.: Seriously? WOW 2019. I was not supposed to be doing this.

It seems a very long time since I’ve written anything here, although it also seems as though things never stop on my planet! The textile work last described, Dame Detritus, has this week been accepted for judging at the Wearable Art Mandurah event. I did my own photo shoot for the entry photos – as in me as photographer – normally that would be ok, but for some reason it just didn’t happen – a combination of camera and operator error! I felt so bad for the lovely girl who had agreed to model for me! (Random niece of old high school friend visiting from Canada)!! I’m still not going to show you pics as I would like to maintain a little mystery for the event! Anyhoo, the next step is to wrap DD up in cardboard and send her over to Mandurah, Western Australia - I’ll be trying my best to get around Australia Posts’ cubing rule!! At least I know they will do a fabulous photoshoot of her over there – SO amazing! It's such a valuable part of entering this.

After barely a week on the road, the Sturmpanzerwagen has already been employed as a wearable art carrier again! With only the headliner and carpet kick panels on the (unicorn skin) doors to fit, he is damn near complete. Going at the speed limit for once seems adequate – perhaps we have seen the last of my fast car speeding fines?! (But please be assured, I will still drag you off and WIN at traffic lights! Suckers!)

My driving view now. SO happy.

On Friday I packed up the two metal and plastic bodices for my WOW creations and headed off to TAFE to receive the sage advice and phenomenal skills of Carol Costa in creating the underlying bodysuits for these twin pieces. Magic. I can sleep well tonight! Some of you may have seen my tribute to her for this work on FaceBook – Carol to me is the unrecognised face of TAFE over all my many years of attendance there. In the face of programmes lauding ‘Higher Education principles’, I cannot say enough regarding the teaching of, and acknowledgment of, amazing practical skills. If you don’t have this, you have nothing. This is a teaching mode never to be repeated - I feel like I am one of the last products of a 'making' era.

My hands and forearms are brutalised from pop riveting plastic pieces onto my metal bases. I was kind of hoping it might make me stronger there? Whoever made this ridiculous tool which spans more than any human hands?! I would love to have at least four arms, as I hold the work in one hand, the tool engaged in the other, with only the chin left to complete the action. It seems as though I am on track to finish just in time!

This! Who the heck did you make this for?!!

I have to admit, I have also been buoyed by the release of the current (March 2019) publication of Textile Fibre Forum. Front cover and an 8 page spread – it ain’t too shabby! It’s a little bit of a ‘moment’ for the gal who grew up in the pre-internet age where this publication was the font of all textile knowledge!

As we approach the final fortnight before the WOW photoshoot, I am once again reminded, not by himself, of the tolerance Matt affords me in ignoring my daily mess. The studio he lovingly built me has become a storage area, currently not used, as the burning of plastic has required working on the deck, with a fan (but no mask - sorry to all my mother hens!) Wonderful as this situation has been, there have been moments where all has had to be abandoned as a tropical storm has swept through….. The dining table is covered in layouts, as is the lounge-room floor. The back deck is covered with boxes of plastic bottle pieces, paintbrushes, spray cans, tin snips and pop rivet guns. Sometimes I emerge from the bedroom in the mornings, look around, and wonder what the heck happened out here....