New Blog

Ok I am on the move. I have slightly modified my name and so I have to start a new blog so I hope you will all follow me over to http://soewnearth.blogspot.com/ where I will be posting from now on. Come on you know you want to.

New at the Market

I really meant to publish this post last week before the market but then I would'nt have been able to include this picture of my stall from yesterday.

Over on the right hand side of the photo is my newly finished vest of which I will add a picture of later. Its is lovely wool dyed with Eucalyptus and bound with handstitiched silk.

And these are my lovely, lovely new buttons, all indvidually handmade from white clay fired to earthenware so they are really strong and then bundled up with plant material and fired in the wood fire to get the beautiful markings. I will definitely be makinf many more of these and hopefully they will also become necklaces, brooches and of course closures.

And here they are in the little bowl they live in at the market. The advantages of having a studio space in a pottery!!!

And my earrings, so cute. Handmade clay beads which like the beads are coloured in the wood fire so each is an unexpected suprise and all are different which does make it a tad tricky when trying to match them up as pairs. I am making more of these as well and at the suggestion of Isis http://isismade.blogspot.com/ I will make some that have only one or two beads on and are somewhat smaller for those who are not so found of a lot of dangle.

I will be at the Homespun Market for the next 2 saturdays then i will be off to Melbourne to market there and then it will be time for Niche. Best get back to making.

Sold

Well the exhibition opening is now behind me, all the anticipation leading to a climax and yes it was, the feeling to walk in and there is the little red sticker. Oh joy.
And the winner is; well there two actually, my little diptych which was really a way of getting an extra piece in.

"All of Us"

"Us"

Them both together what a pretty pair they make. Details, 15 x 15cm and well definitely mixed media, including tissue paper, milk paint, starch paste, and beeswax medium.

"Waiting"

870 x 770mm

"In this Together"

Now I shall just enjoy myself for the rest of the evening before its back to work tomorrow.

Niche

BTW I forgot to mention that I got a place at the Niche Market being held Friday 27th, Saturday 28th & Sunday the 29th of November in the UTAS Academy of Art's Gallery Space.
I am really looking forward to it. Now back to the frenzy of making stuff.

Exhibition

I have some work in this upcoming exhibition.

Melbourne Market

I'm off to the big smoke, well not till next month but I will be at the Thread Den Market which should be a lot of fun. I have tried to upload the poster but blogger wont let me so the details are as follows.

NORTH MELBOURNE MARKET DAY
Vintage, designer, handmade, tast treats
10am Sunday the 15th November
At the Lithuanian Club
44 Errol St, North Melbourne
Presented by THREAD DEN

I am looking forward to it. it will be my first market in the big smoke.

New stuff

Well market season is fast approaching so I have been working on some new stuff which will go on my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6122698 and will be for sale at the Homespun Market which once it goes weekly again from saturday the 17th of October.

These are my environmentally friendly hair dangles which I produced in response to the fluro synthetic ones on sale in Chickenfeed. This one is Recycled silk and handmade clay beads.

This is the same but with recycled buttons.

Contain

And this is the first of my patches all ready to apply to clothing or anything else you wish.

Three Togther

Nest

A recycled silk and button stack necklace.

Some funky clay bead and stainless steel wire earrings

And a brooch with hand made felt and silk with clay beads.

Of course there will still be all my other stuff, felt and silk scarves, handmade cards featuring original drawings and some nice new artworks. But you will have to wait to see those cos they will be off to the exhibition first. But there may be a preview I will see if I have time as I have of course left my stuff till the last minute and will be a galloping to make the deadline.

Post Forum

What I achieved during the week. (front only)

Well forum is over for me for another year. I had a wonderful time is so great to be with so many women who love to create. It was unfortunate that not many locals where there and suprising to see such a large WA contingent. So for me it was great to be able to catch up with lots of familiar faces. Above is my work for the week. I did a Masterclass workshop with Glenys Mann and we got a new project to do every day so I was flat out to try and keep up and no I did not manage to complete all the days works.

The above 2 pieces which are kinda dark are 2 seperate projects. In the front is my scroll which is pieces of calico which have been used as paint cloths then rust dyed and shellaced and drawn onbefore being stitched together into a long length which is rolled up and tied with handmade silk string and finished with clay beads.
At the back is Day 1's project which was a book which wasn't a book, ( at this time I didnt know there would be a scroll project later in the week). It comprises a series of 9 scrolls, each having 3 sheets to the scroll all tied together with silk string.


These 3 pieces and the one below where from a rebirthing project, where we had to create works and then destroy them to make new works with them.

No 4 in the rebirth project and above it a handmade book.

And this is my series of six long thin pieces which came from the rebirthing project.

Now I just have to try and keep the inspiration alive as I go back to the studio and dream about what I might do at the next forum. Some of the above may very well turn up in the upcoming group exhibition at Artisan Gallery in Robigana. I will get the details up really soon. I will, I will.

Fibres Tas

FIBRES TASMANIA
THE BEST TIME YOU WILL EVER HAVE ON AN ISLAND!!
To be held at LAUNCESTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL
LAUNCESTON
13th – 19th SEPTEMBER 2009


Trading Area. Traders will be set up in the area near the classrooms. Trading hours will be 7.30am - 8.00pm (dependant on the amount of people about) Visitors are welcome at Trades during any of the trading times, it’s only the classrooms we ask them to stay out until the afternoons of Thursday and Friday and then from 2pm – 4pm and only with the permission of the Tutor.
Make sure you don’t miss THE BAZAAR..
FRIDAY EVENING 18th from 5pm and SATURDAY MORNING 19TH from 9am PUBLIC ALLOWED!!

For more info about how you can be involved in future forums visit www.glenysmann.viviti.com

Busy, busy, busy

On Sunday begins the next big adventure my class with Glenys Mann at Fibres Tasmania. This is to be held at the Launceston Grammar School and there will be a Trades Area and a Bazaar and at the end of the week the public are allowed to come an see what everyone has been doing in their classes. So at the momnet I am scurrying around gathering the flotsam and jetsom needed for my class as well as getting ready for the Homespun Market on Saturday.

I have finally finished my business plan and submitted it so am waiting to hear that all is well and I dont have to do any of it over again. Coz that was an absolute pain ion the kazzie, big time.
Didn't get the exhibition that I put in a proposal for, apparently some people think that natural dyes are just too smelly for public consumption. Hmmm if only they had asked.

At the momnet in the studio I have been painting, experimenting with skim milk, soy milk, yoghurt and silken tofu with pigment added. It is a great deal of fun and very environmentally friendly unlike those nasty acrylics. I will post pictures later so you can see. Hopefully one of them will be good enough oit put in the group exhibition coming up at Artisans Gallery in Robigana in October that I am to be a part of.

Oh and I am making a swipe at tidying up as my best friend Naomi will be arriving on monday to stay and go to the forum with me as well, though she is doing a different class. Shoe making with Luna Newby from Hobart. Maybe I will score some cool new shoes, hey anything is possible.
Best scoot lots to do............

Snow Day

One day I will get the hang of this and post in the right order. I sure as heck aint going to type the post again which you will find at the bottom!

Somewhere out there are mountains???????????

Beautiful day for walk?

Walking or rather standing and freezing in a winter wonderland

Pine Lake

Lone Pine

On wednesday we went to visit the snow, some of you may think big deal, but for us who originally come from Western Aystralia where it never snows its a thing. Thinking back the last time we saw snow was about 15 years ago when we lived in North east Victoria and took the kids up Mt Selwyn.

Any way we set off a day the wether people on the TV had assured us would be fine but we soon found out that thye lied as we drove through the rain to Deloraine. Perhaps we should have taken this as a siogn but no after buying our lunch we pressed on. Hearts full of hope. We turned off towards Meander and somehow missed our turnoff and drove all the way to Meander which we were not supposed so then had to turn around and drive all the way back to the turn off to the Lakes Highway. It wasnt too long befoire we started to see white lumps by the side of the road and the anticipation began to build as too did the rain. Drove past a lookout which I am sure was very nice but considering visibility is now about 10metres we didnt see the point in stopping. Apparently as I have since been told we were at this time completely surrounded by mountains but who knew?

We got out at Pine Lake and took the boardwalk amongst the very old little pines some of which are a thousand years old and related to the giant Redwoods. It was quite magical though extremely cold as we walked enclosed by the mist.

New Journal

Over the last few days I have been working on a new visual journal and now it is finished and ready to work in which is just as well as the old one is all finished. It takes me a about 6 months to use up a journal so, I love to spend my time making something I will be happy to spend half a year with. This one has 6 signatures of 5 pages each, 4 of cartridge for writing on and in the centre of each signature some more specialer paper for drawings. The covers are heavy card covered in calico then I glued on threads and fabric which I coated in a starch mix. I then made up my paints with milk and pigment and finally it was all coated in a beeswax mix. The stitching on the spine is all silk thread with small semi preciaous stone bead attatched. i am mot happy with the result. Perhaps I will make up a few and add them to my etsy shop.

The front.

The back

The spine

a close up some texture

Eclipse

I stitched through the eclipse and then added my new lovely to my etsy shop.

Not much else happening, I am supposed to be doing paperwork but well I'm not. My excuse this time is that I am feeling poorly. I have a cold in the dose, which is slowing me down abit. and stitching is so quiet and soothing.

We had us a lovely time in Hobart. Dan ended up working till 4 on Friday so we didn’t get going till 5 which meant it was a dim dark trip down so didn’t really appreciate the scenery!! Arrived out our destination after going up the hill and a couple of hairpins at 7.30 meted and greeted made up our bed etc and then had to go back down the mountain to pick up some takeaways for dinner. Ok we settled for Dominos which was not an auspicious start but food is food when it’s late.
Saturday we went first to see the exhibition with India’s stuff in which was fab there was several things which I could have taken home. India’s wrap was truly splendiferous. Then we went to Salamanca (with Shirley who I met at Bunbury and she lives at Boomer Bay an hour from Hobart) which while nice was not the fabulousness I was expecting after the all the hype. But we picked up some dinner supplies, a lovely loaf of fig and pear rye bread, some marinated green olives, some sheep cheese, a jar of red pepper relish and a pear. The yummy donuts we ate there. Also had a wander amongst the Galleries which was a fav for me and into the Bookshop where we bought a book for Dan’s pressie. Then off to Mure’s for a lunch of fish and chips. Then Dan decided he needed to go for a drive and see some fish farms so we stopped at the tourista place and asked for some directions and off we went for a lovely drive we saw the Bruny Island Ferry coming in and then we went further and further south with nary a sign of a fish farm in sight until we got right to the bottom of where we could go and realised the sill woman had sent us to the wrong bit coz off in the distance we could see the sea cages and if we had gone the other way we would have been able to get to them but as it was they were just off in the distance being elusive. So anyway it was about 3 so we had to head for home, so up to Cygnet where we bought our non winning lotto ticket, had a cup of coffee and shared a piece of cake and picked up a dinner menu from the restaurant which we talked about enthusiastically all the way home well nearly. Sunday we went to themarket you know the one that didn’t want me or my stuff and it was really rather good. I think if I work on my presentation maybe I will get in next time. I bought some lovely local olive oil soap. Another wander through the galleries and then the drive home. In the interest of seeing as much of Tassie as poss and not going back over the same tracks we went home via Sorell and up the coast to Swansea before driving back across to the highway and home. We really liked Swansea and esp a little beach just before we got there called Spiky Beach where we were very much taken by the fact that someone’s privately owned land went almost to the beach itself now that’s something we aspire to. Went for a lovely walk on the beach and climbed the rocks and filled my pockets with treasure till me pants nearly fell down!!!!! And then we had to come home as the skies got grimmer and the wind increased.

Procrastination

Iam wrestling with a grant application and I dont think I am winning, so I thought I would come here and do this instead. Well its either this or clean the shower and this is way more fun.

In the process of the aforementioned struggle I have been hunting down photos to add as support and thought I might just share some of them, so you all can see that I do a little more than make scarves, well sometimes.

These are a few photos from the workshop I did last year with Glen Skein, at Fibreswest in Bunbury Western Autralia.

More stuff

I am starting to get into the swing of working afternoons down at the studio and it is amazing how muchwork gets done when you make that commitment. If only I cared as much about the paperwork I should be doing in the mornings. But there is evidence that work of some sort is happening. More stuff on etsy. A lovely nuno felted piece with embedded stripe of silk all naturally dyed.

And the pieces of resistance, but I know you cant resist.

An open network of threads and wool in a lovely deep ruty colour from my gavourite dye, good old brown onion skins.

I love my work. Today I am back to work on a large piece which is layers of pre felt and silk and wool, all white at the moment and waiting for some stitch and being converted into a vest before slowly slipping into a dye pot for a bit of colour. Yum

Studio Location

Thought I should show you a photo of my studio space from the outside.

Studio Pics

And last but its first but not least or something like that!!! The latest offering on etsy.

The large felted wrap I am slowly working on.

I forgot this loads upside down. Taken from the front and back.

Took some photos of my studio yesterday, this is of course after I had tidied up for the day.

oops I forgot the photos

Pics of the new items in store. Just a little taste to encourage you. And i have now loaded my first pics. I am sure I will improve my technique with time.

Etsy upload

Well today is my birthday and as I have a cold I thought I would quietly spend my day at home working on my etsy shop, finally adding some new stuff and updating bits and pieces here and there. Hopefully by the end of the day it will be very enticing and lure you all in to buy loads so I can do more. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6122698

Well I will be here till lunch time then I will be heading into work. I love saying that.
Yesteday I made a great cobweb/nuno felt scarf and a open weve one and they are both in the pot along with the prefelt one I did on wednesday. I have also sewn in the ends of the bubbly wool ones I knitted, Now in grey, yellow and onion. I have put buttons on the reclaimed silk one. And I have done another knitted one wool/soy and silk thread which has been dyed in red onions but I have decided the fringe is a bit skimpy so have popped some extra thread into dye and will add that in today. And hopefully I will be all ready for the Homespun Market tomorrow.

Space

Well, big news at last. I have moved into my very own studio space. Finally I will be able to go to work and focus on making rather than being at home being distracted by house stuff and I wont have to pack up every night for dinner. Oh and the place looks much tidier as well.
The space is in a big tin shed occupied mostly by potters in downtown Launceston and I am sure I will be very happy there.

Market Reject

The market didn't go so welli in fact I didn't get a single sale, thats right not one. Perhaps I need to venture further afield, There is a market in Hobart that is more expensive but in theory much more profitable. And I can always try popping over the stream to Melbourne and trying the Market at the Abbotsford Convent. But most of all I need a few shops around the country who stock my wares. I think that will have to be prority number 1 for now. Oh and get more photos on Etsy. It can't possibly be that no-one wants my beautiful naturally dyed silk and wool, I am just not getting it seen by the right people. Back to the drawing board.

Harder Than It Looks

Just trying for a nice header but for some reason it insists on being enormous. Patience my pretties. Tomorrow I am off to market to market to buy a fat pig. Well no not really, I will be having my stall at the local markets here in downtown launceston, flogging me wares and hoping the powers that be a are smiling down graciously on me. Who'll buy my wares. That all depends on which souls are brave enough to come out in this cold weather. At least the market is inside even tough it is still not the warmest place in the world, I will make sure to rug up. I have some lovely new silk scarves to take with me tomorrow, whizzed up some beauties with red onion skins and Euc leaves this week and I have a new rack to diplay them on, heres hoping for big sales. Oh and I have two new little handbound books to add to the stall as well. One day there will be photos. I promise.

June Bugs

Well I got the news I was waiting and hoping for. What I havent told you about it. I applied on monday to be a part of a program that helps you set up your own small business and today they rang to let me know that I got in. So come Tuesday morning, I will be off all bright and sparkly to the Induction day. I have plans and now is the time to start nurturing them so they grows big and beautiful. More news as it comes to hand.

OOps

Well this is not as easy as it looks. Turn your back and a week slips past. Perhaps it is just a matter of it becoming a habit? So what have I done in the last week? I placed some of my silk scarves in The Vintage Rose, a little shop in Lonnie. I had an interview for a job I don't really want. Which I will find out about tomorrow. I got some great books out of the library and I have an appointment this afternoon at the Employment agency. All I really want to do is make stuff. Are there jobs like that? Oh and I took some of my small painted pices to show a friend. And she wants to know when I will be teaching classes. Maybe when I have a studio space to hang up my shingle. Ah dreams.

slow and steady

Day 2, still no idea but I have managed a picture and something in the profile. At this rate I should know what I am doing by xmas!!

Who'd a thought

Well here we are post no 1. I have no idea what I am doing. But somebody thought it would be a good idea. I will get the hang of it eventually........ I am almost positive.