... on now.

A lovely morning... the studio is warm, a 'This American Life' podcast is on, my hands are dusty with plaster, the sun was out but now a misty winter shower has come across, the latest pour of eggs are curing and I've got lots to do. Lots! I'm going to be doing my first BrisStyle Indie Market in the beautifully restored rooms of Brisbane City Hall on Saturday 10th August. I've got a whole table to fill, display ideas overflowing, a stall helper arranged (thanks Ma!) and just over three weeks to prepare.

I'm about to package up this set of five speckled eggs and send them off to a secret destination that I hope to be able to reveal more about soon. Exciting!

I had a visitor with a camera yesterday (more on that soon, too), so the scurf that usually lingers about in the studio has been momentarily tidied away. It prompted me to find a proper home for the huge pile of newspapers that had previously been living in the hallway, and helped me accept that although I may have hoarding tendencies, I'm not too bad. Not yet!

A cup of tea and my morning will be perfect! How's yours?

... on 'to do, or not to do?'

A while ago I had an idea for a speckled egg wall hanging that would be extravagant. It would be glorious, and it would be expensive, and it would be Anthropologie-worthy. It would be so lovely that orders would flow in, and I'd fill them in a haze of plaster dust and an ever-changing bloom of delicious colours. When I left my workroom at the end of the day my hair would be full of rainbow speckles of acrylic paint. Bliss!

My friend Jacinta makes the most fabulous cakes, and when she's designing a cake for a client she will often do a digital mockup - there are some of these (and the resulting cakes) on her lovely Facebook page. Thinking of this as a design process I too could try, I sat down in front of Photoshop to create my first virtual wall hanging. Something that looked like it could exist. Like something I could have made, but haven't. Here's what happened:

Like most ideas, what came out was different to how I initially imagined it, and I've no doubt that if I actually tried to make this wall hanging, it wouldn't turn out the same as this. I have concerns, too, about how I could put this together successfully, given that the number of eggs would make it quite heavy, and they would need an awful lot of little findings, crimps and cable that must each be sound.

I'm currently off the boil about this idea. I find it quite curious that I'm off the boil before attempting an actual prototype, as a result of making a digital one. Problems seem apparent, even though the process of actually making this might prove less difficult than I imagine.

The question is, do I try?

... on Market preparation, and a new sign!

Tomorrow night it's the first BrisStyle market for the year and, weather permitting, I'll be there! I'm sharing a table in the co-op section, and would love for you to drop by and say hello if you're passing through King George Square in Brisbane - I'll be there from about 4.00pm.

I've been busy making myself a new Kuberstore sign, which I hope to be able to suspend from the marquee somehow. I had in mind some kind of speckly-flaggy-banner-cardboard-cutout-letters-type creation, so I cut out a newspaper mockup to see if it might work.

Yes, I think so! I then speckled up a nice big piece of brown card, cut out my logo from white card, and painted in some shading.

I've just finished glueing and varnishing it this morning... here it is!

I've mounted it on a piece of corrugated cardboard, so it's very light and hopefully won't be too tricky to install. We'll see!

This time I've resolved to make things a bit more vertical in the display department, so have recycled my old sign into a brooch-stand. That should clear up enough space for me to be able to sit at the table and carve some plaster, which both gives me something to do, and demonstrates what it is exactly that I do. I have wondered whether people looking at my things realise that I make them from scratch. This will only be my third market, but one thing I have noticed is that people are more likely to approach a stall and have a good look if the owner is either already busy with a customer, or they are sitting there concentrating on making something. Plus, just standing there behind my table watching people looking at my things (or worse, not looking!) makes me feel very awkward and exposed, and is something I have struggled with so far. Perhaps this is the answer!

So, my rainbow watercolour plaster bird's eggs will be making their first appearance - can you believe it's only five weeks until Easter? Something from this cheerful little collection would make a lovely Easter gift for someone who doesn't eat chocolate, and I'll have several wall hangings available, as well as individual hanging eggs.

Weather, please be kind to us - and do drop by if you're in town. I'd love to see you!