A new studio

I love nothing more than a great stack of books and by that, I don't mean a great big stack. Just a thoughtful bunch placed together. I have them all around my house at the moment. Stacks of art books and cook books, collected atlases from op shops carefully arranged with small sculptures, ceramics, photographs, road maps, gifts and things gathered over the years. My love of maps is ironic considering my distinct lack of an internal compass. I need these markers around me, these vignettes. Small reminders of wonderful events in life, the things I've read that have resonated with me, places I've been and the people who've come into my life at various times. I've been organising and teaching a workshop over at Pop Craft Studio and so I've been spending quite a bit of time tinkering in my studio among these precious things, just thought I would share them. 

SIX & SIX

Now for some exciting news about a new project I've been madly working on and finally get to share with you all. After plenty of late nights, I'm equally elated, scared and relieved that my new venture SIX & SIX is finally up off the ground and ready to roll! This is something I've been creatively planning for quite some time. Anyone for a Gingerbread House Construction workshop? Yes, that is right. Our first workshop will be putting the bits together to create a one of a kind house that you get to take home and use as the centrepiece for your Christmas celebrations. Come and join in if you're in Melbourne and hear me talk baking. Yay! Book through the SIX & SIX website.   

These photographs were taken by David Grbac

Things I've made lately

While throwing clay is something I've been so keen to try for a long time, I've been thinking about other elements I can introduce into my wearable pieces that I can make myself and aren't reliant on serious equipment, firing aside of course. So I signed myself up for Abby Seymour's hand painting and forming porcelain class. Not going in with distinct design ideas aside from some sketches, I finished the four weeks with a collection of beads and some small vessels that I'm rather enamoured with. I've also bought more clay to play with. Everyone is getting salt dishes for Christmas this year! Abby is a lovely and generous teacher, I would certainly recommend her classes. Her superfine painted exhibition works are really quite beautiful. A note on props... the gorgeous brass sugar spoon in the photograph below was a wonderful birthday present from two very dear friends, Rowan and Saan.   

New work and the importance of testing absolutely everything

In life, some lessons stick. Like never loosing your cross, an ultimate disaster in weaving. Others creep up on you and even when you think you've done everything you possibly could, it strikes to remind you to test every parameter. I had a (luckily) retrievable disaster with the printing on my most recent Luna work. Here is what happened...

I'd tested my samples (below) on an old screen but gotten a new large screen exposed. I'd used an old small squeegee for samples but borrowed a larger one from school for the final print. I'd also bought enough adhesive for one large print. I thought all would be well. It's cool, I thought - no biggy, I'm just about to print on a large woven panel that took me three days to set up and numerous cold hours to weave.

Alas, all was not well. You see, new screen with different mesh and new squeegee should have meant one final test print. But I thought, I'd wing it. I really don't know why I was playing it so cool. After all, this sort of printing means you only really get one go. So after doing quite and number of floods and pulls, I discovered the faintest marks on my weaving and empty patches elsewhere. While I washed out the screen and my heart thumped in disappointment, my helper carefully put my woven panel into the bathtub to gently wash away the adhesive. Thankfully I'd chosen a water based version.

I spent most of that weekend annoyed with myself for not going that extra mile. It turns out the squeegee was too hard for such a job and I would need to wait until Monday morning for more adhesive and a softer squeegee. On top of this, I would miss my deadline. I really didn't think it would all come together. So after drying the screen, I finally did that test and tried the copper foil you can see in the photograph above with my new screen and squeegee. As an aside, I can't wait to try the copper on lighter coloured yarns. Come Monday morning, I bought my supplies and retreated home to print after reassurances that all would be okay and the squeegee I bought was perfect for the job.        

Yes, indeed it was. Again more flooding and pulling and total relief when a strong print emerged. After about two hours of drying time for the adhesive, I finally applied the foil I had bought from a supplier in Sydney. As is the case with work that is immediately rushed to where ever it should have gone the day before, all I have is this Instagram photograph of the final work. You might also spot it photographed today on The Design Files in Suzy Tuxen and Shane Loorham's Brunswick abode. It was photographed just this past weekend by my talented friends and is now on the Significant Others website for sale. It is hung from a beautiful Blackwood hanger made by Ryan, one half of Significant Others and framer extraordinaire at United Measures. Thanks guys for including me! So what do you think?

New samples

I've been trying out yarns, ideas and weave structures for some new work and learning so much along the way. No matter how hard I try to avoid this situation, I always manage to get caught up in the trap of sampling with a yarn only to find out my supplier has no stock left and won't get any for months, if at all. These days, I'm less likely to get frustrated by this and usually just switch to a different yarn. In the case of these black and white samples, I bought up what was left of the stock in shades of greys and creams and I'm going to make myself a rug when I get the chance. 

I met an old friend yesterday with whom I studied second year weave. She mentioned never feeling like her apprenticeship had ended after leaving university and that there was always so much to learn. I totally agree with her and thought this was an adept description for the life of a weaver. While I am so much more comfortable with just trying ideas out, I still wonder if it is all going to hold together in the final stages. After all the hard work of setting up the loom, those moments of finally tying onto the front of the loom and starting to weave are usually accompanied by a slight uneasy feeling. After many years, I've come to realise I do love this process and it is all about experimenting, learning and problem solving along the way. How boring if everything were easy, don't you agree?

Art letter for Jade

This was an art letter I made for Jade over my Summer teaching break. I had photographed it months ago but had a few issues with my camera at the time. So here they are finally. 

Art letter for Saan

Two friends - Jade, Saan and I are exchanging Art Letters over the coming weeks. This is my first for Saan. It has been addictive playing around with different mediums and getting messy with paint. I haven't used acrylic for quite a while and I'm loving the plasticity of it and the ability to layer paint and colour. They are all sketches or ideas and certainly not resolved but it was in an attempt to get some creative stuff happening. The most exciting thing of all is knowing you are sending something off into the world and offering it up to someone else with no agenda or idea of what they will do with it. There is something quite liberating about this whole process. I'm excited to see what I will get in return. Happy Friday!

Gleaning for now

Finally I feel as though I have room to breathe and the energy for creative pursuits. I feel excited by the possibilities. I have a few projects on the go and I know this year will be filled with plenty more. I'm thankful for the opportunities that I've had with teaching and I adore so much about the job, but there isn't much room for anything else in my life when I'm working every day of the week. Perhaps it was a little serendipitous that my contract ended late last year. I'm ready to give myself the time to get creative things happening. Argh! What? At the moment, my mind is pulled in so many directions. Sometimes I imagine the random brainstorm at work in my brain a little like a scene from 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' - the connections and words and lines I follow to a point before veering off to random others and others and others.

When I was still at uni studying for my degree, I saw a documentary called 'The Gleaners and I' that quite resonated with me. Traditionally it means to gather the left overs after harvest. This is what I've been doing these past few weeks. Looking at old photographs that I've discarded and notes in the margins of my sketch books. I've always found the process is as engaging as the end product so this is the plan - to surround myself with books, other artists and designers work, photographs, brainstorms, ideas, work, samples, yarn, colour, paint, brushes, pens, pencils and anything else I can get my hands on. The hope is that from these sources, a plan and workable idea will emerge.

A note about the map of the world - yes, the original etching is not mine. This is a silver gelatin print made from some microfiche film I specially requested. It has been printed just as you would a normal negative in the darkroom onto photographic fiber-based paper. It came from a rare book of maps I found in the State Library over ten years ago. From memory, the book was about two hundred years old. 

A collage

Tasmania part two

Tasmania really is so beautiful and my photographs don't really do it justice. We travelled to Huonville and through a number of sweet towns like Geeveston where we stopped and turned around to head north. I wasn't really kitted up for serious hiking but the walks around the Tahune AirWalk were easy enough with plenty of information about different plant species and plenty of furry green trees. I swear, there must be fairies there - it must be quite magical in Summer. There were lots of moments of sunshine and no serious rain to dampen our spirits - I think we were pretty lucky. On our way back to Hobart we drove through Cygnet, Kettering and Snug and ended up in Richmond on our last day, eating more pie for lunch and wandering around the quaint township. 

Thanks to those people who gave their recommendations - freely or unwittingly - of where to go and what to do; Saan and Rowan, Jade, Ryan and Elizabeth. It was certainly worth getting out of Hobart and taking a drive. Next time it will be the coastal beaches that I'll have my eye on.