... on finding, keeping, and other excitement.

Excitement comes in funny forms around here, sometimes. One recent burst was a result of a delivery of recycled shredded paper from Ecocern. It was some days late, having been misdirected from Sydney to Perth, but seemed none-the-worse for its WA holiday. Not so hot on the carbon miles, however!

It came in a large tightly-rolled bale, 20 kilograms of it. As it wasn't available in Brisbane I found two other BrisStyle girls to share the costs with, and once unrolled, each share filled a huge (wheelie-bin sized) garbage bag. I've got enough shredded paper to last forever, as you can see by my little foot in the photo below. Mountains of it. 

As soon as the paper arrived, I just had to pull a bit off to try out an idea I'd been chewing over. I wanted something to display my large hanging egg decorations in at the markets, and I had in mind a messy shredded paper nest on a sanded branch sitting on my linen tablecloth.

That's a work-in-progress photo, but you get the idea. A couple of those will almost certainly work a lot better than my previous paper-bag-with-the-top-rolled-down technique, which was admittedly only a temporary fix!

So, now to begin preparations for the upcoming markets. The next City Hall BrisStyle market is on the Saturday-after-next, on October 12, and I'm currently making a batch of my large natural-toned eggs. 

Dry, trimmed and sanded, these cast plaster eggs are ready to be drilled.

Once they've had their little metal rings glued into them and the glue has cured for 24 hours, it's time for the eggs to be painted with their base colour.

Maggie Beer's fruit paste containers make excellent mixed-paint pots. Thanks, Maggie!

Now for a most exciting happening. I did a happy dance in my seat (you know the one) the other day when I received news that my application for the next Finders Keepers market here in Brisbane had been successful. I'll be occupying a debut stall site on the veranda of The Old Museum, so let's all cross our fingers for calm weather, or I'm sure Kuberstore will be taking flight (in many, many pieces) out over the RNA showground! Weather predictions aside, I'm so delighted to have this to prepare for, and I'm sure the next six weeks will simply fly by. Eeek! But HURRAH!

... on nests.

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 nest 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!