I've had several weeks at home since my return from Adelaide, which already seems so long ago. Within the first week, I had spent a great deal of time in the studio making felted and nuno felted wraps. I enjoyed trawling through my stash of wool, silk, and embellishments, finding cohesive elements to bring together. Here you can see a lovely piece of dyed silk organza which just happened to go beautifully with some wool I had - from layout to finished wrap. It felt really good to be 'using up' all these bits, which simply means I can
dye/buy more! The green and blue piece to the left was made with wool I had managed to matt together during the dyeing process, (I must have managed to boil it!) which was able to be rescued when I bought a comb for removing matted hair from pets, and worked my way through it - I can't throw it out! Sadly, RSI in my arm kicked in after a while, and I had to stop, so I moved on to ice dyeing for a while. I really enjoyed working on these, working out how to fold the garments to get the best effects (quite different to just dealing with plain material or scarves) and how to mix my new palette of dyes.
Dealing with powdered dye rather than liquid means that the dye doesn't always look like it's going to, so I'm really glad I invested in a colour chart as well - very helpful! All this effort was in aid of ensuring I had a varied amount of stock for the Etsy Made Local market, held last weekend in Brisbane City Hall. Sadly, it was all in vain, as it was a fairly unsuccessful day for me. The venue had a bit of a weird vibe, (just look at that carpet!) the poor crowd looked dazed and glazed by the time they had made their way in through the large queue in the sun, and 2m x 2m with no space between neighbours sure was small! I certainly noticed the difference between that and my generous allowance previously enjoyed at the Craft & Quilt Fair, and most noticeably, the lack of walls! It was a long day, but there was a silver lining - my neighbour was the lovely Juliarna of Carpe d'Art, which produces fabulous hand painted sneakers. We had a hoot! Both of us were also supported by our mothers, who came to visit and offer encouragement!
Last week we visited TAFE for the graduate Fashion Parade, which sadly, I have to say lacked a little punch! Many of the designs seemed to share similar elements, and the colour palette was woefully sedate. That may indeed be the 'trend' right now, but I'm sure you've all figured out that fashion 'trends' don't feature strongly in my world of unique design! One piece that did garner my interest was this lovely ombré dress.
This Saturday I will be at the ATASDA Christmas Fair and celebration, at the BVAC hub at Weller's Hill, open from 10-2, so come and visit myself and many other fine textile artists with goodies for sale.
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Thursday 3 December 2015
Tuesday 10 November 2015
The last of Adelaide
From here on it is all kind of blurred into one, apart from
the hilarity of the Christmas party on Saturday night. None of the days were as
busy as the first, but I continued to get many admirers, with my work even
moving some to tears! That's pretty special. I also sold some of my recently
made wraps, and was very pleased to hear that they would be being worn at
special occasions. I also recommended that when they weren't, they be draped
over furniture to just be enjoyed!
Gurney's display now facing the wall |
Saturday we finished at the usual 4:30, and I toddled home
to do some washing, shower, and relax before heading back for the Christmas
party, much to Miss Chrissy's disgust! I headed down in my boots, as I just
couldn't handle wearing sneakers with my outfit, and was counting on getting
changed into my heels at the venue. Imagine my distress when I found it locked!
However, Expertise Events informed security that a vital shoe change was
required, and they came to open up! Miss Chrissy took the opportunity to duck
in with me for some makeup, and no sooner were we in there than she had the devilish
idea of messing with Gurney's stand - bahahahaaaa!! We turned everything upside
down - the chairs, her craft supplies - we even turned her displays to the
wall!
wonderful evening
including trivia questions, and the donning of the Santa suit for the Kris
Kringle section (most sarcastic Santa ever!) Even better than that was his
helper, Cracker!! I was one of the last to leave, and walked home, snapping
this shot of the lovely Capri Cinema close to 'home'.Capri Cinema, Goodwood |
Sunday morning, and poor
Gurney was in a spin when she saw her stand, thinking that it was the cleaners that had messed with it as retribution for asking
for it to be cleaned!!
Sunday was a loooong day, as it was super quiet, and the pack up loomed. Chrissie, Kerry and myself were very sad that our tour was finally over - we've had lots of fun together.
It was a different kind of packup, as I had to remove all
the stock and bits and pieces I wanted to take with me for the Etsy Made
Local market and ATASDA's Merry Threads market. I
didn't quite think this through all too well, and had to leave a trolley full
of items to pick up in the morning. I returned with the house trolley in the
morning, and was disturbed to find just how much there was! When I got it home,
I was faced with the reality that all this was never going to fit in my
suitcase, and that I was going to be hard pressed to find something large
enough to hold my clothes racks. So off in the other direction to the local
Salvo store it was, where I found a brilliantly large suitcase for $15 -
Salvation from the Salvation Army! Now possessing three large cases, I accepted
that the only way to the airport was via taxi. I was very fortunate to be able to stay in the apartment until 4pm, passing the time with the lovely wine my hosts had left for me!
I ran into Gurney at the airport bar, and ended up having to
run to the gate sans shooz, as they were calling my name! And that was after arriving
three hours early at the airport! I was pleased to arrive home to my boy, who
had chilled champagne waiting. He da man!!
Friday 6 November 2015
The Adelaide Craft & Quilt Fair
Before I continue, I have a photo from my trip into town the other day that I forgot to include - how's this for everything Svenja loves?!! A kombi selling toasted cheese sandwiches?!!! Hello?!!!
Tuesday - a glorious sleep in, followed by a stroll into the
Adelaide Pavilion Gardens, then home via the Showground, where I popped in to
say hello to Gary and find out when I could set up! I also visited Boulangerie 113 for a coffee and a croissant
- the real deal! I spent the day doing some preliminary planning for 2016 and
watching the Melbourne Cup before
rolling my suitcase of goodies down to the showground to get a head start on
setup. When I caught up with the Craft Spot cats, I received a wonderful gift from Erica of these fabulous, quality sequins, with dentillated edges, and already threaded ready for tambour beading! Wow! We did have a bit of a giggle about them looking like a packet of maggots....Having entirely emptied my case and the cage, got my lights up, and just about passed out manually blowing up my inflatable mannequins, I called it a day.
Wednesday - It was nice to feel I didn't have to rush down
to the fair, so I treated myself to a lovely breakfast at local café Gingers before heading off to work. For some reason I just couldn't focus, flitting
around, picking one thing up, putting another down. I think it was because I
didn't yet have my bench, which, when it finally arrived, had quite an impact!
Eventually it was done to my satisfaction.
Thursday - with rain threatening, I still enjoyed a walk
around the area. I'm calling Adelaide the City of Roses - they are just
everywhere! Suburbia here is really quite beautiful. So, day one of the final
fair - and I just couldn't work out what to wear! I'm really missing a full
length mirror here! I
almost got convinced to join in the morning dance, but
just couldn't quite do it......Jesus? That you?!! |
I had an enjoyable day (of course, the second question I had
was do I do work for film..... I
should, I know...) and my ice dyed garments
were very popular. I even sold my lovely
silk wrap which I made last week. I spent the day sewing silk rosebuds,
unfortunately twice stitching them to my fingers without even noticing, and
having to cut some skin away to get to the thread - well, I wasn't going to cut
the thread, I hadn't finished!
We had some fun when one customer noticed this face in one
of the botanical print tops - is that Jesus?!! He didn't take long to sell, and
went to a very happy home! At the end of the day, the Craft Family took a bus
into town to dine at Jamie Oliver's restaurant, and we all enjoyed a great
night together.
Tuesday 3 November 2015
Radelaide part two
Echo Tunnel |
Monday morning I set off for Belair Conservation Park, where I
enjoyed a good 6km run through the bush on the Waterfall Hike track. It
recommended 3 hours, but I was done in 11/2, running much of the way. The most
challenging part was not the hills, but this creepy, long tunnel called Echo
Tunnel, where quite frankly, not much echoed. It was a challenge to my height,
my sensibility and to my
a photo cannot do it justice.... |
Ashes to Ashes |
T'arts! |
and subsequently Gays arcade, where I found the delightful T'Arts Textile Collective, which I have known about for years. A bracelet created by Cindy Durant spoke to me here, and funnily enough
also goes with my jacket and today's new shooz! There was another fabulous shop in this arcade, jewellery by Sarah Rothe, sadly closed on this day, but I took these photos - I saw some of her work in a gallery in Hahndorf and admired it. Turn away now, Bun - I also found the Button Bar - OMG!!
The Button Bar |
The weekend in Radelaide
Saturday October 31st was an extremely early start, with a
6am flight to Adelaide. Everything went swimmingly, from security clearance to
a nice neighbour on the 'plane, to an easy car pick up and early arrival at my
abode. Here I was greeted by the lovely hosts , who have beautifully restored
this 50's apartment, right down to the kettle and the couch!
Loved these sculptures in the dunes |
After settling in, I thought I would take advantage of the
nice day, and after quickly visiting the (very small) Flinders St Market, drove
out to Glenelg, looking for delicious noms. The parking gods were on my side as
I found the perfect 3hour park (may have had to do a slightly illegal turn to
get to it...) then headed out to assess all the luncheon opti
Why aren't the cafés on this side?!! |
Goodwood suburban streets |
Loved the rusting on this pylon |
Sunday began with some quite lovey 'Laneway' gumboot water (plunger coffee) and some stretches before heading out to Black Hill Conservation Park for some
bushwalking. I expected to head out
there, find a main entrance/parking site
from which to begin, but there seemed to be a lot of closed gates and no
parking areas. Eventually I found one at the end of a suburban road, and headed
in to do the Black Hill Summit track. That was a pretty hard core climb, on a
very narrow pathway stacked largely with rocks. Towards the top I found myself
under an electricity pylon - the buzzing was quite unnerving, but the rust on
the metal was quite fabulous. It was a
little further to the top, then it was time to come down again - honestly, it
was way worse than going up - at one stage I did slide and end up on my butt
and hands, but luckily didn't hurt anything! I started chanting the usual
'eggs, eggs, eggs' on the way down, and when I got home, put an enormous one on
to boil. It was then that I nibbled a corner of the loaf of bread, and was in
danger of devouring the whole thing due to it's wonderfulness!!Hahndorf |
Moving right along..... I decided to heed mah Bunneh's
advice and head out to Hahndorf - again, like Glenelg, only half an hour away.
Again, I was blessed with a wonderful park, and walked the picturesque street.
Although the buildings, the trees, the street itself are beautiful, many of the
shops are full of imported goods (or is that bads?), so apparent that I knew I
didn't even need to
Giant Bunz! |
My kind of graffiti! |
Sunday 25 October 2015
Ice Dyeing and felting, and some future judging!
Ice dyed rayon jacket |
Ice dyed silk scarves |
Acid dyed silk/wool scarves |
Ice dyed rayon kaftan |
Felted wrap with lace |
I also had a crack at some felting, as I try to get through some of my stash. (I seem to be in a mad spring cleaning fever - you should see the house this week!) It's not my favourite piece, but it's growing on me! I had some lace pieces that didn't felt in too well, so I have spent a lot of time hand stitching them in, which kind of defeats the purpose of the felting!
Simple layout |
'Crunkle'! |
It's hard to tell from these photos - not the best of conditions!
It's a wrap! |
Caaaakes!! |
Thursday 15 October 2015
Sorting Sequins.....
Yep, that's the kind of activity you allow yourself to do when you are exhausted, sick, and feeling a little down. I did it for real this week (and then bought heaps more on ebay last night!) but I think it shall become a euphemism for when one is really not feeling up to much. It has also been a good time time to do some leather moulding.... on the couch...... watching Charlies Angels........ but good, no?! I'm not even sure how these feather/leaf arm pieces started, but who am I to question.They have kept my fingers entertained, and could be a useful addition to my stand if I am accepted to trade at the Etsy Made Local Brisbane market day. This is what has inspired me to re-stock my Etsy shop, starting with some botanically dyed pieces with my stash of leaves from Canberra. I also did a batch of ice-dyeing on some rayon garments today - I will photograph these and enter them in over the next few days.
Studio table mid leather work and ice dyeing! |
I also have two young nephews with birthdays just gone and just coming, very difficult to find gifts for, so thought some wee fantasy masks might be fun. I think they have turned out very 'Dark Crystal' esque - I hope they like them!
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