A four day weekend of bliss – it was the Christmas holiday we never had!! Australia Day dawned Thursday, and we did our patriotic duty by decorating Murray the International with flags, and washing down steak and egg for brunch with a XXXX.
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| Murray |
Despite continuing to drink beer, much was achieved! Friday (house cleaning day) I told the boss I wasn’t going to work, even though he had to work half the day doing a boiler acid clean. So I was able to host a visit from my sister Kiri and friend Lois, who were having a bit of a ladies day with all the kinder back at school, so I got chance to show my latest op-shop bargains and progress on my WoW piece. Between us we decided that the Shoes of Salvation would be a good choice to wear with the WoW outfit. (For explantion of this title, I suggest you visit The Interesting Thoughts of Edward Monkton).
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| The Shoes of Salvation |
The day ended with dinner at our favourite Chinese restaurant. Next day I headed down the highway to my favourite fabric shop, Fabric Cash & Carry, which is closing down. Very sad. I will miss them and their fantastic cheap organza and surprise finds.
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| Organza Cash & Carry Craziness!!!! |
It was a good opportunity for stocking up the cupboards though, and I left with a few rolls of silk and boxes of corset boning. I had done a bit of a different face for the day – some ‘tie-dye’ eyes to match my dress!
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| Tie-dye eyes |
It was another happy few hours, sailing the kombi down the freeway and singing our hearts out to Barry Manilow (LOLA!!!!) ELO, and The Who. Many laughs as we sang and danced our way around!
The rainy afternoon was spent watching old music videos and D-Gen episodes with my beloved, who after working back at the acid clean again that morning, was not up for his usual activities in his workshop! I made up 3 test shibori leaves for my own outfit for WoW – one a piece of hand dyed silk, one a commercial purple/pink dupion, one a hot pink silk satin which exactly matches the colour of the outfit. Once shibori wrapped, I put them in a black dye pot, hoping to get the effect of black ridges opening up to see a flash of pink in between. The purple/pink turned out all black – it just soaked up the dye! The hand dyed piece worked well, and I’m awaiting the results of the hot pink satin one now – I’ve got it drying in the oven!
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| Shibori shaped leaf for shrug |
Sunday morning – we had hoped to go to Chandler markets as we have not been for around 6 months – I was all ready to stock up on salmon and trawl through tables of other peoples’ junk that just might be my treasure, but more rain put an end to that idea. We set off for our weekly pilgrimage to Bunnings in Murray, even though he is a bit skittish in the rain, but why would you take a boring station wagon when you could be in that? Well the answer to that is the fact that the sunroof leaks, so as we turned around in the street, a stream of water trickled down all over my freshly made up face! I shrieked with surprise and Matt in turn freaked out at my shrieking!! It was a FREAKOUT!! We had the obligatory Bunnings breakfast of sausage, onions, mustard and sauce in a slice of bread. Messy. For someone who cannot actually bite and sever things properly because their teeth only touch at the back, this can be an event to watch and wonder at. I always get extra napkins…..! Having remained facially intact and therefore unembarrasing to be seen with, we then went to another favourite haunt, Trad’s, where I got my gold leather piece to begin work on my footwear for the WoW piece.It's soaking now in a saucepan, ready to mould. Matt just wandered in before to ask what was cooking in the oven - response - "shibori"! A textile artist always has an exciting kitchen!
I spent some time tidying up my studio today – if you think it looks messy here, then you don’t want to see it in its normal state!
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| Trust me, it's all organised! |
This is tidy. By the WoW deadline I anticipate that as usual there will be fabric spewing out if it and trailing up and down the hallway, reaching into all rooms – that’s what usually happens! That’s when Matt walks in the back door and says “Svenja! Your studio has thrown up – it’s time to do something about that!” At least I have 2 mannequins out on loan at the moment – that’s helping with space!
When the rain gave us a break, we set up the burner and pot in the backyard again to re-do my shibori shaped skirt – now wrapped in the right direction, and with 2 extra layers to make it firmer. I’ll see the results of that in a day or two once they have dried. After some more work towards the beast, I have spent the afternoon booking ferries, flights, cars and accommodation for our NZ trip – I feel so much better now that is organised! Now we just desperately hope we get in so there is a reason for our trip!!!
It’s been great to have some serious time just working at home – I just wish I could have got further on the fibreglassing aspect, but no chance with 95% humidity! It has taken 5 days for my last effort to dry! Hopefully next weekend will be kinder, as I am just about done with all the textile based work now! Time to texture and paint – can’t wait!
I’m kind of getting tired of working on her now – I’m ready for a fresh challenge! It felt good to at least do a little work on my own outfit, just for something different. I need to decide if I can fit in the Bernina Art U Wear competition this year – themed “The Fairest of Them All”. Hmmmm. Like last year’s “Circus Berzerkus” nothing leaps out at me, but sometimes it can be good to challenge yourself beyond your usual themes. Look at Siren of the Sea – I’m very happy I made her!
Onwards and upwards, folks! Hope you all had a creative weekend, or at least one that fed your soul in some way.
Ciao,
Svenja
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