WOW Delivery 2017

This seems like the longest WOW process ever. Oh, hang on, have I ever done three separate entries before? With an extra one thrown in for Wearable Arts Mandurah?!! Errrr, noooo.....
This week marks the farewell of the 3 entries for WOW 2017. My first ever entry in the UV section, themed Float, Fly, Flow. My second entry in Avant Garde - last entered in 2008, my very first year, and my third entry in the WETA Workshop section.
It has been both fortunate and unfortunate that this week I have also unpacked 3 other large entries - one which I haven't been able to face since its rejection, the other which just returned home this week! Both crates are needed to send this years three entries, a new record for me. I know, I know, last year I said I would definitely be having a break this year.... clearly, I am not to be trusted.
The photo-shoot occurred last Friday, with the delightful Angelina of ASIARA Photography behind the lens. We last worked together on a similar shoot featuring leather and feathers also. My sister Kiri was my amazing assistant for the day, giving up most of her day off to be ordered around by me!! She helped me transport the garments, ran out to buy emergency socks, documented the day with the camera and took notes of changes to be made. I wanted to reward her with a nice lunch out, but all she wanted was some sushi!

an 'ooooo'

a 'phew'

and some gigglez!

Heidi and Fleur

Although Angelina and I have worked together before, the rest of the team was new, including model Heidi Sun, makeup artist Fleur Liu, and Angelina's partner, who was quite fabulous. Stepson Liam's girlfriend stepped in to fill Stepson Callum's usual role, in bringing the character piece to life - thanks Ciera!
Massive thanks to all involved, and a special thanks for the many months that my Bunneh has put up with random photos of weird stuff that I am working on late at night asking for approvalz, and the biggest thanks of all to Matt for living with it all!! He really lives it with me, never minding the mess (or is that never vocalising?!), always supporting , surviving design/engineering sessions with me (ahhh, the clash of cultures!!), and this year, even modelling my UV piece for me, and absolutely bringing it to life. I honestly couldn't ask for more.
Today I went to college to sew 3 new bodysuits for my entries, (the black one for the UV section I had bought online was rubbish after all, the one I had made for the WETA entry was very small, then I couldn't decide out of two replacement materials) then down to the shed to finish packing. Realising I had left one last piece at the studio, Matt popped in to pick it up before taking me out to the port for actual drop off, involving the loading of Fred the Studebaker, the very careful drive there, and an hour's wait in the queue, before finally watching it drive off!

As we wave goodbye to this year's progeny, we return home to ask "where the hell am I going to put last year's?"

Bunnehs in Ballarat 2017 Part 4

Last morning, off to class!

Wary after the previous mornings' weather, the Bunnehs step outside Wigan House, and the Blonde Bunneh declares "Oooh, that's better!" whilst the Pink Bunneh whimpers, shivers, and clings to the wall..... BB looks after PB and we walk around the lake with the wind behind us! Exactly one hour later we return to eggy goodness, and our last day in the classroom, with many projects to finish off, and scraps to use up. After a solid days work, we pack up (in 15 minutes - beats a felt making workshop hands down!!) and deliver our works to the display, quickly buggering off and leaving others to set up - well, it's not going to take 12 of us, is it?!! We get most of our packing done before dinner...
The last night is the formal dinner, which turns out to be some rather excellent grilled salmon or chicken. Hurrah! As we had not used our Cocktail Night outfits, we were able to dress up in these, and join our glamorous classmates at the class dinner table.

Classmates Jacqui and Alison

They did a great job of the display! And yes, giant pink earmuffs were worn most days - I am a QLD Bunneh!!

 After dinner, the fundraising auction was held - the amount of items (70+!) made it a drawn out affair, and thank goodness BB came up with some cash for a bottle of wine to help us through it!! We finally made it to the class displays, where we saw the results of Jeanette's encaustic workshop, as well as the work of new friend Julia Sant-Mire from the artists book workshop. She was sweet enough to gift me one of her works, which I have since placed on the wall with a kimono I brought back from Japan last year.

Julia Sant-Mire's artist book and my kimono

Artist's book workshop display

The Bunnehs and Jeanette, whom we met on our very first Bunneh Advenchurrr at Grampians Texture!!

Our final day starts with BB saying "Going home day. Good!" It's not that she doesn't enjoy the time, but after a week she just misses the real world. Me, nawt so much...! We had a busy morning of  emptying our rooms, grabbing coffee, then brekky at the dining hall before making a quick getaway. Unfortunately, we relied on my GPS system to get us to the car hire drop-off, a system which has a bad history, which was further solidified as she led us to the wilds of Essendon before saying "GPS signal lost". Well, thanks!! Luckily we had already realised we were off course, and successfully got back on track to drop off the car, and get on the Busy Beaver Bus, which gave us a smooth run to the airport, where the Bunnehs boarded the flight back home to reality. Where we will head in 2018 remains unknown, but greatly anticipated!

Bunnehs in Ballarat 2017 Part 3

Jenelle and the deceptively norty Alison

Sunday morning, and our lake walk goes only as far as Macca's for coffee due to miserable weather. Instead we have a relaxed morning, enjoy our eggs, and gird our loins for the day ahead. It was my turn to lose my tiny mind, as the long winded instructions continued, further extended by questions from the class which had our eyeballs rotating, along with the dissemination of 'helpful' information. Look, the sharing of potential suppliers is great, but when you're talking about butane - that's right - the gas in the can - you're just wasting my time. Srsly, So, I lost said tiny mind, and I'm afraid it exploded, verbally, and noticeably. But managed to be swept under the carpet. Our wonderful classmate Alison tuned into our wavelength, and after I had put away my awl (potential stabbing implement) offered me some tweezers as a replacement. It took me a moment to realise she was on to us! Jenelle felt absolutely vindicated in her loss of mind the previous day, when I must have had my 'very patient' pants on. There were all sorts of 'helpful' suggestions given to both bunnehs this day....... despite which, there was a reasonable level of satisfaction with the days progress.

Bunneh turns into a lamb!

Bunneh blowtorching!

The evening brought on a torrential storm, so we made our way to the shops for umbrellas and more warmz! The Bunnehs revise the day with a bed picnic of nuts and snowpea chips, which Jenelle declares to be a very good picnic, as all food is within arms reach!

Munted brolly

The dash to 'Cocktail Night' with the new umbrella proved to be most comical, with the umbrella turning inside out! The leaving of the dining hall was even more ridiculous, with Glenys Mann shouting out 'Bloody Queenslanders' as we squealed our way out of there in the cold, wind, and rain, managing to completely munt the umbrella in the process!









The next morning we awake to sideways wind and rain, and this Bunneh says a giant nope to the morning walk, whilst the weather tolerant one goes out, returning with a coffee for the weather-wary. Class goes well, with work beginning on titanium cuffs - so well that we - amazingly - return in our free afternoon to do a little more work before we each receive a massage from Magic Morgana.
After this, we got some more picnic supplies, and the common-room-less Bunnehs crash the Hayhoe one. I set myself up on the floor as I often do at home, and, as I also often do at home, spill my drink all over the floor. I settle into a giant moose as a kind of a bean bag to write the daily notes.

Tuesday morning brought disappointment with the weather, and 2 rounds of coffee were required for this Bunneh, as 'This face needs more cawfee!!"

'This face needs more cawfee".

Once in class, Alison provided more levity, wielding the umbrella we had picked up for her, declaring it was 'The Umbrella of Power'. Jacqui also provided fits of giggles, declaring that the noise of sawing through the titanium sheet sounded like a Frenchman saying, "Ohh hoa hoa hoaaa!!"

On this particular day I managed a few injuries, firstly slicing some fingertips open when attempting to drill small aluminium discs in the drill press (I know better than that) and then giving my thumb pad an almighty whack with a very large hammer. Running from the room to get ice, I alarmed the tutor who asked if everything was alright, and I said, "Yeeeees, I just need to get some ice..." 

Despite the injuries, it was a pretty successful day - I finally braved the titanium anodising process, and was very happy with the results.

We chillaxed in the not so chill, but rather toasty Woodbridge common room, where we returned after dinner to spill another glass of bubbles on the floor... just evening things up....

Bunnehs in Ballarat 2017 Part 2

Jenelle and Johnnie!

Friday morning was a delightful laze of strolling through the Botanical Gardens, meeting some severed Prime Ministerial heads, the most recent being slightly 'looser' in their representation. The Blonde Bunneh (BB) coooked the Pink Bunneh (PB) some fantastic scrambled eggs (all breakfast supplies left by our wonderful host - so good for a travelling Bunneh!), we watched tv and did some washing, before packing and moving off to Ballarat Grammar School. We checked in, and to our dismay, were not allocated our previous rooms as we thought was agreed! We decided to check out the new ones before chucking a sad, and although up stairs (more stairs!) they were bigger rooms and less people per house, so we thought we'd give it a go. (On reflection, we really missed our old rooms in Woodbridge House, AND the common room, where we could hang out - no such space in Wigan House).
With the Pop-Up market to set up for, I was in a bit of a frenzy, but the BB prepared us some snacks to keep us going - what a treasure!

Pop-up market Bunneh!

Then it was time to meet the tutor and assess the classmates before dinner, where we met up with many familiar faces from previous years. I ventured another try of roast parsnip, much to my regret - nawt doing that again. Ewwwwww!


Unfortunately the pop-up market was not a success for me, quite sad after hauling an entire suitcase of goods down there, although I bought a lovely boutique beer sized stubbie holder from my neighbour!

Two of our favourite ladies - Jeanette and Marianne

 Saturday I woke early, so did not feel total hatred for my room owner when his alarm went off at 6am, although I did take the battery out after that. After a lovely lake walk, we were thrilled to return to a breakfast of boiled eggs, which happened every morning after that - a vast improvement on previous years.
Our class got off to a slow start, with BB losing her mind somewhat at the pace, and the lack of finished pieces to inspire. PB lost her mind somewhat when one well-meaning class member said "Oh, pink's your colour, isn't it?!" and I replied with a dry, "No shit'. There comes a time in every Pink Bunneh's life......

One of my favourite tutor samples.

Class samples of anodised aluminium

MY samples of anodised aluminium - coloured with dye, stamps, and marker pens.

Debriefing. Many sadz

Nawt so sadz... perhaps a little crazeeee....

 We debriefed the day with a drink at the edge of the lake before dinner, then crashed the Woodbridge Common Room for a nostalgic game of pool, which was .... somewhat difficult. There was no black ball, so we nominated a spare red, and the amazing tilt on the table made every shot an absolute mystery. Pool fail - balls do not graviteeeeeee......

The closeness to the wall didn't help, either....

OK, I think that's enough for now, I'm tired, I've been sewing all day - I think there will be another 3 or 4 instalments of this Bunneh Advenchurrr. Stay tuned.

Bunnehs in Ballarat 2017 - Part 1

Fibres Ballarat 2017 was a welcome break in the midst of an intense time in life. With Matt's son in hospital, and three WOW entries on the go, this Bunneh was near to breaking. So she was very happy to once again begin the annual SvenJen adventure with a brief stop at the Virgin Lounge before boarding the plane - note - do not go through separate entrance from the Gold Status Bunneh when you are merely a Velocity member.....The giggles began as we reviewed our notes from SvenJen 2013, and continued as I informed Jenelle that we would be catching the 'Busy Beaver Bus' to our hire car..... 

We arrived at our accommodation and followed the brilliantly precise instructions to get to our apartment in the old monastery. Having carefully selected it myself, I was giving myself a large pat on the back, until we opened the entrance door to 3 flights of narrow stairs (42, to be precise). As we lugged our 20kg suitcases up, and I had numerous rest stops, I heard a comment floating down.. "Still congratulating yourself, Bun?!!" However, it was worth it, as a charming oasis lay behind the door, where we chose between the Japanese or the French bedrooms.  

Already failing, I decided I had to keep moving in order to keep going, so we hit the Bridge Street Mall op-shops. Before long, a hangry loomed, so off we trotted to the local Coles, desperately searching for nuts and protein bars, which we ended up scoffing from bags out of the trolley outside!! Anything to stop a hangry!! Back near 'home' we did a few more op-shops, including a successful visit to 'Wozzle's Warehouse"- quite the name for an op shop!!
A kebab sounded like a good option for dinner, although this Bunneh was quite wary of the whole process of ordering one, never actually have done it myself. All the decisions, the choices - it could send a slightly anxious Bunneh over the edge!! After receiving instructions and imagined scenarios the entire way there, I merely needed to tick three boxes on a foil bag to order!! Still, knowledge is never wasted, and now I have the confidence to order a kebab.....
Up just after 6 we were keen to visit our beloved Lake Wendouree, where we were delighted to see our 'No Dancing on the Bridge' or 'Make this shape whilst crossing Bridge' sign, as well as nine fluffy ducklings with their parents - cuteness overload!

 After this we headed off for brunch at Daylesford, and, Googling for noms on the way there, we decided on 'Awkward Jeffery's', which tempted us with both it's name and menu. Here is a particularly happy Bunneh with her scrambled eggs, and an equally delighted Bunneh with her wheaty Belgian Beer!

 Daylesford was a lovely, but obviously weekend town, with many of the antique shops closed. Loved these Bunnehs in a window!

 On the way back home we visited The Amazing Mill Markets, housed in an enormous space - row after row of vintage and antique everythings! Still a very tired Bunneh, I was ready to collapse in the nearest corner, and once in the car, tipped the seat back and had a lovely wee nap before settling in for a two hour nap back at base!!

Where did March go? I missed it?!

Goodness - it's been a whole month since I last posted! That is a bit unusual for me! It has been an incredibly busy time as I work towards the WOW deadline. We're getting to the pointy end now! The photoshoot has been booked with the fabulous Asiara Photography, which I am both looking forward to and dreading. It's always a really tough day for me as I see my garment on a human being for the first time, and swing from the highs of 'Wow, that looks amazing' to the lows of 'hmmmm, that doesn't quite work', and 'oh shit, that needs more support there', all whilst being in the presence of OTHER PEOPLE and trying to behave remotely like one myself! This is the inspiration board for the avant garde piece being shot, which, although covered in feathers and metallic paint, has just let me know that it's lacking in glitz, so the sequin and bead tray has come out, and I suspect the fingertips will get another bashing.....

So I am in the final days of construction, as I need to have it all largely finished before.... (drum roll, please.....) the annual Bunneh Advenchurrz begin next week!!! You have been warned. There will be much silliness seen on Facebook in the next 10 days, and I make no apologies for that. Here is an example - one of our on-plane selfies, with ears....

It will all make its glorious way here on our return! This year, we travel to Fibres Ballarat, where we will enjoy some fabulous op-shopping, and two days in a glorious apartment, before we move into digs at Ballarat Grammar (same rooms as previous!!) and commence our class in 'An introduction to coloured anodised aluminium and titanium jewellery' with Meghan O'Rourke. 

We are pleased to be taking a break from felting, and the vast amount of supplies we usually have to bring down, but I then decided to participate in the market night, so will be filling an extra suitcase with all my scarves, camisoles, and felted wraps. Lucky I know a Platinum Level Travel Bunneh..... here I am with wares at the Grampians Textures markets last year.

My entry for Wearable Art Mandurah was shipped off, and after a nervous wait, I have confirmed it has arrived. I haven't heard of its condition yet!! I bought a suitcase at the op-shop and plastic wrapped it - the last time I sent off a wearable art work in a suitcase was for my first WOW entry in 2008!!

The digital design work for TAFE bubbles along, and my Fighting Fish design has had a new incarnation. I really enjoyed painting these, and love the vibrant colour. TAFE work has really taken a back seat in the last few weeks, but once the WOW gear is shipped off, will become my life for the month of May, before out trip to China, then graduation on return!