kuberblog

... on eggs. Lots and lots of eggs!

2012-02-18T11:35:00.000+10:00

Well, they're ready! I've been making these eggs since the start of the year, and they're finally ready. I think I kept getting distracted by other new things - and in the end I was getting flustered because I had so many new things on the go and none of them were nearing finishment!

I've found a new use for my lovely old Airspeed fan. It goes really well, by the way, even though it makes a sound like a jet engine when it's on. I have to make sure everything's weighed down - it's been known to blow books off the table.

I've become a dab hand at this egg-speckling business - it's quite laborious, and I can only manage about three at a time before my thumbs give out! First I use a dry brush to flick on the fine specks, then go over again with a larger brush to be-blotch. Finished!

I've just spent the morning threading this delicious chocolatey ribbon through their loops, and taking photographs for some Etsy listings.

Now I'm feeling quite keen on the idea of making some blue-ish eggs. I also have a couple of little wall-hangings on the go - look out for them soon!

... on painting eggs.

2012-02-11T13:42:00.000+10:00

Real quail egg.

Cast plaster quail egg, painted and be-speckled.

Hurrah!

... on nests.

2012-02-05T12:29:00.000+10:00

I've been feeling inspired by all things eggs and nests lately. It could be that watching my Pekin bantam hen, Custard, hatch out all five of her eggs has played a part. Also, I seem to be finding nests. There's three sitting on top of my piano at the moment!

I've found two micky's nests. These little grey birds are prolific here in Brisbane and live in vast happy noisy families, with lots of birds (not only the parents) tending the nest. After the chicks have fledged they often tear apart the nest and use the materials to build another somewhere else.

I love the way they line the nest using something soft. I think this is building insulation.

This one has used the swirly tendrils from a passionfruit vine - how delightful!

This lovely green lichen and spiderweb one came from up in the mountains when we went to visit friends in the new year. C and I went for an early morning walk and it had fallen to the ground... empty, thank goodness.

So, I've begun nesting too. I've been having such fun with my cast plaster quail eggs, and making a nest to put some in is the natural thing to do, right?

I've so loved making this nest. The main part is made from old copper wire that was hanging down from some disused telephone poles - I remember my brother coming home with the vast heavy roll of it when we were kids. I love how it's starting to oxidise, and I think it'll go completely green in the long term unless it's brushed off. The shiny bright wire is from a spool I bought at a flea market. I don't know what type of metal it is but it's never tarnished, and I've had it for years. The eggs - well, they're made from my favourite Gedeo Resin Plaster. Hello bird's nest!

... on ampersand fun.

2012-02-04T16:15:00.000+10:00

Over the past few weeks I've been having a bit of fun with a new ampersand project. Recently, on one stupidly hot and humid Brisbane day, I exiled myself to my Ma's air conditioning and spent a whole afternoon carving a new ampersand.

Here's how I carve something. I trace a template onto an ordinary piece of plasterboard sheeting, the sort that you use to line the walls of your home. I get busy with a scalpel and hey presto! A big mess!

I wanted this ampersand to be able to stand up by itself, so I carved two and glued them together, and then plastered over the join.

I really like the swirly-curliness of this ampersand. I like how you can see the definite 'E' and 'T' that make up the form of it ('et' meaning 'and' in french, and I don't know why I assume this but I do... is that why ampersands sometimes say 'et'? Other times they're more like a plus sign, or a squiggle.) and that it says 'et' in a really Austin Powers kind of way!

When it wasn't quite so hot, I got out the Pinkysil and made a mould. It was a bit of a close call though - it was still quite warm, and the silicone had started to go 'off' (or set) before I'd even finished mixing the two parts. Eeek!

It turned out okay though. I always feel quite nervous as I watch something I've spent hours carving disappear under the Pinkysil, because I know that once the silicone has set and I try to remove the original from the mould, I'll have to break it into a thousand pieces to get it out. But - then the fun starts... will the cast result be as nice as the original?

Hurrah! Yes - I don't miss the original one bit! In fact, I really like the bulk and heaviness of the cast result - the Gedeo Resin Plaster that I use is a superfine, weighty material, quite unlike the lightness of regular Plaster of Paris. I've made a couple of these now, and having had some practice at the finishing (they need quite a lot of hand sanding) I'm feeling that they're ready for my Etsy store. And guess what? They DO stand up by themselves!

... on cat things.

2012-02-03T08:25:00.002+10:00

I've been feeling rather catless of late. It's been some time since my lovely Kubrick used up the last of her nine lives, and I had resolved not to get another cat until I was living in a house suitable for keeping a cat inside. I've shared a house with an outdoor cat ever since I can remember, and although I did love that grassy smell that their fur takes on from being outside, I certainly didn't like the volume of birds and reptiles and little creatures that were brought into the house as a result. On one memorable occasion Kubrick strutted proudly into the room with a furious tree snake wrapped tightly around her head!

Now that things are moving along promisingly in the inside-cat-friendly department, I'm finding that my thoughts have been turning catwards. Initially-random browsing on Etsy has taken on a decidedly feline theme, and as a result, recently something lovely appeared at my door.

Images courtesy vaivanat.etsy.com

This lovely grey cat bed was hand felted in Lithuania by VaivaNat, who makes all sorts of beautiful things from felt, including brooches and scarves and incredible animal-eared hats. I wished that she could have included her cat in with the parcel - the cat is called Maia, by the way.

It's simply a beautifully made thing, and I can thoroughly recommend. You might like to visit Vaiva's shop. There are some lovely photos of her in action at her felting studio here.

...

There was a Featured Seller on Etsy who really caught my eye a few weeks ago. Laura at le animalé makes miniature animal totems, jewellery and moleskine notebooks. You can also send her photographs of your pet and she will sculpt you a custom animal... which I did. I sent her some shots of Kubrick, we exchanged some emails discussing a potential pose, and I've been waiting with bated breath ever since.

Then yesterday, look what appeared on Laura's blog.

Images courtesy leanimale.com

I have to say, as soon as I scrolled down and saw that little wave in the tail, I knew that Laura had done a fabulous job. She has captured the essence of Kubrick perfectly! One of the things that I miss the most about Kuber was the way she would greet me when I came home. As soon as she heard me she would come out from whatever bush she'd been napping under, and walk towards me with her tail held high, the tip waving slightly from side to side with each step. She would delicately pick her way through the long grass and miaow every now and then. So lovely to come home to!

Now, I'll have this beautiful thing to remind me. The parcel hasn't arrived yet but I know I'm going to be delighted!

... on tin!

2012-01-16T20:59:00.000+10:00

I received a big boost to the Beastie Tin Reserves a few days ago. To date, all of my Beasties have been made from tin that used to be on the top of our old chook-house. It was mostly painted pale green, with some red stripes on the edges - it had already been used a few times before it was built into the chookshed - who knows where? Anyway, this tin was lovely - only - I ran out. From the two full sheets I used to have, I now only have a few small Beastie-sized rectangles, which I'm hesitant to use as I know there's no more!

So, it was rather timely to hear news that C's mum had a friend, Lil, who knew I made stuff from tin, and had a few pieces in her garden she thought I might be able to use. Yes. OH yes!

When we picked them up from Lil, C just shook his head and laughed at how delighted I was over a stack of rusty painted tin. PERFECT. BEASTIE. TIN!

Red AND green paint! Rust! Oxidation! Flakiness! I tell you, it made my day, and I can feel a Beastie plague coming on!

... on light.

2012-01-14T15:12:00.001+10:00

I've just learned a valuable lesson. Actually - I think I'd already learned this one, but forgotten it. I'm photographing a couple of new things for my Etsy store, and so, on autopilot, I pulled out this lamp I sometimes use that has a special photographic daylight bulb. I set everything up, turned on the lamp, took some shots, and then opened them up in Photoshop. I was pretty happy with them - until I tried to tweak the levels to get rid of the yellowish look to the white plaster seedpods.

No matter how much I fiddled I couldn't get it right - and the more I looked at it, the more purple the background seemed. What's more, none of the five photos I'd chosen for the listing looked like they belonged together - they all looked like they were taken on different days in different rooms under different lighting. Gah! I was so frustrated I had to walk away and go and play with the chooks for a bit.

When I'd calmed down, I tried again. I re-took all the photos, with no lamp. I opened up the blinds and doors, and just used the natural light - it's an overcast day here in Brisbane. What a difference!

A very moderate tweak to the levels and contrast, and already a much better result. All the pics look like they match. The pods aren't yellow. Thank goodness!

So - remember that, you. Just put that bloody lamp away and never use it again, will you!? Okay!

... on something in progress.

2012-01-07T09:31:00.000+10:00

Here's something new, halfway done. Time to get out the Pinkysil, plasticene, plaster and paint.

Now if I can just figure out how to get what's on my thumb to go on the eggs, I'll be a very happy maker-of-things. I think it's a finely calibrated combo of 'stiffness of bristle', 'consistency of paint' and 'aim'. Will update you more soon. My house is a mess!

... on sale!

2011-12-31T12:40:00.000+10:00

In honour of all things new... a new year! a new banner! some new products in the pipeline! I am having a samples and seconds sale over in my Etsy store. There you'll find some of the test items I've been sharing with you recently, such as...

A black plaster ampersand

Three plaster asterisk brooches - heavy! For coats only!

Four plaster asterisks

Hello newness!

I've had such fun with this! Do drop over for a look. Happy New Year!

... on more christmassing!

2011-12-23T05:55:00.000+10:00

There has been quite a lot of christmas action happening around here.

There has been the making of cards and the sprinkling of glitter.

There has been much construction of lunch-paper pompoms to adorn presents and bonbon hats.

There has been the acquisition of a casuarina for our family christmas tree, undertaken with a certain degree of stealth, at dusk. (Thinned from the side of the road down near the creek... since the bushfire two years ago they've grown up so thickly they can't all survive!)

There has been the cutting of my Ma's christmas cake.

There has been a daily inspection by the chooks about how things are going inside the house. "Get out, Boyd!"

... and there has been some degree of craftiness going on. It's time to clean up! Wrap those last presents! Crack open a bottle of Rekorderlig Strawberry and Lime cider and... "ahhhh!"

... on the christmas tree.

2011-12-12T07:25:00.001+10:00

That christmassy feeling has come early for me this year. I mean, I was as disgusted as the next person when I heard the first twinklings of 'Jingle Bells' down at the supermarket at the end of October. (Funnily enough the staff must have felt the same - they were back to elevatoresque for at least another month after that!) No... this year I was inspired by a visit to a dear friend up at the Sunshine Coast, last week. Her tree was up and her house was bursting with advent calendars and decorations... I came home and immediately pulled out my two boxes of christmasnessiness.

Now, I know in the past I have been guilty of the too-stylish christmas tree sin. It's all those years working as a window-dresser! This year, my theme is 'all or nothing', meaning that I crammed every decoration I could find onto the dead stick which, rather embarrassingly, has been adorning my house since I used it for christmas last year! You know how you amass a collection of odd decorations that people have given you? Blue holographic sequins! Mirrored raised-trunk elephants! CRAM THEM ALL ON!

Rummaging through the boxes was a lovely reminiscence, too. "Here's a lovely handmade bird given to me by a work friend last year!" "Look at this little rooster that I bought from that Christmas Shoppe on the High Street in Edinburgh, in June!" I found the pink shiny cardboard stars that I'd made for a tree when I lived with my friend Sarah, about ten years ago.

I do like to add to the collection every year. Inspired by the pink stars, I found some fabric scraps and experimented with some fabric baubling.

No more colour-coordinated trees for me... it's like a festival going on over there in the corner!

So. Time to sort out my christmas cards. Time to stock up on festive bubbles at the bottle shop. Time to read Margaret Mahy's 'The Tricksters', an annual event for me because her descriptions of a wonderfully chaotic beachy pine-treey New Zealand family christmas are just fab! and never fail to put me in the mood.

Hello Christmas!

...on a bath full of ink.

2011-11-29T08:12:00.001+10:00

I thought I'd give this ink bath thing another go, as I'd really liked the grey concrete-y outcome. In a previous post I'd mentioned that the indian ink had a real pong to it. I am pleased to report that after about three weeks the reek from my initial testing has faded!

This time I thought I'd try a whole word to see the effect. So, in went some plaster letters for a 24-hour bath.

A rinse...

... and a scrub with an old toothbrush.

Dry.

Too smelly for my Etsy store? I'm not sure! I like it, though!

... on a weekful of Beasties.

2011-11-21T16:26:00.003+10:00

Monday.
Tuesday.
Wednesday.
Thursday.
Friday. On my list last week: "Make a Beastie every day." All to be seen in my Etsy store shortly!

...on trying just one more idea!

2011-11-17T07:08:00.003+10:00

I had another idea about how to colour the Gedeo resin plaster I use to cast my letters. I added a good whack of black acrylic paint to the mix, and things were looking promising until I'd waited three days for it to set and it still hadn't! So I gave it a week.In drying, the mix in the mould had shrunk a little, making the backs of these asterisks concave. However they did have an exquisite chalkiness which was pretty nice.

So chalky, in fact, that they just broke apart upon handling! What a shame.So. Concrete colourant it is. Watch this space!

... on trying something... and then something else.

2011-11-12T08:39:00.007+10:00

I've had a few queries recently as to whether it was possible to colour my plaster letters. It is - they do pretty well with a coat of plain acrylic paint, in which case you can match them to your wall colour if you want.

However, one of the things I really like about casting these letters in white plaster is that the original letter I hand-carved was from white plaster. It had that lovely matte finish and the dry texture of the surface really appealed to me. So, in casting a letter that was originally in white plaster, with white plaster, I get a recreation of that beautiful original matte surface, which I love. Painting over it seems to be a shame, to me.

So, I looked at how I could colour the plaster mix itself - maybe I could retain the dry-looking matte surface?

Here, I tried adding black Indian ink to the water that I mix with the dry resin plaster. I used a very strong mix (one part ink to three parts water) and as a result the plaster took well over 24 hours to set hard - normally it's ready for demoulding in less than an hour. It also stuck pretty fiercely to the mould (even though I'd talc-ed it well beforehand) and left pieces of itself behind - not a success.

Then I thought 'well, if that's not going to work, perhaps I can soak a letter in the ink, neat.' and after a 24-hour bath, this was the result.

A grey, rather than black outcome. It has a great concrete-y industrial look that may work really nicely. However, in playing with the Indian ink, I noticed something a bit gross about it. It stinks. I mean, it reeks, and I'm afraid the vomity pong lingers in the cast result, even after a very good scrub and a long sit in the sun!

Then I tried a product that was designed to do approximately what I'm trying to achieve - concrete colourant. It's used to colour grout, too, so I figured it was bound to work. I did have to add way more water than usual to make the plaster wet enough to cast, so I don't really know the correct water/colourant ratio. It did set in a reasonable time though, but most importantly - it has that dry matte finish that I like so much. Hoorah!

The only downside I discovered was that in scrubbing off the talc under the tap after demoulding, I got black all over my hands, which means that the colourant isn't waterproof. This surprised me, as it's designed for grout, and surely it would be used in wet areas? This isn't really a problem as I don't recommend installing these plaster letters where they'll get wet - it's more of a production challenge.

What do you think? Should I try a production run?

...on being at home.

2011-11-06T07:01:00.003+10:00

Aaah, how lovely is it to return to a beloved home after a long while away! The first opening of the door... the familiar smell of my house... the remembering of all the little possessions that make my home 'mine'. Seedpods on a bookshelf, a postcard tucked into the edge of a frame, a pebble found on a previous holiday sitting on top of the piano.

What I like most, though, is how I've just stepped from a darkening blustery European autumn into a fragrant pre-summer Brisbane blissfulness! The breeze feels like the sea, and it makes Christmas seems to be just around the corner. The jacarandas in my street are going all kinds of crazy and the jasmine just outside my doors is outdoing itself. The nights (through which I am finally sleeping after picking up a dreadful airport cold!) are scented and only-just-cool, and in the mornings I'm amazed by how many birds start singing so early. My feet are getting used to being bare. It's so good to be home!

What's more, the garden is absolutely full of self-seeded cherry tomatoes, perfect for roasting up with some garlic and onion to have on hand for spaghetti.

Yum yum yum! HOORAY ALL ROUND!

... on holidays.

2011-10-08T21:34:00.009+10:00

Hi there. I've been overseas on holiday for a while now, and as it's going-home-time soon, I'm starting to think 'What happens next?' We've been holed up in this place in France for two months now, long enough to really settle in and give our brains a good rest after a start to the year that was unusually frantic. I think that's one of my favourite things about going away. You think about home and remember how nice it is, and then think of all the things you want to do when you get back there. I'm not homesick, not at all - just enjoying the perspective!

So far, the 'What now?' list is headed up by completing my tax return (ugh) but then moving on to more interesting things like reopening my Etsy store. Living out of a suitcase for this long has reinforced my suspicion that I have too much 'stuff' hanging about in boxes at home, and some of it needs to go to eBay or the opshops. I'd like to make a start on a Summer vegie garden (sweet potatoes and pumpkins first up) and have resolved to not bother trying to grow things that I know are wrong for a humid climate. I'd like to drink less wine, and am keen on starting my no-sugar regime again.

I'm also looking forward to new creative things. I've been looking about, and surprising myself by what I'm interested in - one thing I've really noticed a lot has been rocks.
We'd drive through a cutting on a road and I'd think 'Oooh, I bet there are fossils in that shaley stuff', and so we'd stop and poke about, finding that others had been there before us and left mounds of stone, picked over. On a beach I'd find my interest caught in the variety of pebbles - the textures and colours of the different types of stone - and easily spend hours wandering slowly about, finding wonderful things like this:
It's a crystal-filled geode, slightly ocean-worn, and completely delightful! Having never been into rocks in any way before, I'm starting to feel like I could be. I wish I was a jeweller so I could make stone beads to thread on battered silver bracelets. Carving plaster, carving stone - it's a natural progression, isn't it?

As an aside, I've rediscovered one of my first forays into plaster typography, a project that I did on a previous visit here. A wall had been torn down, and there was a large piece of thick plaster, almost a brick of it, in the debris. One blunt chisel and several wet grey afternoons resulted in this; a carved address to leave by the door.
Hooray to plaster carving! It's been good for my soul for a long time!
See you soon.

... on a trip!

2011-06-16T06:33:00.006+10:00

It's 6.30am and I'm leaving for a long holiday today. There's an empty suitcase over there in the corner, and little piles of things lying all over my house. I'm experiencing a vague sense of panic but I think all the little piles will end up in my suitcase, and I'll be able to leave by 9.00am. What am I talking about? That's plenty of time! I've got enough for a leisurely shower, another cup of tea, and more sitting admiring my dear friend Sarah's 'departure' flowers from her garden!

So! I've resigned from my job, and will be away until the end of October. C and I are headed to America first, where we'll hire a car and camp, hike around my favourite mountain, attend an enormous music festival, and hopefully not find too many things we want to buy here. From New York we'll be shipping it across to Europe, to spend a good long time in France. Hooray!

I think I might even have time to go and give Boyd a good squeeze. He won't mind!

What am I talking about now? GO AND PACK, you nitwit!

... on tastiness!

2011-05-16T15:30:00.006+10:00

On Sunday, I felt it was time for a bit of blueberry pancaking.

Partnered, of course, with coffee and my very own guava jelly.

Cooked in butter, the pancakes got a lovely crisp edge.

Yum! Yum! Yum! Duly sustained, I felt it was time to list an appropriate Plaster Wall Word in my Etsy store. Oh happy Sunday!

... on finding joy in small things.

2011-04-07T04:59:00.009+10:00

There've been too many disasters in the world of late - I've been feeling the weight of the world. Flooding here in my home-town of Brisbane, the earthquake in New Zealand, the tsunami and nuclear emergency in Japan, all of them devastating. Sometimes I just can't look at the footage on the television any more.

It amazes me that life goes on. Yesterday I read the most perfect quote which covers that quite nicely. "We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen." which is from DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. So, I've been trying to focus on the small, local things that bring me joy.

Like this: all the rain over this past summer has meant that there has just been a bumper crop of guavas. Guava trees often spring up in urban spots - I gathered kilos of them from a tree on my local railway cutting and made my first batch of guava jelly.

And like this: I bought my very first pair of proper hiking boots in anticipation of climbing a mountain. As soon as they arrived I put them on with my new proper hiking socks and just fell in love. When I walk in them I feel tall and strong, like I'm standing up straighter. I've done all my previous hiking in Blundstone boots, but no more. No more!

(As an aside, I've also been enjoying Hipstamatic on a borrowed iPhone. My own phone is six years old and doesn't have a camera - I can certainly see the attraction.)

And most definitely like this: by hatching eggs. I have Pekin bantam chickens, and last year I ordered some fertile eggs from a breeder and put them under two broody hens. Of the 12 eggs, 8 hatched, and of them 5 were roosters! So, SO handsome - I wished I could have kept them all, but so far I've found lovely homes for 4 of them, and the last boy remains with me - at least - until the neighbours complain. He's only just starting to crow. Anyway, his biggest brother was much more advanced and was happily performing his roosterly duty with my older hen, Birkenstock. After he went to his new home my Ma took a couple of her eggs and put them under yet another broody. "Those eggs won't be fertile," I said. "He's too young." My Ma replied "Let's put them under Sylvia and find out!" Last weekend - look what happened!

So, how do you beat the weight of the world?

... on the joy to be had from bits of corrugated iron.

2011-01-31T08:17:00.004+10:00

Recently I've found myself with a few spare days off work. I've tried:

A. Moonlighting as a builder's labourer. This is varyingly successful depending on how hot and humid it is on any given day. Moving bits of scaffolding in the withering sun at midday = wobbles and heatstroke. Hiding under a tarpaulin to paint the ends of beams = more my style.

B. Staring at the stockmarket hoping for divine inspiration. None yet.

C. Making many batches of dextrose-sweetened icecream in my new icecream-maker. Vanilla bean is particularly nice, as is chocolate made with Dutch cocoa.

D. Pekin-bantam wrangling. It's a great time-waster but Otto just doesn't understand that if he continues to practice his crowing (he's only 3 months old) then the neighbours will be most upset and he'll have to be re-homed sooner than expected.

and E. Mildly contemplating why it is that I haven't made any Beasties for a while!

So, out with the stout gloves and tin-snips!

Chop! Snip! Bend out the corrugations! Give them all a good scrub and sit them in the sun to dry! Hello Beasties!

... on the tree!

2010-12-22T04:44:00.005+10:00

Feeling a bit sticky this year. This little paperbark sapling didn't recover from last year's bushfire so I've brought him home and covered him with my plaster seedpods, tissue-paper pompoms, some lovely paperboatpress ceramic ornaments and a few tiny glass baubles.

And I can never resist a good pile of presents! I'd stocked up on cord and ribbon from Pepe's Paperie in Canberra earlier in the year. Hooray!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

... on plasternessing something

2010-12-05T06:02:00.004+10:00

The other day I was sitting at work gazing idly about my desk, as you do when you're trying to figure out what you should be doing next in a busy week. I try to save the clutter for home, but over the years a collection of things has sprung up on the windowledge - a rock, a paper cricket, some prototype plaster letters and a couple of dry bits of foliage. My eye came to rest on a seedpod I'd picked up while coming back from a curry lunch at West End some months back, and suddenly I had a vision.

That lunchtime I went back to West End and had a rummage - I found three more. When I got home that night I mixed up some Pinkysil and went for it!

(Oh Pinkysil. I'm so delighted Barnes have opened a retail shop here in Brisbane!)

White plaster seedpod Pinkysil goodness HURRAH!

... on the right kind of morning for it.

2010-11-20T08:57:00.003+10:00

It's a funny kind of morning, this one. It's alternating cloud and sun, and blusteringly curtain-billowingly paper-flappingly windy. The jacaranda flowers are falling in drifts onto the road, and the chickens look perplexed.

There's only one thing for it. Close all the doors and windows, put the kettle on, let the dog sleep on the rug. Time for a photo-shoot!

...on markets ahoy!

2010-11-08T06:12:00.005+10:00

It was Finders Keepers weekend in Brisbane, and I went, for the first time. It was held in the old Queensland Museum building, which is a destination all by itself.

Coloured-glass windows streaming afternoony light onto the tables full of handmade loveliness, and a brick veranda wide enough for both stalls and meandering.

Big tissue-paper flowers were hanging throughout all the rooms, which looked grand.

We finished off the day with a wander through the trumpet-vine house in the gardens - a fine afternoon.

...on a word for the week.

2010-09-05T17:23:00.002+10:00

Here's one - topical, given today's other post. It's a favourite of mine.

... on old news.

2010-09-05T16:34:00.005+10:00

I don't know why I just took it into my head to Google the author George MacDonald Fraser, but I did, and I was saddened to find that he'd died. The Flashman books have been solid favourites of mine ever since I was introduced to them by my first boyfriend, who read the entirety of Flashman and the Redskins to me aloud. To this day I haven't been able to re-read it because when I try, I hear the whole thing in his voice, and he was such a **** that it's not a pleasant reminder. It struck me at the time that it was weird that a twenty-year-old girl should really enjoy what can be described as historical military fiction, and I sometimes thought about writing a letter to George MacDonald Fraser and telling him that although the boyfriend didn't endure, Flash Harry did.

Occasionally I find myself using Flashmanisms in my daily speech - the word 'gammon' is one, as is the phrase 'mealy little pimp' when someone cuts me off in traffic. The character is a dreadful lech but he is certainly very charming, and remains one of my favourite fictional men. So, I'm very sorry to find there won't be any more Flashman books.

Tally-ho, eh what?

... on carving some more letters.

2010-08-15T09:08:00.004+10:00

Had a spare couple of hours yesterday - set myself the task of extending the alphabet. My word possibilities will increase greatly with the inclusion of these two!

... on agricultural shows.

2010-08-09T05:24:00.004+10:00

You know, some weekends, you just can't go past a good poultry display. Chooks patiently wait out time in their show cages by scratching optimistically in their straw and poking their heads out between the bars to see what's going on down the aisle. I saw lots of handsome roosters I'd like to borrow for my pekin bantams at home, who I am sure would be wonderful mothers...

...and I saw an excellent duck. Happy Brisbane RNA Show!

... on little paintings for friends.

2010-07-27T06:25:00.007+10:00

Aaah you Sunday morning! A cup of milky tea and a salty hard-boiled egg, a home-grown passionfruit and the sun making the curtains glow. A paintbrush among the toast crumbs... paintings for friends.

... on weekends of bliss.

2010-07-17T08:31:00.003+10:00

Last weekend, it was my birthday. There was cake, and there were candles, and both were had in the very early morning.

Later, there was a long drive up into the mountains, car loaded up with C and woollens and wine and a wagyu roast, to this place. It was lovely to see dear family friends, Richard and Rosemary and Madeleine, and Madeleine's two girls, Millie and Sophie.

There were walks over dry-grass hills and through vineyards and olive groves, log balancing over the creek through the rainforest, a Very Special marshmallow roasting bonfire, and only one leech.

Thoroughly wonderful all round!

... on motivation.

2010-07-01T06:06:00.004+10:00

I got a parcel in the mail this week. In it is a blank Moleskine notebook (the brown-cover sort) and some instructions. See, I've joined The Sketchbook Project, where I get to hold on to this Moleskine for a few months and fill it with stuff, which I then send back to America. It meets lots of other sketchbooks filled with stuff and tours the country. It's even themed - mine is 'The view from up here".

I'm not sure why I was attracted to do this - after all, you have to pay to do it, and I could have gone to the shop and bought the same Moleskine to fill and keep if I'd felt the urge. Maybe it's more about being sent a notebook and being expected to fill it - it's a motivating factor. I wouldn't be filling a notebook otherwise - and creatively speaking, it's promising!

How promising is a blank notebook? I can't resist!

...on green!

2010-06-29T06:37:00.003+10:00

I'm starting to get into this.

... on a little more painting.

2010-06-26T11:05:00.004+10:00

My box of paints has been sitting out on my table for a few weeks now. Every so often my Prussian Blue will call out to me, and I'll paint some more clouds.

Then I accidently dripped some water on a fresh pageful of blue, which made a nice cloudy thing all by itself. I added rain.

Clouds, rain, Prussian blue and my new favourite: an old tube of Oxide of Chromium gouache - all very good for the soul.

... on a little painting.

2010-06-05T14:19:00.003+10:00

It's C's birthday today, and he's impossible to buy for. He'd prefer to pretend he's not having a birthday at all, and as he's a bit anti-'stuff' right now, I can't buy him 'stuff'. So the options become 'get him something he needs' or 'get him an experience' or 'get him membership to the Queensland Donkey Society' - which is what I did last year.

This year, we're going to go shopping for a new pair of jeans, so I pulled out my box of watercolours and some paper, and did a little painting to act as the Official Shopping Invite.

It's been a long time since I played with my watercolours, and I really really enjoyed it! I may need to do some more in the coming weeks.

There's a story that goes with that box of watercolours. I was living out of home for the first time, working only part time, so money was tight. For some reason I had a scratchie - it was a Trivial Pursuit scratchie, I think they cost $2. I won $100 on that scratchie, and I went down to the local art supplies shop and bought $100 worth of Winsor & Newton Artists' Water Colour paint - about 12 tubes at the time. Bliss!

... on an arrival!

2010-05-30T18:10:00.005+10:00

Well, it was never going to fit in my car! I was delighted to find that a crate from London had arrived for me at work on Wednesday, and then disappointed to find that I wasn't going to be able to get it home and unpacked until Saturday. Until then, all I could do on my daily visits to the loading dock at work was admire some nice crate typography, and wonder Exactly What The Hell The Quarantine Guys Had Sprayed Into That Fume Port Before It Got Sealed Up.

Inside, aaaah!

This is my 35th birthday present to myself. For my 30th, my present to myself was a trip around the world, so I'm seeing the emergence of a theme!

Early this year, I saw an entry about Bellerby & Co Globemakers on notcot.org, and clicked through to this article on Cool Hunting. The photo with the banana on the desk under the tray of paint made me laugh, and I was extra interested because I was starting to cast plaster myself at the time, and here it was being used to make big balls!

Talk about love at first sight - I was impressed by the notion that someone could be bothered enough to figure out how to make these beautiful things, by hand, and then make more. Then I found that someone was prepared to crate one up and send it to Australia - where it's come to live with me.

Oh thankyou, Peter Bellerby! I am absolutely delighted!

... on plaster brooches... no.

2010-05-15T09:21:00.005+10:00

Last weekend I decided that it was time to start accessorising, and made a couple of brooches out of my plaster asterisk collection.

During the week I tried to wear one and it was so heavy it... er... made the front of my shirt look very unappealing. So these won't be for sale, and will have to be For Big Winter Coat Use only!

Nonetheless, hoorah!

... on something coming!

2010-05-09T08:57:00.009+10:00

Something very lovely, very anticipated, and very much handmade will be making its way to me next week.

Sat 15 May update...

Ooooh!

... on the Black Kitten of Doom.

2010-04-28T20:28:00.005+10:00

A couple of weeks before Kuber died, an odd thing happened. It was night, and I’d just shut the roller door on her and the dog. I clean my teeth, poke around a bit. Then I hear a noise coming from the garage – Kuber was growling, as far as cats do. I walk through, and see that she’s sitting, looking intently and growling at something behind the mower. ‘Uh-oh,’ I think. There’s a snake inside. Or a bluetongue or something. I approach tentatively – and was quite surprised by what was crouched there – a tiny black kitten, with white feet. I'm delighted! I've always wanted to be discovered by a kitten! I put Kubrick and the dog into my room, and then approach again. The black kitten runs off. I go after it, slowly. It bolts again. I’m talking to it in a high, friendly voice, offering it catfood – it just keeps running away. After half an hour I’m sick of chasing it and I need to get to bed, so I corner it against the wall behind a plant pot. I reach down to grab it – and as I put my hand towards it there’s this hissing explosion which makes me withdraw my hand quite swiftly! I put on a thick pair of leather gloves and try again. I reach down – hissing explosion. Such a huge noise from something so small! I was afraid that if I grabbed it, I’d have a snarling sharp kitten up my arm and attached to my face in no time. After a ridiculous number of attempts to grab it I give up. The thing was trying to kill me. I open the roller door and use a stick to chase the kitten outside, whereupon it runs off into the night. See, now I have a theory about that little feral black kitten. It was the cat version of the Grim Reaper, and it’d come for Kubrick. Only – it got trapped inside and had to leave without her!

Bloody thing came back, though.

...on carving again.

2010-04-26T20:26:00.005+10:00

Today I spread out some newspaper and got on with carving something new. Not typography this time - spongy amoebic blobbiness hooray!

I can imagine a repeat pattern of these spreading out over my wall - we'll see!

... on newness.

2010-04-13T10:26:00.007+10:00

These past few weekends gone, I've been shifting my furniture about. When I was a kid, 'changing my room around' was a beloved pasttime - I'd pull everything out onto the veranda and then rearrange - for a while the new perspective given by moving my bed from this corner to that was a bit like being on holiday.

I hadn't done it in a while though, but action was needed in order to fit in a new little table to hold my new big friend*. Also, I wanted to try out a feature of my bookcase. It was made for me by a local cabinetmaker, who designed an ingenious stand for the case to sit on. I was planning on chocking it up on bits of wood, but the cabinetmaker had made a jigsaw of wooden pieces which linked together to form a neat cabinet-makey base, and which could be used at full size (when the bookcase was lying flat) or small size (when the bookcase was standing tall) and the extra pieces fit in underneath. Neat!

Feeling like it was time for a change, I set about shifting.

It took all weekend, but it made me happy!

The little table made me even happier. C made it for me, shaking his head that I preferred to use his dodgy old concrete-covered ply rather than new.

Lovely!

*My new big friend WAS lovely too - until it started making a sound like a jet engine revving up and alas, all twenty-seven inches of it were pronounced 'DOA' and they're sending me a new one!

... on a little bit of customisation.

2010-01-19T13:33:00.004+10:00

"So, uh, Moleskine."
"Si?"
"You know how you are always... well, kinda the same?"
"Si."
"Every year, the same."
"Well, you know how it is. That is somewhat the point, no?"
"Maybe. I guess I bought a red one last year and it just didn't work out so well."
"Esattamente!"
"Well, this year I'd like to try something new."
"..."
"Just hold still now."
"Madonna mia! OW!"
"..."
"...!"
"There! That's more like it!"
Happy New Year!

... on christmas!

2009-12-19T05:30:00.005+10:00

Two weeks ago, the paddock where I usually nab a christmas tree from burnt out, so I had to look closer to home for an alternative.

There was a rather unruly sandpaper plant growing on the corner of the carport which looked promising. I took to it with my secateurs...
... and wrestled the trimmings into a circle, scratching myself to shreds in the process. (I found it's not called sandpaper plant for nothing!) I added my new string of clear lights...
...and then some decorations. Not a tree but... a christmas... circle?
Merry Christmas!

... on clouds.

2009-12-12T08:45:00.005+10:00

This week I bought a lovely ceramic cloud brooch made by Kylie Johnson, a Brisbane poet and maker-of-beautiful-things.
So, here's two of my favourite cloud photographs of 2009 to go with it. The first was taken looking straight up at a mackerel sky one evening whilst camping at Mount Barney, and the second from the top of Bald Rock. It really was a very oddly clouded day, that one.

...on festivities and such things.

2009-12-06T11:56:00.002+10:00

I've just had the most delightful time making christmas cards. This year I'd been determined to make my own, as last year I used bought ones. There's something lovely about making multiples of a thing, and busting out cards from a packet doesn't supply the same satisfaction. Lovely letterpress (which is what I used last year) does satisfy a certain craving, but just not the same.
Not. The. Same!

... on a parcel.

2009-11-16T05:14:00.003+10:00

With only one exception in the early days, all of my customers have been women. It's not as though what I make is feminine - I would have thought the opposite, given the rusty old tin and the angularity of Arial Black, which was the font I used to use when carving my plaster letters.

So, when I started to develop a new version of my plaster letters, I thought about all these women who were buying my words. I deliberately chose a lovely full rounded font, which I thought would appeal more to these female customers. Yesterday, I've sold my first new word. To a man!

Off you go to Ireland, little parcel!

... on a good thing.

2009-11-09T06:23:00.005+10:00

Oh Pinkysil! You've made it a joy to make what I make! You're skin safe and odourless! You're quick-setting and you WORK!

... on the best name for a baby girl.

2009-10-19T06:14:00.002+10:00

Up and running! My first batch of cast Plaster Wall Words are making their way into my Etsy store. I don't have a full alphabet yet but my initial letter choice was influenced by wanting to make this for The Beckster.

... on an asterisk.

2009-10-10T07:53:00.005+10:00

I've just carved the cutest thing ever.

... on a disaster.

2009-09-02T06:49:00.005+10:00

All was going according to plan. I carved, and I enjoyed it.
When I was finished I sat the letters on top of my bookcase for a while to enjoy them.
Then I made some latex moulds of the letters. I painted on twenty coats, which took two weeks allowing for drying time inbetweentimes, and really ponged.

Possibly the mistake came in slathering a load of plaster over the top of the whole lot to make a 'mother' to support the latex while casting, because here's what happened when I tried to get the whole lot apart:
I had to pull so hard on the latex to dislodge it from the mother and the original letter that it distorted unusably.
...and I destroyed my letters too. Waaah!

... on things that are good for the soul.

2009-08-25T04:12:00.003+10:00

A box of chickens came to live with me on the weekend. These four bustling swishing ladies with their feathers that come right down to the ground and make them look like they are wearing long full skirts are absolutely entrancing, even more so when they trot about and occasionally trip over their own feathered feet.
I could sit and watch them all afternoon!

... on shadows.

2009-08-23T08:34:00.004+10:00

During the week I finally completed my red Fishie Beastie wall hanging. I hung it from the curtain rail, and yesterday afternoon I saw that a patch of sun had crept down the wall and was be-shadowing it in a very lovely fashion!

... on not thinking about what you're doing.

2009-08-02T18:52:00.003+10:00

See, this is what happens when you drink wine while using a template that has to be traced backwards in order for the thing to come out right!
Gah!

...on an ampersand.

2009-07-31T06:42:00.006+10:00

The other morning I was rueing the notion that it's hard, sometimes, to fit my desired life in around my actual life. 'Choose a new font and carve some new letters' has been on my to-do list since the beginning of the year, and every now and then I'll have thought 'I wish I had time to DO that!' So the other morning, I gave myself a mental shake.
"Stop that at once! You've got twenty minutes before you have to get in the shower! Do it NOW!"

Monday...
Tuesday...
Wednesday!
Plaster dust all over my house again, and it feels GOOD!

... on MORE fame!

2009-07-29T05:58:00.002+10:00

Oooh! Today I've had a lovely writeup over on www.stephbond.com. What a wonderful surprise! Thanks Steph!

...on fame.

2009-07-25T18:09:00.006+10:00

Many months ago I filled a custom order for the words 'bright idea' hand-carved in plaster. I was delighted, as I love custom orders, and I especially love sending them off to the other side of the world - in this case to New York. The notion that my fragile little letters can be whisked safely in their nest of bubble wrap to a destination thousands of kilometres away... it just makes me very happy!

Anyway, this customer had told me that she wanted the letters for a photoshoot, for the 'fall' (fall!) CB2 catalogue. I looked at their website... it looked like the US equivalent of a Freedom store. I then forgot all about them.

Then, the other day, I heard a green tree frog 'breeeEEEP!-ing' in the garden. I thought 'you're a tad early my friend, for it is the middle of winter!' and then suddenly the notion of 'fall' and the CB2 catalogue jumped into my head. I rushed online to see if indeed my letters had made the cut, as it were. I clicked though the catalogue, reaching the last pages and, having not spotted my letters anywhere, was disappointed more than I expected to be. "So that's why you didn't leave me any feedback!" I thought.

The next day I was at work, admiring the spacious real estate of my enormous Mac, when it occurred to me to use the big screen to have another look. After all, how much could I have seen on my 14 incher at home? Then, behold!

Okay, angled and almost illegible, but THERE! Hoorah!

... on forgetting.

2009-07-18T08:29:00.004+10:00

Recently I was invited to dinner by friends. The venue was a secret, and the instructions were to 'wear good stuff'. I got everything together: my shoes, stockings, my bag, my dress and my jacket, and C and I took off for his place, where we'd change later in the day. At around 4.00 I had a sudden realisation... I'd left the dress sitting on my table at home.

WAAAAAAAAH!

C and I live about an hour apart, and the dinner was an early one, so there was no time for me to rush home to grab the dress. There was only one thing to do - head to the local shopping centre. As I drove there I pondered on the unlikelihood of me being able to find something to wear, as it seemed several elements weren't in my favour. For starters, the local shopping centre contained exactly one unbranded dress shop. More worryingly, I'm a terrible shopper. I see something I like and it generally takes me a few weeks to commit to purchase, and as I so rarely see things I like, my wardrobe consists of lots of jeans and the one dress, currently draped gracefully on a table about 60 km away. And yet right now, I had one hour before the shop shut to find something to wear that night, and worse still - it has to be a dress or (gasp!) a skirt, to go with my black jacket.

Now, I don't skirt up well, as a rule. That's why I don't have any. My legs always seem too short, my hips too wide, and my knees definitely need to be out of sight.

I arrive at the One Dress Shop. I'm momentarily alarmed at the volume of embroidered PolarFleece within. This looks like the kind of shop that only ladies of a certain age and shape would go to. There was one of those ladies standing behind the counter. I went straight to her, and explained the predicament. She started to rummage on the racks, pulling out multitudes of black below-the-knee skirts with weird embellishments made from zips, and that kind of ornamental gathers-using-a-drawstring decoration that was fashionable five years ago. My heart sinks, so I take a quick look at the dress racks (AAAAAAH!) before committing to searching the sale racks with intent. See, that was the odd thing about this dress shop. Everything was hideously expensive. HIDEOUSLY. I found this skirt which was reduced to half price... it was $220. I grabbed a plain black shoestring nylon singlet ($70)to wear under my jacket and retreated to the dressing room. The skirt was... well, let's just say it was of a floaty chiffony patterned nature that I would have loved ten years ago, and it didn't quite go with the jacket. I thought 'well, it will just have to do' and took it to the counter.

I think it was the sight of the price tag ($440 REDUCED! to $220!) which provoked me to have one last look at the racks. I'd already been around the shop twice, but desperation (and disgust at the notion of forking out so much cash for something I didn't really love) drove me to try again. Jammed between an over-beaded bias-cut dress ($560) and a houndstooth jacket ($800) I found something that almost made me cry with relief. I'd found a skirt, a skirt so 'me' that I knew at once that this skirt was about to save the day. What's more... there was only one... and it was in my size.

It was a skirt made from soft black mesh, with these stripes of red all around it- layers of the mesh and the goodness of the satiny crushed dark red stripes adding up to something that gave off an air of circus tent, or hot-air balloon - I didn't care, because it was wonderful!
Oh wondrous circus-tent skirt, I know we will have many good years together!

PS. The dinner was lovely, the company excellent. The fact that two of my friends turned up in jeans a minor blot!

... on weird hand colouration.

2009-06-28T07:09:00.003+10:00

I'd been cutting out a school of fish from some red-painted corrugated iron. After a while, I saw that my fingers had gone exactly the same colour as the tin! The skin-colour of my fingers, combined with the paint dust and the graphite from the pencil I'd used to mark out the shapes on the tin... hey presto! Tin-coloured fingers!

... on finishing something that you start.

2009-06-19T14:50:00.004+10:00

Years ago, one of my lecturers at uni told me that he thought I was the sort of person who really liked starting something, but that I wasn't too keen on finishing things. I was an 'ideas' person. The same year an industry-mentor-type person told me that he could tell from looking at my folio that I wasn't the sort of person who wanted to be sitting in front of a computer all day. They were both right, in some ways.

Still. I finished the necklace!

...on donkeys.

2009-06-17T07:20:00.001+10:00

A custom Beastie for a donkey-fancier. Happy Birthday, C!

...on time.

2009-06-03T08:23:00.006+10:00

Whoa. That's all... whoa. It's June already, I haven't posted since January, haven't MADE ANYTHING since then apart from this, and whilst being absorbed in that I've forgotten who I am!

Now, though, I've some holidays on. A few days in and I can feel thoughts of work fading. I've even stopped checking my work email. I'm floundering about a bit - I don't quite know what to do with myself. I had a mental list of 'things to do once June comes' but it feels almost impossible to start - like I can't get on with it until I've wasted a number of days being lethargic and lost without work!

So, to begin. I'm re-purposing some old bracelets that had broken, into one of those multi-stranded necklaces that hang beguilingly in the opening of one's shirt. Just how beguilingly is yet to be seen, but that's the intention.

Here goes.

... on more lovely things in the post.

2009-01-26T16:12:00.004+10:00

Last week, this beautiful thing arrived in the post from Fray.
It was some days later that I realised that I'd hung it in front of a painting that matched it exactly!
It's going to be some months before I can wear this - I am NOT a summer person. Give me scarves and hot water bottles and red wine over singlets and sweat and bad humid hair anyday!

... on an aberration.

2009-01-18T12:19:00.004+10:00

I'm not usually attracted to making this sort of thing. But I must say - I had an old polyester blouse, a candle and some instructions (thanks Miss Lee!), and I wanted to see if it was as much fun it seemed. The answer... yes, OH yes!

I veered from the suggestion of using beads for the centres and went for heavily stitched instead. Happy!

... on names.

2009-01-11T17:17:00.005+10:00

For no other reason that recently I took these photos, it's time to explain where the name 'kuber' came from. This is Kubrick.

She is my very fine cat friend. I'm a big believer in 'interesting names for cats', and when she was a tiny kitten (well over 13 years ago now) she just looked like a Kubrick. So, she gets derivatives such as Kuber, Kube-ster, Koobs, and alternative names such as 'Miss Kitka' and thus, 'Squeezy Misssssy Kitka, Oh You Are So Squashy And Warm, Yes!'.

Later on I found that Kubrick-the-filmmaker was a big cat-lover, which seemed good.

So, as you do, you sign up for some online retailer in order to buy something (for me, it was a blue felted bowl by juliepersons) and then you find you're selling your own stuff with said online retailer, and you're stuck with whatever random name you entered - but if you're lucky you find that it's just fine that way!

"Oh Miss Kitka, what marvellous whiskers you have!"

... on 2009.

2009-01-01T18:16:00.004+10:00

First sunrise of the year. C and I woke up at 4am and drove up Mt Coot-tha to watch it. I'd expected it to be a beery gathering teeming with young-uns on their way home, but I was wrong - it was full of people armed with a Thermos and breakfast.
So I am not the only earlybird in Brisbane! Happy New Year!

... on fowl.

2008-12-30T18:14:00.009+10:00

The Beckster asked me to make her a couple of Beasties, a hen and a duck. The chook is a bit of a weirdo but I'm quite pleased with the jawline and tail curl of this duck. I might make some more of them in the new year. It's odd how I never really know how a Beastie will turn out, even though I work from a sketch and draw them out on the tin before I cut them. I should know by now - I've made a stack of Crabby Beasties over this past year, and every one of them has a different character!

... on wall hangings!

2008-12-08T06:41:00.004+10:00

Seems like I'm in wall hanging mode at the moment - I can't stop! I've finally made those little Fishie Beasties into something, and now I want to make more. When I was photographing this yesterday I had my big industrial fan on and the little fish were clanking together merrily in the breeze, and it made me happy!

... on shells and thread and little pink beads.

2008-12-05T13:47:00.002+10:00

I just made this wall hanging thing for C. We collected the shells together on our first proper grown-up weekend away, up on the beach on the Noosa North Shore. We spent a whole day lying on a blanket under a pandanus tree up in the dunes: reading, eating cherries, napping. Bliss!

... on stars.

2008-11-28T14:43:00.004+10:00

I've just made some tin stars to throw in with my christmas cards. This year I resolve most firmly to send out christmas cards! As I haven't been making anything for yonks (so much so that all my tinsnip and scalpel callouses had gone, to be replaced by mouse-using RSI in my index finger!) it felt good to get some tin splinters under my fingernails again. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

While we're on the subject of resolutions (for I quite like to make them throughout the year) I also have vague and hastily-formed ideas to A) not spend quite so much money on flowers and B) to play my piano a bit more, soon.

... on something lovely!

2008-09-06T10:55:00.008+10:00

My day was made,yesterday. First thing in the morning, and I'm at my desk. Leah, who sits next to me, arrives and some minutes later she's just about jumping up and down with excitement as she carefully presents me with a gift. For starters it was funny because she'd wrapped it in a printout of one my rejects for the cover of this book I'm working on. It was a watercolour of some skulls, repeated - I noticed she'd added a bow to the side of one of them! Anyway, inside was this:

A most beautiful red doily, which she had crocheted the previous night. Leah is an excellent crocheter - we share stationery and she had made us a blue crocheted bowl to put our paperclips in. So, when I admired the blue bowl, she made me a red doily.

I'm delighted. Absolutely delighted!

... on workspaces.

2008-09-04T05:51:00.006+10:00

Seeing where someone else works is always a bit delicious, isn't it!?

... on something new two.

2008-08-17T09:08:00.004+10:00

Yesterday I listed these leaves. I photographed them late in the afternoon and my hanging branch thing just looked so lovely in the afternoon light, and there was this little block of sunlight making its way up the wall as the sun went down.

These leaves are something new for me - I was inspired by a deciduous tree outside my house which only loses all of its leaves when it's been a very cold year - right now it's bare, and I'm wearing four layers inside!

... on my middle finger.

2008-08-13T14:36:00.002+10:00

I made a couple of Beasties today. The smaller circle above is from when I was getting a bit confident with the vice and, undoing it, pinched my finger between the two undoing thingos. The larger circle is where my big callous is from using my scalpel to carve letters. My scalpel is NOT ergonomically designed, apparently.

... on clouds.

2008-07-19T14:41:00.005+10:00

I was busily applying myself to making more clouds the other day when I looked up from the table and saw this volcano drawing I'd done on my noticeboard. Now I understand why the cloud thing seemed so . . . familiar!

... on k.

2008-07-13T08:58:00.004+10:00

Recently I made my first 'k', as part of a custom order. I like the awkward sort of angularity about this k. I like it so much I think I'll do some words specifically because they've got k's in them. I'm thinking first of 'kiss me' as that's a fairly saleable expression, but then I'd like to do 'knuckle'.

... on an outdated term of abuse.

2008-07-08T19:58:00.001+10:00

I wanted to use 'Go to the devil.' today.

... on something new.

2008-07-06T16:48:00.007+10:00

I started making something new this weekend. I had in mind a set of puffy white plaster clouds. Initially I thought I was doing okay.

Then I went overboard on the finishing.

I realised then that I'd really liked the effect of the scalpel marks I made as I was removing the cardboard, and that by getting rid of them and smoothing the surface, the cloud was losing what I felt made it interesting in the first place - but I didn't know it at the time. I think I'll toss out the over-finished one and make a set of three. Templates are ready to go!

... on how to smooth a Rough Patch.

2008-06-28T10:42:00.008+10:00

It has occurred to me that this Rough Patch came as the result of a disappointment. The disappointment, I now realise, was the last in what had been a string of disappointments, knitted together into something full of holes and dropped stitches. That could be the end of it: I've grown out of this particular garment.

These files were my grandfather's, and they're what I use to smooth the edges of my Beasties once I've cut them out of corrugated iron. Useful for taking the edges off Rough Patches, too.

... on graphic representations of a Rough Patch.

2008-06-21T15:36:00.005+10:00

Here are three ways of looking at this rough patch business. Arrows indicate direction of travel.
In all cases it is advisable to wear a stout pair of boots to combat stubbed toes, twisted ankles and burning feet. In the case of the third, the use of a gas mask will help protect against further perils associated with the rough patch, and once the patch is safely traversed normal travel can continue.

... on a Rough Patch.

2008-06-17T03:17:00.003+10:00

I wish the durability and consistency of a Rough Patch could be accurately predicted. Will the Rough Patch change in texture along the way? Is it solid, will it start out very lumpy and chunky, and gradually decrease in grain? Is it more like gravel, in that it's generally all-over gravelly but sometimes when you're walking through it you'll hit a larger stone that may turn your ankle, and even if you don't do that you're still likely to find little rocks in your shoes afterwards? Is the best solution, when experiencing a Rough Patch, to let the roughness cause a callous, or it is better to get rubbed raw so a scar can form? Will the Rough Patch be smoothed by external forces, or do I have to get at it with the sandpaper myself? Will it erode naturally, or will it erupt again and spew layers of new hard roughness over the surface of the old?

If only I could tell.

... on buying in bulk.

2008-06-07T18:31:00.003+10:00

There's something reassuring about having a LOT of something. This box of PostPaks, these business cards, even my 100 scalpel blades, they all speak of possibility, of the promising notion that one day they might be all used up and I'll be needing to buy some more!

... on reading.

2008-06-04T19:05:00.003+10:00

This is what I saw and what I thought I saw while I was in the shower this morning. Gah!

... on a school of fish.

2008-06-01T17:03:00.002+10:00

I've been making these little Fishy Beasties when I've got an offcut the right size. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet - maybe a Fishy Beastie Wall Hanging?

... on the Curious Bruise.

2008-05-23T07:59:00.004+10:00

Left:: I was cutting some wire yesterday and I accidently poked my left index finger with the end. It bled quite a bit but you can hardly see the puncture, now.

Right:: This is the bruise that has come up on the other side of that finger. How about that!?

... on the broken w.

2008-05-14T15:41:00.006+10:00

Look what just happened when I was photographing 'wheelie'. I'm inclined to think it's a sign I shouldn't list 'wheelie' but I'm going to ignore it.

How did I break it!? For the purposes of photography I Blu-Tack the letters to my wall, as it's only temporary. For large letters like 'w' I use three little knobs of it - which of course, now that I think about it, can put undue pressure on the middle of the letter when I'm pressing it onto the wall. It acts a bit like breaking a stick over your knee, and from now on I'll be using two knobs max.

... on mould and fungus.

2008-05-14T11:19:00.011+10:00

A Photoshop restoration. This slide of my parents and brother was dark and had mould/fungus growing all over it, but I really loved the photo and set myself the challenge of restoring it digitally.

My mum told me to airbrush out her bra strap but that's one of the things I love the most about this photo, so I didn't.

... on hope.

2008-05-10T10:37:00.009+10:00

This was my first Plaster Wall Word. These first letters were pretty rough, and unsealed. I glued them on using contact cement and 5 years later they're still stuck firmly.

I chose 'hope' because I wanted something on my wall that would remind me that however bad I was feeling about something, it was a pretty good idea to have some kind of notion that the future could be good.

New 'hope' (carved way more carefully, and sealed!) may be found here.

... on unexpected lettering.

2008-05-07T19:01:00.012+10:00

The office I work in had moved to an industrial area. On the chain-link fence was an old sign, which looked like all the lettering had worn off it. It was just a rusty orange piece of tin that I thought would be great to make into some Beastie Sea Creatures.

I knew I had to have it, so I gave G*** my pliers and got him to snip it off for me one night. He put it down the side of my desk during his night-shift and I transferred it, wrapped in paper, to my car the next day.

When I got home that night I tore off the paper and gleefully ran my hand over the lovely surface, imagining it as a Lobster Beastie, definitely a Crabby Beastie. I turned the sign over to check out the other side - to find this beautiful weathered lettering: the sign had been facing 'out' through the fence, not 'in' as I'd assumed!

How can I possibly take my tin-snips to something so beautiful?

... on little sharp bits of tin.

2008-05-05T19:16:00.002+10:00

Dave came around the other day, and saw these little offcuts from making a Beastie sitting on my table. "Em!" he said, poking dubiously. "Have you cut your toenails again?!"