... on tin!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!