Page 63 of your Manual

FInal post from Blogger

2011-05-02T17:16:00.004+10:00

Hi all

I've migrated my blog from blogger to part of my website www.sayraphimlothian.com so this blog won't be updated any longer. I will leave it here as an archived blog, but to continue playing along at home, please pop along to the new site!

Thanks for the company, I look forward to seeing you over at www.sayraphimlothian.com

Cheers!

A Moment In Yarn

2011-05-01T18:09:00.002+10:00

I've created a new project, A Moment In Yarn... It focuses on translating warm memories into crocheted granny squares. Talking to people and asking them for a happy memory to translate into tangible crochet for them to hold and keep.

Today I did one for someone, and they got teary over it. I think that's incredible. Never doubt the power of memories and craft. This project is really touching and incredibly to be a part of.

Fishpond

Two tiny girls
crouched on the small wooden bridge
peering into the murky depths of the fishpond
and are rewarded by
the flash of orange.

The Fernery

When their children left the nest
They moved to a new house
And he lovingly built her
A little hut of sticks
For a fernery
With two tiny ponds inside

Cappuccino

The old lady
sat in the garden on her favourite yellow bench
and licked the froth
from the takeaway lid
of the cappuccino her granddaughters had bought her.

Button Jar

The buttons
in those big glass jars
used to glint in the sun
like some kind of jeweled craft treasure chest

You can see more of A Moment In Yarn at my Flickr account, here.

Awesomely exciting exhibition opportunity !

2011-04-19T12:56:00.000+10:00

OOO people! There's a seriously exciting thing happening on the other side of the world! The awesome guys at Stitch London have organised STITCHED SCIENCE, where people can send in their knitted/crocheted/sewn science items. Dinosaurs, Bunsen burners, rocketships, skeletons, whatever you can think of that has a science theme.

How awesome is that?

I'm sending in my heart and brain... What would you make?

You can find out more about the whole thing here.

Come play with science!

Images of Modern Evil (and why I love social media)

2011-03-26T14:57:00.000+11:00

I was on the Heide Museum's facebook page the other day and they had a competition running to coincide with their upcoming exhibition, Albert Tucker's Images of Modern Evil. You simply had to name your favourite painting from the series and why and you'd go into the draw to win a double pass to a talk by one of the main scholars of Tucker's work, Gavin Fry, in the exhibition and then brunch supplied by Cafe Vue.

Albert Tucker is one of my favourite artists and Heide and it's circle of artists is one of my favourite things about Melbourne. It's such an incredible story filled with creatives and it unfolds around and through the history of Australian art, and it blows my mind that it happened only a few suburbs from here rather than yet another art story from overseas. I love that I can go visit places from this fable of Australian art royality, walk down streets that are familier to both me and them, to visit galleries and shops they frequented, to know the places they lived and worked and to wander the gardens they planted and tended. It's incredible that a history that I'm so drawn to is so tangible and real and solid and local.

So how could I not enter the comp?

I chose Memories of Leonski as my favourite Tucker work to nominate (image from Trouble's website, found here)

Eddie Leonski was also known as The Brownout Strangler, an American GI stationed in Melbourne during the second world war. He murdered 3 women over a period of 2 weeks around inner Melbourne. When he was caught, the Americans wanted to extradite him but as the crimes were committed on Australian soil, the Australian government refused. This stand off threatened the negotiations over the ANZUS alliance. The trial was held in Melbourne by the Americans and Leonski was sentanced to death. He was hung at Pentridge Prision on the November 9, 1942 and his body was buried on an island off Hawaii in a military cemetery.

The story goes (but I can't seem to confirm it either way via searches on the internet) that he said of his victims "I only wanted their voices", hence the bird in the painting.

That's all a little morbid, huh. All that knowledge is product of a mis-spent youth researching Melbourne history for various plays and artworks.

But so that's my favourite of all the paintings, and I entered the comp with that.

And won!

Whoo!

So this morning we took ourselves off to Heide for the talk and the artwork and the food. A number of my favourite things, all in one place :)

Gavin Fry was great to listen too, not only does he know his subject back to front but he also personally knew Tucker, who died in 1999, and so could give a few antidotes of the artist himself. One of my favourites was that Fry has seen Tucker's medical certificate from the examination he had before he entered the army. Down the side the Medical Officer had written "Prone to hypochondria".

I love these little facts, the stuff that only people who knew their subject, or had researched them thoroughly, would know. Those tiny details that don't make it into the official records. It's that kind of detail that I love about good film sets too, those tiny touches that show the humanity behind the characters and the story.

After the talk, we had brunch, and can I just say, Cafe Vue does an AWESOME sandwich and excel in their pastries. Sitting in a comfy room with a glass wall, gazing over Heide's grounds as we munched our bakery treats and drank our coffees, so tranquil and beautiful!

After brunch we went back to the exhibition to take in the art. SUCH incredible work. I've seen Tucker's paintings only in books and on the net, and these things do in no way do justice to the man's talent and ability. The oils are deep and complex and incredibly painted and the colours and textures just cannot be captured in photos. It was great to see the whole series side by side too. Some of the later works become increasingly abstract, which I wasn't the biggest fan of, but putting them all in a chronological line on a wall means you can see the progression and follow the logic through the work which helps to give an understanding of the reoccurring symbolism and shapes.

I'm so glad I went along and so happy to have won the tickets!

Tucker's work has also inspired me in a number of new ways, but they have to wait a little until I get a few more of these commissions finished and out on their way...

I love going to galleries, and I love seeing great work from other artists. It energises and furthers my own artistic practice. I think as artists, we all inspire each other, like a massive bunch of ping pong balls all madly bouncing around a small room.

Thank you Heide!

phew!

2011-03-21T16:55:00.000+11:00

So today I'm working on a commission, I'm turning a toy into a puppet for a client. It's very cute, but a bit fiddly. And I realise I've hit professionalism because I made the mouth and it looked ok but not perfect, so I tore it out and started again.

A younger me would have decided that it was close enough and just kept going.

The problem with puppet mouths is that a) everything revolves around them and b) they're really the start of the project, so if you have to start again, you have to start ALL over again. But the new mouth is much better, so I'm off and running again.

The other interesting piece of news is I'm embarking on dress making. Although I can whip out a toy, puppet or sculpture with the best of them, I have to admit that I've never made a piece of clothing from a pattern in my life. During uni I met a fashion designer by the name of Scott Cameron and he's been making anything I need since then. Which is great, and he's an awesome designer, but right now he's super busy. You see, my sister's getting married and she asked me to be a bridesmaid, which is awesome, but one of the first duties of being a bridesmaid is to get a dress. Bec, my sister, has asked Scott for his help (that's all I can say about that) but since he's so busy at the moment, he only had time to help one person. Because Bec is the bride and I'm only a bridesmaid, Scott is helping Bec and I had to seek alternative routes of dress getting. I went into a bunch of vintage stores but couldn't find anything in the right colour, size and material. So I contacted another dress maker I know, but she's currently working on Mary Poppins and doesn't have time to take other clients.

So I decided that this was all a sign that I should make my own dress. Something simple but pretty that would suit me.

We went into a material store the other day and found a pattern I liked, that looks pretty and will be flattering and looks sorta vintage but at the same time is SIMPLE. I figured that simple was a good place to start this whole making-my-own-clothes adventure.

It's taken me ages to find the material though. Bec wanted the bridesmaids in powder blue. She thought that would be a simple colour to find, but she was... well, wrong. I've been searching all the material stores I can find for weeks now and I've FINALLY found some beautiful material in a white and blue pattern but I had to go to the quilting section to find it! But now I have 5 metres of beautiful cotton printed material folded on the back of my chair and I'm all ready to go. Except I wanted some lace for the sleeves which I haven't bought yet, nor the zip.

And I think, since I've never made a dress before, that I should probably make a practise one first, before I use my hard searched for perfect material.

Sewing from patterns seems to me to be like baking. Cooking, and sewing like I sew, is just belting things together to make pretty. Sewing from patterns is like baking, that stuff has to be precisely measured or everything will go to wrack and ruin.

I just need to keep reminding myself to do it properly and not just be the bull at the gate my mother always said I was!

And somehow, that ties in with the start of this post! Amazing!

new commission - zombie class mascot

2011-03-18T17:03:00.000+11:00

Gosh! I like a challenge, but this one is a doozie.

I've been commissioned by a Prep teacher to make her class a mascot. I've made a number of mascots in the past for classes, including a Ringmaster called Petey Barnam and a tree named Mr Barkly Tree (named by the kids in the class) but this time the teacher asked the kids what they wanted and they unanimously agreed that they want a zombie.

Cool! Cool kids (all aged 5-6) but tricky. You see, a zombie is an undead human or animal who's body is rotting and dropping off. How the green hell am I going to do that for kids, still give it enough details to make it look like a zombie but not too many gruesome details so that it scares the kids?

Research, my friends, research is the key.

I did a search on flickr for ZOMBIE SOFTIE... and these are some of the cool things I found

This cat zombie is from Flufftail and was found here. I like that it seems happy to be a zombie, which a lot of zombies don't seem to be. The green skin is certainly a zombie tell-tale sign and the scars are good, although also a bit pirate-y. The fangs and blood are cute but I don't know that they're ok for little kids. Even little kids who ask for zombies.

This guy is great too. He's by Freshmade and was found here. Again he's cute and not scary and doesn't look like he minds being dead and zombiefied.

You'll have to follow the link for this one, but I love the stitched circles around the eyes, which helps to show the zombieness of the guy. It does make him a look a little worried thou... http://www.flickr.com/photos/vivikasfeltcreatures/3170934138/

Then I stumbled across this guy, Herman2 from thEm doLLz. How great is he? The eyes pointing in slightly different directions and the size of the eyes relative to the size of his face makes him seem simple and happy rather than threatening and menacing. The heart also helps with his friendliness. The striped shirt also lends a Tim Burton feel to him, which is cool although I'm not sure that helps with the friendliness.

So that's what I need. A happy, friendly, unthreatening zombie who little kids wool deb happy to hug. And now I've figured out how to do it, with a little help from research.

Love it.

Oh, my friends

2011-02-18T20:39:00.000+11:00

Ohh, I have been remiss! I've been hanging out at our puppet company's blog, Handmade By Computers (terriblecomfort.wordpress.com/) and I haven't been visiting here much.

But this soon shall change! For there are rumblings underneath the surface of page 63 (does that mean that page 64 is rumbling? I dunno...) and things are moving and changing...

There's a few dreadfully exciting things going on here at HQ, and soon I'll be ready to reveal all.

But at the moment, check these out! I'm working on little monster puppets that I can take into the classroom as a relief teacher. So they have to be small and easily transportable, but still heart warming and awesome. I didn't want just a finger or a hand puppet, I wanted something special.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you too... Lily

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OOO! Blogger wont let me upload the gosh darned photo... So click here to see her in all her beautiful, lilac furry form... http://www.flickr.com/photos/terriblecomfort/5427276523/

Owl in Spotlight new puppets

2010-08-30T18:46:00.000+10:00

Greetings my friends!

I've had my head down and butt up sewing my Cinderella fingers to the bone for the upcoming show for Halloween. But I wanted to share a scene with you!

This is our heroine, Dort, stumbling across a scene from the Salem Witch Trials.

These guys are some of my current favourites. I love the flames and the pastor's bible.

Of course, often my favourites are whichever I've a) just made or b) my eye has just fallen on.

You can see a few more of the felt guys at our Flickr account.

I'm having a ball making them. Firstly I do a bit of research and find a spooky or halloween scene that I want to build, and then I set about creating it. It's been a really interesting process, unlike all other shows we've worked on, this time I'm making a bunch of guys and then I thrust them at Robert Reid (the other half of Terrible Comfort) and then he gets to weave them all together into a script. Usually the script comes first. It's be really exciting to see how it works from the images first this time!

Big fan of this show... We've had Peter Houghton in to pre-record all the voices and really, listening to him tell the story was a wonderful experience, just like having your dad tell you a bit of a spooky bedtime story.

I love my life.

make an owl, be a part of the next Terrible Comfort show!

2010-08-22T10:20:00.000+10:00

Good morning my friends!
I'm almost back up ad running on the blog, there's been major life changes and it's taken me a while to get organised again... But we're working on a new puppet show for Halloween this year and we're doing a call out for handmade owls... Read below!

Come one, come all… Terrible Comfort is working on a puppet show for Halloween this year called Owl in Spotlight (How Dort Taught The House to Behave). It’s at the Carlton Courthouse, which is an old courthouse that’s been converted into a theatre but still retains all of it’s period features and multiple doors for Halloween this year!

The storyline is eight year old Dort and her family have finally moved into their new home but the house is not too happy about it. In fact, it wants them gone and does everything in its power to scare them away. Hideous ghouls and nightmarish monsters emerge from the houses dark shadows but they haven’t reckoned with Dort. A fully trained monstronaut, Dort isn’t having any nonsense from the house and, along with her pet bunny Chuck Norris, she sets out to investigate and teach the house some manners.

Owl in Spotlight (How Dort Taught The House to Behave), uses hand and finger puppetry, diorama, digital sound design and a walking tour in a spooky back stage exploration of the theatres. Designed as a Halloween event, How Dort Taught the House to Behave is appropriate for all ages and encourages the child in us all to find the courage to reason with our fears.

To help with the ambiance, we want owls scattered everywhere throughout the venue. This is where you come in!

Most of the sofites we’re making are around 20cms tall, so our preferences for owls would be around 10cm to 20cmsish. The bigger they get, the further away from the action they’ll have to be positioned to keep everything in perspective. The individual owls wont have credits next to them, but you will be credited in the program. People who contribute owls’ll get a free ticket to the show, if you can manage a couple of owls you get double passes. We’re happy to give them back at the end, but we’d love them as donations to Terrible Comfort. We’re hoping to tour our shows around the place and Dort will be one in our repertoire.
We happy for any kind of owl, how ever you want it to look, whatever material you want to make it out of and whatever position you want it to be in (flying, sitting, standing, other…) We need the owls by about the end of September.

To avoid theft, we encourage you to add a little material loop to the back of your owl, and we’ll then screw/sew the little guys down and maybe even put little bells on them. YAY!

Please let us know if you’re interested in participating in Owl in Spotlight. and do feel free to forward this to anyone you know who might be interested.

To see more of Terrible Comfort go to their website – www.terriblecomfort.com

Terrible Comfort. We make our own fun!

doin' time, the old fashioned way...

2010-05-09T13:38:00.000+10:00

I'm currently off on an adventure, and totally without internet for a few weeks. Hence the radio silence. But rest assured I will be back in June to fill your screens with crafty goodness.

Until then, my friends....

So I think the question we're all asking ourselves is

2010-04-07T09:14:00.000+10:00

If we had pet ducks, how would we take them for swims?

Found on a charming website filled with old photos here
Photo comes from here

Smellllllllll that cooking...

2010-04-03T18:57:00.002+11:00

You know the best thing about making Homemade Breadcrumbs?

It makes the house smell like baking bread.

Big, BIG fan of that...

History of the Granny Square!

2010-04-02T17:42:00.001+11:00

I'm so excited! I've found evidence of how far back Granny Squares go! I've been researching them in an attempt to place them in history. Clearly they have a revival at the moment and I know they were huge in the 70s, but where did it start?

I've done a bunch of research on the net and can't find out anything about the history of them before the 70s... until now!

I was looking through a book I've got which is a reproduction of a number of crochet newsletters stuffed full of patterns from a company called Weldons from the mid 1800s. Right at the back, there's a pattern for "Patchwork Squares", which has a little blurb at the top describing how useful these are for using up scraps of yarn you might have, and how they're great for rugs, baby's blankets and the like. Breathless I turned the page to see if I could find an illustration and there, on the next page, was a handsome black and white engraving of... a granny square!

I'm so happy! Granny squares date back to at least Victorian times! That's so awesome to find. How good is researching? Love it, love it...

Granny squares image from http://www.spinningwheel.net/?p=148

Research is such a pretty thing

2010-03-30T16:07:00.001+11:00

I'm working on a new project, this time it's a solo photography exhibition. I wont say too much about the actual theme at this point, but so I'm doing a whole swathe of research on stuff from the 30s.

I want the photos to have an element of realism. Since they're sort of vaguely set in the 30s, I don't want to have something that's glaringly from the 60s in them. This stuff didn't used to matte to me so much, but now I'm a little older and I've worked on a few films and tv shows that the head of the art depaartment clearly know so much about the time being portrayed and search high and low for just the right thing, well ladies and gentlemen, I have been influenced.

This doesnt mean, however, that if I need a pair of shoes in the shot that they have to be from the 30s. More I'm interested in getting the right feel, so a pair that are 30s in style but modern will be jsut fine.

And since I'm researching lots of interesting things, I thought I should share some with you. Today I've been researching old pin cushions.

Usually I start by asking - did they use (insert whatever I'm researching) back then, or is it a more modern thing? Today I didn't need to ask that as I know that Nicole, the owner of the amazing Circa Vintage Clothing has a pin cushion dating back to Victorian times, we chatted about it last time I was in there. So I was ok with the item itself.

Next I do some research to see if I can find what they looked like back then. Google images and ebay are your friends for this. I don't have to BUY what I'm looking at, I can jsut as easily make it. And anyway, usually old things that are cheap enough that I can afford them look worn and faded, and that isn't great for convincing someone looking at a photo (or a set) that they're looking at a brand new thing and the era itself is old.

I didn't find any pincushions labeled from the 30s, but I did find a number of vintage ones in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I loved this one (above), found here, although I don't think the person who runs that website created/found/owns it. It's an old tin with a roll of paper in it that's been used as a pin cushion. The antique pins are great and the cushion itself is really unusual, I've never seen one like it. I decided that I might go with this one, until I came across the next one...

Then I found this, over at Little Paper Dog.

It's perfect! It's got that perfect homemade feel to it, but also that Depression era never-throw-anything-out, always-reuse-what-you-have feel to it. That 'make good, make do' sensibility. I was reading about the times when stockings were just simply too hard to get, that ladies drew their seems on with eyebrow pencils. Very clever, very thrifty. And that's what I like about this jar.

Little Paper Dog's Michelle has a tutorial here for these jars, but they are all over the craft-o-sphere (I guess I'm late to the party) so you can google "pincushion" and "mason jar" and find a number of people who have caught the fever already...

some cool street art I've seen over the week

2010-03-21T12:45:00.000+11:00

Firstly, one from my Uni

And lo, I did feel pride.

Next came from down Sydney Road the other day.

they were awesome little tiger heads attached to the pole. They didn't have any kind of tag or anything, but I think they might be Mal function's guys. Oh, yeah, I've jsut been checking Mal's flickr, and this photo confirms it. I'd love some of these guys for my own!

The last one isn't quite street art, but did remind me of a bandit ninja organic bunny, so I photographed it

First Lady of Knitting

2010-03-19T16:41:00.000+11:00

what a great title to hold! I was on the Historic Fibers blog and checking out the links on the right nav bar. There is a big pile of awesome knitting history links and I thought I would share them with you all.

Firstly is The Hook and The Book virtual exhibition. An awesome and comprehensive resource from what looks like a museum exhibition. Filled with pictures of historical examples of knitting and crochet, lots of explanations and links to other places. A great place to spend some time.

Next is the Victorian and Albert museum in London. They have a knitting section here where you can look at their knitted items and even submit photos of your own! I think that is kinda cool, submitting your stuff to become part of the V&As digital collection. They also have a range of 1940s patterns that are free to download here. The Essentials for the Forces booklet cover comes from that page. I love the look on the woman's face! Determined and thoughtful but also a little cross.

Speaking of old knitting patterns, Sarah's homework site is one lady's project of scanning in and uploading heaps of old patterns, i think from a book she inherited, but I could be way off there.

Another site that's doing much the same thing is Vintage Purls There's some gorgeous items you could make at home including my favourite, this little fairy toy. I think making a fairy that someone a few generations ago created to delight children back then would be joyous.

And to round things off, an essay about knitting during wartime called Knitting for Victory, which is where I got the title of the post from. I find it fascinating that at several points in history, it was considered a woman's patrotic duty to knit knit knit. It's just such a different society now, we're not really called upon to do that. However, having said that, the excellent Pip and the Handmade Help crew restashed crafters and encouraged the donation of handmade goodies for the bushfire victims, so maybe it's now more a grassroots urge of helping community rather than a governement spearheaded operation for troops at the front.

Which reminds me, that HBOs Pacific comes out soon, and there will be a scene of picnicking families and sweethearts and somewhere in those groups will be a lady knitting about 5 inches of olive drab ribbing for a jumper on tortoiseshell needles while she sits and watches children play. That, my friends, was my first ever war effort. Nowhere near the amount of effort that Anthea Chrome did knitting all the outfits for Coraline, but still, it's the second biggest piece of clothing I've ever knitted, and even then I didn't finish it.

As the lady handed it back to me at the end of the day, she said "I'm sorry, I think I dropped some stitches. I've only done about 3 rows." She was dreadfully concerned. I smiled and said that it didn't matter. It was, after all, only a prop.

But still, I like to think about it as my first war effort!

Monsters are really the best

2010-03-18T18:57:00.001+11:00

A couple of net finds while I finish off a few things...

Firstly, I came across these awesome guys from Silent Orchard I love them! I love the thought and detail that's gone into the charaterisation of each one.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/silentorchid/4427577773/

She's got a number of great softies on her flickr, so do go check them out.

And from the ArtDecadence blog,this. It's the oldest Alice in Wonderland film in exsistance, filmed in 1903. So beautiful and I love the sepia tone!

A beautiful thing.

2010-03-12T12:45:00.000+11:00

The lovely and most marvelous Pip from Meet Me At Mikes had a little muse the other day as to how to help your little ones become avid readers. It's a lovely post filled with good ideas to help encourage reading in children. Along with that it has some great comments attached! If you haven't read it already, check it out here: http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-grow-book-worms.html

And I couldn't resist adding the image she used. Wild Things and books, some of my favourite things! I don't know where she got it, but it's clearly the wonderful Maurice Sendak and I love it :)

soul comforting beauty in North Melbourne

2010-03-09T08:23:00.002+11:00

A friend of mine has just opened the most beautiful shop in the world with one of the most inspiring names I've ever heard.

Orlando and Ivy. It makes you think of Picnic at Hanging Rock kind of times, all white dresses and hints of green. It's such an evocative title! And the store itself is so beautiful. You walk in the door, away from the noise and busy-ness of Victoria St into a quiet oasis of calm filled with gentle old world charm.

I'm so taken with her shop, I want to live there! And I'm also dreadfully honoured that one of the photos she's put on her blog (http://orlandoandivy.wordpress.com/) to celebrate the opening has my products in it! The granny bunting draped across those beautiful handmade boxes are mine. Shucks :)

So come, support brand new local businesses and introduce into your space some incredibly beautiful things. I'll copy the text from the website because it's more eloquent than I can be at this time in the morning...

ORLANDO AND IVY is a creative emporium located at 424 Victoria Street, North Melbourne.

Purveyors of locally sourced art objects, wearable art, journaling supplies, creative tools, books, and other high-quality publications.

More incredibly beautiful images can be found at the website: www.orlandoandivy.com

Cheese n Corn Chowder

2010-02-28T15:41:00.000+11:00

This one is one of my very earliest things I learnt to make, and I love it.
Plus, it's really simple, which is always wonderful.

INGREDANTS
1 can of corn
1 can of creamed corn
1 onion
some garlic (depending on how much you like, I usually use about 2 cloves)
a teaspoon or so of cumin seeds
a stock cube (chicken or veggie)
2 cups of hot water (for the aforementioned stock cube)
a wodge of grated tasty (or other good-for-melting) cheese (I do a couple of good pinches per person)
1 potato (optional)
a wodge of fresh herbs, chives for preference by parsley works wonders as well

Cut up the onion and fry in a little olive oil until just before it starts to turn brown
cut up or mince the garlic and chuck it in the pot for a minute or so, stirring constantly in the hope the onion doesn't go any browner
make up the stockcube in the hot water, pour that into the saucepan
empty both corn cans into the water as well
if you're using the potato, cut it into small cubes and chuck it in now too.
and chuck in the cumin
leave to simmer, stirring occasionally for around 10 to 15 mins, or until the potato is soft. If you used it. :)
Put the herbs in now, stir and leave for a few minutes
Ladle into bowls and sprinkle a wodge of grated cheese on the top.
Serve with fresh buttered bread.

Best In Soup Show ribbon, 10 years running!

sighs

2010-02-23T20:35:00.000+11:00

I managed to break my only watering can

well, not just break but actually shatter parts of it

Jagged Portal by Sea Moon

And then I unpacked the sink to wash the dishes

and found I'd made my favourite antique kitchen implement rusty

Rusty Wire Net Abstract by Kasia_aus

I'm a terrible housewife.

I think I'll just sit and not touch anything else

Just in case...

craft yourself some army surplus

2010-02-20T18:32:00.000+11:00

I was just researching some less plans for political stuff and I came across this craft activity. Yes, it's how to make your own gas masks by the John Curtin Prime Ministerial library. There's a number of lesson plans on the site which include 'craft activites'. Naturally I clicked on it, and clearly this fun gas mask was the only one they'd thought of stemming from Curtin's time in office.

http://john.curtin.edu.au/education/gasmask/index.html

People think of the weirdest things to teach children.

Argyle guys

2010-02-09T18:40:00.000+11:00

A friend of mine is going away for a while and taking his tiny laptop with him. But he's never had a case for it, and I think it's important to have a padded case to protect it.

With needles at the ready, I jumped into action!

I've never knitted an argyle before, it's a mindbending exercise in frustration. And my advice to those of you embarking on it is
Dont Get Cocky.

The MOMENT you think "ahh, I've finally got it worked out, this is easy!" you'll grab the wrong colour to knit and it'll stuff up.

But there is good news for you! Every cloud has a silver lining, and argyle's silver lining is that it's actually very forgiving. a wrong stitch here or there is actually quite hard to spot. And that makes you love it.

Even while you're hating it.

I researched argyle patterns online, and drew one out on grid paper. The pattern is much harder at the start when you don't have the previously knitted stuff to guide you. Each diamond had it's own yarn, so there was 4 strands each of grey and white and then 8 black strands for the zig zags. because I didn't have 4 balls of each colour, I cut lengths off the each ball and used that. So a lot of the padding between the laptop and the world is actually the knots where I attached more yarn to each strand.

The pattern for the bag itself is really simple, it's a long rectangle that's folded up at the bottom and over at the top. I sewed it to felt to line the bag and add an extra thickness of padding. And for a final protection, I cut the plastic bottom of a purchased shopping bag to size and inserted it between the knitting and the felt at the front of the bag. That stiffened it nicely, but made sewing the buttons on not as much fun as I'd hoped.

When I was staring at the finished argyle, the buttons just looked like eyes, and since my friend is a fun kind of guy, I decided that it just needed a tongue, to enhance the face. But because he's all corporate, I decided a tie-like tongue was the way to go.

The tongue can be folded back into the bag when needed, to show the more corporate side of things.

He loved it, and I was quite pleased.

But I think it'll be a while before I knit another argyle!

Dandelion Wine

2010-01-31T10:02:00.000+11:00

This one is really simple and half of the ingredients are free! Once it's ready, it has the fizz of champagne and it sweet and tasty

You'll need:
About a litre of dandelion flowers, picked fresh
2 litres of water
750g sugar
an orange, quartered or 8thed
a lemon, quartered or 8thed
1 tablespoon of yeast
some bottles

Pick the dandelions fresh and wash them quickly in hot water to kill any bugs that might be in them.

There is much debate whether leaving the green bits of buds on the flowers will result in a more bitter wine, but we're not really sure. But we cut the green bits of the flowers anyway.

Throw the flowers into the water with the sugar, the orange and the lemon, and bring it to the boil.

Simmer for an hour.

Let the mixture cool and then add the yeast. Leave for 24 hours in the pot.

Strain out all the lumpy goop, and pour into sterilized bottles (we save other alcohol bottles for this purpose). the most important thing is DONT SCREW THE LIDS ON YET!!!

You need to wait until fermentation finishes, which is usually about a month. The wine will be ready after about 3 months. We like to leave ours for a year. It's a long process, but worth it.

You need to use your imagination for this one

2010-01-28T08:15:00.000+11:00

I want to share an event with you, but since I wasn’t there, I don’t have any pictures of it. But it’s magical and wonderful and you should close your eyes and picture this…

A friend of mine works as a stage hand (stagie) for one of the tv gameshows that use flitter, which is the big glittery stuff that drops from the roof when a contestant wins a substantial prize. There is another stagie there nicknamed Cookie, (all the stagies and camera guys of their generation have nicknames, sometimes two or three, which makes it confusing for anyone not in the know working there) and Cookie had brought his umbrella to work months before and kept forgetting to take it home. So my friend, Jumper (see? what did I say about the nicknames?) decided to play a prank on Cookie. Jumper half opened the aforementioned umbrella, filled it chock full of flitter, closed it tightly and replaced it. Then he played the waiting game.
About a month later it had been raining all day and had just eased as they were packing up to go home, so Jumper reminded Cookie about his umbrella. Cookie was very grateful, collected it and walked up to the tram stop. It started to rain again so Cookie, a short, stocky, sort of balding dude, did what anyone holding a closed umbrella would do in this situation. He raised it above his head and opened it.

Golden flitter rained down under the umbrella all over Cookie, drifting to the ground and gently sticking to several people surrounding him in the tram queue.

Apparently there was a little girl standing right next to Cookie who stared open mouthed as it happened, clutching at her mother’s hand with delight. Imagine standing at that tram stop that day, watching that magical moment pour out of Cookie’s umbrella.

That, my friends, is a transformative moment, changing the tram stop from ordinary to incredible, just for a minute, and that is the sort of thing Terrible Comfort wholeheartedly support.

(originally posted on the Terrible Comfort blog, but I love this story so much I wanted to share it with you guys too)

Have yourself a merry handmade christmas...

2010-01-20T10:27:00.002+11:00

Finally all my christmas presents have been received, so I can share them with the world! Buying handmade is a wonderful idea, but making handmade for those you love is so warmingly satisfying as well.

I made up a number of hampers that included homemade chutney and treats, and a few of the hampers had some crafty presents as well. After learning the magic of the crochet star chain, I made a number of them including this rainbow one for a special family.

Continuing the crochet theme, I wanted to make some wine bottle cozies for several people as well.

And last but not least, some dolls. Firstly, a Alice bunny girl for a special little girl.

and due to a relatively new in-joke about russian Babushka dolls between a sister and I, here is her Babushka on the left and her partners' matching-but-talored-to-his-favourite-film Babushka on the right.

ARRG!

2010-01-13T12:22:00.000+11:00

I'm attempting an argyle for the first time. Oh my god, it's a brain breaker! Just when you think you've got it going ok and you've figured it all out, you notice that you did one wrong stitch half a row back and you have to decide whether to rip it back out or not.

Very typically of me, I don't have a pattern, I found some arglyes on the internet and drew the pattern on a piece of paper, I've been working off that. It's very hard to start, but as the knitting grows the arglye is easier to see and thus easier to continue.

But getting cocky is dangerous, and it's really quite labour intensive, so it's a slow process.

Instead, let me show you some photos of the latest finger puppets I've made. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Dame Judi Dench and Kevin Spacey to the stage...

This is Dame Judi Dench, from the black and white film The Cherry Orchard

This is photo she is based on

found here: http://www.videodetective.com/actordetails.aspx?performerid=4446

And Kevin Spacey:

Here is Kevin on set for The Iceman Cometh:

These two puppets have been created for Terrible Comfort's Expression's on Modern Drama which can be found on Youtube here http://www.youtube.com/user/TerribleComfort

Go and check it out!

Daisy Yarn Petals, that was her game...

2010-01-06T08:06:00.000+11:00

I was hanging out at a friend's home who needed a bunch of flowers (although she didn't know it yet) waiting for her to come back so I grabbed my crochet hook, some white and yellow yarn and went to work.

These are based on the Royal Sisters' Grandma Star, which I haven't been able to put down since I learned it.

I wanted to make stems for each of them but I ran out of time and materials. I thought either crocheted or you know those old fashioned coloured plastic knitting needles? You could use one of those too.

I hadn't gotten to weaving in all the ends when she got home, which is why they're in this mostly-finished state, but they had the desired I Got You Flowers effect anyway, which was nice.

Look what we did!

2009-12-31T10:41:00.000+11:00

Meet Dave. Dave is one of the newer members of Terrible Comfort. He's friendly, kind of modest, furry and he wants to talk to you about Chekov.

Orange Onion Marmalade

2009-12-29T09:21:00.000+11:00

As requested by the lovely Bianca of Sadie and Lance, here is the recipe for Orange Onion Marmalade, an awesome addition to eggs at breakfast or anywhere a busy modern person requires chutney.

Ingredients

10 white onions
4 oranges (juice the oranges and zest them too, keep these separate)
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 and 1/3 cups of brown sugar
4 tsps turmeric
8 tsps mustard seeds

Method

Cut up the onions into chunks, put into a saucepan with the vinegar and orange juice and bring to the boil.

Add the sugar, turmeric, mustard seeds and the orange zest, boil for 10 mins until onion is soft, but not mooshy.

Then turn heat down and simmer for 30 mins. This should make enough for around 6 mid sized jars, depending on what size jars of course.

handmade, homemade goodness

2009-12-21T09:28:00.000+11:00

Firstly, two beautiful things.

We needed a peg bag, and rather than just buy one, I asked the ever clever Becclebee to sew us one. This is what she made...

I love the machine stitching, and the cute little jocks! How beautiful is that?

Next is some handgrown garden goodness. I went out this morning ans was presented by this. Beautiful, happy summer colours, bright green and that gorgous yellow! Christmas colours in Australia. This is our first ever zucchini flower, and I really think it's stunning. Dreadfully uplifting for the morning!

Next comes our handmade chutney and preserves store. Squirreling away ripe goodness in jars for the lean winter months... I know it's not a very pretty photo, but it's the subject matter, not the composition that's exciting in this one!

1) Corn relish made yesterday (can't wait to try that, it's a brand new recipe)
2) the last few jars of the very successful Orange Onion Marmalade
3) Sadie's Tomato Chutney, the amazing recipe from Sadie and Lance
4) Dandelion Wine, from the cheerful flowers popping up all over the backyard. If you've never made dandelion wine, go outside and do it today. It needs to be bottled for at least a couple of months, we leave it for a year. It's like delicate champagne when you open it, and totally worth the wait.
5) Onion Chutney. Another brand new recipe that's awaiting a suitable meal to open...

Last but not least is more, more more stars... These are Christmas decorations for a friend. I love handmade, homemade christmas decorations!

crocheting is an addiction

2009-12-14T18:54:00.003+11:00

Becclebee, from marjoryjane, invited me toone of her regular crafternoons last weekend. While there, she was crocheting very interesting things. So interesting, infact, that I abandoned the pre-prepared craft I had bought along and jumped instead on the crocheting band wagon.

She, and now I, have been busy crocheting stars using the wonderful Royal Sisters star pattern.

(All images kindly nicked from Becclebee's blog)

The tighter, smaller ones are Becclebee's. Just like knitting, I crochet looser than she does. At the top of the photo is the pretty 70s crafting dress I was wearing at the time. I'm such a fan of the blue-and-white colour scheme in clothing.

Bec also had these amazing crochet pieces completed
How cute are they! I'm not really a huge fan of christmas decorations but this has made me aware that I'm rather keen on homemade christmas decorations. I've already crocheted myself a line of 7 yellow stars, a friend a red, green and white set and a friend with kids a rainbow set of 17 stars. Damn human fraility that I need to rest my wrists now! There's so many more stars I want to make...

If you haven't been over to The Royal Sisters, do pop along to bathe in some of her cheerful granny goodness.

Here, here are the Wild Things

2009-12-03T20:43:00.005+11:00

I found this down an alley the other day, how could I go past it without photographing it?

. I'm so excited to get the book! I've ordered it tonight. The experience of helping make this film, of being on set and being behind the scenes, was truly one of the highlights of my career and I'm so pleased to be able to relive that through this hardcover book.

I went to see the film the other day, there was a cast and crew showing. I love the visual quality, the creatures and the setting and everything was perfect. I wasn't so sold on the story, I have to say, but talking to a friend of mine afterwards, he said something that helped enormously with my understanding of the film.

Don't be afraid, if you've read the book, this isn't a spoiler...

I was unsatisfied with the Wild Things characters, they didn't seem to learn anything or even move on from when we met them until when we leave them in the film. But once the idea that all the Wild Things were previously children who have followed (or forged) Max's path but let themselves be taken over with the Wild Thing spirit, and have stopped being children and have totally become the Wild Things. That's why they don't progress during the film - they're stuck as who they are*.

I have to say that a) I didn't get that from the film at all, and b) it made the film SO much cooler! I wish, I wish it had of come through more in the film itself. My friend was on set most of the time and thus privy to the inside workings and thinkings of the film, which is how he formed this reading of the film.

So my advice to you is to take this knowledge into your viewing of the movie. It'll make it so much better!

But the very exciting news is that not only are there already photobooks of the story of the film, but there is a Making-Of book out as well, called Heads On and We Shoot: The Making of Where the Wild Things Are. Being a part of creating this film, being both on set and behind the scenes, was truly a highlight of my career and I'm so pleased that I can relive those feelings and sights through this beautiful hardcover book. I can't wait to see it!

ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* the main evidence of this is Daniel, the Bull, which is the quiet one that doesn't appear to take part in all the other guy's actions, he still has human feet, signifying that he hasn't quite made the total change from human to Wild Thing. It's a very subtle hint to this reading of the film, so don't fret if you've seen it and missed it.

EDIT
I was thinking more about the film and really, it was beautiful. And I was dreadfully excited to see scenes I was around for the shooting or helped with the creatures. The beautiful owls, for instance, I spent two whole weeks steaming feathers. If you've never steamed a feather, the up side is that they unfurl and straighten like a flower unfolding and it's quite beautiful to watch. The downside is that you'll end up smelling like damn chooks all day. Not really my favourite of smells.

I wonder if that's where my owl thing quietly started...

Australian roast and Mayonnaise

2009-11-28T18:07:00.003+11:00

I love old recipes and making things that people of previous generations make. When I make one, I feel connected to the past and the people that have gone before. I feel that, even thou I might not have known them personally, or know their name, in a way making their recipes ensures that they arn't forgotten, and that their work continues on.

In a way, things like cooking and knitting connect me with the past and with hundreds of generations of women who's lives were sort of like mine. If you strip away the specifics, most people live very similar lives, searching for happiness, working to put food on the table and a roof over their heads, having family and friends and all taking the journey of life together.

Using old recipes and patterns, old skills and techniques, ensures that there is another generation keeping the torch alive and passing it on. Just like before.

In the spirit of this, I'm going to share two recipes, one my grandmothers (Australian Roast) and one my great grandmothers (Mayonnaise). A few years before she died, my grandmother sat down and wrote out as many vegetarian recipes as she had handy, most were either her recipes or one handed down from her mother and grandmother. This tiny, spiral bound book is where I'm getting today's recipes from. I'm sorry to say however, there are no photos for this post, my camera batteries have died.

Australian Roast
(I'm not sure why this is an "australian roast" but that's what it's called in my book)
1 cup of haricot beans (can use lentils or other beans)
1/4 lb grated cheese
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 grated carrot
1 egg

soak beans overnight. Next day pressure cook beans 1/2 hour (if you don't have a pressure cooker, you can boil then simmer them until tender) Strain and mash well, add all the other ingrediants. Mix with egg. Shape into a roll, bake in a moderatly hot oven 1/2 hour.
X Good. (my grandmother always rater her recipes so she could remember her favorites. I've seen it range from no note, through Good, X Good and XX Good, so this one's pretty high on the rating scale. At least one of my sisters has continued this tradition in her own recipe books.)

Mayonnaise
My mother's Mayonnaise, keeps 12 months or more
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons mustard
2 teaspoons flour
salt and pepper

mix all together

add 1 cup of water and 1 egg.

Beat all together well. Gradually add 1 cup of vinigar, heat until nearly boiling, stirring constantly. DONT LET IT BOIL

That's where the recipe ends, but to finish off, let cool a little then pour into sterilized jars.

There's so much good stuff in that little cook book, I'd love to make them all at once. Reading the writing and thinking about the food she used to make puts me straight back into her kitchen with the dark brown wood paneling on the cupboards and the drawer she used to open to tell us how she used to keep this drawer full of plain flour and this drawer full of self raising flour because that was the amount of baking she used to do. Her kitchen was mostly brown and orange and was filled with little trinkets of who she was and where she'd been and I loved it there. She was one awesome old lady.

how awesome is this?

2009-11-22T20:05:00.005+11:00

found down an alley
in the CBD

There's something so sweet about it!

I've been making a bunch of props for next year's Halloween show, and I wanted to share a couple with you...

One dark night, the moon got tangled in a tree...

A wizard with his bubbling cauldron. I love the use of stuffing as the steam!

and

We're not sure if this is The Devil or just a little devil minion from Hell. But I'm sure we'll figure it out or he'll let us know.

I'm such a fan of these guys... And each new one I make becomes my new favourite, so I chop and change all the time. There's currently 13 of them, which is a perfect time to stop and share a couple!

Little Owls

2009-11-17T10:00:00.004+11:00

I've suddenly found I have an obsession for owls. It's a strange way to find out. I suddenly look around at the little guys I've got and what I love looking at and find that many of them are owls.

Damnit! I don't need another obsession, I've got quite enough, thank you!

However, having said that, I just finished my practicum at a primary school that had, as it's little mascot, an owl. I discovered this on the first day and took it as a Good Sign.

So I wanted to thank the two teachers that mentored me over the past month, so I made them both, you guessed it, little owls.

I wanted them both to be different, so I started with the one on the left, cutting out the individual feathers. It has wings too, you can see the wing on the right best, sticking out a little. Although I was happy with it, I felt I could do an owl a totally different way to see what happened. Thus the guy on the right. He looks a little like a tree is growing out the top of his head, but it's part tree and part feathers and I like the fact he has both. Bird and Habitat in one.

Side view, including tail!

The cool thing is that the second guy, the Tree Owl (ahaha, how great is that) sparked the next play! So I've been sewing like a whirlwind, and I'll put a couple of guys up as I go, to show you all. I'm really proud of the guys I"m making, they're ace!

Quick Draw McGraw

2009-11-01T14:58:00.004+11:00

When you're 20 minutes away from doing a lesson on shadows and you suddenly realise it's the perfect time for a puppet, you race around the classroom collecting various supplies. Thin card, a ruler, some split pins and some sticky tape. Some creative cutting and about 2 minutes and voila, you have a perfect illustration of the lesson you're about to give!

It went over really well, the kids loved it! Thinking maybe I should do a lesson on shadow puppets at the end.

Since the kids know I make puppets they've taken to bringing in puppets they have at home, both store bought and hand made. I've seen a sugar glider hand puppet, koala and emu finger puppets and the hand made sock puppet. Since they didn't have any glue, this displays awesome use of sticky tape to hold the yarn hair on:
Out of all the puppets they bought in, this one was my favourite. Also a good use of a single sock when it's pair goes missing in the wash...

Peg Dolls

2009-10-25T09:47:00.005+11:00

As part of of my teaching degree, we had to go to an excursion venue and then make a presentation about it in a little Expo at uni.

We chose Sovereign Hill and headed out there, it was a fantastic day filled with heaps of cool things to do and see. For those of you who don't know, Sovereign Hill is a small historic village constructed entirely to mimic the goldrush times in rural Victoria. If you ever have the chance to check it out, do so! There were a number of old and beautiful crafts on display including knitting, quilt making, embroidery, blacksmithing and more.

When we were putting together our display for the expo, I decided I wanted to make a little craft station where people could make peg dolls. I remember making them when I was small, and about half the students remembered them too, so it was a great nostalgic thing to do. A couple of students who swore they couldnt sew to save themselves had a go and were really pleased with the results!

This is the writeup that went with the activity:

Toys and games in the past

The tradition of making dolls out of wooden clothes pegs comes from a time when most families had little money to spend on things like toys. During the 19^th Century, peg dolls were very popular, even among the rich. One of the best-known collections of these belonged to the young Queen Victoria, but because they were relatively cheap, they were well within the reach of even the poorest families. Remnant shops often sold fabric scraps which were sometimes a floral design, or off cuts from curtains, rolled into bundles and sold for 1/2d. These scraps were then lovingly sewn by hand by the children into clothing for their peg dolls. Some families made them into peddler dolls adding little trinkets to the finished doll and sold them for pennies on the street.

Suggested activity: Make a peg doll

You will need:

A wooden 'dolly' type peg
A pipe cleaner
Scraps of material and wool
Scissors, glue, sharpie pens

Wind the middle of pipe cleaner a few times around the peg just below the 'neck'. Bend out the two ends to make arms, and twist the ends under to make hands. Wrap the material around the peg to make clothing and glue down. Glue the wool on for hair and draw a face with the sharpies.

This can be done as part of a 'history of toys' lesson, or a 'clothing of the past' lesson or simply a fun activity during the goldmining unit.

Below is three peg dolls made during the expo. You have a serving girl to the left, a convict man in the middle and a lady to the right. All in all a fun and highly successful activity to do!

My friends, I have been making puppets

2009-10-15T20:24:00.005+11:00

Teaching rounds are good but work-intensive, which is why I'm a little quiet around here at the moment...BUT

After our show Everything Will Be Ok, finished, it sparked a puppet making frenzy. I have embarked on attempting one of each style of puppet there is, from materials found around the home.

Firstly: The Bunraku style puppet from toilet paper rolls, foil, kebab sticks and wool:
There is a lot of controversy about use of the term "Bunraku". Either it's a certain style of puppet that usually takes two to three people to manipulate or it's a very specific style of puppetry that only ancient Japanese people can do, the secrets of making them are closely held and no-one in the Western world can know. Japanese puppeteers can train for up to 10 years before they're allowed to puppet anything other than a foot. This is why I have referred to this as a Bunraku 'style', rather than the actual puppet type, I don't tend to like to enter into fights that don't seem to matter. And, after all, they didn't have toilet paper rolls in ancient Japan. Dontcha just LOVE craft materials?

The next guy I made is a rod puppet from dowel, felt, some stuffing, a coat hanger, an old pillowcase and two buttons:

The wrists spin quite a lot, being due to the fact they're just plaited wool. I'd want to look at another way to do it next time. But these are all test puppets so I can learn to make them and we can learn to puppet them. So for a first effort, making it all up as I went along, it's not too bad.

And this rod puppet from pencils, scraps of leather, some left over scraps of the aforementioned pillow case, a wooden bead and another coat hanger:

This guy (and his lady puppet) are tiny, about a hand and a half high. The culmination of hot glue and thick leather in the joints have made them both a little hard to manipulate, but I've learned heaps from it to make the next lot.

I've got the rod puppet and the bunraku style puppet photographed step by step, I can write a tutorial for either but the bunraku is pretty damn easy to make. You imagine the joints of a human and stab corresponding holes in the toilet rolls, thread them through with wool... And if you happen to have half a role of cheap aluminum foil the head practically makes itself! Left over theatrical props are dreadfully useful for this type of thing.

I'm such a fan of puppets. Little inanimate objects that are endowed with life, it's right down my alley!

Cute crafts and exciting craft book news

2009-10-11T19:40:00.004+11:00

Friends of mine have an adorable daughter who turned one on the weekend, so a present was in order! Her favourite hairstyle is what my mother used to refer to as Whalespouts, and since she's so horribly cute, I figured I'd continue my grandmother's tradition and make her a portrait doll.

I loved the upside down bows and the heart. And her parents recognised it instantly as a portrait doll, which is always heart warming!

In other, exciting news, Garth Johnson (of Extreme Craft) long awaited book 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse is almost here! Featuring a bunch of artists and their crafts from totally reused materials. I'm in it, somewhere, so grab a copy when it's released, or preorder it from Amazon... EEE!!!!

ebay, craft and exhibitions

2009-10-02T13:22:00.004+10:00

I've just put a copy of the Gentle Arts book up on ebay! I found it today in a dusty old shop that hardly anyone frequents, and I couldn't just let it sit there.

Go HERE to check it out.

If you're into the history of craft, and the history of Australian craft, you should really consider it. It's an awesome book and I'm delighted to have a copy in my library. You can read my thoughts while reading it in this post.

In other craft related news, Rayna from Radical Cross Stitch has an opening tonight at Platform Gallery as part of the Interventionist Guide to Melbourne. If you're around, go check it out!

An example of Rayna's awesome work:
(Originally uploaded on Radical Cross Stitch)

This is the most beautiful thing I have seen in a long time

2009-10-01T10:22:00.000+10:00

It's a russian visual story about a man that falls in love with the moon and spends his life with her. How spectacular is that?

Found via Art Decadence blog, original post here

puppet books I want to buy...

2009-10-01T09:01:00.000+10:00

Puppetry: A World History

Strings, Hands, Shadows: A Modern Puppet History (DIAgram (Detroit Institute of Arts))

Puppets, Masks, and Performing Objects

1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse: Remake, Restyle, Recycle, Renew (1000 Series)

Review for Everything Will Be Ok

2009-09-28T09:05:00.003+10:00

In Everything Will Be Okay Sayraphim Lothian joins Robert Reid to perform a sixty minute show of tabletop puppetry. The performance is the surreal conception of Reid, artistic director of Melbourne’s Theatre in Decay.

As I entered the theatre for the performance, the usher advised that I should, “Listen with my eyes, and see with my ears.” I’m still not exactly sure what that means, however I can say that the visual experience of the show is very pleasing. An interesting combination of pre-recorded voiceovers, Thom Yorke style sounds, numerous kitsch props and meticulous timing, Everything Will Be Okay is a unique and engaging production.

While the visual aspects of the show are superb, the story itself is somewhat difficult. The plot follows an expatriate Australian named Doug who lands in Peru where he joins a political revolutionary group. While Doug struggles to understand the existential type dilemmas his life is full of, his girlfriend is humorously psychoanalyzed by a fat cat in sunglasses. Fractured narrative is tricky in film and literature, and even more so in theatre where the audience needs significant markers to follow the story. Reid acknowledges this fact and does attempt to give a sense to the disjunction; however I still found myself confused at times.

The show is however very funny, poking fun at Kevin Rudd and various pop culture phenomena. The size of the audience and proximity to the puppets makes for an intimate setting where you feel performed to rather than performed at. At the end of the hour I came away thinking that Everything Will Be Okay is unlike anything else you’re likely to catch at this year’s Fringe.

by Regan Brantley
http://www.expressmedia.org.au/buzzcuts.php?buzz_review_id=328

The show is an exploration of the form, utalising different kinds of puppetry and creating beautiful vignettes. It's like a flash animation on stage. If you're thinking of coming, seats are limited, so book now!

Fringe Fringe Fringe

2009-09-27T13:05:00.004+10:00

Our Fringe show Everything Will Be Ok is going really well. We're playing to extremely appreciative audiences, they hang around afterwards and ask lots of questions, about the ideas behind it, about the puppetry involved, about how long it took to build, all sorts of things. They tell us that it's absorbing and magical, which is what we were going for. It's always so wonderful when things work out the way you'd planned. If you're in Melbourne any time during the next week, come along! 9:15 at 45 Downstairs (little Collin St, Melbourne) Weds to Sat next week or 7:15 tonight.

Here is a photo of one of the scenes, where Debbie is talking to Ayn Rand and Jose Arguelleus.

A couple more shots of the show can be found on Flickr here.

The opening for the exhibition I've curated for Fringe, Echo's Lost was also beautiful, a number of people braved the rain and the cold to stand under Circa's awning to watch the unveiling. I don't want to post complete photos, I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I thought I might give you a taste of the show.

(From left to right, Sayraphim Lothian (half out of shot),
Penny Neil (back) and Angelica East (front)

The artists involved are

SaraMae Belle Page, Allira Cornell, Angelica East, Claire Falkingham, Vanessa Heaton, Soncha Iacono, Sayraphim Lothian, Rebecca Miller, Penny Neil, Ilona Nelson, Roslyn Quin and Beth Robinson

So come along and see some beautiful art. The front window of Circa Vintage Store, 102 Gertrude St, Fitzroy.

And over at Miss Pen Pen's blog, she's posted about a wonderful book called Yarnbombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain, which features photos of the Doiley tree outside her shop, Cottage Industrys, on Gertrude St. It looks like an awesome book and I'm heading out to get a copy this week.

If in Melbourne, you can pick up your own copy from Artisan Books on, you guessed it, Gertrude St across from Dantes (and you can check out Echo's Lost at the same time :) otherwise you can get it from Amazon here.

Everything Will Be Ok.

2009-09-25T08:19:00.002+10:00

So, last night was opening and it went pretty damn well. There was an audience of 6, and for a show that only seats 12, that’s pretty damn good.

The biggest thing for me was that last night was my first ever night performing. I come from a visual arts background, and although I’ve worked on a number of theatre shows, it’s only ever been making props or puppets, running around backstage, that sort of thing. I’ve never wanted to be an actor, never wanted to be a performer of any kind. I’ve only performed once with puppets (weird, I know, for someone who’s so keen on making them) and that was to a friendly, tiny audience after a puppeteering class.

Never having really been on stage, I’ve always had stage fright at the very thought of doing it. So when Rob suggested that we would do the puppeteering, that was a little nerve racking. And the first couple of rehearsals were worry-causing, as I moved Doug here and the moon there, I wondered how the hell I was ever going to remember all of it, let alone do it competently.

But last night was surprisingly good. We set up, costumed up, turned off the house lights (the normal, every day lights for those not in the Know) and on with the theatre lights and started our pre-show pattern. People filled in, and I wasn’t a bit nervous. It helped, I think, that 4 out of the 6 people were friends, but the two people I didn’t know didn’t faze me. I knew what I was doing, I knew what needed to be done next, and if I didn’t we have a running sheet which reminds us. I was confidant, and it was, as the title of the show suggests, all Ok.

I think having a recorded soundtrack really helps. One, I’m not actually doing the voices, which would be a whole other layer of complication, plus there’s only two of us and although Rob’s pretty good at accents, I’m not. In fact, when we first met, about 9 years ago, I could only do one. And it was a Drunken English Pirate. Quite specific, I grant you, but it was the only one I’d worked out. Now a days, with much more exposure to theatre guys, accents, telly and the like, I’m a little better at a couple, but nowhere near good enough to pull off half the roles in a puppet show. The other reason I’m a fan of recorded soundtracks is that it ensures that every night it’s going to be exactly the same. The music will dip and soar as it did every time in rehearsal, the voices will come in at exactly the same time every night and say exactly the same thing. This makes it much smoother and easier for all involved. It also makes the pressure on the actors less. Instead of having to commit to 6 weeks of rehearsals and then a 2 or 3 week run, we asked them to turn up to Josh’s place one Saturday afternoon and we recorded the whole lot in a couple of hours. Go Josh!

I was listening to a random but well known comedian on the radio the other day, and he was saying that after performing, he gets this huge buzz and can’t sleep, especially on good nights. And it’s the tradition in New York after opening night on broadway that they go to a cafe and drink champaign, waiting for the reviews to be published in the morning. Armed with this knowledge, I did wonder what it would be like once we’d taken our final bows.

So last night, we finished, and they applauded and we started packing up as they started filling out. There was a few who hung around, including one of the women we didn’t know, and talked about the show for a while, and then we continued packed up. Packing up takes about half an hour, so I had time to think. It had been a huge day, I’d opened an exhibition I’ve curated earlier in the night (Echo’s Lost, in the front window of Circa Vintage Store, 102 Gertrude St, Fitzroy) and then we’d gone on to preview Everything. I was glad it had gone so well, and glad that the audience liked it. I was interested in the feedback, that the plot was actually followable (we had been less than certain on that point) and that they felt it was magical. I was glad we’d made something so beautiful, and was super glad it had worked like we’d hoped. But I wasn’t over the moon, or on a high or anything else. I was pleased but tired, like after a nice day at the beach (but, you know, without the sunburn or the sand in your knickers) and I just wanted to go home.

On Broadway they celebrate with bottles of champaign, bunches of flowers and staying out all night long. We drove home, stopping at the Sev to buy a icecream, and went to bed.

Rockstars we may not be, but gosh darn it, we make a good show.

Everything Will Be Ok Details on Melbourne Fringe website

(original post on Terrible Comfort's blog)

tutorial - making felt finger puppets of well known people

2009-09-16T15:27:00.005+10:00

This one is so simple and quick, which is the way I like 'em. All you need is some suitable coloured felt and some thread and scissors.

This time the brief was a finger puppet of our own Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, but you can use this for anyone at all. To make a finger puppet of someone, or indeed a doll or anything else, really you want the boiled down, essence of that person. You don't want to have to spend a year adding hundreds of the tiniest details to convey the person when you could do it with a couple of stitches in a line.

So to find a simple image that's recognisable as your chosen celebrity, the easiest way is to find a professional who's already done it for you. Political cartoons in newspapers, for example, are perfect for any politician, a quick google search of "Kevin Rudd Cartoon" brings up heaps of examples. Spend a little time looking over them, you want a simple, not really detailed drawing that perfectly captures your celeb. If you don't recognise the person in the drawing, don't use it.

For Kev, I'm going to use this image:

It's by Mark Knight from the Herald Sun, and it comes from here.

My next suggestion is to redraw the face for yourself. Even if you have poor drawing skills (like me), a quick drawing of it will help you understand the shapes you're about to create. I copied the shape of the head, and then drew the hair over the top of that. Don't worry if it's not Van Gogh, no one's gunna see it (you know, unless you put it on your blog :)

Even though Mr Knight's cartoon is a simplified version of our Kev, I decided to simplify it further. Really all that's needed to suggest Kev is the facial shape, the blonde styled hair and the glasses. A suit will help suggest him further, but that comes a bit later on in the process.

So I've cut out his face shape in a pale pink felt, and then copied the hair shape in yellow. Then I'll stitch the hair to the head in tiny yellow stitches.

Next is the glasses. I liked the idea of the fringe falling over the glasses rim, so I stitched it thus.

Eyeballs are next, a couple of tiny bright blue stitches is all you need. And that's it for the face. Now all you need is the body. You can use a finger sized tube of felt, or for this project I wanted him on a glove. The suit is a blue rectangle of felt with the corners snipped off and hot glued down and the tie is two red triangles.

Simple!

(The clever ones among you will notice that this finished Kev is a different version than the example one in the tute, please don't send me emails about it! It's because there were quite a number of Kevs made and this was just the one I happened to photographed when finished. You get all get a gold star each!)

Tutorial - gold leafing and gold leafing round objects

2009-09-14T11:53:00.004+10:00

Gold leafing seems pretty tricky, but it's actually really simple. For the puppet play I'm working on we decided that we'll copper leaf some sticks, to give them a fancy edge. Which explains the photos :)

You'll need:
gold leaf (or silver or copper or whatever)
gold leaf adesive (can be purchased where ever gold leaf is sold)
matt varnish
a paintbrush you don't mind ruining
your object
and if your object is round, then some plastic food wrap

Step one:
Grab your object and paint the glue on. It'll go on blue/white, which makes it easy to see where you've covered and where you've missed.

Once the item is covered, you need to put it aside to dry. Once it dries, it will go clear and you'll know it's ready to use. Don't fret, it dries tacky or sticky (no pun intended) and that's how the foil sticks to the object.

Step two:
Make a cup of tea and have a bit of a sit while you wait for it to dry.

Step three:
Once the object's glue as gone clear, lay it down on newspapers on your worksurface. If you are foiling for rounded objects, lay out a big strip of plastic food wrap.

step four:
Now you need the gold foil out of it's packet. Make sure all windows and doors are shut, even the slightest breeze will make this whole process almost impossible. Open the packet and take out the whole lot very carefully. There's always paper layers between each sheet. Peel one sheet off, then carefully place the rest of the foil sheets back in the packet. If your object is much smaller than the foil sheet (the sheets are less than A5) then it's probably best to cut the sheet to size and place the rest of it back in the packet. Here I've cut the foil a bit wider than I've estimated the diameter of the stick will be.

Step four part B:
Again, for rounded objects, I've laid the copper foil in an approximation of the shape of the stick on the wrap. If you have a flat item, lay the foil gently down onto the item. As soon as the foil touches the glue, it'll be stuck there forever. But the appearance of foil is always a little wrinkly and that's ok. You can use a clean paint brush to smooth the foil down, but you'll probably find that it gets sticky with glue very quickly, and then the foil will stick to the brush more than it sticks to the item. Try using a little square of plastic wrap that you can throw out and get a clean one when it gets sticky from the glue. Which it will. Trust me.

Step five:
Here is the clever bit for rounded stuff. Place the item down onto the foil and then pick up the plastic, item, foil and all. You can now wrap the foil around the stick carefully using the plastic to keep your fingers away from the glue. If there's any spaces on the item that hasn't been covered in foil, you can cut a little more from the sheet and place it in the space.

Step six:
Now remove the item from the plastic wrap and run your fingers up and down it, smoothing down any foil that might still be sticking up a little.

Step seven:
Paint the varnish on, which will protect the foil and thus your object. Place it aside for the varnish to dry, and you're done!

I am in love with both of these artists

2009-09-07T17:34:00.004+10:00

I was thinking about things I could do with my classes today, and I remembered somewhere on Craftster (I think) a girl was translating her childhood drawings into dolls. They looked incredible! So I decided to find some children's drawings on the net so I could start thinking about doing it as well.

I discovered Lizette Greco who creates softies from her children's drawings. Check these out:

images from CultCase

How wonderful are they? I'm so sold on this as an idea. There's this great resource called Build Your Wild Self where you can make an almalgum animal from elements from heaps of different animals, it's really cool. So you could do that with the class and then make one of them, but then there's issues of jealousy as to whose gets made, so maybe building it all with the class is a better idea.

I also found Yeondoo Jung, who used to be a kindergarten teacher and he collected something like 1700 drawings over the years. He then analyzed them all, and decided on which ones he was going to recreate. He got teenagers from the local high school to be in them, got fashion designers to make the costumes and created all the sets himself.

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty
(images from Yeondoo's site)

How awesome are they?
I love children's drawings, and I'm really looking forward to being in the classroom. I'm really looking forward to being inspired by them, and learning from them as much as they're learning from me!

When you have the day off...

2009-09-05T20:19:00.004+10:00

When it's no longer raining outside,

(another prop for Everything Will Be Ok, our Fringe puppet show. More details here, from the Fringe website)

When the sun is shining and it's the weekend, the wearing of loudly patterned clothing is required, to announce to the world that you are indeed on your day off.

Items such as the following is approprate:

This was made by Becclebee of Marjory Jane from an old 60s curtain she found in an op shop. How good is the material? It closes with a wrapping motion to the front of the skirt, which is decorated with buttons Becclebee inherited from our grandmother. It's an awesome pattern that she copied from a skirt she bought in Nepal. I'm a big fan of the skirt and the pattern, which is why I've ended up with it. Becclebee and I have a continuous flowing wardrobe between us.

And once you've annouced to the world, all day, that you're having the day off, what could be better than cooking yourself a delicious dinner? Because I wanted to try something new, I turned to the Handmade Help recipe book, and picked the Butter Chicken recipe from Karen Roberts (page 60 for those of you who already have the book).

The dinner turned out beautifully, and I'm really happy with it! I added in mushrooms and tofu, because I'm such a fan, but the recipe base is awesome. I'm not going to tell you how I made it however, the whole book, stuffed full of loving family recipes, will only cost you $20 from the website, and you'll also be supporting a good cause. All profits from the book go to the victims of this years bushfires. So go buy one and then you'll have the ability to make these wonderful family recipes for yourself.

POstal goodness

2009-09-04T14:25:00.000+10:00

The other day I recieved something wonderful in the mail.

I'd been talking to a friend of mine's mother, who knits her grandson all sorts of clothes, and I jokingly said to her "Oh, you should knit me some socks while you're at it!" She laughed, I laughed, and the story was forgotten.

Until the other day, when I recieved this in the mail:

How beautiful are they? They're actually purple and orange, the camera couldn't capture the colour properly. HOw wonderful is she, to have gone away and knitted me socks?

I was so touched. So I'm going to make her some jam in return.

In random news, my article on how to organise an exhibition is now up at Artstuff (artstuff.net.au) If you haven't seen it already you can view it here.

And the lovely lady behind DELicious Designz featured my marionette a couple of months ago (I only just found it) so thank you! You can see the post here and check out some of her wonderful jewellery at the same time...

Echo's Lost is bowling along nicely, I have about half the works on my desk as we speak. I know I say this every time, but it's going to be such a beautiful exhibition! You can see all the details on the Fringe website here. Drop by and check it out, it goes for the whole 3 weeks of Fringe...

the space in Echo's Lost

2009-08-30T17:33:00.000+10:00

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we've had an artist pull out at the last minute from Echo's Lost. If anyone wants to participate in the show in the suddenly vacant space, email me at them[at] omnificassembly.com. Details of Echo's Lost are at http://www.omnificassembly.com/echoslost.html

Crafty types going out exploring

2009-08-27T09:15:00.003+10:00

So we were learning about animation the other day, and teaching it to kids. I got so excited by the idea I went home and made one myself.

Presenting:
The craft of eating grapes

It was really quite simple, I set up the camera on a tripod and pointed it at the floor, I cut out a few simple shapes from felt (which I knew would stick together nicely and not slide all over the place, go team felt!) and placed them down, took a photo, moved it a little, took another photo and so on. There are 19 frames in this, plus the frame at either end with the credits, which I did by importing the photo into PhotoShop and simply adding text.

Took me about an hour and a half all up.

Then I put it together in a free animation software. Easy! And the entire project only added a little more glitter to the disco floor.

I was surprised and pleased at how easy it actually was. Try it, try it with your kids, go forth and animate! (now that's the most I've ever sounded like Dr Frankenstein)

Small musings

2009-08-20T09:40:00.004+10:00

I'm in a strange situation. I'm stupidly overworked at uni, so I'm not spending all day crafting like I have in the past. And when I'm not doing uni work, I'm working on craft for the play, which I can't show you because then it'll spoil the surprise. So bloggically it looks like I'm not doing much, when behind the scenes I'm working like a dog
(should be sleeping like a log...)

Ahh well.

Our house is covered in glitter. There was a small explosion from one of the bigger glitter containers and now our house is disco. No matter how much you clean and vaccum, the glitter remains. Very pretty, but very scratchy when it gets into socks.

This is a lot of glitter for someone who doesn't have kids. And this isn't even all of it

Echo's Lost is kicking along. Two of the works are already in the mail! I'm so looking forward to this show. It's been a really easy ride this time around actually, after the 4 months of hard work for Totem, this one is breezing by. Every artist this time are well acquainted with exhibitions and all but one I've worked with before, so it's beautiful. Remind me to organise small exhibitions all the time! Fliers arrive this week and, for the first time, I'm going to pay someone to distrubute them. I've done a LOT of walking into cafes and asking to put down fliers over the years and this year I've decided that I'm too old and too busy to do it. So I'll pay someone else too. It's a big chunk of time and effort I can save, so I'm all for it.

Ok, homework time...

Things to eat, things to see, things to marvel at

2009-08-18T15:42:00.004+10:00

A Book About Death is an exhibition about to be held in New York of artist postcards, of which I'm a part.

They've just put up a wall of images for those who wish to view it a different way than their blog. Check it out! Otherwise, my image can be found on their blog here.

In other news last night I had for dinner some home made little pies, filled with leftover curry,
with some of Sadie's chutney.
I also had some mushrooms fried with garlic
with some of Sadie's chutney.
And some fresh peas
with some of Sadie's chutney.

And lo, I felt that it is good chutney.

And this was out a window of an empty house and I thought there was something wordlessly beautiful about it. A pot that can grow sticks and autumn leaves is a pretty wonderful pot.

Grow, little pot, grow...

much, much homecooked goodness...

2009-08-16T18:01:00.005+10:00

Can't you just smell it?
It's 5 jars (and one small fridge container) of Sadie and Lance's Sadie's Tomato Relish. It's a simple onion and tomato mixture with some malt vinegar (except if you suddenly realise after you've already been down the shops that you don't have any and instead turn to brown vinegar) and some spices.

Tangy, leaves a lingering warm finish and I can't wait to try some on pies, eggs, curry, toast or anything else that needs relish.

I love the net. It's the neighborhood community for the 21st century. Sharing recipes, patterns, tips and talk all over the electronic back fence.

Gosh, a winner

2009-08-11T17:25:00.002+10:00

Last week Cate from the wonderful Polka Dot Rabbit had a give away on her blog to win these ace embroidered kitten mittens. I entered it, and won!

How nice is that? They arrived today in the mail, with gift card and the cutest little badge out of retro looking material.

Such a wonderfully warming package. Thank you again Cate!

Ah, time flies when you're busy as heck

2009-08-09T12:03:00.003+10:00

Oh my god. So the second week of uni has wizzed past, and I haven't posted in my blog for 7 days! I think that's probably a record since I started... I have been crafting alongside the study and stress, but again it's for the play so I can't show you finished projects.

How about a few teasers?

Materials: ink, cardboard, felt, thread.

Materials: cotton fat quarters, thread, willow ball

This is part of my Big West Festival entry, 140cm long piece of knitting. It goes from grey/green colour, through this beautiful rust, some green and some red patchs up to blue and white at the top for the sky. It's an abstract tree, which is fitting since it will be stitched to a real tree somewhere in the Western suburbs. After the festival I've been assured that there is a plan for all the knitting contrubuted, which makes me happy because there's a lot of work and care gone into them all and I'd hate for them to be just chucked out of shoved into a cupboard in an office somewhere never to see the light of day again.

And this one
finger puppets are such fun to make. Especially when it's for a play so you can hot glue them together rather than stitch, which would take SO much longer...

I can't wait for all the props to be done so we can photograph them scene after scene and I can share with you some of my favs!

Craftin along on the bus, yeah baby...

2009-07-31T11:24:00.003+10:00

I have so many things to do at the moment. I'm curating an exhibiton for Fringe, plus designing, building and rehersing for a seperate show, I'm studying full time (and you should SEE the amount of procribed readings, let along all the other readings I'm doing on my own) and I hardly have time to sit down.

However, i saw this the other day from the Big West Festival and couldn't help myself:

Calling all knitters…
Big West will be staging a large-scale knitting project as part of its 2009 Festival that will transform the landscape of Footscray from November 20 - 29. So we need to get knitting! We welcome anyone with a passion for knitting, from beginners to experts. Individuals and groups are welcome.

For all those interested in taking part, there will be two information and registration sessions:

Venue:	Dog Theatre, 42A Albert Street in Footscray
Information Sessions:	Monday 27 July, 2009 at 6pm - 7pm Tuesday 28 July, 2009 at 10.30am - 11.30am
RSVP:	Please RSVP your attendance and which session you will be attending to: General Manager Narelle Sullivan at narelle@bigwest.com.au

How could I say no? I didn't get to the info sessions, but I did email and recieve replies from Karen, the festival director. So I'm busily knitting in all my spare time. Which is pretty much on the bus and walking to class.

Check it out:

This was walking to the bus, travelling to uni, walking to class, walking back to the bus stop, travelling back and then walking back home. Look how much there is! Travelling, people, it's wasted crafting time! I'm telling you!

I love the bottom right hand corner, it's hard to see (damn missing camera cord again! I swear, I'm going to superglue it to the freaking computer, so this is a camera phone image again) but I grabbed some spare wool and there was less than a metre in a random green, so I knitted it in and was really, really pleased with the colour combination. The large amount of what I'm going to call 'tinsel green' is left over from some grass I knitted for the play we took to Edinburgh Fringe, although I'm not sure it was ever used.

And I'm also crocheting an orange and brown small rug for that 70s retro feel. So hilarious!

Teaching the young

2009-07-28T17:56:00.006+10:00

So yesterday was my second day of doing a Grad Dip in Primary School Teaching. I want to become an art teacher for kids. I'm really looking forward to it, every time they talk to us about curriculum in the lectures, my eyes widen at the thought of teaching this to children. I love it! I love the idea of helping them learn all of these subjects. But closet to my heart is art.

The Grad Dip is a general course, teaching the 100 or so students how to be a regular Primary School teacher, teaching all the usual subjects, maths, English, science, humanities, so I figure that I just have to do some extra curricular studies to keep pace with what I'm learning but from an art related angle. So yesterday I took out a couple of books from the library about being an art teacher and what to teach and I'm reading them every chance I can get.

One of our assignments for Humanities is to go on excursion with a couple of other students to an excursion venue of our choice. Then we come back and during Expo Day we make a stall and report on it to everyone else who in turn have gone to other places and will tell us all about it. We've chosen Soverign Hill, which I haven't been to since I was a child. As well as the photographs, teaching resources, posters and fliers we'll bring back from our day into History, I also want to plan out a couple of art related activities you could set the children. As an art teacher would teach across all years, I want to come up with a couple of different art-related tasks that different ages could do.

There is lots of teaching related learning (how to be a teacher, how to teach) and a number of these are obviously across the board techniques, so they'll stand the student teachers in good stead whether they want to be a PE or art teacher or a general Primary School teacher. One of the things we were set as homework to do was read this article by Sir Ken Robinson. It talks about how creativity is neglected in society and especially in education, and how that needs to change. He wrote a book about it, which I went and bought from amazon. The link in down in a new section called Teacher Resources on your left.

When I first thought about going into teaching, I went and looked for blogs to let me know what it was going to be like, and dishearteningly, I found very little out there. It seems that a couple of people wanted to keep blogs as to what it was like

I think that he's right that the education system doesn't seem to foster or even appreciate creativity as it did/does subjects that are more 'intellectual'. It does seem to me, however, that Robinson uses 'creativity' and 'artistic' interchangeably and I don't agree that they're the same thing. Creativity is about thinking outside the box, coming up with new ways of thinking about things, and that has applications right across the board. To invent new things, come up with new ideas and theories, you need to think creatively about a problem. You can't invent something by following the same path as those who have gone before. Somewhere you have to turn left or right and forge a new path. And that requires creativity.

It's a huge change but it's really exciting!

This is an imagination I admire

2009-07-27T08:58:00.003+10:00

This is wonderful, one of the best softies I've seen in a long time. Welcome to chouette treehouse network, a collaboration between Cat Rabbit and Ghostpatrol.

I've always loved Ghostpatrol's work, he seems to envisage a world that no one else had seen before, populated with children with horns and huge beasts, drawn delicately on pasties around the town. I've only recently discovered Cat Rabbit and I love her softies. There are a variety of softies out there, but somehow she captures a mix of weirdness and innocence, they seem to inhabit their own inner world, looking peaceful and open in their oddness, rather than the uncomfortable softies out there. You know the ones I mean, they end up looking furtive or unhappy that they've been called into exsistance by artists who don't care that their softies are awkward in their ill fitting skins.

Cat Rabbit, on the other hand, captures amazing experessions with a skill that others should envy.

Below is one of my current obsessions, an owl, veiwed through Cat Rabbit's eyes

I'm so glad I found her work! All images found on Cat Rabbit's website, here

2009-07-26T13:26:00.002+10:00

Yesterday Jude and I attended a High Tea in Kyneton. It was organised by the Zetland Masonic Lodge up there for charity, raising funds for the Starlight Foundation. I'd never been to a High Tea before, and I was delighted by the experience. To your right was my place setting, note the beautiful tea cup, the little gift wrapped in a delicate lace handkerchief, the pile of cakes on a cake rack and the flowers.

There were about 150 ladies there, the event was for the ladies of Kyneton, and it amazed me to find out that each and every one of the tea cup, saucer and small plate sets belonged to one lady, the lady who organised it all. What an incredible collection! Each table of 10 also had a beautiful embroidered tablecloth, this shot is detail of one of them:How beautiful is that? Here is another setting, with a range of beautiful crockery in the background:

The treats served up were spectacular. As well as the cake stand packed with sweet goodies, there were home made scones and cakes that came to the table.

There were a number of raffles and auctions to raise money, I bought some raffle tickets but as we left before the drawer I gave them to a friend of mine. I wonder if she won anything! The auction prizes included some beautiful craft, quilts by local ladies, several art dolls and a number of hand made cushions as well as donated items from various businesses such as gardening gloves and gumboots (all decorated with painted roses), jewelery, pajamas (printed with flowers), tea sets (painted with roses) and more. There was much hilarity as the gentlemen of the lodge came out to parade the items one by one, often wearing the dresses/scarves and other items.

There was also numerous cups of tea and coffee drunk by one and all. There was at least one tea pot on each table which was quickly and constantly replaced by the gents as the pots were drained dry. I burnt the bejesus out of my fingers by accepting a metal teapot by spout and bottom (the earnest young man was holding the handle) and managed to only spill a little of it on the table as my fingers blistered. Below is one of the amazingly beautiful tea cosies, this one had a knitted black body and was covered with crocheted pansies.

The lady who organised it was wonderful. She explained that although the teacups ranged from the 1880s to the 1950s, she loved the fact that they were being used. She doesn't mind if occasionally one gets broken by someone, because the joy they bring people is worth it. Also, she argued, these were all built to be used, so hiding them away in cupboards negates the very object.

Her collection has been shown at the Melbourne Museum, and will be on display in the Kyneton Museum in Feb next year. I'll keep you posted with dates and addresses!

The most beautiful thing she said was that bringing out teacups like these frees up people's stories. Older people reminise about High Teas they attended, and pass stories down to the younger generation. I thought this was a wonderful thing to note, as it had jsut happened at my table! The oldest lady had jsut finished telling us how as a very young girl she would go to High Tea at her grandmother's house in the 1940s. Monday was wash day, Tuesday was baking day and Wednesday was High Tea. I had read that in The Gentle Arts, but I was thrilled to hear confirmation in person! She told us about the sponges that were made and consumed (jam and cream in the middle or passionfruit icing on top) and that all the ladies would be in their finest. And that was the wonderful thing about this High Tea, all the ladies were in their racing hat and fasinator finest. It was so beautiful to see!

I highly encourage anyone who has the oppitunty to attend a High Tea to do so! It's such a wonderful tradition and a beautiful specticle.

so naughty, and yet totally work safe!

2009-07-21T17:32:00.004+10:00

Oh, oh, OH, I love new projects. I love the excitement that builds as I contemplate the things I'll make a do for a new project. I love the exciting 'new'ness of a new project, because I'm so used to the older projects I'm currently working on. I love everything about a new, good exciting project. And I always want to drop everything else and leap into the new one. Which is always dangerous, because older things need to be finished too.

But so I have a new project in the making. Can you tell? :) I can't tell you ANYTHING about it, not a thing, because it's way too new yet, but I DO have to show you an image I'm working on for it, because I think it's beautiful, and way too good to keep to myself. Plus, it's not the finished product, so it's a BIT like not spoiling the surprise, but still, it's a bit naughty. Can I jsut say, how much fun are photo booths?

Oh my god, I am so in love with this image...

New art

2009-07-20T10:51:00.004+10:00

So it's finally finished. A while back I was commissioned to make two artworks on the theme of HEART. Due to a huge bundle of red tape, I'm still awaiting payment for one of them.

Payment is often a difficult thing. People don't seem to understand that art takes time and materials, and these things cost money. Some buyers demand the art NOW and don't seem to care when the money will come to you. In the mean time, there's still rent and bills to pay and food and more materials to buy. I can't imagine another industry where an invoice can be 6 months outstanding and still no movement on it, while the client already has the work.

But so anyway, complaining aside, I've finished the second HEART artwork, the one that still hasn't been paid for, and it's at the framers now. I'm going to deliver it on Friday to the client, it's always a bit of a danger handing over the work before the money has appeared but it's been such a long drawn out process that I just want it finished (ok, so maybe I hadn't finished complaining about it quite yet :)

But please welcome to the stage: Big Ol' Black Steam Train, a framed embroidery piece with antique lace and silk.

The heart image itself was pretty easy to source, I google imaged HEART and found a big anatomical drawing of it, printed it out and there was my image. If you go onto etsy and type in HEART, you'll see really only two images over and over, and this is one of them. Funnily enough, when I was researching heart designs in Feb, I notices that a number of etsy sellers made sure to say that the heart they're selling has been hand drawn by them and is unique, when it's clearly not.

And that's a fascinating thing about the internet. Plagerism is as easy to spot as a google search is to do. And that's where most people will have gone to get their image/essay/article whatever. They forget that if they can do a search to find information, that everyone else connected to the internet can too. In student essays, people forget that the teacher has probably set this essay before and students have already done the copy-and-paste method of essay writing and handed it in before. I have to admit, when I was at uni and the internet was only for freaks, weirdos and geeks, and even they didn't understand how to use it properly, I went online and stole bits of writing from all over and wove it together as an essay, I was lucky, this was a long time ago, when computers had tiny monitors that were black and orange, and my photography lecturer didn't spot the cheatery. As I recall it was only one essay too, because then I figured out the best way to learn was actually do it myself. Which is something parents and teachers tell you for years but you have to wait for your own blinding flash. Why is it so hard to accept other people's wisdom dammit? It'd make stuff so much easier...

Anyway. So I'm also working the props for the play, and I figured I'd do a casual My Creative Space for you. I live in a tiny 2 roomed cottage and I've only jsut gotten my desk here. So before that, it's all about what you can do on the floor. So to your right is My Creative Space. In the photo is my grandmother's huge range of embroidery thread I inherited, all carefully wrapped in seperate colours. My grandmother recylced everything she could, so most of the threads are wrapped around old Christmas Cards she cut to size. There's also a design for embroidery on the paper, mt little black sewing box, a small upright wall with windows (awaiting wall paper), some feathers, a Radical Cross Stitch pattern for a bike that also lives in the embroidery box and, of course, the essential snacks. It's back aching work, working on the floor, but sometimes you jsut gotta work where you can.

now, it's Art Selling Girl!

2009-07-17T11:07:00.005+10:00

Everyone has a superhero name, and mine changes weekly. This week it's Art Selling Girl.

One of my works sold from my Gallery Obscura show! One Shot, at your right, sold unframed. Yay! I love, love LOVE selling work for a number of reasons. One, the money is always nice. Two, it's always uplifting that someone likes your work enough to buy it, take it home and put it on their wall, and Three, the more stuff that sells the less art I have to take home, which is great. One of the things about being an artist is that you end up with a hell of a lot of art. It's good, because art is a wonderful thing to be surrounded by, but god damn it takes up a lot of space!

I also sold an artwork on etsy, since I've been moving I'm having a sort of art garage sale on etsy, I've put up old works I don't really need anymore but would hate to throw out. I did toss a bunch of artworks too, but some I know will find someone out there to love them. So one of those has gone too. One less in the storage container, which is great.

Gallery Obscura is also having a VIP night and they want me to to a talk on digital art work. I don't know a lot about digital stuff, so I have to now do a bunch of research. But that's fine, I'm ok with knowing more about the artforms I use, as you've probably guessed! But it appears that although digital stuff is usual for the advertising and computer game world, it's not anywhere near as wide spread in the art world. So it'll be an interesting adventure to learn about it.

Art Selling Girl... aaaaaaaaaWWAAAAAYYYY!!!!!

How things all connect together. And how things are lovely

2009-07-14T12:17:00.004+10:00

I went to Brown Owls last night, it's such a wonderful thing. Sitting in a room filled with people who are jsut as interested in craft as you are. The lady next to me was granny squaring her away towards a beautiful white, gray and dark gray scarf. The lady next to her (the noise in the room meant I missed their names) was sewing little magnets to cute pear covered kitchen curtains so she can fold it up during the day. It was nominally an embroidery night, so I took the peacocks I bought the other day from Kristen Doran. After 2 hours, they're coming along.

Last night's meeting was filmed by Anna Brownfield, who is making a documentary called "Making it HANDMADE" and I ended up talking to her at the end of the night for quite some time about craft history in Australia and about her film making adventure. She was really interesting and I'm so glad I got to chat to someone jsut as interested in craft history as I am!

There was also a number of sort of raffle prizes given out at Brown Owls, So at the right is a huge piece of blue and white material i won (won! me! I've never won a raffle in my life, how lovely is it that my first was from Brown Owls!) which is big enough for a skirt, so that's what it's going to become. There were also printed embroidery patterns from (I think) Sublime Stitching, so I bought a simple one to do.

Anna was telling me about a knitter she'd found who used to knit huge bedspreads, but not with knitting needles but with PIANO WIRE.

Read that again, just in case you missed it. She wanted very, very fine knitting, and she couldn't get needles thin enough, so she knitted it on piano wire.

Mind boggling. I'm too impacient to knit big things with real needles, let along with such small needles! Imagine the stitch gauge she would have gotten with those!

This morning I'm back to making props for the Fringe show. It's with small puppets, so everything has to be small. I need to knit a balaclava for a character who's about the size of a GI Joe or Ken doll. I had in mind some crochet cotten I've got, maybe 2 ply or so. I tried rummaging up my smallest needles (and then using kebab stitcks.) but it still looked like fishnet. Toothpicks wern't an option because a) they're too short, the knitting would fall straight off the end, b) they're often cheap wood so they split and splinter easily and c) we don't have any. So instead I went to the Cupboard of Fun and grabbed out some wire. I did this once before, I was knitting a martini glass in the round and I wanted to be able to reduce the size of the circular part of the needle as the glass got smaller towards the stem. So I bought some thin plastic tubing used in jewelery and inserted wire into each end for the points. As the glass grew, I'd take the wire point out of the tube, snip a bit off and put the point back in. It worked, not elegantly, but it worked. The problem with using wire is that when it's cut, most of the time there remains a sharp lip in the middle of the wire where the cutters met. That can catch, stab through or even cut through the yarn. It's not a great solution but it's the best one I have at the moment.

So that's the balaclava, knitted on wire. It's now finished and looks great. I'm now making the two main characters a couch, out of polystryne, stuffing and material.

And this is really what I want to use this blog to show, that props and art dept of film, tv and movies is really just about craft.
And anyone can do it.

A fleeting second of Knitta Please

2009-07-13T09:11:00.003+10:00

Becclebee of Marjoryjane went to the National Gallery in Canberra this weekend and wandered around an exhibition of Knitta Please.

Knitta Please, for those of you who haven't come across them before, are a group of American crafty guys who looked in dispare at all their unfinished knitting projects laying around and wondered if there wasn't a good thing they could do with them. So they went out late at night and started sewing them around trees, to door handles, around street signs and public art, anywhere they could find.
From street tagging, they now exhibit in National Galleries around the world:
How incredible is that work? If you click on it to see it bigger, you'll see that each stripe is about scarf width. Mind boggling amount of knitting, even if they did knit in on a machine. It's awe inspiring!

More of Becclebee's photos can be found in her original post here and Knitta Please's website is here

Oh, surprises are so hard to sit on!

2009-07-09T13:42:00.003+10:00

So I've been making a lot of stuff recently, but it's all for an upcoming Fringe theatre show, so I can't really show you. Otherwise it wont be a surprise and a joy for those of you who see the show itself. I know I shared Totem dolls as I found them on the net, but I figured that with 130 dolls in the show that even if I shared 20 dolls, it still wasn't even a quarter of the eventual exhibition.

So instead I'll talk about something I found in a craft book. Bet you didn't see that coming!

The other day I was reading The Regency and Victorian crafts by Jane Toller. It's an interesting little book about the slightly less well known crafts the Victorians engaged in. It was published in 1969, which means all the photos are in black and white, which is always a little frustrating when the author is talking about the colour of the item, but that aside, it's an interesting read. Toller, an antiques dealer at the time of writing, described the the crafts of Shell Work, Paper Work, Feather Work, Hair Work, Felt-Work Pictures, Fluted Embroidery Work, Wax Modeling and 'Drizzling' or Parfilage.

Drizzling was one I hadn't come across before, it started in France before the revolution and made it's way to England. Participants in the craze worked with a simple tool to unravel the brocades, galloons, laces, tassels and braids of the earlier decades to extract the gold and silver threads. Often the precious threads were then sold, but only for a pittance. It seems that the addiction was not in the profit but in the amusement value. Imagine how many incredible pieces of material were unraveled and thus distroyed in this process!

The other interesting thing about the book is the theory Toller shares as to why it was considered correct for upper class ladies to be constantly absorbed in doing things. She writes that 'the grace and beauty of a woman's hands could be shown off to better advantage when empolyed with some suitable occupation. The proper movement of hands was an important part of the education of young females...' She goes on to note that everything young women were taught including the correct way of pouring tea and coffee, how to hold and manipulate a fan, embroidery, tatting, basically all their occupations were not created to ensure there were no idle hands for the devil to make mischief with, but instead to show off their dainty hands.

I've not come across that idea before. Pretty much everything I've read about why people crafted things in previous generations subscribes to one or more of the three following ideas:
Things that are Needed
Things that are Decorative
Things to Keep Busy

I found that really interesting, I always love a good theory.

Fast punch history lesson

2009-07-07T11:17:00.002+10:00

A friend of mine asked a question about doileys over email, and I sent her a Rambling Fast Punch History of Craft Lesson in reply. So I figured I'd share it.

___

The traditional spelling of doiley is actually D'oyleys. It would be a great comfort to me if you could use the correct term from now on.

AHAHAHAH
ahems. When I first came across the old spelling of it, I thought it was quite pretentious. A quick search on the net reveals that people think that it either comes from French or that Mr. D'oyley is credited as the first person to make them. I find that claim dubious, doilies are embroidered bits of cloth with crochet edges, and since they can't pin point where crochet comes from, the first printed examples of it are crochet patterns from the 1800s, and since they're already quite complicated, that suggests that people already knew how to crochet. And if they can't pin point when crochet happened, I'd think it's dreadfully difficult to then pin point who came up with the first doiley. Interestingly enough, the oldest surviving knitted items are amazing socks from the arab world with very complicated patterns, you can find photos here: http://home.earthlink.net/~urtatim/EgyptKnit1.html the one of the left is the historic one, the one on the right is the site's owners attempt at reproducing it. The bands of Kufic script on the toe, ankle, and top say, "Allah". Which is pretty cool. Nothing like knitting God into your socks. There is a theory that people knit right to left, even though we as a society write left to right, because we inherited the tradition of knitting from the arabs, and they write right to left and thus knitting would be natural to go that way too. But they also don't really know a lot about the origins of knitting. The history of knitting is hard to pin down because before people used two needles to knit, they used to knit with one in a process called nalbinding which arguement still rages wether that should be called knitting or whether it's the precursor to knitting (ooh, hackles rise and the blood flows in the craft world. It's a dangerous place to dwell, I'm telling you!). I've got a book in which the author claims that it's one of the earliest crafts, and has identified what he claims is the oldest surviving knitting needle, which is "probably pre Bronze age". However, it's very difficult to correctly identify an object as a knitting needle, because it's basically a long thin rod with a point at one end, and there's a bunch of things that fit that description including hair decorations and cooking implements.

____

And I just received The Subversive Stitch , Embroidery and the making of the femine, By Rozsika Parker so I can't wait to get started on that. I found it via a footnote in It keeps me sane: Women, craft, wellbeing by Enza Gandolfo and Marty Grace. I love how it's an adventure, finding clues and hints in one book to lead you onto the next. I'm a big fan! they call me Craftianna Jones...

Awesome finds from the outside world...

2009-07-07T08:53:00.002+10:00

I was racing around like a mad thing yesterday, going into every op shop and photography shop looking for frames for an artwork that's been commissioned and can I just say, if you want to see some bizarre artwork and weird photos, not to mention the boring long stitch works framed and then thrown out. But in the middle of all the weirdness was this. At first glance I thought it was stained glass in a frame, which at the next moment I figured was silly, because stained glass needs light behind it to illuminate the design, which if you framed it would obviously go dark. So curious, I pulled it out and had a closer look. It's actually felt, and the black lines that make it look like stained glass, was black wool glued to the top. I thought it was a beautiful idea, and I'm going to utalise (read: knick) it. I'm not sure what for yet, but everything sinks in and comes back out when needed.

Sometimes you find the most wonderful things in op shops

ebay find for those of you with crafty libraries of your own...

2009-07-04T14:13:00.002+10:00

OOOOOOOOO! I've just found the Gentle Arts book up on ebay! I'm not selling it, but I thought I'd flag it for anyone who is interested in it and can't find it.

go HERE to check it out.

That's so exciting! If you're into the history of craft, and the history of Australian craft, you should really consider buying it. It's an awesome book and I'm delighted to have a copy in my library. You can read my thoughts while reading it in this post.

Fly, my friends! Fly and buy!

shucks

2009-07-02T12:05:00.002+10:00

The guys over at Fandomania have found via craftster and showcased my K9 tissue box holder along with three other Dr who related tissue box covers at Fandomestic: Time Lord-Approved Tissue Boxes. Thank you guys!

Pop on over and check out the other ones listed, there's some beautiful work going on there...

Home Made Help book on presale now!

2009-07-02T10:18:00.003+10:00

I've just got this email and I'm so excited I wanted to share it with you right away!For those of you who don't know, the Handmade Help blog put a call out for family recipes to combine into a book for the victims of the Black Saturday bushfires. They've lost everything, including treasured old family recipes. This book is a way of giving them some back. So purchase one for yourself and as many as you can afford for gifts, as for each one purchased another is dontated to families from the ravaged areas. I was delighted to be a part of it, it showcases the sense of community we share and I think that's a wonderful thing.

Hi All,

As you know, The Handmade Help Recipe Book evolved as part of handmadehelpsout.blogspot.com by a group of crafters and artists who wanted to contribute to the bushfire recovery effort. Your recipes have made it what it is, and after months of quiet and intense preparation, it’s at the printers and about to be launched!

From Grandma Polack's ice cream to Margaret Fulton’s Rigatoni carbonara, the cookbook is packed with over 100 delicious recipes that have been tried, tested and treasured through the ages. This not for profit initiative brings together recipes from home cooks and well-known chefs including Greg Malouf, Allan Campion and Michele Curtis.

For those who have lost all of their possessions the book is a gift, helping to replace much loved recipe books and raise funds to rebuild affected communities.

Limited copies of Homemade: the Handmade Help Recipe Book will be available for sale. Printed copies will cost $15 (plus postage) and a downloadable PDF is available for $8.

For every copy that is sold, a copy of the book will be given directly to people who have lost their homes and belongings in the fires, distributed through relief and local organisations. All money collected will be donated to the Salvation Army, to assist them in their continued good efforts to help families through hardship.

We have been up to the bushfire-affected areas to show them the gift we have been preparing, and your recipes and inspiration will be received with delight and cherished for the useful ideas you’ve donated to the book. We would love to be able to give all of us a copy to keep, but we’ve had a limited print run donated to us, and until we know what sort of demand the book will provoke, we haven’t increased the quantities.

Contributors get first go! (But please get in quick)
Visit handmaderecipebook.com to place a pre-order for your printed copy (printing throughout the month of July) or to order a copy of the PDF. Payment is via secure Paypal shopping, or you can visit your local Homemade committee member to place and pay for your order in person. They won’t last for long, and we’re looking at ways to print more, but it would be wise to reserve your copy before they’re gone!

Homemade: The Handmade Help Recipe Book
Over 100 family recipes from contributors from Australia and overseas
136pp, August 2009

$15 paperback (plus postage); $8 PDF

When you really focus on something...

2009-07-01T08:31:00.005+10:00

So I've become obsessed with Peacocks, since I made that peacock for my swap partner, and I was reading the Meet Me At Mikes book, which had a project by Kristen Doran in it. Kristen was one of my Totem artists, so I popped along to her blog to see what she was up to. From that I wandered over to her shop blog to see what she had on offer and right up the top, the very first item I saw, was an embroidery pattern for two peacocks. So I bought one.

It arrived yesterday in the post. God bless the internet for first taking away the need to send letters and then giving us so many more reasons to post things around the country and indeed the world.

At the top is the pattern, and since I'd had a chat to her over email about the aforementioned peacock obsession, she popped in a fat quarter of peacocks in gardens too. How nice was that? I'm so happy, I can't wait to start it. As soon as I finish moving and finish all the other half done projects I'm currently mired in. I see it as a late night telly in front of the heater kind of project. Thanks so much Kristen!

The other thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is the CWA. I've read the 50 years book and asking around, I've got this idea that I'm currently thinking a lot about. I was in a retro shop yesterday and on top of a pile of folded teatowels i saw this

So I opened it up curiously and found this
I didn't buy it, but it made me think of Curlypops and her beautiful aprons made out of retro teatowels. What could be cooler than an apron made out of a CWA tea towel?

Which jsut all goes to prove that if you're thinking really hard about something, it usually turns up in some form or another...

In totally other news, I sent my contrubution off to A Book About Death. It's now on the website, with heaps of other entries. If you're not going to be in New York over Sept/Oct, go check it out online!

Awesome callout for artists

2009-06-29T15:08:00.002+10:00

Such a cute idea. Someone was doing it here about a year ago but I've lost their details... If anyone remembers/ know who it was, do let me know...

From Three Graces Gallery in Portsmouth:

Call for Artists!!
Three Graces is currently accepting submissions for a special new project - an art vending machine! We recently came across this retired cigarette vendor in a local antique shop, and were inspired to put it to good use. I am working on giving the machine a make-over and in the mean time, we are eager to find artists willing and able to fill it with hand-made, one-of-a-kind works of art to be sold for $5 and $10.

You can read more here

One Lovely Blog award

2009-06-29T14:42:00.003+10:00

I got tagged by Tracy from Dust of Enchatment with the One Lovely Blog Award. How nice is that?

The rules are:

1. Accept the award, post in your blog together with the name of the person or people who gave
it to you an a link to their blog.
2. Pass the award to other 15 blogs that you have newly discovered.
3. Contact the bloggers you award to let them know that they were chosen.

So I guess it's sorta chain mail but without the badness consequences. I'm happy to pass that on! I've chosen 6 out of the millions of blogs out there... So without further ado, My One Lovely Blog Awards go to (ohh! I feel I should be in a glittery dress and have a golden envelope!)

1. Ethel Loves Fred
2. Marjory Jane
3. Little Brown Sparrow
4. Clutterpunk
5. Tinniegirl
6. Veronica Darling

Congratulations lovely crafters, I think your blogs are wonderful :)

craft book quicky

2009-06-23T14:35:00.002+10:00

Surely the whole of the Australian internet craft community know of the great and wonderful Pip Lincoln and her Meet Me At Mikes - store, blog and book. Plus, she runs Brown Owls, a crafty community who come together to make, eat, drink and be happy, of which I am a proud member. Pip is one of those community hubs, like the middle of a spider web, who connects so many people with each other. So it's no surprise that her first book is another example of her skill in that. It brings together 25 crafters from her community to share cute and easy projects for people to make.

Her project is a How To of granny squares, which she has been doing on her blog as well, and hosting the Granny A Day I was talking to her at a Brown Owls meeting a while ago and she was telling me that she set out to learn how to granny square for the book. That's commitment!

Of course, it was through Brown Owls and Pip that I learned to crochet, and thus made the rug I've just finished.

But back to the book. Although I have a number of pattern, tutorial and How To books, usually I only talk about the craft theory kinds of books. But Pip's book fits into my world view on crafts for her introduction, which jsut reiterates the fact that anyone can do it. And that's always been something that's attracted me to the craft world. It's so encouraging and supportive and is all about sharing tips, tricks and knowledge. Pip writes "Making is one of life's great joys. The sweet simplicity of producing something with your own hands is pretty unbeatable... You don't need lots of experience. You don't need to be an artist... You don't need to spend lots of money or have heaps of equipment either.(p7) And that's so true.

The project part of the book showcases crafty types such as Johanna Monte Aranez of One Red Robin, Shannon Lamden of Aunty Cookie fame, Gemma Jones of Kaotic Kraft Kuties and Totem artist Kirsten Doran and if you're looking for a project book of cute things to make, I'd suggest this one to be at the top of your list!

Crafty Library continuations

2009-06-22T16:18:00.006+10:00

Firstly, I'm one artist's story from finishing Handmade Nation by Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl which is really interesting. It's got essays in the middle of it's interviews by people like Andrew Wagner, the senior editor of American Craft magazine and Garth Johnson, who runs Extreme Craft and is a favourite of mine. Betsy Greer of Knitting for Good also wrote an essay in it, and honestly, that essay gives a better understanding of where she's coming from than her own book did. She tells the story of how she started knitting, in a much more detailed form than in KfG, and she says "... I realized that right now... the act of craft is political. In a time of over-ease and overuse and overspending, I can take back the control over where my money goes, over what my outfit is, and over how my life is lived. I could knit my own clothes, thereby dictating my own fashion sence instead of following someone else's... I could knit blankets and vests and scarves... for people who could really use them... I could stand up as activist without having to stand on a street corner with a sign." (P90) and that really resonated with me. I love the idea of quietly going about a revolution.

When we were growing up, our mother was very political. I've been on protest marches too many to count. We were often given signs by people who thought we were damn cute, and thus cuter with signs, or something. Whatever the reason, we usually got given signs and we'd shout whatever the people around us were shouting. There was a lot of protests. And I remember covering a student protest for the student union magazine I worked on during uni, and seeing people with signs that screamed BRING BACK GOUGH!!! which struck me as just plain silly. (For those of you who don't understand, Gough Witlam was an Australian Prime Minister in the 70s who was seen to do wonderful things for Universities, or at least that was the way these students saw it) But really, going around protesting that you want a man who got dismissed as PM 30ish years ago back as your leader just seems like a waste of breath. Cause it ain't gunna happen, no matter how loud you shout about it. I really do think that if you're going to protest, you need to protest about things that matter, that you actually want to happen.

One of my housemates at the time was one of the people protesting the loudest that day, and he was holding one of the biggest BRING BACK GOUGH signs, so I asked him later why the hell were they all screaming that? He came back with an answer that I've mostly forgotten now, but it was along the lines that they thought the government at the time (Howard) was too hard on universities and that they wanted a more liberal governmental attitude and this was how they were demanding it.

I still hold that appearing in the paper demanding that they reinstate a man who was PM 5 PMs ago just made the students look ridiculous. And I fear that for most protests, that people make placards, go shout on the street and then all go back home and nothing ever really changes. But to go about just Doing, seeing a wrong and setting about fixing it, I think that's powerful.

That's not to say that there isn't room in life for protesting, it's just that I prefer the subversive type. One of my favourites is from Rayna from Radical Cross Stitch who went out one night with other members of her Craft Cartel to "engage in some creative resistance against the rampant speculation which is wreaking havoc in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray." So they went out with cloth, yarn, chocolate and torches and created things like this:
You can see the whole post here.

Anyway, so that whole thing is me saying that I like the hands on, quietly Doing form of protest rather than the type were everyone gathers to shout about things. And Besty Greer's craftivism is all about that. Sign me up to the church of craftivism!

The other book I'm reading is It keeps me sane: Women, craft, wellbeing by Enza Gandolfo and Marty Grace, which a woman at Brown Owls was telling me about. It's a Melbourne book by two university professors who interviewed a number of Melbourne craft hobbists and wrote a book about their findings. They also had an exhibition in Feb this year, so I only jsut missed it (damn!). I have to confess that I read all the interviews and have yet to read the essay that links it all together, even though I'm really interested in that bit and it's at the start of the book. I'm not sure why I read it backwards, it might just be one of those things. But it seems a really interesting book, and I'm looking forward to reading the essay.

I've also got Radical Lace & Subversive Knittingby David Revere McFadden that I've been dipping in and out of, I'd love to sit down to read the whole thing, but I need to find more time dammit!

Which is the cry of all people everywhere, I guess.

Where Sayraphim dabbles with prototypes and finally finishes a rug

2009-06-22T14:26:00.004+10:00

Usually I get an idea of what I'm going to make I've got it clearly in my head and I set out to make it. Days or weeks later it's done and it's always pretty close to what I imagined. I'm incredibly lucky in that skill, that I can produce pretty much exactly what I imagined, first time around. And I'll get a surge of satisfaction and then turn to the next thing.

Until now.

I'm designing a show for Fringe and the director has a specific idea in mind for a toy for the show. So I hand stitched one (damn my machine still being packed up for the move) and showed it to him. He liked it, but it wasn't quite right. So we discussed it and we changed the design and I made another one. When I showed him that, he said it was getting closer, and suggested a couple more changes. So I went back in for a third one. The third one, still handsewn, hit the mark. YAY!

There is another doll in the show, and that one was done in my traditional method, imagine, create and Done. But this idea of prototyping, I don't think I approve. Having to go back into the design time after time is very frustrating and to be honest, I'm too damn impatient to keep doing it over.

So I learned something about me. How nice.

In other news, we went over to a freezing warehouse conversion to record all the voices for the show. Since I wasn't needed for the recording itself, I took my crochet. Something else I learned - when going somewhere when it's that damn cold, always take your own rug. I was toasty warm(ish) while finishing off the crochet. So it's done now, with 3 rows of maroon around the edge to frame it. But the end, it was taking half a ball of wool per row. But it's warm and was happily received and I'm really proud to have made it. Weird that I'm too impatient to knit clothing because it takes too long but I happily sat down to crochet a double bed sized rug.

To be complicated is to be human. I guess.

craft finds

2009-06-22T14:09:00.003+10:00

One of the things I like is coming across craft in the world outside. Not in shops, where you expect to find it, but in other capacities, like decorations, memorials, utalities, whatever. It makes me happy to come across craft that someone has made and is using for a purpose. And that happened this weekend. Jude and I were at a retirement village for a presentation and on the wall was this:

I went in for a closer inspection, and found it was a stain glass tree with leaves inscribed with names. A little framed printout on the wall explained that this was commissioned from one of the resident's sons as a commemoration and thank you for people who had significantly contributed to the retirement village.

After the ceremony, they had tea and cakes and scones, made by one of the residents. I watched the lady behind the counter spread jam from a big bowl on each of the scones, which had also been clearly made by someone at the home. It was heartwarming to watch.

And earlier that day we had gone to a cafe for breakfast and hanging on the door was one of the best open/closed signs I've seen:

I love finding craft out in the wide world...

Exhibition coming up!

2009-06-19T09:35:00.003+10:00

I'm in an exhibition in 3 weeks! The gallery hasn't named it, so it's jsut the artists' name. So come along to the

Deborah Hally, Sayraphim Lothian, Tebani Slade exhibition

at Gallery Obscura,1st Floor, 284 Carlisle St, East St Kilda

You can see Deborah's work here on RedBubble, her still is beautiful! I can't wait to see it in real life. I can't find a net presence for Tebani, but if I do I'll post it.

Opening night is Sunday, July 5, 2009 from 4 til 6. Come along!

I'm pretty excited, seeing my work that large (over a metre on the longest side) is pretty amazing. I've always wanted it that big, but had yet to find a reason... Until now!

The kindness of strangers

2009-06-18T13:09:00.006+10:00

A few months ago I was running one of the the Knitting Club workshops and one of the ladies came over and showed me a book of toys and dolls (see right) I had a look through it and found one of the tiny toys my grandmother had knitted us when we were young (the little sleepy mouse in it's sleeping bag on the cover being one of them). I thought it was cool to see some of those toys again. I took it back to her and she said "nono, you keep it" and I was touched! So I said thank you and took it back to where I'd been sitting for a closer look. And the book, my new book, fell open at a page titled BABY DOLL. I couldn't believe it! There, on the page of my new book, was one of my very beloved dolls from when I was very young! My grandmother had made two dolls, one like this and one in a different style which I loved and carried around for years. One I called Kate, after my best friend at the time, and this one I called Debbie... After Kate's big sister. Children have a limited scope of imagination sometimes. But I sat with the book on my lap for a couple of minutes, jsut in wonder. That I held in my hands the pattern my grandmother had used to make one of my two favourite dolls ever was incredible, and seemed so co-incedental as to be amazing.

I'm currently in the middle of moving house, and I've found the box with my dolls in it, which includes the afore mentioned Katie as well as my teddy bear, a portrait doll Nan made of me, and one my mother later knitted when I was all gothic, but no Debbie. It's got me a little concerned, I'm not sure where she is, or why she'd not be with the other dolls. But last time I remember seeing her was for this picture: I knitted the monkey beanie for a friends newborn, about a year and a half ago and needed a modle. So she must be somewhere. I hope. Looking at this photo, and looking at Katie in the box, my old toys are all a little dirty, or at least, they were well loved by a little girl who was a little messy. So now firstly, I have to find Debbie, and then I have to figure out how to clean them.

But really, this post was about the kindness of strangers, a lady who gave me a toy pattern book because she had no need of it anymore, and how incredible it turned out that it had been one my grandmother had a copy of, and that she'd made a bunch of the toys in there that I recognised, up to and including one of my two favourite childhood dolls.

The world is weird sometimes.

Variable mini cheesecakes

2009-06-16T19:08:00.005+10:00

This one is so much fun! Jude got some excellent news the other day so I decided to make him dinner and dessert to celebrate.

So I popped off down the supermarket, and on the way I passed a bakery and thought - OOoo! I could buy some little cakes! But I've been watching heaps of cable cooking shows and figured not only would it be just as easy to make cake, it'd taste better and I could make a bunch of different types, so we could celebrate in style.

So this is really easy. You'll need a packet of cream cheese, half a cup of cream, half a cup of sugar. Beat them all together in a bowl until smooth, you'll find this WAY easier if a) the cream cheese is room tempture and b) you use a mixer. You'll also need little tart bases, which you can make yourself or buy from the supermarket.

Now you're ready for the fun!

Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and put them into separate bowls. Now, you can choose from the following, or make up your own!

Lemony: add 1 teaspoon of lemon zest and a few drops of lemon juice. Decorate with a couple more stands of the lemon zest.

Chocolatey: Melt a few squares of dark chocolate in a cup in the mircowave and mix in. Finish with some drizzles of the chocolate.

Berry: add in some berry compote/jam. If you don't have any, it's really easy to make. Grab a few frozen berries, put them in a cup with a little honey and mircowave for 40 seconds or so. Take it out and mash it with a fork, and fold through the cheesecake mixture. Decorate with a few berries on top.

Coffee: add half teaspoon of instant coffee to a little water, stir until it’s all dissolved and then swirl into cheesecake mixture. Decorate with a couple of grains of the coffee, or leave blank.

Mocha: add quarter teaspoon of instant coffee and quarter teaspoon of milo or other chocolate drink grains into a little water, stir until dissolved and swirl into cheesecake mixture. Decorate with a couple of grains of the milo, or leave blank.

Pandang: add a few drops of Pandang flavouring into the mixture. Leave blank as the green colour of the pandang is incredible enough!

Jaffa: Zest of half an orange and a squooze of orange juice, and a few squares of melted chocolate.

Or make up your own!

The great thing about the flavourings is that you can simply taste it and decide for yourself if you want more flavour or if it's ok as is.
in the photo is chocolate mini cheesecake, berry mini cheesecake, lemon mini cheesecake and the green one is Pandang mini cheesecake.

Other People's Shoes

2009-06-16T14:35:00.004+10:00

It's funny. Although I love working on films for the magic of it (see this post for a little more about that) it's a job and I'm sort of used to it. You turn up to a location, move all the original furniture and decorations out or around, move in the movie bits and decorations and then be on standby to continually re-arrange or replace props for the next ten hours.

I don't really look at it from other peoples perspective anymore. But this post on the Fitzroyality blog shows it from another angle. The author, Brian, turned up as a extra on the last film I was working on, Exit, and he both photographed and wrote about his experience.

It's great to read about being an extra, I've never done it but having worked on film sets, I know it's a bunch of waiting around, a little bit of action and a huge bunch of waiting around some more. That's how film and tv works.

So, back to that night, the scene was a meeting of a bunch of 'believers' all looking for the Exit, and one of the things the art director, Esther Justin, had planned was that the believers would write on the windows, leaving messages for each other. So I grabbed a bunch of Poscas and started writing. I drew a coupld of pictures, wrote a couple of messages but decided that I needed some fresh blood. As there was about an hour before filming was to start, and all the extras were just sitting around (again, if you want to be an extra, get used to a LOT of sitting around) so I co-opted a couple, explained the idea, handed them some textas and let them rip. This was really useful for a couple of reasons. One was that it would go faster if I had a number of guys writing on the windows with me, one was that they'd have ideas that I wouldn't (and a couple of the things written were pretty bizarre!) and the other good thing is that there'd be a bunch of different kinds of handwriting on the windows, which would lend it an air of reality that it wouldn't have if it was all in one type of handwriting. So really, it was a practile thing that lead me to ask a couple of the extras to help out.

On Fitzroyality, s/he writes: The most exciting thing for me was being co-opted by the art director to become an art assistant for a while to draw messages on the windows that the believers would leave for each other at their meeting place.

And that's was cool to read. It was nice to be able to make someone's night especially since I didn't set out to (or even noticed at the time :)And it's nice to see my job from an outside eye.

The next exhibition - Echo's Lost (artist callout)

2009-06-15T13:40:00.004+10:00

I'm curating another exhibition for Fringe this year. Info below:

Omnific Assembly is calling for submissions to their latest exhibition, titled Echo’s Lost, which will be held during the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2009.

Echo’s Lost is an exhibition focusing on the idea of Memory and an exploration of what is left behind when memories fade. Rather than look at specific memories, Echo’s Lost concentrates on the idea of memory itself and the space left behind when the memories are gone.

The venue for the show is an early 20th century glass fronted cabinet in the window of Circa Vintage Clothing on Gertrude St., Fitzroy

We are looking for small 3d works that have some kind of vintage feel and fit the classy ambiance of the Circa store.

The exhibition:
The cabinet is a semi-circle with 3 glass shelves measuring approx. 920mm in length. The top shelf is 310mm high, the middle shelf is 340mm high and the bottom shelf is 350mm high. The shelves are 310mm wide at the widest point, tapering to 140mm at each edge. The entire front of the cabinet is glass, and the back is totally mirrored, giving pretty much a 360 view of the works. You can see a photo of the cabinet at http://www.omnificassembly.com/echoslost.html

In the photo the cabinet is fairly full, we envision that for the exhibition there will be less items in it. We don’t want it too crowded.

Depending on the works, we are looking for around 12 to 15 artists to create 3d works of no greater than 200mm wide and able to fit into the dimensions above.

The exhibition cost will be $30, and the dates will coincide with Fringe, which is 3 weeks across the end of September and the start of October.

The company:
Omnific Assembly is gaining a reputation for interesting and unique group art exhibitions. Curated by Sayraphim Lothian, they have produced five highly successful exhibitions since 2005, including 21 Dead Bugs as a Gift, a unique cross platform project and Totem – Dolls with Souls at Federation Square for Fringe 2008. More information can be found at www.omnificassembly.com. Omnific Assembly is focused on developing cross platform projects that involve a diverse community of artists, from digital to traditional craft.

Submissions:
Please email submissions consisting of a description of the artwork (including size!), photos of the work if it has already been created and a quick bio/cv to curator Sayraphim Lothian on them (at) omnificassembly (dot) com

Submissions close July 4th. Artists will be notified by July 15th

Echo's Lost image fragment by SaraMae Belle Page

Updated photo

2009-06-15T10:17:00.000+10:00

It's not finished, so that's why there's a couple of ends hanging off it still, but I'm impressed on how big it's getting, so I figured I'd share it with you. I've run out of wool (again) so I'm waiting until I can get back to the store. I've lost count how many balls are in it, but by now, it takes about 1/2 a ball or more per circut/row.

Post inspired by the amazing Gemmipop's finished Granny Rug, which you can admire at the Meet Me At Mikes blog here.

Rock on with the granny craftin!

Hot Toddy recipe and the Lemony Drink of Death

2009-06-10T16:52:00.005+10:00

Hot Toddies. They always sound so warming and wonderful. Everyone I know who indulges swears by them as remedies for colds and flus. And in the winter months, what could be better? Plus, there's always a little of the witches brew feeling about them, which I love...

These are two recipes from a friend of mine, she changes them every time she makes them, depending on what she feels like. I'm going to be making one tonight, but I figured I'd share them with you today. Odds are some of you are sick too, and in need...

So, welcome to Dani's Hot Toddy and the awesomely named Lemony drink of Death...

Hot toddy

lemon juice, hot water, whiskey or golden (or dark) rum, honey, and mint. probable just 15-30 mls of booze depending how alcoholic you like it.

lemony drink of death

On a saucepan, brew
juice of half a lemon
honey
a birdseye or similiar chilli (you can just splice along the middle and de-seed) - optional
clove sliced garlic - optional
grated or thinly sliced ginger - generous amount
1/2 cup or 2/3 cup water

Brew for 10-15 mins. At end you can strain mixture, and once you have topped up with boiling water in a mug, have 2-3 portions.

Once on mug, add a disprin or asproclear (esp if suffering from sore joints, sore throat or glands), a nip of scotch, and a sprig of mint!

It's quite a full on drink, but good to just swallow down. add vitamin c powder if you have it.

Image originally uploaded by *One* at Flickr

craft quicky pics

2009-06-10T11:35:00.005+10:00

I found my camera cord again, I swear, I'm gunna superglue it to my computer or something. So here's some things I've finished since I last saw it.

To the right is a pink and white crocheted dolls blanket I made for my niece's birthday. I was really happy with it, only took me a couple of nights to crochet.

Below is a photo from the shoot I've just worked on, I have to say, after all this time I still love the magic of film. That infront of you is a huge pile of lights and cables and people and gaffa tape marking spots and a big stack of props jsut around the corner, but you look at the monitor and see what the camera is seeing and it's always so beautiful. There's something about the way the film camera sees things that's always magical.

And the last thing I'll show you today is a embroidery work that my grandmother did when she was 16 that I inherited. I'm packing a bunch of stuff into storage for a while so I wanted to photograph it while it could still see the light of day. Nan was always fond of the 1800 style of huge dresses, and obviously it was a life long fondness!

Gnudi Balls with spagetti

2009-06-10T11:23:00.002+10:00

This is so awesome! These are little spinach and ricotta steamed dumplings (also called "Gnudi", which literally means "nude", because they're the insides of ravioli without the pasta casing.)

1 packet of frozen spinach, thawed
100g ricotta
1 clove of garlic (or more. I like more)
1 egg white
1 table spoon of plain flour
1/4 cup of grated parmesan
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon of finely chopped chives.

Squeeze excess liquid from spinach. Combine spinach, ricotta, garlic, egg white, flour, parmesan, breadcrumbs, nutmeg and chives in a big bowl.

Roll level teaspoons of the mixture into balls.

Place balls in a single layer about 2cm apart in a baking paper lined bamboo steamer fitted to a pot of boiling water.

Steam, covered, for about 10 mins or until dumplings are hot.

Meanwhile make your favourite tomato pasta sauce and cook some pasta.

Place pasta in bowl, pour sauce over, and carefully place gnudi balls on top.

Serve with a nice red, as in picture.

Musing on craft theory (because my camera cord is missing again)

2009-06-06T15:10:00.003+10:00

So I've been running around all week working on a film, I cooked an ace thing and photographed a bunch of cool stuff but can't find my blasted camera cord, AGAIN, so all those ace images are still trapped in my camera.

So instead I figured I'd talk about the other thing that's been on my mind.

Craft theory, craft and feminism.

The other day I bought two books in my ever growing Craft library (through which I've noticed that I appear to be interested in 3 rough categories: Theory, History and Sociology). One of the new books is Knitting for Good!: A Guide to Creating Personal, Social, and Political Change Stitch by Stitch by Betsy Greer, and the other is Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design by Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl. I know, I know, if I'm looking at craft and theory, really, I should have started with Handmade Nation, the bible of the indy craft, but the road I took was interesting none the less.

There seems to be two types of craft books. One is the How To, Tutorial or Practical type which shows a certain number different projects to do on some kind of theme. The awesome Meet Me At Mikes book is an excellent example of this. Pip called together a number of crafty bloggers to submit projects to publish in a book. The other type is the more theoretical or academic craft book. Why people craft, the history of them doing it, that kind of thing. No Idle Hands is one of these kinds of theoretical craft books, it's a social history of knitting in America.

Something that I've noticed is that all of the more academic craft books are often written with a feminist bent, and it's taken me a little bit to work out why. My current theory is that people involved in feminism and politics are used to sitting around having a bit of a think about things, and it's those people who are motivated to writing books about their theories. People who use craft as a way to make gifts and show love often do it with much less theorising in mind.

In Knitting for Good, our very own Rayna Fahey of Radical Cross Stitch is interviewed, and her opening sentence is "I'm one of those people who totally believe that everything you do is political."(p116) Coming at crafting from such an angle, it's not surprising that Rayna has thought a lot about crafting and the political side of crafting. She did a degree in women's studies and tunes a lot of that into her work. Clearly someone like Rayna would abound with theories and thinking about craft itself, and want to share that with the world. On the other end of the scale is someone like Martha Stweart, who has been teaching people How To for years, but doesn't really delve into the Why.

An interesting concept that I've only jsut come across is that women who identify themselves as feminist sometimes have trouble fitting their desire to craft into their world view. Greer mentions that she struggled for a while to feel comfortable doing an activity that women have done for so long. She writes thatonce she figured it out, that "we can choose to re-enter the kitchen without feeling like we're bending to cultural sterotypes" (p18). I thought this was fascinating, that some feminists have backed themselves into a corner and find themselves unable to do things they want because they feel it's catering to a sterotype that they've worked so hard to reject.

Greer's book is a good one for the beginner craft-thinker, it has questions at the end of each chapter such as "How did you come to craft? What paths crossed in your life to bring you toward knitting and/or the handmade?..."(p21) which was a strange thing to read for someone who's already answered those questions for herself and has moved on. But I don't think this book is aimed at me, it's really aimed at those people who craft, but are casting around for their craft to mean more to themselves.

Having said that, it's a great book for the little interviews showcasing crafty type people you might not come across otherwise. For instance, I was delighted to read about Cinnamon Cooper of The DIY Trunk Show, who crafts for a similar reason to myself. She writes "(as she sat at her mothers sewing machine) I had a revelation. My great grandmother did this. My grandmother did this. My mother does this. I'm doing this. I'm a link. It's my responsibility to learn these 'womens things' and pass them on."

I was so happy to read that. One of the reasons I've been researching craft is that I want to know WHY people craft. I am well aware that this is in part because I want to know why my grandmother crafted for her entire life. She died around a year ago, and so I've missed my chance to ask her. So instead I research craft theory, and there's a tiny idea that maybe one day someone will give me an answer and suddenyl I'll know in my heart that it was the reason she crafted. But in reality, it's probably not going to happen, and anyway, that's not the only reason or indeed my main reason for the research. I'm also curious because I want to know why people craft themselves. And I'm curious about myself, and why crafting is so important to me. Reading Cinnamon's words, something resonated inside me, and I could nod and say - yes. That's one of the reasons I do it!

I'm also interested in every apect of craft theory, whe whys, wherefores, the history and everything else. And that's the main reason with all this reading, I want to know More!!!

So all in all, I'm happy I bought the book, there's loads of interesting ideas in it, even if some of her revelations arn't so new to me.

When I finish it, I'll head straight onto Handmade Nation. And I'm quite looking forward to that.

I love imaginations

2009-06-01T09:04:00.004+10:00

Hello!

I am going to re-iterate the title, because it is so true. I LOVE imaginations! And I'm going to tell you the story of what happened the other day.

Some background information: One of the many jobs I have is working on the record days for Deal or No Deal (ok, so I outed myself, but this is such a lovely thing I want to tell you that I have to explain it) In Deal, people play against the banker, Walter P Smythe. No one's ever seen him, or talked to him, but he's the guy who makes the monetary offers to the contestants. This is the first fact you need to know.

The second is that often people in the audience want to stand out from the crowd so that they up their chances of being picked as a contestant. And this often involves craft. Sometimes they'll be wearing home made tshirts that say DEAL with either NO DEAL on the back or on the chest of the person next to them. Sometimes they make posters with glitter and textas, a lady even once made a briefcase cake with a little host sitting on it (see right). It was an awesome job, and not only that, but it tasted amazing too! People come up with no end of ideas to grab attention, some more successful than others.

Now I'm telling you all this for a reason, and it's not just to parade around how cool craft is. The other day there was a 20something man in the audience with 2 little things pinned to his shirt. Curious, I went for a closer look, and found two little Lego guys safety pinned to his shirt, one on each side. One was a little guy in a suit holding a briefcase, again it was the host, and the other was this guy at the left. I know it's hard to see, I only ever have my phone on me as a camera and the light's often bad, but it's a little grimacing guy holding a $100 bill in each hand, and wearing a little waistcoat that has more $100 bills stuffed in the pocket. It was this man's version of Walter, the banker. And for some reason, that made me ridiculously happy. That someone had spread a bunch of lego out (probably not all his lego, he told me he was a collector) and carefully put together his image of the banker. And that made me realise that imagination is manifest in many different ways, and that people create with whatever their interested in.

And that made me stupidly happy. And then the fact that someone had come in with two little lego guys pinned to his shirt had made me happy also made me happy.

And if you followed that, you'll understand that I'm a simple girl, really.

I won an award!

2009-05-29T08:58:00.003+10:00

How cool is that? I won the Photography award at the Pivot exhibition at Red Earth Gallery for The Afterlife Ball.

I didn't get to the opening, but received it in the mail last night. I'm so happy! Here is the award winning image!

That's so cool :)

And now, back to your regular scheduling...

holidays are so nice

2009-05-27T08:42:00.006+10:00

So we went on holiday. A 3 day whirlwind tour of the antique stores and wineries of Tasmania. Weirdly enough, with lots of craft.

First antique store we stopped in, I found this:

I've never seen an old crochet hook. Loads of old needles, and loads of those hook-y things for latch rugs, but never an old crochet hook. So I bought it, and it was exactly the size of the one I was using to crochet the rug with, so I swapped over. The rug is getting huge, it's got about 6 balls of wool in it. I've got 3 more of each colour and then I'm hoping it's done. It takes so much wool!

In Hobart's funky arts and crafts region, I found these awesome needle felted owls in the window of a closed shop:I love the expression on their faces! Makes me want to start needle felting right away! But I'm already working on several projects for different exhibitions and theatre shows and I jsut can't pile on any more. But I SO wish I had time!

We also found this in a gallery:
Machine quilted artworks. I love the textures, and the range of colours!
At Port Arthur, there was an interactive museum and in it was a schoolroom. At one end were these:Apparently when an overseer of the young boys would fall asleep on duty it was not unusual for the urine bucket to be emptied over their heads. This was the modern day, genteel approach, you were encouraged to throw beanbags at these guys. Unfortutanly someone had nicked all the beanbags, so instead I took photos. They're filled with bean bag pellets and they have painted faces.

And lastly was this. A machine stitched Duck in a small folk museum in a tiny Dalesford like town. The whole thing is created by machine stitching. I was blown away. Imagine trying to stick the duck's body under your machine foot! Ok, well, it was probably stitched flat then assembled, but still it's pretty damn impressive.

There was also an amazing quilt in four huge panels done by the YARN collective, which was four different vistas in different seasons of the town. It was really beautiful.

These things were double the height of a tall man. I know, because there was a tall man standing next to it at one stage. The amount of work was mind boggling, and it's now there in the folk museum for generations to come. It's mainly silk!

The frustrating part was that we were there at the same time that an old trio of people were there, and although there were stern signs not to use FLASH photography, these guys happily flashed everything they wanted to photograph. The lights in the special theatre/veiwing room were bright enough that you could photograph without flash, but they kept doing it. Even going way close up to photograph individual things POP the flash would go. Now, firstly, you're jsut going to blow out the image with flash that close, secondly you dont need flash, the lighting is good enough and thirdly, you were asked a number of times before you entered, NOT TO USE FLASH, because it'll slowly fade and thus destroy the very thing you're Ohhing and Ahhing over.

People boggle the mind at times.

There was also much wine tasting (not so much for the driver, of course) and then wine buying, cheese tasting, buying and eating and in between, some lunches, dinners and breakfasts. And much coffee.

And can I just say that, as a vegetarian, going on holiday anywhere that's not Melbourne or Sydney kinda sucks in the food department. Room service on the second hotel had NOTHING without meat in it, and most of the restaurants and cafes we walked into (and then back out of) had one to none veggie dishes. We had a nice time, but it's nice to be home where the food is good, plentiful and actually able to be eaten.

Thus endth that rant.
For now.

OOooooo... I hate it when that happens

2009-05-21T15:07:00.006+10:00

It was bound to happen eventually. It always does. But that doesn't stop me every time wishing that it didn't.

No Idle Hands finished. I hate when good books do that. I remember in high school having a favourite series of 3 books by David(cough)gemmel. The Diamond Throne series. When he bought out the second series to it, I read the first book in a night. With the second book I paced myself. That lasted a couple of days. The third and final book I slowed right down, because I didn't want it to end. I got about 3/4 of the way though it, reading slower and slower until I... stopped. I wanted it to never end so badly that I just couldn't read any further.

I realised at the time it was kind of silly, but at the same time, I still did it. So in a way, the book never ended.

It's like my cat. When I was growing up, I had a cat called Amelia Jane (after the Enid Blyton character) and she got older and I left home, leaving Amelia with my mum. Then, for some reason that I've never been fully appraised of, my mum swapped my cat for a caged bird with a friend of hers. Although I know the bird died, I never had another update on my cat, due to a falling out between mum and the friend. So for all I know, Amelia is still alive out there. Thus I have an immortal Schroedinger cat. Amelia Jane lives on, because no-one can prove any different.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I hate when good books end. Idle Hands was written in the 80s, and I found myself wondering - what then? What happened after that?

It was a good book, there were holes in the information, or offhand references to things that weren't explained which I found frustrating, but overall I loved it. I found out that during the Boston Tea Party rebellion that people refused to keep buying British cloth and clothing and instead felt it was their patriotic duty to hand knit and sew clothing of their own. Rebelling through craft! There were also a number of snippets of interviews from older ladies as to why they crafted and how they came to, which I found interesting. I'm a big fan of the personal histories of craft. There was heaps of information about America during the two world wars, and how people knitted for the soldiers as well as the injured and the war affected. It also chronicled the rise and fall and rise and fall of the popularity of knitting, which is a cycle that still occurs today. We're certainly riding a crest of it at the moment. All in all it was a fascinating and well written study and I'd highly recommend it.

So after finishing that, I was at a bit of a loss as to what to read next. I've ordered a bunch of books off amazon, but none of them have arrived yet. So I finished Years of Adventure the 50 year history of the CWA, which has been kicking around for a while. Since I got Idle Hands actually. Again it's a frustrating book because it mentions tonnes of things that it doesn't explain. For instance:
In September 1940, the Country Women's Association Home Help Scheme was inaugurated...(p28) It goes on a little about where the funding came from, and how in 1970 they closed it down as local governments were now running a Home Help Scheme. But it doesn't specify in any way what that scheme did. I assume that it was ladies going out to help people who were having difficulty running their homes. But I would have loved details. What types of things they did, where they did it, why they were needed ect. But none of that is mentioned. There's also the fact that in the State Exhibition in 1951, "three loan exhibits, one from the United States Library of Information, and two from England, greatly delighted all who were privileged to see them. The American one showed examples of several most attractive American crafts, one of the English exhibits was bought out to the C.W.A of Australia, and the other one from England came from members of the Surrey Women's Institute. (P15)
It doesn't say WHAT the exhibits were, just that everyone loved them.

The book is filled with names and dates but only sketchy information, and really, it reads like an old lady reminiscing to her friends about things that they all did when they were young, which to be fair, I guess this book is. But I was looking for a book that described what the CWA is, what it does now, why people join, I was looking for an outsiders guide to the CWA, which this book just simply isn't.

I recently met a member of the CWA, and I asked her all the questions that the book doesn't really answer, for example, why she's a member. She told me that they have lunches and dinners, they have speeches and lectures from people, they do charity work and learn about other countries. Only one of these things is really covered in the book, which is the charity work.

Anyway, enough of that. There were some charming stories in it, and it was an interesting read at times, and I like history and craft, so it was ok, but not really what I was looking for.

The other book I was reading this morning was the first chapter in Patchwork Basics with Australian Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, which is a history chapter. I like the idea of a beginners book that gives you a little history before diving into the art form itself. The chapter, History of American Patchwork, by Jan Baker, is interesting and informative, but again suffers from either pre-supposed knowledge or simply the sin of omission. Whichever it is, it often refers to things without explanation or an accompanying photo. Now I can google the missing information, but I don't think that needing a computer by your side makes for a successful book. Either explain fully what the hell you're talking about or omit it entirely! Especially for a total beginner book, the expectation that they already have a bunch of quilting history knowledge is just plain silly.

So that's the end of the book update for the moment.

The crocheting is rocketing along. I'm addicted to it. I've been crocheting pretty much non-stop since Monday night and Brown Owls. Here it is at the moment:

I've found I can now crochet without looking, so I can read and crochet, hence the large amount of reading this morning. I also took it to a theatre show last night and crocheted before the show started and during intermission. Oh my god, this thing has taken over my life. And I love it!

The other thing I finished today is a birthday present for a friend of mine. I gave him a knitted cocktail a few years ago (see Patty Mae's Domestic Punch, the title was a nod to the wife of Australia's 12th PM, Menzies) but it hasn't stood the test of time (and several interstate moves) so well. So I've made him another one, this time his favourite non-alcoholic drink. Hot chocolate with marshmallows and grated chocolate floating on top:
It was a quick knitted rectangle for the mug and then crochet for the handle, mug bottom, hot chocolate and the marshmallows. And I was smugly pleased it stands up by itself.

I am so addicted to this crochet thing. I can't believe it took me this many years to get around to trying it!

Gran-gran-grannying along

2009-05-19T11:03:00.005+10:00

Last night I went to my first Brown Owls meeting! I know, I know, it's May already and I've not been to any yet (apart from the very first meet-and-greet one) but I've been so darn busy. But they had a Granny Square lesson, so I signed up. I turned up to the Carlton Library, biscuits and wool clutched in hand, and off we went.

There were some lovely ladies there, I don't know which blogs they own, but I found out about the ladies themselves. There were 2 Special Ed teachers (I couldn't see their nametags because of the angle I was on), a primary school teacher at a Stiner school named Kate, a children's book publisher (again I missed her name) and another lady, Sophie, who worked in TV as a floor manager and camera operator. There were some other ladies but they were further down the table and I didn't get to talk to them.

I found it fascinating that the jobs I did learn of are all sort of nurturing or creative. And don't get me wrong, I'm sure accountants and lawyers craft too, but it was so lovely to sit in a room full of lovely ladies and craft along.

Cheers to the wonderful Pip and Kirsty who took the time to show us how to Granny Square. Although I'd sort of taught myself from YouTube, it was good to have someone show me how the hell to hold the yarn and hook (I was doing a weird thing involving all the wrong hands) and how to go from row to row, which I'd sort of worked out myself but it seemed to be spiralling out rather than the nice neat squares you're used too.

To the right is my granny square. I crocheted to the outter gray row at the meeting, then came home and did some more. I love learning new things, but it's always a danger to other work I've got going on. Artwork A (it's still a secret) went by the wayside as I started on Artwork B for an exhibition, which has been sidelined as I crochet this granny square. I need more hours in each day dammit!

Nerdy obsession?

2009-05-18T13:22:00.004+10:00

On the weekend I attended a fancy dress party with the theme of Nerdy Obsessions. In between the storm troopers, star trek uniforms, miriad of Dr Who's and random Lord of the Rings characters, there was one girl in blue jeans, knitted cardigan, with beanie, scarf and clutching double pointed needles which had the beginnings of another project on them. Who would have thought that I would have met another girl knitting at a party? I went up excitedly and asked her what she was making, which turned out to be a matching beanie to the one she was wearing, which she'd finished that afternoon. We had a quick chat about knitting in general and then suddenly, a horrifing thought dawned on me.

"Did you bring your knitting because you carry it around or because it's a nerdy obsession?"

She grinned and said, "Because it's a nerdy obsession."

My heart sank. Not only because craft is kind of a nerdy obsession, but also because inbetween all the geeks chatting to each other about their favourite star wars villian and arguing about the best Bab 5 episode ever, that I'd spotted a knitter and rushed over to talk about knitting in exactly the same way. Also, because I had my knitting in the car purely because I carry it around to do when there's a couple of minutes of downtime.

Needless to say, Jude found the whole thing hilarious.

I sat down for a minute and then decided that if she could knit at the party, then I'd go get my knitting and do it too.

After a couple of hours we decided to leave, so I packed up my knitting and started the rounds of goodbyes. I went up to the young craft lady and asked her how many rows she'd done. She replied that she'd been mostly talking so not many.

I'd been talking all night, and still did 47 rows.

Sighs.

Never mind. We all have our obsessions.

Speaking of which, I'm most of the way through No Idle Hands, the social history of knitting in America. It's an awesome book and I've really enjoyed reading it. There was a quite a lot on pioneer women and children, and necessity knitting, blankets, stockings ect, and how during the Civil War and then again during the first world war, it was considered a lady's duty to knit as many socks, jumpers, helmets (balaclavas), scarves and mittens for the boys overseas. It was all the rage to hold Knitting Teas where all the ladies sat around and chatted while knitting. Aside from those nation-wide orgainsed knit-ins, it also talks about fairs and markets where knitting and craft work was sold, usually for charity, and how after the families needs were met, that ladies often got together to create things for those less fortuntate than themselves. Just like in Pollyanna, Ladies Aid societies sprung up all around the country.

Although it's strictly an American History book, I do think that a lot of it would be true for Australian women too, and reading it only feeds my desire to find out more about Australian craft history.

More purchases from the heart of the economy

2009-05-12T10:53:00.003+10:00

The other day I was on Redbubble and found a recently submitted photograph to a group I'm a member of. It was a card of this beautiful needle felted artwork:

Something about the farmer and the sun and the garden spoke to my heart. And I loved the fact that there was a real spade incorporated into the work.

I went to have a look at the artist, a woman named Softearth, and found that not only did she have a number of different needle felted works but that in her profile was a link to her etsy page.

So I trundled off to her etsy site only to find that the beautiful item on the card was in fact for sale in her etsy shop. I thought about it for all of a second or so and bought it.

Today it arrived, along with a beautiful little something extra. I'm so wrapped with this piece. I can't wait to hang it in my studio and have the little farmer working on his garden watching over me and mine.

heart warming goodness

2009-05-11T10:39:00.004+10:00

It's cold outside, so inbetween soup and coffees I thought I'd share some other warming things...

Firstly, I was walking down smith st the other day, past the in.cube8r gallery and I saw this dreadfully serious little owl staring out of the window.

It's made by Neptune's Necklace and I fell in love with it. I had to take it home. So I went in an purchased it. I'm currently doing my patriotic duty by spending my $900 on local designers and crafts people. I bought an AWESOME pair of pants from Manque the other day that are the most comfortable pair of nice looking pants I've ever owned. If you don't know about this designer, GO LOOK NOW!!! I desperately want almost every piece they make. Apparently these pants are a staple of their line, so much so they're not actually featured on the website! But they make them in a different fabric every year, and I'm hanging out for the next type...

Next in our lineup is this:
It's a medallion from a woven carpet of an old Masonic hall I visited on the weekend. Although they've redone the carpet in about the 80s, they treasured the old carpet enough to cut out a piece and frame it (hence the weird reflection on the top left corner from the glass). Imagine a whole room with carpet like this! Since the top has a black checkered pattern on it and the bottom doesn't, that makes me wonder if this design wasn't all over the carpet but instead was only the border, and if that was true, I wonder what the rest of the carpet looked like (see? The time spend reading that History of Textiles book was totally worth it!) There were a couple of old photographs of the rooms, but nothing showed the floor.

I'm thinking of making a tapestry based on this design. I'd love a recreation of an old craft work. In fact, I'm also making a quilt from sepia and white coloured material from old clothes. The pattern is based on a quilt in the The Gentle Arts. book. I'm all for using the knowledge and patterns of the past at the moment.

Last in our heartwarming series for today is this:
They're some of the many worry dolls that the ladies have made in the Knitting Workshop. This afternoon is the last class for the semester. We'll be making our favourite dolls into badges to sell at markets. It should be a fun afternoon.

If only I can find a jumper and my coat to wear...

Crocheting along

2009-05-06T09:51:00.004+10:00

So I taught myself to crochet the other day. I knew the basic stitch, so I utalised that. I've crocheted a little demon and a long thin tube for a secret project that shall have to remain nameless for the moment.

I don't have any photos of my projects, they're not here today, but I wanted show you the result of the stitch in question.

So to the right is the work of the amazingly talented Jellibat, they're two dolls she submitted for the Totem exhibition.

I'm nowhere near that good, I can make tubes beautifully, but to increase and decrease so smoothly as exhibited in these dolls is a little out of my league at the moment. But practise is everything, and I'm doing ok.

But I was talking to the lovely Pip from Meet Me At Mikes at the first Brown Owl meet up (I haven't gotten to any since then, I've been too busy, which I'm kicking myself for, but I'm hoping a window opens soon) and she swore blind that granny squares are very simple to do. I've always loved the look of those need little squares, like square flowers of joy, and I want to make some. Pip is having a Granny-A-Long at the moment, so I figured dammit, I'm going to try.

The problem is that I'm terrible at learning things from books. Even books with good pictures, I jsut can't seem to grasp the lessons. I'm much better at learning by watching someone do it a couple of times and emulating them. So today I hitched up my crocheting pants and dived into You Tube. I found this video of a nice lady going slowly and that coupled with the wonderful photos on Purl Bee's Granny Square tute and I've crocheted myself my first granny square.

Ok, so it's not pretty, really it's a weird lumpy mutant of a granny square, but the basics are there, I jsut need to practise. Hmm. A Lot. The photo may be blurry (it's taken with my phone, my camera cord is away on holiday, apparently) but trust me, the photo does it's uneven texture justice.

Maybe go visit Meet Me At Mikes or Flickr to see some pretty ones.

I'm off to keep practising

Oh, and I forgot to tell you!

2009-04-28T17:50:00.003+10:00

I went to see the Kodak Salon at the CCP the other day, and they used one of my photos in the brochure! It's only available online (unfortuntaly) but you can see it here.

The other thing is that Becclebee has started a craft blog of her very own. It's called Marjory Jane and you can visit it here.

Go Becclebee!