Irish Hands

17/09/2026

Home is wherever I'm with you.

Today we celebrate - and there's only one word that truly captures it: home.

Donegal isn't just a place on a map. It's the landscapes that stop you mid-breath on the most ordinary morning. It's the rich history woven into every hillside. And most of all, it's the people - the artisans, the storytellers, the keepers of craft.

At Irish Hands, we're endlessly proud of this county's remarkable makers. These talented artisans aren't just creating world-class work from their studios and workshops right here at home. They're keeping our timeless traditions alive, stitch by stitch, carve by carve, brushstroke by brushstroke.

Every handmade piece tells a story of skill, passion, and deep love for this place we call home.

We're also excited to share that Irish Hands is continuing to develop bookable arts and craft experiences - hands-on workshops, studio tours, and creative sessions where you learn directly from the artisans themselves. Whether you're discovering Donegal for the first time, returning to a place you've fallen in love with, or a local with lifelong appreciation for the handmade - we want you to feel the soul behind every creation.

From Irish hands to yours. 🖐️

Explore the makers: www.irishhands.com

11/09/2026

11/09/2026

Meet Abdul: From Syria to Inishowen, Bees Have Been His Constant Companion

Abdul's journey to Ireland is one of courage, resilience, and an unbreakable connection to nature. Trained as a teacher in Aleppo, he fled Syria with his wife Malak to escape the conflict there.

But Abdul brought something precious with him: the knowledge passed down from his father and grandfather. Beekeeping.

When he arrived in Carndonagh (Inishowen), Abdul set up his first hive in his garden, crafted at the Carn Men's Shed. The bees became a bridge between his past and his present, a source of solace during the hardest times. Today, Abdul tends over a dozen hives surrounded by wildflowers and high grasses. He produces raw honey, beeswax candles, propolis, and so much more.

But Abdul's mission runs deeper than honey production. He's on a mission to educate. To protect bees at risk. To inspire the next generation - including his own three children born here in Ireland -about why these tiny creatures matter so much.

"Bees teach us that even the smallest creatures can defy the odds and make a significant impact," Abdul says.

Donagh Bees products are available at www.irishhands.com/store/donagh-bees (with a new pickup option).

From Irish hands to yours.

10/09/2026

Meet Adam Rory Porter, a photographer whose work captures something truly magical - the ethereal beauty of Inishowen in ways that make you question reality.

His photographs are so captivating, so alive, that they almost take your breath away. Watch the Northern Lights dance over Rockstown Pier in Dunaff. See the first light of spring entering Grianán of Aileach at sunrise on the Spring Equinox - a moment where ancient stone meets golden light. Feel the raw power of Atlantic waves crashing at Ineuran Bay in Malin Head, spray suspended in time.

Adam's work isn't just documentation. It's devotion. Every frame tells a story of a place we call home, seen through eyes that understand something deeper - the soul of these landscapes, the spirit that drew our ancestors here, the magic that still lives in every stone and shore.

To explore more of Adam Rory Porter's stunning photographs capturing the ethereal beauty of Inishowen, visit www.irishhands.com/store/adam-rory-porter

From Irish hands to yours.

26/08/2026

🖐️ So what actually keeps a heritage craft alive?

Not admiration. We have spent a week now with Ann, Charlie, Johnny, Brendan and Colette, and admiration on its own will not help to keep future generations of unique craftspeople at looms, anvils, spinning wheels or hooks.

Five things will. Here they are, and none of them are hard.

1. Support local makers. The next time you need a gift, choose something handmade instead of mass produced. For example, every purchase of a unique handmade product on www.irishhands.com directly sustains a local maker's livelihood and the tradition behind it.

2. Learn a traditional craft. Book a workshop. Put your own hands on the material. You can book hands-on experiences with real makers at www.irishhands.com

3. Promote craft education. Push for schools to bring heritage crafts into the curriculum, so the next generation actually meets these skills.

4. Visit museums and heritage centres. Places like Inishowen's Doagh Famine Village or Derry's St. Columba Heritage Centre keep these traditions in front of people.

5. Share stories. Record what your family knows. Write down how your granny did a stitch. Ask the questions while there is still someone to ask. Even a simple conversation is an act of preservation.

Remember, Johnny is one of the last traditional spinning wheel makers in the whole of Ireland. Colette learned from her mother, who learned from hers. Ann's family have woven for generations. These threads are genuinely thin in places.

The hands that weave, forge, spin and stitch across Inishowen and the North West of Ireland today are continuing a lineage stretching back thousands of years. Whether it continues past us is a choice we all make, in small ways, most weeks.

Thank you for spending the week with these inspirational makers!

From Irish hands to yours.

25/08/2026

🖐️ CRAFT FIVE OF FIVE: CROCHET

Everything on that table came off one hook.

The blue bag. The headband. The blankets behind her. All of it, one stitch after another, thousands of times over.

Meet Colette McCandless of Colette's Crochet, in Carndonagh.

Colette grew up watching her mother and her grandmother make practical, beautiful clothing and blankets. Her mother taught her to crochet. In her own words: "what was once a necessity for warmth and comfort" became "a joyful and therapeutic passion."

That is three generations of women in one family and one skill, still moving.

And there is a bigger story sitting behind her. Inishowen and Donegal had Lace Schools going back to the 1890s, set up to revive lace making, embroidery, weaving, knitting and crochet, and to help women earn an income for their families - with clients even including Buckingham Palace!

Then, as Colette puts it, machine made goods took over.

She is having none of it. Cosy throws, baby blankets, handbags, scarves, headbands. Ancient technique, modern designs, high-quality yarn, and a range that keeps evolving.

"Crochet is more than just a craft to me. It's a way to connect with my heritage."

Was there a crocheter in your family? Tell us about them below. ❤️

Explore Colette's unique creations at www.irishhands.com/store/colettes-crochet

24/08/2026

🖐️ CRAFT FOUR OF FIVE: BASKET MAKING

No glue. No nails. No screws. No pattern on paper.

A basket holds itself together by tension alone. Willow rods pushed and bent against each other until the whole structure locks. That is it. That is the entire technology.

This is Brendan Farren of Big Green Art, weaving willow in Inishowen.

Look at his face in that photograph. That is what total concentration looks like when the material in your hands is deciding what happens next. Willow is alive in the way it moves. Every rod has its own grain and its own limit, and you learn where that limit is by breaking a great many of them first.

Basket making was once in almost every house on this peninsula. Baskets carried the turf, the potatoes, the fish, the eggs. It was not a craft. It was just how you made the thing you needed. Which is precisely why it slipped away so quietly.

Brendan still knows. He does not just make baskets either, he makes art sculptures, taking the same ancient technique somewhere new.

That is the whole point of this week. These are not relics. They are living foundations for new creativity.

Explore unique handmade gifts & unforgettable craft experiences at www.irishhands.com

From Irish hands to yours.

23/08/2026

🖐️ CRAFT THREE OF FIVE: SPINNING WHEEL MAKING

Of everything we are showing you this week, this is the craft closest to the edge.

Johnny Shiels from Carndonagh is one of the last traditional spinning wheel makers in Ireland.

Read that again. Not one of the last in Inishowen. One of the last in the country.

It is a three generation family craft, rooted in Donegal's rural heritage, and Johnny holds the whole of it. He does not just make the wheels. He cards the wool by hand, spins it, dyes the yarn with things like red onion skins, then weaves it on the loom. Fleece to finished cloth, one man, one workshop.

Think about what a spinning wheel actually is. Dozens of turned wooden parts, every one shaped so the whole thing runs true and quiet for decades. It is furniture, engineering and tradition in the same object. There is no manual for it. The knowledge lives in the hands of people like Johnny, and nowhere else.

Which is exactly why we're working with Johnny to develop a hands on visitor experience at his Bridge Street workshop, where you will meet him, hear the Shiels family story, learn the history of spinning wheel making in Donegal, and try spinning wool yourself.

It is not bookable yet. It is coming. Keep an eye on www.irishhands.com

From Irish hands to yours.

22/08/2026

🖐️ CRAFT TWO OF FIVE: BLACKSMITHING

There are not many working forges left in Donegal. This is one of them.

Meet Charlie Gallagher. Artist, blacksmith, sword maker. His forge sits at the southernmost tip of ancient Inishowen, on the Wild Atlantic Way.

Look at the anvil in that first photograph. That bar of steel is glowing because it has to be. Blacksmithing is the craft on our list with the least room for error. Steel only stays workable for a few seconds at the right heat. Miss that window and it goes straight back in the fire. Charlie reads the colour of hot metal the way the rest of us read a clock.

And he is not only a smith. He makes swords. Blade forged and shaped at the anvil, then the hilt turned on the lathe, drilled, fitted and filed smooth by hand. Two entirely different crafts held in one pair of hands.

He also knows why it all works. How a traditional fire actually behaves. How quenching makes steel tough and resilient. The physics, the engineering and the chemistry sitting underneath an art that is thousands of years old.

Now the extraordinary bit. You can book it.

Three hours in a working forge. Two people maximum, so it is genuinely hands on. Charlie guides you through safely hammering hot steel, then you make one thing to take home: a simple Celtic brooch, a fireplace poker, decorative wall hanging hooks, or a simple pendant. There is a break for refreshments in the middle.

Wear something you do not mind getting dusty.

You do not watch craft happen. You take part.

Book Charlie's unique blacksmithing experience at www.irishhands.com/product/blacksmithing-experience

From Irish hands to yours.

21/08/2026

🖐️ CRAFT ONE OF FIVE: HANDWEAVING

Look closely at what is happening on that loom.

Every one of those threads was placed by hand. One pass of the shuttle at a time, hundreds of times over, until cloth exists that did not exist that morning.

This is Ann McGonigle of Glendowen Crafts.

For generations, Ann and so many craftspeople before her have practised traditional Irish weaving.

There is no shortcut in it. No setting you can turn up. A machine can copy a pattern in seconds. What it cannot copy is the choice Ann makes about which colour sits beside which, or the fact that she is still choosing to do it by hand in a world of machines.

And here is the best part. You don't have to just watch. Her introduction to Donegal tweed experience is live and bookable, in her own studio, with her. Beginner friendly. You watch her on the loom, and then you create your own piece of Donegal tweed to take home.

Book Ann's unique weaving experience at www.irishhands.com/product/traditional-irish-weaving

From Irish hands to yours.