folk art patterns for sewing or patchwork / quilting
• Lovely trim with folk-art-inspired motifs to spice up your sewing projects
• Prints, postcards and wall calendars with intriguing designs of Hungarian folk art and ambience
• Unique Hungarian playing cards, including an award-winningly beautiful tarot deck
• Paper dolls to cut out and dress in Hungarian folk costumes

The new shop is easy to use and you can now pay by Paypal directly (as well as by bank transfer for our European customers).

Happy browsing and thanks for being among the first to visit the new site! Greetings from Budapest, Katalin